Category: Grammar Tip

Tips and explanations for tricky constructions

A quick review of basics: write more professionally

Most of us will graciously overlook a rare spelling or typing mistake. But be warned: if your messages to clients or colleagues are frequently littered with these basic errors, you’re likely harming your professional image. From Daily Muse, Inc: 16 Spelling Mistakes You Need to Stop Making — Now

Who or whom? A fun lesson

Here’s an amusing primer from TheOatmeal.com, about how to choose and why you should bother: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/who_vs_whom

So there!

While writers do best to avoid using so as an adjective intensifier, it is a perfectly legitimate conjunction. (Remember FANBOYS? For, and, nor, but, or yet, so.) A conjunction joins two phrases or clauses.  I was exhausted so I had no trouble falling asleep. We missed breakfast and lunch while waiting in the ticket line, …

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So…what?

Using ‘so’ to intensify an adjective is common in speech and informal writing (I was so tired after the exam, or we waited in line for so long this morning) but avoid it in formal or professional writing. Instead of ‘so tired,’ ‘exhausted’ or ‘beat’ might convey the same meaning in a richer way. Instead …

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Your and You’re

David and I had dinner in Stephenville, Texas last week and saw this sign in the parking lot. Sometimes mistakes are so big that you literally must take a step back to see them! Use you’re only as a contraction of you are: you’re late for breakfast, you’re angry with Lucinda, you’re only as good …

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