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by Kathleen Watson
Do you have difficulty when it comes to choosing who or whom in your writing?
Some think whom sounds stuffy and pretentious.
When did proper grammar become stuffy? I think that’s an excuse made by people who don’t know the difference.
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Does anyone criticize Ernest Hemingway for using whom in the title of his famous novel For Whom The Bell Tolls?
Here are three guidelines to help you recognize whether to use who or whom:
Who was driving the car?
He was critical of people who didn’t support his decision.
The winner, no matter who she is, will wear the crown for a year.
2. Whom is the object, the person acted on, and it often is preceded by a preposition (at, in, for, from, of, to, with).
Did you speak to her? To whom did you speak?
Who gave you the check? From whom did you get the check?
Did you take a walk with her? With whom did you take a walk?
3. Consider these substitutions as shortcuts to helping you make the right choice:
he, she, they (subjects) = who
him, her, them (objects) = whom
Who was driving the car? He was driving the car.
You invited whom to dinner? You invited her to dinner.
For whom were members of the audience applauding? Members of the audience were applauding for them.
Do you have sentences that you question if who or whom is correct? Submit them here for a reply.
By Barbara McNichol
Suppose your supervisor emails you a message that says, “Fix the attached” or “Polish this piece.” But exactly what does it mean to fix and polish? In addition to correcting punctuation, typos, misspellings, and grammar glitches, what’s required beyond that?
First, find out what your supervisor thinks it needs. Where does it fall short? What’s missing? Whether or not you receive an answer, go through the following key questions yourself:
When it’s up to you to fix and polish that important message, use these questions as your checklist every time.
What essential fix and polish elements would you add to these?
Source: www.grammarcheck.net
by Barbara McNichol
In my recent post on the blog of Nonfiction Authors Association (NFAA), an author asked about confusing words this way:
Barbara, I’d love to see you do an article on the difference between “as” and “since” and “because.”
Here’s a summary of what my research told me.
Both “because” and “since” imply cause. They can be interchangeable when “since” means “for the reason that.” e.g., “Since my dog needs exercise, I take him for a walk.” e.g., “I walk every day because my dog needs exercise.”
One source suggests using “because” when the reason is the most important part of the sentence and “since” or “as” when the reason is already well known and is less important. e.g., “The match was cancelled because it was raining.”
I endorse this as an important distinction and use it myself.
Note that “since” also refers to a time frame. But look at this example. “Since we ate lunch, we had lots of energy.” Do you see how this statement is ambiguous? Does it mean “from the time we had lunch” or “for the reason that we had lunch”?
To avoid confusion, I recommend using “because” when your meaning relates to “cause” and “since” when it’s a factor of time. Keep the meanings distinct; it’s a good way to add clarity to your writing and power to your pen.
For clarification of commonly confused words, request a free reference guide at Word Trippers.com
What word pairings trip you up? Share them here.
by Joan Burge (used with permission)
Did you know that changing just a few of the everyday words you use while conducting business can actually enhance people’s positive impressions of you? Here are three highly effective tips you can start using today.
Successful professionals focus on what I call the 
Can you think of additional ways to change commonly used words or phrases so co-workers and clients respond even better? I encourage you to delve deep and test new ways to communicate verbally and in writing!
Known as the pioneer of the administrative training industry, Joan Burge is an accomplished author, professional speaker, consultant, and corporate trainer. She is the founder, CEO, and visionary of Office Dynamics International, an organization that provides high-performance executive and administrative assistant training and coaching.
How could you change commonly used phrases to increase the responses you get? Share your ideas here.
By Barbara McNichol
Do you experience email overwhelm?
Your emails can present problems to your recipients when stale subject lines, too many topics, and lack of clarity get in the mix.
But this single time-wasting practice can be big: not making the most of your email message. It causes people to walk back and forth a dozen times on the communication path.
Well, a dozen times might be exaggerating but no matter what, you can streamline the process by building in extra thoughtfulness. Take the example of setting up something as simple as a meeting. Messages could go back and forth annoyingly before you nail an agreed-upon day/time/place.
Try crafting your initial email with an “if then” option. You’d simply write, “I’m available Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday in the afternoon after 3 p.m. If any of these don’t work for you, then give me three times when you’re available.”
The “if then” technique has just narrowed down the possibilities to three afternoons. Recipients know those times are off the table and will suggest a different three options. You’re likely to come up with a workable time/place in fewer than two emails.
Compose your emails to serve you as efficiently as possible. This “if then” approach is an easy path to follow.
What paths do you follow to deal with email overwhelm? Share you ideas here.
By Kathleen Watson
Headlines provide never-ending examples of incorrect grammar, whether in word choice, word order or punctuation.
Reminder: I define grammar as the words we choose, how we string them together, and how we use punctuation to give them meaning.
News stories and their headlines should be examples of excellent writing. They also should conform to Standard English, defined as the way educated people write and speak. Writing in haste is no excuse for careless headline grammar errors.
1) How To Act When Someone Around You Loses Their Job
In 2017, the Associated Press proclaimed that nouns and pronouns no longer have to match in cases of gender sensitivity. I strongly oppose the change. In this headline, the indefinite pronoun someone is singular, but their is a plural possessive.
Rather than using the awkward someone loses his/her job, the headline could easily have conformed to standard usage if it had been phrased this way:
How To Act When Someone Around You Loses A Job
2) Look At Aaron Rogers Amazing House
Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rogers no doubt earns enough money to have an amazing house, but this headline lacks the apostrophe that shows the house belongs to him. When a name ends in s, show possession by adding an apostrophe:
Look At Aaron Rogers’ Amazing House
3) Students Walkout Across Country to Support Florida School-Shooting Survivors
To walk out is a phrasal verb; a walkout is a noun.
An earlier post, One Word or Two: Use Care With Your Shortcuts, has a list of other word combinations called phrasal verbs — a verb and a preposition that, when joined, often form a noun: set up/setup | break down/breakdown | start up/startup | cut back/cutback … and more. The headline should read:
Students Walk Out Across Country to Support Florida School-Shooting Survivors
4) Parkland Survivor Criticizes Laura Ingraham For Only Apologizing After Advertisers Fled
As so often is the case, the modifier only is misplaced. When only precedes apologizing, it implies that apologizing was not enough. Should she have done more than apologize?
The criticism underlying the report was aimed at the timing of her apology. Some thought Ms. Ingraham should have apologized immediately, rather than waiting until some advertisers withdrew their support of her program. A clearer headline would have been:
Parkland Survivor Criticizes Laura Ingraham For Apologizing Only After Advertisers Fled
5) What Does It Feel Like to Be Wrong? Our strong need to be right and it’s impact on our lives
The first line works, but the subhead is punctuated to read:
Our strong need to be right and it is impact on our lives
People continue to confuse it’s, the contraction for it is, and its, the possessive form of the pronoun it. Here’s how the line should read:
Our strong need to be right and its impact on our lives
I hear from plenty of people who lament the apparent lack of grammar knowledge in some media representatives who are considered professional communicators: print, electronic, and television journalists and commentators.
We’re all judged by the way we write and speak. Don’t let careless grammar or lack of grammar mastery detract from your credibility.
Kathleen Watson has a love/hate relationship with grammar; she loves words and the punctuation that helps them make sense, yet she hates those pesky rules. Knowing others do, too, she wrote an easy-to-use grammar book called Grammar for People Who Hate Rules to help people write with authority and confidence.
Share examples of headline grammar errors you find.
by Todd Hunt, Business Humorist
In case the Easter punny misses you on Sunday, here are five April Fools puns to fathom:
1) Acupuncture is a jab well done.
2) If a clock is hungry does it go back four seconds?
3) Without geometry, life is pointless.
4) Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
5) I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words. (Barbara’s favorite)
OK – your turn. Write your worst puns in the comments below!
Business humorist Todd Hunt speaks to organizations that want to add fun to their events and send members back to work smiling—with tips to improve communication and success. Visit him at ToddHuntSpeaker.com
Editor’s Note: Todd tackles Word Tripper types of confusing words as I do. His latest video clears up the difference between “podium vs. lectern” (because you’re dying to know). And you can watch his past episodes here. Enjoy!
by Barbara McNichol
Whether it’s an email, a report, or a chapter in a book, are you sometimes challenged to make your writing easier to follow? What are ways to create a smooth flow that guides your readers?
Give these writing tips a try:
1. Use subheads: When you use subheads throughout your piece, readers can skim your content and quickly discern what’s to follow. Even more, subheads indicate a change of subject and allow readers to find it quickly. Your guide: new subject, new subhead.
2. Convey one idea per paragraph: If you pack a paragraph with more than one idea, it creates difficulty following the meaning. In an email about a talk, for example, you’d use three separate paragraphs: one explaining the subject of the talk, one explaining who the presenter is, and the third showing the date, time, and place of the event. You can also add subheads to distinguish each paragraph.
3. Use bullets points and numbered lists: When you list similar things (such as names, steps, benefits, requirements), you help readers recognize similar content quickly. With lists, you can leave out transitional words that paragraphs command. It helps the understanding when you use the same part of speech (e.g., a verb or a noun) at the beginning of each point. Note: In a list, when the order of the points matters, use numbers; otherwise, use bullets.
4. Vary sentence length: Although short, concise sentences are easy to read, a string short sentences can feel disjointed. Add interest by varying the length of your sentences. My rule of thumb is keeping sentences shorter than 21 words so readers can follow the meaning more easily.
5. Vary sentence structure: Building your sentences in the order of subject-verb-object is simple and clear. But if all your sentences are constructed that way, it might come across as monotonous. Along with varying sentence length, break out of the mold of standard sentence structure.
Practice these simple ways to make your writing easy to follow and enjoy better responses from your readers. Note YOUR favorite writing tips below or email me.
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