Pronouns need antecedents. That means that the thing (or person, or place) that the pronoun refers to needs to have been mentioned already by name somewhere earlier in the sentence or paragraph. If it’s not clear which thing the pronoun refers to, the reader can get quite confused.
Learn more about pronoun-antecedent agreement.
To learn more about grammar and to help us celebrate National Grammar Day this March, visit our new resource page.
Not feeling the holiday spirit yet? Hectic days at work and evenings spent shopping may leave you low on holiday cheer, but the feelings of generosity, gratitude, and closeness to your loved ones are what truly make the holidays special. If music, movies, and weather aren’t getting you in the mood of the season, try reading a good book. Sit down with a holiday classic or enjoy a new read to celebrate the holidays, both religious and secular, that come at this time of year.
1I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Dreidel by Caryn Yacowitz and David Slonim Holiday: Hanukkah beginning on December 6
This is a lovable children’s book about a family driving to visit their bubbe, who swallows a dreidel during Hanukkah supper. Her insatiable appetite leads her to consume more and more items, menorahs included, and her family tries to distract her from her appetite. The illustrations are parodies on famous works by da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rockwell, Matisse, and many others, adding a layer of fun to the story while teaching about the elements of Hanukkah, famous artists, and the art of parody.
2Siddhartha by Herman Hesse Holiday: Bodhi Day on December 8
December 8 is Bodhi Day, which is the day when Buddha, or Siddhartha, experienced enlightenment. To delve into the Buddha’s life, pick up Siddhartha, a novel written by Herman Hesse in 1922. The book follows Siddhartha’s life as he leaves his family on a journey to enlightenment. He bounces from a life of asceticism to hedonism back to asceticism, which offers you the opportunity to reflect on the materialism and excesses of the holiday season. Some consider it a must-read at least once in a lifetime.
3I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai Holiday: Human Rights Day on December 10
Read Malala’s story in celebration of Human Rights Day on December 10 to be inspired by her resilience and strength. Malala fought for her right to an education while living in the Swat Valley of Pakistan under control by the Taliban. She survived being shot in the head and went on to become an activist for education and to win the Nobel Peace Prize, making her the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.
4A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Holiday: Christmas on December 25
Arguably the most famous novel about Christmas, A Christmas Carol was first published in 1843. It tells the story of the curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation by visits of the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Dickens touches upon the traditions of Christmas such as family gatherings, winter, and warm atmosphere. It teaches that good will and compassion can overcome miserliness and reminds us that not everyone has a home with a table full of food to enjoy with family during the holidays.
5A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby Holiday: New Year’s Eve on December 31
A Long Way Down is a dark comedy about four people ready to end their lives, but their plans are foiled by the presence of one another as they meet on a roof in London. They make a pact to postpone their suicides and embark on a journey together. It is a story about confronting the limits of choice, regrets, mortality, and second chances. It may give you an appreciation for life that you can carry into the new year.
Whether you’ve read the five books on this list already or are reading about them for the first time, they’re enjoyable reads that will surely get you in the holiday mood. Find some time to relax with a hot drink and one of these great stories to get into the holiday spirit.
Donut is an alternate spelling of doughnut. Some dictionaries point out that donut is rarely used outside the United States. All of them recognize doughnut as the main spelling, as do some of the more popular style guides. Doughnut might be the spelling you should use if you want to be sure you’re not making a mistake.
Doughnuts: the thing no stereotypical law enforcement officer can be seen without. Think of The Simpsons‘ Chief Wiggum. Or, if you’re a fan of looking beyond stereotypes, think of Twin Peaks‘ agent Dale Cooper, who appreciated the importance of doughnuts even though he favored cherry pie and a good cup of coffee. You get the picture—doughnuts have their place in popular culture.
They’ve also been on the mind of nutrition specialists and doctors, who generally advise against eating too many of these sweet and tasty rings of dough fried in oil. But seeing how we’re not the stereotypical girls and boys in blue here, or doctors for that matter, our interest in doughnuts comes from a completely different place. Apparently, there are two ways to spell the word—doughnut and donut—and it’s sometimes not completely clear which of the two spellings is the correct one.
The simple answer to this question is they both are. Doughnut is the original spelling, which means it’s the older one, having appeared in the early nineteenth century. If you pick up a dictionary, any dictionary, you’ll find doughnut.
But it’s also very likely you’ll find donut, too. It might be listed as an alternate spelling, and some dictionaries might make it very clear that it’s a spelling mostly used in the United States. Donut, the simpler spelling of the word, first appeared around sixty years after the longer version, and it started gaining traction by the first half of the twentieth century.
Style guides, however, will occasionally list doughnut as the preferred spelling, so it might be better to forgo the shorter spelling unless you’re sure the donut in your writing will not be flagged as a mistake.
What is a doughnut, or donut, if you will? It’s a small lump of dough, which was originally fried in fat. So you can see where the “dough” in doughnut comes from. The “nut” part is actually a different way of saying “a small lump.” Originally, the name of the treat was dough boy.
Donut is a simplification of the original spelling, and as such, it’s completely in the spirit of the American version of the English language. Noah Webster, the godfather of American lexicography, was a strong supporter of spelling reform. If you look at American English and British English today, you’ll see that the former has a strong tendency to prefer the simpler spellings of words.
Lastly, it’s possible to find a correlation between the rise of the simpler spelling and the rise of Dunkin’ Donuts. But while they might get the credit for popularizing it, Dunkin’ Donuts didn’t invent the simpler spelling. In fact, bakeries have been using it since the 1920s.
There are very few things more annoying than a glaring grammar error in an otherwise acceptable piece of writing.
As lovers of language, you and I have a natural instinct to fix these errors. How do we deal, for example, with declarations that tweak our nose?
“I like her to.”
“Its a cold day.”
Seriously, people?!
Sometimes these grammar hiccups seem engineered to drive us up a wall, and they begin to take on a sinister quality. We encounter them over and over, and start to wonder if the writers are purposefully taunting us. Do they not understand that there are specific rules applied to how one writes? Have they never attended an English class? Do they not see that the very fabric of the Universe is at stake?
And from this rift, the troll inside of us emerges.
We find ourselves scouring Facebook posts, text messages, comment boards, and blogs. We find each typo, each error, and drag it out of the narrative like some slimy thing. We expose these abominations to the holy, cleansing light of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. Then, for each infraction, we admonish the offender with an online version of a ruler crack across the knuckles.
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But it’s surprising how many of these enforcers stalk the Internet. Whenever they pop up to scold someone’s grammar in chat, or Facebook, they evoke a high school, “Mean Girls” atmosphere. The correction becomes a tacit, “I’m smarter than you.” The conversation quickly degenerates into a digital tarring and feathering that echoes a pseudo-erudite desire to anger or shame the “offender.” It rarely ends well, even in the best of circumstances, and the original point becomes lost in the absurd volley of angry posts.
Other grammarians take a different tack. They choose to say nothing, and sail blithely through the chaotic sea of mangled spelling and misused phrases. This alternative isn’t much better. If we love language, shouldn’t we try to preserve it? Is it not our duty to stamp out the weed-like errors we find before they spread? Is there no middle ground here?
My grandmother always said, “Show them what you want, don’t tell ‘em.” Envision the magic that can happen when one brave soul quietly sits down and types a beautiful sentence. If this is a battle you want to fight and win, I suggest the path of the quiet good example. Write well. Respond correctly. Use the correct capital letters in your posts, place commas appropriately in your texts, and think twice about the apostrophes in your blogs.
Remember that shame is a weapon, not a teaching tool. Using shame in the context of “helping” another writer creates a breakdown in communication. That’s the very thing we’re trying to avoid.
Most issues can be resolved with good proofreading. Online writers are often in a hurry and are unaware that they have broken a grammar rule. So show them how it’s done in your own writing. When you lead by example, you might be surprised how many people begin to replace a misplaced “to” with a “too.”
You’ve hurt no one in the process, and your karma’s clean.
As life changes go, quitting a job ranks among the most exhilarating and terrifying. It’s a leap into the unknown, regardless of whether you’ve got a new position all lined up or you’re leaving to begin the hunt for new opportunities. Here are seven expert tips to take a little of the stress out of your transition and help you quit your job with class.
Job stress can cause us to make impulsive decisions. It’s a good idea to take a step back and get a little perspective before you decide to jump ship. Take time to weigh the pros and cons of leaving. Is looking for a new job the best option? Can you afford the down time?
If you already have a new job in your sights, how does it compare to your present position? Keep in mind that money isn’t necessarily the only factor you’ll need to weigh; things like benefits, commute time, and opportunities for advancement are also critical. If you’re not certain about your new job prospects, you may want to determine whether your current job can be salvaged before you call it quits.
If you have an employment contract, now is the time to look at it and see if you’re required to give a certain amount of notice. If you’re not contractually obligated to give more, two weeks’ notice is customary.
If your job requires very specific skills, and you know there’s no one available to readily replace you, it’s good form to give more notice. That way, your employer will have more time to bring in someone new and get that person trained.
Before you tell your boss that you’re leaving, draft a resignation letter. Treat the resignation letter as a legal document terminating your employment. It will likely go in your HR file and become a permanent part of your record.
Don’t burn bridges! You may well have criticism for your boss or the company, but save constructive feedback for your exit interview. Your resignation letter should be straightforward and positive. Tell your boss that you intend to resign and when your last day will be. Discuss any transition plan you have or are willing to make. Thank your boss for the opportunity. You don’t owe anyone a detailed explanation about why you’ve chosen to move on, so keep it simple.
Yes, the conversation may be difficult. And yes, you’ve carefully crafted a resignation letter that iterates the same news. Even so, it’s best to tell your boss that you’re leaving in person.
Keep the meeting professional. Future employers are likely to contact your boss for a reference. And, even if you’ve already found a new job, remember that you’re not the only one who makes career changes. You may well encounter your boss somewhere down the line. It’ll be better for both of you if, the last time you worked with him or her, you left on good terms.
Once you’ve informed key players like your boss and HR, it’s time to let your co-workers know that you’re leaving. Anyone you work closely with deserves your personal touch. Don’t leave folks to wonder and speculate when they see you packing your desk.
It’s a good idea to thank your mentors and anyone who’s helped you along your career path personally, too. A handwritten thank-you note is a kind, memorable gesture.
Remember, social media has eyes everywhere, so it’s important to leave on good terms with your colleagues. You’ll be counting on them for things like LinkedIn recommendations and references.
Some employers will ask you to make a transition plan. Even if they don’t, you should have at least a rudimentary plan to help someone fill your role if your tasks are particularly complex. After all, no one else understands your day-to-day process like you do. Here’s what The Muse recommends that a simple transition plan include.
If you’re training someone to replace you, remember to keep your interactions instructive and positive. Even if you’ve had some challenges with your company or supervisor, now isn’t the time to share them. Grumbling about your job responsibilities to the trainee who is about to fill them will only leave him or her with bad feelings. Instead, try to impart some wisdom to help the trainee meet the challenges you faced. Making work life better for the next person should be your goal.
Leaving a job once you’re established can be a more involved project than you might imagine. If your company has a human resources department, be prepared to ask questions. Before you leave, make sure you look into any benefits you may be entitled to, such as unused PTO. Figure out what happens to your 401(k) and sort out how things like health insurance are handled.
Some companies will conduct an exit interview. Although this is a good time to give feedback about what the company can do to retain employees, remember again to keep it constructive. You may encounter your boss or others from your company down the road, so scorched earth policies are never a good idea. It can be helpful to prepare in advance for exit interview questions, especially if you’re aware that you’ll be personally interviewed rather than asked to fill out a survey. The Balance offers a sampling of exit interview questions you can expect.
Best of luck with your new career venture!
How the Grammar Girl Team Answers All Those Grammar Questions
Guest post by Ashley Dodge
English is a complex, complicated, and often confusing language. It seems as if everyone, at one time or another, needs help with grammar. As Grammar Girl’s assistant, I’m lucky enough to help people find the answers to their grammar questions sent in by e-mail, whether it’s how to remember “affect” or “effect,” or how to use the semicolon.
We get a lot of the same grammar questions, and we also get tons of tips and podcast ideas straight from the e-mail we receive. Mignon and I work as a team to make sure we provide the right, or best, answers to people’s questions, and whenever I run into a particularly challenging or difficult question, I send it to Mignon.
Sometimes, however, there isn’t an answer. This is frustrating not only for me, but for the person who asked the question. A popular and frustrating question people ask is why we say “the Eiffel Tower,” but we don’t say, “the Buckingham Palace,” or why we say “I’m going to church,” but not “I’m going to museum.”
This is frustrating because we can tell you the answer to your specific question, and we can give you some guidelines about when to use determiners (“a,” “the”), but we can’t answer the question people want, which is “Why? Why do you need a determiner with countable singular nouns but not proper nouns?” Often people want the answer to that “Why?” question, and there isn’t one. It’s just one of the many examples of English’s complexity, complications, and confusion.
To support or find my answers to grammar e-mail, I start with Grammar Girl, of course! I search the Grammar Girl website, newsletters, and books. If I can’t find what I’m looking for in any of those sources, I do a Google search; search the dictionary; look through Garner’s Modern American Usage, the Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Stylebook, grammar blogs, books, or websites such as Grammarly; or search Google Ngram, which shows how often words or phrases are used in published books.
The latter source is fascinating and many people don’t know it exists. Grammar Girl has written about it, and when I use Google Ngram to support or find my answer, this is usually the first time people have heard of it.
You might think responding to grammar questions would be easy, but sometimes it’s difficult to craft a polite response to someone who, let’s say, has had an ongoing debate about a specific grammar issue, and the side the writer has chosen is wrong. People don’t like to hear that they’re wrong or are going to lose a bet. I always try to keep a friendly, conversational tone. Mignon wants to provide a comfortable, supportive, and friendly place where you don’t have to worry about us making a comment if you make a grammar mistake. That’s what I try to create.
What’s the best part about answering grammar e-mail? It’s rewarding to know you’re helping people. I find that I’ve learned more myself about grammar, language, usage, and writing just by answering people’s questions.
About the Author
Ashley Dodge is Grammar Girl’s assistant, and a writer, social media manager, and lifestyle blogger. She lives in Reno, Nevada where she graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She enjoys knitting hats and having her pug model them. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram, and visit her blog.
You can follow Grammar Girl on Facebook and Twitter, and head to the Quick and Dirty Tips website to sign up for the weekly Grammar Girl newsletter, podcast, and tips.
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the Grammarly team polled more than 1,700 Facebook fans on what piece of punctuation they are most “thankful” for in their writing.
The semi-colon, em-dash, and period, were top contenders; yet, overwhelmingly we learned that English writers are most thankful for the comma.
Although writers enjoy the comma, many do not know how to use it. Misuse of commas is among the top grammar mistakes that writers around the world are making, according to a recent audit of English writers conducted by the Grammarly team. And there are many ways to misuse a comma:
There are 28 different types of comma mistakes that English writers can make. Yet, not including a comma before a coordinating conjunction—and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet—is six times more common than any other!
This poll is part of a series that Grammarly is running aimed at better understanding how the public feels about writing, language learning, and grammar.
Please take the poll and share your thoughts in the comments. We can’t wait to hear from you!
If you are interested in more, check out last week’s poll.
I just wrote this sentence three times—twice to change the direction of my opening monologue, and once to fix some structural errors. I did all that picking and all those rewrites before I even wrote another sentence. It took me about five minutes.
Why did I fiddle so long with one sentence? I have a hard time getting my internal editor to quiet down, so I developed the habit of self-editing as I write. Yes, I eventually got the result I wanted, but it took more time than necessary and my writing ground to a halt while I was doing it. If picking at your writing sentence-by-sentence before you’ve even finished a first draft slows you down and makes you feel less creative, you may want to break the habit. You’ll not only stay more productive, but you’ll keep in the flow so you don’t lose a single bit of inspiration.
Of a number of scribes I hobnob with, I have only one writer friend who doesn’t complain about being unable to get out of her head and just get the words down. (She’s also very prolific. Make of that what you will.) Many of us, when we sit down to write, hear the voice of an inner critic rattling around inside our heads. My voice is so familiar and persistent that I’ve named him the editor demon—Ed for short. But just because I’ve given him a nickname doesn’t mean I think he’s cute. Quite the contrary, sometimes I wish he’d just shut up and let me write.
How do we muzzle our internal editors long enough to get some writing done? Many writers will tell you it’s a lifelong struggle. But there are a few techniques you can try to help you stay in the writing zone and leave editing for later.
Part of learning to get along with Ed (you can name your editor demon Phil or Susan or whatever you like, but for continuity’s sake I’ll stick with Ed) comes with embracing the knowledge that first drafts are inherently messy.
Think of your brain in terms of a cluttered closet. You can’t find anything you’re looking for, but you know it’s in there somewhere. What’s the first step to cleaning out a closet? You take everything out and dump it someplace where you can go through it, scrap what’s not useful, sort what is, and put everything back in a logical order, tidying as you go.
The drafting process is the act of emptying your mental closet into a big, messy, jumbled pile. Only after you take inventory of everything you have can you actually start assembling your thoughts into something that makes sense and reads cleanly. So, whenever you catch Ed nagging you as you’re dumping words onto the page in your first draft, stop him. Remind him that you’ve got to get everything out of your brain closet first before you can tidy it all up. Then get back to writing.
CBT stands for cognitive behavior therapy, a rather broad term for certain behavior recognition and modification techniques used in psychological therapy. But you don’t have to be in therapy to put the power of CBT strategies to work for you. All it involves is the ability to recognize when you’re being too critical of your performance. Then, when you catch your inner critic giving you a hard time, you employ a little positive and rational self talk to get your mind back on track.
Let’s say you’re working on a piece of fiction and Ed simply won’t stop interrupting your writing jam to pick apart your work. He tells you that your writing is bad, and that you need to go back to fix it before you can carry on. Here’s how you might use CBT to silence his nagging voice.
This first draft sucks—nothing is going right! My writing is horrible and I’m just spinning my wheels. I should give up.
First drafts are born to be bad! Your writing isn’t horrible, it just needs polishing. You’ll edit later and everything will fall into place. Don’t give up. You’ve got this!
It sounds simplistic, but it works. Self-compassion has proven to be a more effective learning tool than self-criticism, but too often, we let our inner critics get away with bullying us. Would you critique a dear friend by telling him his first draft sucks? Of course you wouldn’t; you’d make a point of giving constructive feedback. Treat yourself with the same care and respect. You deserve it!
A teacher of mine always said, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning.” She was right, too. When we treat our mistakes as a learning tool—that “teachable moment” you’re always hearing about in corporate culture—you’re more likely to grow and improve. People who think that success comes through hard work and dedicated practice are more likely to learn from their mistakes than those who think talent is innate and you either have it or you don’t.
When you’re being too self-critical, remind yourself that every mistake you make is an opportunity to learn. Brush Ed off your shoulder and tell him, “Quiet! I’m learning here.” Then, continue dumping that jumble of stuff into your draft, making glorious mistakes, confident in the knowledge that you’ll clean everything up when you’re done, and you’ll learn something in the process.
Self-editing as you write isn’t always bad, especially if you’ve learned not to be negative about it. If you’re capable of fixing your writing on the fly without beating yourself up, it could be that you’ve developed a level of comfort and competency that allows self-editing to work for you. Although it took me a while to write that all-important first sentence, once it was out of the way the rest of my article flowed smoothly, with a little editing here and there as I went. Better yet, when I was finished, all I needed was a quick proofreading pass and I was done. If you’re the sort of person who can edit as you write without feeling frustrated and creatively stifled, then go ahead and enjoy your writing superpower.
But Ed isn’t always welcome at my deskside. Sometimes, particularly when you’re digging into more emotional writing such as fiction or poetry, you don’t want to be interrupted by a pesky editor demon telling you that you’ve got to fix that typo or rework that sentence structure right now. When Ed won’t stop his endless critical chatter, just use the techniques I mentioned here. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and remind yourself that mistakes are part of writing a first draft. Now, write on! You’ve got this.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re either a writer or a person who frequently comes into contact with the written word. You might be a journalist who writes articles, a blogger who writes blog posts, a student who writes term papers, or an activist who writes grant proposals. As long as your life includes at least an occasional putting of a pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, you know how important it is to proofread everything you write. You also probably know how tough it can be sometimes.
There’s a great article on Wired explaining why catching your own mistakes is such a challenging task. The fact that your brain is responsible for both the writing and the proofreading works against you, as does the tendency to simultaneously look for errors in spelling, grammar, and meaning. Still, people find ways to do it, and with a little help from only five tips, you will too.
1 Get All the Help You Can Every good word processor has an integrated spelling checker, and you shouldn’t be afraid to use it. Better yet, you can enlist the help of specialized proofreading software. You can’t rely on these tools completely because they might not have the proofreading capabilities of a human. But some tools get close. Ours does, and we’re not saying it because we want to sing our own praises. It’s just a statement of fact.
2 Go Into Proofreading Prepared When Roy Peter Clark suggests something, writers around the world take heed. When he says you should keep a list of the most common language errors you are prone to making, you should create it right away. The list might be helpful in the process of writing, but in the process of proofreading, it’s invaluable. It’s the kind of list that’s populated with “to” and “too,” “there,” “their,” and “they’re,” and similar errors.
Having a broader checklist of specific errors to look for in a text is also recommended. Parallelisms, split infinitives, grammar, and sentence structure issues should all be a part of a checklist you should go through every time you proofread. If you don’t want to develop one on your own, you can find great ones online.
3 Trick Your Brain We tend to be better at proofreading texts we are familiar with, as opposed to texts we see for the first time. However, the kind of familiarity you get when you read something once or twice before proofreading it and the kind of familiarity you get when you create your own text are not the same. The former is beneficial and the latter is not, so you need to trick your brain into the sweet spot of familiarity when you want to proofread your own work.
There are a couple of things you can do. First, put some temporal distance between the acts of writing and proofreading. Second, proofread a hard copy instead of a computer file, if you can. Either way, change the font, the size of the letters, even the number of columns in your text. Change the color of the letters. Whatever you need to do to make it look and feel different, do it.
4 Read Out Loud Reading out loud can actually increase the accuracy of your proofreading. Try reading the text in silence first, especially if you’re not reading your own work, and then reading it once more out loud.
5 Divide and Conquer You can’t take a text and proofread it in only one pass. Well, you can, but the results won’t be that good. You should do a few passes instead, each time concentrating on one specific thing. Here’s an example: First, make sure the editing process is completed and that there are no issues with clarity, style, or structure. It’s rarely a good idea to proofread and edit at the same time, as you’ll probably get a poorly edited, poorly proofread text in the end.
Start with reading the text, out loud, as mentioned in the previous tip. That will help you catch some errors, such as missing or double words. Get your list of common mistakes and check for them in the text. Follow that with a grammar check. If you followed tip number two, you probably have a list of things you need to check—things like grammar issues related to the use of verbs and pronouns, for example. So you check your text for those issues. While you’re at it, you can check sentence structures for errors. Next, move on to checking punctuation. You can highlight each punctuation mark in the text, look at it carefully, determine whether you need it or not, whether it’s placed correctly, and whether it should be replaced with another punctuation mark.
Finally, check the spelling. One of the best ways to do that is to read the text backward, word by word. That way, you will minimize the chances of your brain processing the whole sentence instead of a single word, so start with the very last word in the text, and move to the left and upward until you reach the first word. By the time you’ve done it, you’ll have an error-free text in front of you and the whole of 2016 to reap the benefits of knowing how to proofread efficiently and effectively. Have a good one!
Every November, wordsmiths around the globe take on the ultimate writing challenge—to crank out a 50,000-word novel in just thirty days. The event is called NaNoWriMo (an acronym for National Novel Writing Month), and last year it drew 431,626 participants. Although the format is meant to encourage quick, seat-of-your-pants writing, the words writers churn out during the annual event aren’t necessarily for naught. So far, over 250 NaNoWriMo novels, including Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, have been published by traditional book publishers.
It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this!
Are you planning to write a novel in November? Although NaNoWriMo challenges writers to write hard and fast without stopping to edit or check grammar, that doesn’t mean you have to set out unprepared. The Grammarly team thought it would be fun to arm you with some writing tips and words of encouragement so you’ll be well prepared for your adventure. During the month of October, we’ll share a series of writing advice articles to get you geared up and ready to tell your tale.
How do you get ideas for a story? Cultivate curiosity!
It’s possible that you’re thinking about writing a novel in November and you still haven’t decided what to write about. Now is the perfect time to start planting the seeds of ideas and seeing what will take root. But how do you find those idea seeds? By cultivating curiosity.
Every child’s curiosity has gotten her into trouble at one point or another. It starts by thinking: what would happen if I did X? What would happen if I touched that hot stovetop? What would happen if I set my goldfish free? What would happen if I jumped from the top of the stairs? Would I fly? Fortunately, with age comes common sense—we stop burning our fingers, sending our goldfish to the sewers, and fracturing our tibias trying to feed our curiosity. Unfortunately, those painful lessons—not to mention nagging parents and teachers—cause us not only to stop trying to answer silly questions but to stop asking them in the first place.
This month, start asking silly questions again. (Don’t jump! Answer that “would I fly” question in writing, please.) No one writes well in a vacuum, so challenge yourself to get out and observe humans in their natural (and unnatural) habitats. Go to a park, a concert, a political rally, anywhere you can people-watch, and then start asking questions. That sad-looking man in a business suit sitting on the park bench with a newspaper in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other—what’s his story? Why does he look so sad? Has he suffered a loss? What kind of loss? Was it his job? His wife? Millions of dollars in the stock market? What’s in the brown paper bag? Is it something that will complicate things for him? What would happen if he slept on the park bench tonight?
While you’re out on your field trip, carry a small notebook so you can write down what you observe and ask all the silly questions you want. Note the sounds you hear, the smells, the sights. But most of all, notice people and start asking yourself what their stories might be and what would happen if . . . You don’t have to have real answers—create them!
Be “curioser and curioser.”
“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). ―Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Now that you’ve got notes, it’s time to think about whose story you might want to tell. While you were out, which people intrigued you and made you ask the most questions? Make up names for them. Make up pasts. Make up character profiles (here’s a fun worksheet) about their likes and dislikes, their bad habits, and their biggest flaws—the things that will really get them into trouble. All fiction evolves from getting characters into trouble and then testing those characters as they work their way through it to come out on the other side a changed person. (More on this in a future article.)
Does one of the characters you invented stand out and make you eager to learn more? Does one of them keep popping up in your daydreams or keep you lying awake long after you should be asleep? That’s the one you want to write 50,000 words about come November. Let him or her rattle around in your head for a while and become real.
In President Obama’s final State of the Union address, he included a call on Americans to use their “voices of unarmed truth and unconditional love,” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called them. Dr. King’s legacy lives on not only in Obama’s speech but also in the minds and hearts of Americans as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday of January each year. The following three books are touching reminders of the life of this exceptional activist, humanitarian, and civil rights leader.
I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World by Martin Luther King Jr.
This book collects what Coretta Scott King described as “many of what I consider to be my husband’s most important writings and orations.” Among the pieces in the book are “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the essay “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence,” and his last sermon, “I See the Promised Land.” The sections are ordered chronologically to follow the history of the civil rights movement and other events. The introduction is by James M. Washington, the editor of the book.
Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr.
Strength to Love is a collection of Dr. King’s sermons about his philosophy of nonviolence, his vision of Christianity, and his sense of social justice. Coretta Scott King wrote the foreword, saying, “If there is one book Martin Luther King Jr. has written that people consistently tell me has changed their lives, it is Strength to Love.”
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Clayborne Carson (Editor)
This first-person account of Dr. King’s life is woven from collections of unpublished writings, interviews, and correspondence from Stanford University’s collection of archival material. Clayborne Carson, a historian and documentarian, compiled these materials into a book that supplements Dr. King’s other autobiographies Stride Toward Freedom and Where Do We Go From Here. Carson’s book takes readers from Dr. King’s birth in Atlanta in 1929 through his entire life story and illustrates the moral courage that sustained him through the most difficult times.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day gives us the opportunity to reflect on the great courage of this iconic leader. Some may only know him as the leader of the civil rights movement, but reading his works gives us insight into his beliefs and the passion that guided his life.
At a professional conference in 2014, Clive Thompson, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, presented “The Pencil and the Keyboard: How The Way You Write Changes the Way You Think.” In this session, he claimed that handwriting was better than typing in certain situations and vice versa. One attendee, Eric Peters, decided to explore the issue further in the article “Keyboard vs. Pen: What’s the Best Way to Take Notes?” Before reading on, think about how you would answer that question, and then examine his research below.
Researchers Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer conducted an experiment to see whether people would remember more after taking notes by hand or on a keyboard. They instructed half of the participants to write their notes with pen and paper. The other half used keyboards. In each of their trials, the people who wrote notes by hand remembered more of the information. Why?
The answer has to do with a mental process called synthesis. As you listen to a lecture, for example, you can’t write fast enough to record every single word of speech. To compensate, your brain decides which information is most important, and that’s what you write down. That’s synthesis. Have you heard the expression “in one ear and out the other”? Rather than discarding everything, your brain synthesizes information, thus making it easier to recall than non-synthesized information would be.
Typing, on the other hand, allows you to record the lecture almost verbatim, but it actually results in less synthesis, which results in less retention. Scientific American explains: “When typing, students can easily produce a written record of the lecture without processing its meaning, as faster typing speeds allow students to transcribe a lecture word for word without devoting much thought to the content.”
Not everyone agrees that handwriting is the best option for notes. In a Thought Catalog blog, Zoe Annabel lists four ways typing may be preferable to handwriting. Her number three reason is efficiency. Typing may be better if the goal isn’t memory retention. For instance, rather than studying for an exam, perhaps you are taking minutes at a business meeting. If you plan to file the document afterward, you can always consult your notes later to find the information you need. In that case, fast typers would capture more details than someone taking notes by hand.
Another benefit of typing is neatness. Or as Zoe Annabel puts it, “typing is prettier.” Are you sharing the notes with someone? If your handwriting isn’t exactly neat, others reading the notes would probably appreciate a typed copy rather than a handwritten one. What about spelling, punctuation, and grammar? Many word processing programs come with a spelling checker or grammar checker that can help you catch misspelled words or other writing errors. Some programs even guess what you are trying to type after a few keystrokes! In short, when communicating with others, typing may be your best option.
What do you think of the research? Is it true in your case? Let us know in the comments: Do you take notes on paper or digitally?
On January 12, Grammarly launched its third annual scholarship essay competition, encouraging students to share their thoughts on one of two writing prompts:
We received an overwhelming response from students of all ages, in all disciplines. After perusing your essays, Grammarly is delighted to announce the $1,000 scholarship winner: Elizabeth Woolf.
Elizabeth shared how spoken word poetry empowered her to develop her poetic voice. Her poetry is about “simple and complex thoughts; from [her] obsession with lakes, red doors, airport security, and sweatshirt hugs, to [her] puzzlement with the passage of time.”
Congratulations, Elizabeth! You certainly have a way with words.
To all of the participants in this year’s scholarship competition: Thank you for sharing your personal thoughts and anecdotes. The Grammarly team enjoyed reading each essay, and we encourage each of you to keep on writing.
You feel great after finishing a project, but then someone else takes the credit. What should you do? If you lose your cool, you could lose your job. Don’t run the risk! Let’s look at three scenarios and some strategies that can help you turn a bad situation into a favorable one.
You collaborate with a coworker on a project. Later, you overhear your boss commend your colleague: “What a fantastic job! You must have devoted a lot of thought and effort to this task.” You expect your coworker to say they couldn’t have done it without you, but instead he just smiles and says thanks. How will you ever get ahead if your colleague steals your thunder?
Suggestion: First of all, don’t assume that your coworker intentionally deprived you of your due honor. Perhaps he’s nervous around your boss, or he thought that your boss would commend you personally. However, you don’t have to be passive just because your colleague is. Why not give yourself some credit? Approach your boss privately. Ask him for feedback about the task. You might say something like, “I was wondering if you were satisfied with how the project turned out, or if you needed me to make a few tweaks.” When he expresses surprise, modestly explain your role and your investment in the project’s success. And, lest you become a hypocrite, mention an essential contribution of your colleague too.
What if your fellow worker took credit for your work on purpose? Suppose you discovered that she lied to claim your writing as her own. You might be tempted to shout and break things, but that won’t do any good. How can you cope?
Suggestion: For published pieces, alert your colleague to her tendency to “borrow.” You might even use a report from a plagiarism detection program as evidence. If your work hasn’t been published, why not give her a chance to come clean? Not everyone agrees on the definition of plagiarism. She might feel that changing a few words makes the writing her own. However, all is not lost. In an email or in person, tactfully point out that her writing closely resembled the work that you prepared. If she admits her guilt and agrees to rewrite the piece, you can move past the incident in peace.
On the other hand, she might deny it. Consider the case of Kaavya Viswanathan. When this Harvard student faced charges of plagiarism, she claimed it was “unconscious.” Her story fell apart, literally, when her publisher found out that she copied several passages of her novel from different sources. The publisher gave her the boot and immediately pulled the book out of stores. So even if you can’t prove it this time, you can prepare yourself to respond if your coworker tries the same trick again. Take preventive measures by considering how your associate managed to get her hands on your work. Do you need to update your passwords? Lock your desk drawers? Send early drafts of important documents to your boss for review. If Stealy McGrabby tries to take credit for the work later, she will be caught red-handed.
What if the thief isn’t a colleague? What if the thief is your boss? People may steal ideas during brainstorming sessions, when ideas are bouncing all over the place. What happens when he acts as if he came up with the idea by himself?
Suggestion: In these types of situations, you shouldn’t be too offended if the idea-stealer uses your idea. He may not remember who said what, only that he was inspired! Limit the ideas you share at work if you don’t want them to be “company property.” For example, imagine you have a killer idea for an invention. Some businesses specify in the contract that anything you develop during the time you work for them belongs to the company. You might decide to keep your most creative thoughts to yourself until you have the freedom to develop it without anyone else laying claim.
Is there any other way you can deal with the situation without risking your position? In 1999, the Center for Academic Integrity concluded that honor codes that promote “honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility” make a significant difference in the behavior of students. The study further revealed that engagement influences how effective an honor code is. In one test, one group of students read an honor code before taking a test. The second group signed the code attesting that they read and understood it. While the first group was less likely to cheat than students with no honor code, the second group had no instances of cheating at all! What can you do to encourage others to be honest and fair when it comes to taking the credit? Perhaps it’s as simple as making them aware that it’s the right thing to do.
When Saint Patrick’s Day rolls around, everyone embraces a little Irish spirit. Sporting shamrocks and shillelaghs and wearing a bit o’ green, friends come together to celebrate this most Celtic tradition — and no one celebrates like the Irish!
Given the enthusiasm with which America endorses this holiday, perhaps it’s no surprise that Irish culture has blended so happily with American pop culture. In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, here are a few examples of Irish wisdom and sayings that have come to be part of modern culture.
May the Road Rise Up to Meet You
Chances are you’ve seen this famous blessing stitched on a pillow at your Irish granny’s house or emblazoned on a plaque hung near her door. This blessing is a nod to the Celtic fondness for using symbols from nature to illustrate God’s relationship with man. Historians believe that invoking imagery, such as a welcome breeze or the warm sun, made the concept of an all-powerful Christian god more easily understood by common folk.
It Is Often That a Person’s Mouth Broke His Nose
Sure, this one plays into the stereotype of an Irishman’s passion for brawling, but this good advice applies to everyone equally. If you don’t want a punch in the nose, don’t shoot off your mouth. Words to live by, Erin go bragh.
A Son Is a Son ‘Til He Takes Him a Wife. A Daughter’s a Daughter All of Her Life
This nugget of wisdom — that any mother of sons will understand — comes from the New Testament in the Gospel of Mark: For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife…and they shall be as one flesh. It took the Irish, however, to turn it into a snappy little rhyme.
The Older the Fiddle, the Sweeter the Tune
This charming sentiment has several subtle variations, but most recognize it to mean that most things improve over time, or that the best things in life are worth waiting for. This powerful idiom was immortalized in popular culture by Gus McCrae, the feisty hero of Larry McMurtry’s novel “Lonesome Dove.”
Slainte!
Pronounced slahn-sha, this classic Irish toast means “your health.” From the Gaelic word for “safe,” this pithy exclamation stands in for the wordier, “I drink to your good health.” To endear yourself to your Irish friends this St. Patty’s Day, grab a pint of Guinness at your local pub, clink bottles with your mates, and shout out a hearty, “Slainte!”
May the Cat Eat You and the Devil Eat the Cat
The Irish are masters of the elaborate curse, and you’ll really feel the burn if your Celtic acquaintance says this to you. Most save this double-barreled insult for the worst of characters. This one is considered worse than “May you have an itch and no nails to scratch it,” but not quite as bad as “May you be a load for four before the year is out,” with four referring to pall bearers at a funeral.
You’ll Never Plow a Field By Turning It Over in Your Mind
Many cultures have proverbs admonishing one that nothing gets done by just thinking about it. In fact, the Irish like this sentiment so much, they have several variations on the theme. Another popular Irish proverb along the same line is “There’s no use boiling your cabbage twice.”
There’s no denying the Irish have some of the most colorful idioms for imparting everyday folk wisdom and lore. This St. Patrick’s Day, celebrate Irish heritage — even if you can’t claim Irish ancestry — with a liberal sprinkling of common Celtic proverbs.
Do you have a favorite Irish proverb, prayer, or curse?
