Grammar Reboot

While we are all moving so fast these days, many of us answering emails on the go, while on Zoom, at 6 am or 11 pm, without our eye glasses, etc., the point of writing is to communicate, which means that if you want your readers to comprehend your prose, clarity is critical. Like all art forms, writing has its norms that when adhered to make for easier communication. Beyond that, your writing blips may be irking your audience and subsequently diminishing your credibility. Since emails and other written communications are often re-read and shared, it may be worth the investment to get the grammar dos and don’ts straight in your quest to communicate.

Quotation marks

When it comes to using quotes in your writing, you want to get it right. Why? Because people in the know cringe when they see misplaced grammar and quotation marks. The rules are as follows:

Commas and periods, in most instances, are situated inside of quotation marks.

• ?“We should learn how to do this grammar stuff correctly,” he said.
• “I agree,” she said. “I’m tired of guessing.”

The exception to this is if you live in the UK, where you may see commas or periods outside of quotes (consider The Economist, or BBC news).

When it comes to question marks or exclamation points, if the question mark or exclamation point is part of the quotation, it stays inside the quotes.

• “Do you think anyone notices when we don’t get it right?” she asked.
• “Absolutely!” he said. “I got called out about it recently.”

But, if the question mark or exclamation point is not part of the quotation, it belongs outside of the closing quotes.

• Have you ever read Alice Munro’s short story, “The Runaway”?
• Every morning, she recites Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise”!

The final rule when it comes to quotation marks is that semicolons, colons, and dashes almost always go outside of them.

• She said, “I don’t believe in ghosts” – until one of them grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away.
• He said, “my favorite move is The Green Mile”; he had watched it over a dozen times.

Ellipsis

While it has become trendy to use ellipsis to signify a trailing off in a sentence…in reality, these little dots serve a purpose. Three dots signify that you have intentionally omitted words within a sentence from a quotation, paraphrase, or discussion without altering its original meaning. Four dots signify that you are omitting whole sentences from a quotation, paraphrase, or conversation.

Aposiopesis is the term for when a sentence is deliberately left unfinished, to allow the reader to use their imagination to fill in what comes next. In the instance of aposiopesis, you may use an em dash (They left the building and—) or ellipsis to illustrate this intentional cliff hanger (They left the building and…).

Commas

While there are many comma rules, all of which are important, three that we encounter most often in writing include the following:

Commas between items in a series or list.

• Example: When you employ proper grammar, you may be viewed as articulate, organized, and logical. This example brings up the Oxford or serial comma, which appears before conjunctions.
• For a quick refresher, the most common conjunctions are For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.
• Regarding the Oxford comma, there’s an ongoing debate as to whether the comma that comes at the end of a list, before a conjunction, is necessary. I’m in favor of using it. Example with Oxford Comma: Come to my party, where you will meet Jodi, a clown, and a magician.?Example without Oxford comma: Come to my party, where you will meet Jodi, a clown and a magician. While I may have a clown and magician at my party, I do not identify as either.

Use a comma between two independent clauses separated by a conjunction.

• Example: The party was over, but the crowd wasn’t ready to leave.

Use commas after introductory clauses, phrases, or words that come before the main clause.

• Example: After the party was over, the hosts were exhausted. Or Just when she thought the day was over, her phone rang.

Italics, bold, all caps

There are times our goal is to emphasize a point. When something is important and you wish to relay excitement, dismay, or anger, in person or video meetings are ideal so that people can see your facial expressions and/or hear your tone to limit confusion. When we use stylistic tools via written communications to express ourselves, they sometimes work and sometimes fail. Here’s the rules of the road for when to use italics, bold, and all caps.

• Italics: stylistically, italics are used to emphasize a word in a sentence. Used in this capacity, they draw less attention than do bolded words. Grammatically, you use italics in the following instances: book titles, magazine titles, newspaper titles, plays, movies, TV shows, radio programs.
• Bold: Bold?fonts are?used?for emphasis to make certain words and phrases stand out from the surrounding text. Generally, bold should be used sparingly.
• All Caps: All caps are the equivalent of shouting and should be used sparingly. However, all caps are okay for titles on book covers, in advertisements, and newspaper headlines. When it comes to emails to your colleagues, skipping all caps is likely your best bet.

Know your audience

Communication is a two-way street. As writers, we should always take our readers into consideration. This covers everything from email salutations to email content, in addition to proposals, reports, and PowerPoint presentations.

• Does your reader/s necessitate a two-line email or a few paragraphs?
• Is “Hey there,” the best way to start your note? Or is a more traditional, “Dear ____,” the best way to go? There’s also a middle-ground entrance: “Greetings.”
• Do you need to share tons of data with your team, or should you sum up the data in two to three sentences or bullets and provide the complete data as an attachment for those who wish to explore?
• Proposals and PowerPoint presentations should reflect the people you are presenting to: is narrative/text the best route? Charts? Graphs? Pictures? Videos? A healthy blend of all? Knowing your audience is the key to a successful presentation.

Words to avoid in everyday interactions

• Just. Channel your inner Brene Brown and “stand your sacred ground.” You are not just reaching out. You are reaching out. Know your reason, state it, be yourself. Using the word just makes you seem less confident and/or implies you are not important enough to ask a question. Chances are, that’s false. Do a quick scan of your emails prior to sending out, and if you see just, delete it.
• Hopefully. Using this word makes it sound like you are guessing and/or not in control of the result. While that may be accurate in some instances, clients and colleagues don’t want to hear that you are hoping. They want you to be sure. Take charge. Be confident. Hoping sounds like you are waiting around and praying for the best, which even if it is the case, is not how you become a trusted partner.

Acronyms

Skip the shorthand and write emails in English (or whatever language you may be communicating in). That means write out you (versus u); write out thank you (versus TY) and so on. It takes a few seconds to type out full words. I’m a believer in the way you do anything is the way you do everything. Be clear. It is unlikely you are saving more than a few seconds by writing acronyms. And the reality is, if you are in that much of a rush, how does that relate to the overall quality of your work? In a time when we are all rushing, refuse to give in to the frenzy and commit to old fashioned communication.

Brevity vs. Longwindedness

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Queen Gertrude jibes at longwinded Polonius, “More matter with less art.” Her goal is for him to get to the point and cut out the superfluous information.?

When it comes to emails, aim to be succinct. There’s a time and place for three-plus paragraph emails and it’s not always when you want to share information. Remember that many people read their emails on the go. Your short three paragraphs on a PC becomes endless text when reviewed on a mobile phone. Aim for quick summaries and bullet points when you need to highlight information and save the longer communications for phone and video calls, and/or reports, recaps, and presentations.

Spell Check & Review

Use spell check. Always. Do not sent out emails or notes without using spell check to ensure that your spelling and grammar is correct. And be sure to read an email before you send it out (the same goes for a text!). Misspellings and typos happen to us all. It’s part of our always-on-the-go world. But taking a few minutes to double check what you are sending out is a useful habit – and it can save you embarrassment, too!