Why Grammar Still Matters in Today’s Digital Age

Guest post by Matt Banner

Today’s digital age has brought back the craft of writing, but at a cost. With the rising popularity of hashtags, tweets, emoticons, and shorthand phrases like the ever-present “LOL,” it seems like good grammar has gone out the window. At the end of the day, does grammar still matter in this digital age?

For the foreseeable future, the answer is yes. While you can’t take ten steps on the Internet these days without running into a typo-ridden blog post or a social media post that looks like Freddy Krueger took his clawed hands to the language, there’s still a place for those who hold grammar in high regard.

6 Reasons Every Writer Should Adhere to Proper Grammar

Let’s take a look at six compelling reasons for using proper grammar, despite the rising tide of haphazard content flooding the Internet. No perfect blog post is complete without a healthy dose of pristine writing, so keep these reasons in mind.

1 Credibility and Reputation

We all seek to create an online persona that is respected by the community. To find success in that endeavor, we must build a reputation for accuracy and credibility. Unfortunately, poor grammar and spelling errors are not trademarks of a credible writer.

These types of issues reflect ignorance and carelessness and suggest the writer didn’t truly care about the quality of the post. In short, mistakes reflect poorly on your brand. If you want the respect and adoration of your readers, provide them with high-quality and polished content free of grammatical errors.

2 Maintain Professionalism

Nowhere in the list of grammar rules is there one that prohibits having fun with your writing. That being said, lazy writing and sloppy grammar are detrimental to any sense of professionalism you’re seeking to establish.

It doesn’t matter if your content is being read by your mother or by a corporate CEO—it should always be professional and well written.

3 Respect For Your Readers

At the end of the day, quality grammar is a sign of respect. It allows your writing to clearly and concisely deliver your message. Without it, you’re not respecting the time or the intelligence of your readers. Besides, if you’re sending it to someone who intends to publish it, your errors will simply slow down the process.

4 Clear Understanding

Proper grammar ensures that your message is delivered properly to the reader. A host of typos and grammatical errors will do nothing but cloud the ultimate purpose of your writing.

5 Convenience for Everyone Involved

Great content will inspire people to share it. If you neglect proper grammar, many people will be less inclined to share what you have to offer. They will feel embarrassed to share it because it might reflect poorly on their own reputation.

People will be more inclined to share your content if it’s well written and free of errors.

6Long-Term Posterity

Unless you take it down yourself, your writing can theoretically appear anywhere on the Internet. Once published, it will stay there for all to see. Do you want people to remember your post for its excellent content, or should they use it as a warning to those who dare to ignore the power of grammar?

Final Thoughts

While it may seem like the English language is slowly devolving, there are still plenty of people who cherish the time and effort spent on a well-crafted article or post. Grammar may not be as popular as Twitter, but it still deserves a place in the digital age. How do you keep good grammar alive? Let us know in the comments below!

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To all of the participants in our scholarship giveaway: Thank you!

The Grammarly team is impressed with the number of students who were interested in this scholarship giveaway. Here at Grammarly we are excited to see so many people passionate about investing in their education, and we want to continue helping to support your dreams! Keep your eyes peeled for more scholarship opportunities from Grammarly in the future.

Do You Understand the True Bard or the False? Some Shakespeare Etymologies

Guest post by Annie Martirosyan

There are a number of words in Shakespeare’s plays and poems which are deceptive to modern ears. They may seem familiar words but, in fact, camouflage a quite different meaning lost to modern English. In Linguistics, these words are called False Friends. A False Friend is a word which has kept its form but has strayed from its original sense (or was a completely different word) so that the modern English word is false when compared to the original sense or word. Shakespeare likes to extend the wordplay further by often deliberately using words in their older senses. Here are some False Friends to keep an eye on:

Bootless Now: without large shoes Shakespeare’s use/meaning: useless, making no better Historically, there were boot (1) and boot (2). Boot (1) as shoes dates back to the 13th century. Boots (2) is an older usage that first occurs in Beowulf in the sense of remedy, improvement, advantage. In Shakespeare, we encounter boots (2). So, when in Sonnet 29, the poet troubles ‘deaf heaven with [his] bootless cries’ or the Fairy tells us how Puck ‘bootless make[s] the breathless housewife churn (Midsummer Night’s Dream, II.i.37), we should read bootless as useless, in vain.

Doubt Now: hesitate Shakespeare’s use/meaning: not only hesitate, but also be afraid of, dread Usage of doubt in the sense that is predominant in Shakespeare’s works can be traced back to as early as 1200s. However, the meaning of hesitate was there in the ultimate Latin source dubitāre and related to dubious, hence the influence on the English loan word. In some Shakespearean contexts, these two close senses can be interpreted as contrary to each other. For example, when Bastard says, ‘Conduct me to the King; I doubt he will be dead or ere I come” (King John, V.vi.43-4), he fears the King will be dead before he arrives.

Excrement Now: waste matter discharged from the body Shakespeare’s use/meaning: broadly applying to any substances pushed from the body Now, that’s a naughty one! The word excrement is registered from 1533 in the sense we know today. But Shakespeare, the king of filthy puns, uses it in a completely new sense. Before you give vent to your imagination, when Armado brags regarding the King’s liking to ‘with his royal finger thus dally with my excrement’ (Love’s Labour’s Lost, V.i.98), he is referring to his growth of hair. Sounds filthier? Armado himself clarifies it in his next line, ‘my mustachio’ (V.i.99).

Happily Now: joyously, gaily Shakespeare’s use/meaning: primarily, perhaps Happy is first recorded in Chaucer’s House of Fame in the sense of fortunate, lucky, from the English hap — chance, fortune. The modern sense, again, derives from Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales). In most of Shakespearean contexts, we need to be aware of the sense of “hap” in happily, as Shakespeare uses it synonymously with “haply”. When Queen Margaret says to York that had he been the Regent in France, instead of Somerset, York’s fortune ‘might happily have proved far worse than his’ (Henry VI, Part 2, III.i.306), she is not being mean. Not yet.

Lover Now: someone you are in a sexual relationship with, usually illicitly Shakespeare’s use/meaning: friend Lover as friend precedes the modern meaning by a little over 100 years, with both dating back to the Middle English period. Shakespeare, however, punster that he is, uses lover almost exclusively in the old sense. If you do not know what he means, some Shakespearean situations can sound pretty awkward, to say the least. Lorenzo, for example, fervently puts a plug in for Antonio to Portia as ‘a lover of my lord your husband’ (The Merchant of Venice, III.iv.7). He means friend, whatever you make of Antonio. . .

Friend Now: a person you know well, love and regard Shakespeare’s use/meaning: primarily, lover Friend is an Old English word which appears in texts as early as Beowulf; it derives from the Proto-Germanic frijōjanan and is cognate with the verb to free. It started with the sense we know today, with a slightly extended application to someone we hold in regard or a relative. This generalized sense, too, is encountered in Shakespeare and creates a pun or two… Now that you know what Shakespeare has in mind, you are clued in when Lady Capulet tells Juliet to stop crying, ‘So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend / Which you weep for’, and Juliet replies that she is weeping for her beloved — not the relative, ‘Feeling so the loss, I cannot choose but ever weep the friend’ (Romeo & Juliet, III.v.74-7).

Merely Now: only Shakespeare’s use/meaning: primarily, completely, utterly Mere appears in English in late 1300s and ultimately derives from Latin merus — pure, clear. Shakespeare uses mere(ly) largely in its now obsolete sense of entire(ly) (1443) which a little over a century later was overtaken by the modern sense. The two senses can be quite conflicting in Shakespeare, unless you take into account the context. It is the old sense we should read in Rosalind’s famous ‘Love is merely madness’ (As You Like It, III.ii.383) or in Portia’s firm ‘He [Shylock] shall have merely justice and his bond’ (The Merchant of Venice, IV.i.336).

Sad Now: unhappy, upset Shakespeare’s use/meaning: serious; indifferent; sorrowful Sad dates back to the early Middle Ages in the sense of sated or tired and developed the more intense sense of sorrowful shortly afterwards. It was a short step from here to the sense of serious, through semantic associations. These senses are lost to modern English. What we should keep in mind is that sad in Shakespeare’s plays and poems has a more emphatic meaning than we assume. It is not for want of a better word that Richard II calls his jailer a ‘sad dog’ (V.v.70), i.e. indifferent, blank-faced. The sense of seriousness lies in the expression ‘in good sadness’, as in Baptista’s ‘Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio / I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all’ (The Taming of the Shrew, V.ii.63-4). And for the sense of intense upset, look out for Queen Margaret’s sharp tongue: ‘Farewell, York’s wife, and Queen of sad mischance! / These English woes shall make me smile in France’ (Richard III, Iv.iv.114-5).

Wink Now: briefly close the eyes to signal a meaning Shakespeare’s use/meaning: primarily, close the eyes Wink in the sense of close one’s eyes appears in around 1200s. Interestingly, the modern meaning — which is absent in Shakespeare — is first recorded about 1100. Shakespeare uses wink mainly to mean close eyes or sleep, the latter surviving in the modern idiom ‘to take forty winks.’ It is not difficult to guess what the enamored Goddess means: ‘Art thou ashamed to kiss? then wink again, / And I will wink; so shall the day seem night’ (Venus & Adonis, 121-2).

Learn Now: gain knowledge, information Shakespeare’s use/meaning: teach, inform This is one of the oldest English words of Germanic origin and was initially used in the sense we understand today. Learn is a fascinating example of a conflicting semantic development. The modern meaning is absent from the canon but the syntax of the sentence is usually a good cue for the reverse meaning of learn in Shakespearean contexts, as when Claudio thanks Don Pedro: ‘Sweet Prince, you learn me noble thankfulness’ (Much Ado about Nothing, Iv.i.28). And, unlike the spirit of this article, here is Caliban venting at Prospero: ‘[…] The red plague rid you / For learning me your language!’ (The Tempest, I.ii.364-5.1).

The list is not, of course, exhaustive. There are some hundred or so False Friends in Shakespeare. Reading Shakespeare with any medium size etymological dictionary (e.g., Chambers) or a good Shakespeare glossary (e.g., Shakespeare’s Words) at hand, would be no bootless task but befriend you with Shakespearean False Friends, merely!

Looking for more Shakespearean fun? Celebrate the Bard’s birthday with us by checking out our Shakespearean English quiz!

 

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About the Author Annie Martirosyan is a linguist and Shakespeare researcher, with a PhD in Philology. She has taught English language at university level and is a freelance translator, editor and reviewer. Annie has passion galore for Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, languages, words, words, words, literature, English churches and cathedrals, philosophy, etymology, folklore, British history and every single book of David Crystal who is her lifelong inspiration. She still reads fairy tales before bed.

Epistolary Novels, Finding Your Theme, and the Science of Good Writing

Can letter writing teach you how to write a novel? Can your socks help you identify a theme? What do neuroscientists have to say about writing? Find the answers by checking out these links to our favorite stories from around the web this week. Have something you’d like to see us cover here? Let us know in the comment section!

Our Favorite Stories:

1. Why Writing a Book Through Letters Is Beautiful and Wild (The Guardian)
2. Theme and the Power of Socks (The Writer)
3. 6 Scientific Tips to Improve Your Writing (Futurity)

Staff Book Picks of the Week:

The Marvels (Fiction) Brian Selznick

“Filled with mystery, vibrant characters, surprise twists, and heartrending beauty, and featuring Selznick’s most arresting art to date, The Marvels is a moving tribute to the power of story.”

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (Nonfiction) Elizabeth Gilbert

“Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work,  embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.”

Author & Illustrator Birthdays

George R. R. Martin — September 20, 1948

Stephen King — September 21, 1947

F. Scott Fitzgerald — September 24, 1896

Shel Silverstein — September 25, 1930

Andrea Davis Pinkney — September 25, 1963

 

5 Reasons to Have Someone Else Proof Your Resume

Guest Post from Brie Weiler Reynolds

It’s tempting, especially for those in writing professions, to assume you can proofread your own resume just as well as anyone else. After all, you know your work history, the message you’re trying to convey to employers, and how you want to convey yourself, right? There are, however, some very good reasons to have someone else proof your resume.

5) You may be too industry-centric. If your job is technical or includes lots of jargon, your resume may not make sense to general recruiters or human resource professionals who are often first-in-line to screen resumes before hiring managers will see them. Ask someone outside of your profession to read your resume and point out anything that they don’t understand. This may include abbreviations, certifications, or industry-speak.

4) You’re burying the lead. As the amazing professional you are, you probably think everything on your resume is very important, but few employers will see it this way. They expect the most important information to be at the top, just like in a news article. A Summary of Qualifications is where you should be writing your resume as an answer to the job description. Another set of eyes can help you pinpoint what’s important in that top area, and what can be shifted downward or removed.

3) Form is just as important as function. You may have a very well-written resume, but if it doesn’t look nice, you’ll lose valuable points with employers. Ask your more organized friends to help you clean up your resume. Remove unnecessary formatting, reorder information so it flows better, leave lots of white space, and wow employers with your easy-to-read, impressively simple document.

2) You just don’t know what else to cut. You may have a hard time keeping your resume to one page, and two pages can be acceptable provided all of the information is highly-relevant to the specific job for which you’re applying. But if you need to cut your resume to one page, yet you can’t choose anything to get rid of, a friend with a critical eye will help you separate the wheat from the chaff, concentrating the best parts of your resume onto one page.

1) You’ll never catch everything. It never fails–you’ve read your resume hundreds of times, but there’s always that one tiny, or sometimes not-so-tiny, mistake that falls into your blind spot. Other proofreaders will catch that one mistake you’re overlooking, saving you from countless employment rejections.

Having someone else (or many someones) proofread your resume is a valuable exercise for any professional. Make a list of your friends, family, and colleagues who can be counted on to be honest with you, and who have an excellent eye for detail and design. As with most parts of the job search, this important step is all about who you know.

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Brie Weiler Reynolds is the Director of Online Content at FlexJobs, the award-winning site for telecommuting and flexible job listings. FlexJobs lists thousands of pre-screened, legitimate, and professional-level work-from-home jobs and other types of flexibility like part-time positions, freelancing, and flexible schedules. Brie provides career and job search advice through the FlexJobs Blog and social media. Learn more at www.FlexJobs.com.

Meet the Dictionary’s New Words

From Merriam-Webster’s Peter Sokolowski, here’s the full list of words

(we added a few notations about why certain words were added, via the m-w.com press release):

aha moment n (1939) : a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension [Oprah Winfrey’s signature phrase]

brain cramp n (1982) : an instance of temporary mental confusion resulting in an error or lapse of judgment

bucket list n (2006) : a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying [popularized by the movie title]

cloud computing n (2006) : the practice of storing regularly used computer data on multiple servers that can be accessed through the Internet [technology]

copernicium n (2009) : a short-lived artificially produced radioactive element that has 112 protons

craft beer n (1986) : a specialty beer produced in limited quantities : microbrew

earworm n (1802) 1 : corn earworm 2 : a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind [“this summer’s example being the inescapable Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.”]

energy drink n (1904) : a usually carbonated beverage that typically contains caffeine and other ingredients (as taurine and ginseng) intended to increase the drinker’s energy

e-reader n (1999) : a handheld electronic device designed to be used for reading e-books and similar material

f-bomb n (1988) : the word fuck — used metaphorically as a euphemism

flexitarian n (1998) : one whose normally meatless diet occasionally includes meat or fish

game changer n (1993) : a newly introduced element or factor that changes an existing situation or activity in a significant way

gassed adj (1919) … 2 slang : drained of energy : spent, exhausted

gastropub n (1996) : a pub, bar, or tavern that also offers meals of high quality

geocaching n (2000) : a game in which players are given the geographical coordinates of a cache of items which they search for with a GPS device

life coach n (1986) :  an advisor who helps people make decisions, set and reach goals, or deal with problems

man cave n (1992) : a room or space (as in a basement) designed according to the taste of the man of the house to be used as his personal area for hobbies and leisure activities

mash-up n (1859) : something created by combining elements from two or more sources: as a : a piece of music created by digitally overlaying an instrumental track with a vocal track from a different recording  b : a movie or video having characters or situations from other sources  c : a Web service or application that integrates data and functionalities from various online sources [“Whether it’s a politician contradicting him or herself with excerpts from different speeches shown in quick succession or Danger Mouse’s Grey Album, mixing Jay-Z with the Beatles, we’ve come to expect combined and rearranged elements that bring new perspectives and new creativity to our culture with mash-ups,” says editor Sokolowski. “It’s a recent phenomenon, made possible with digital editing, and it has a fun and descriptive name.”]

obesogenic adj (1986) :  promoting excessive weight gain :  producing obesity

sexting n (2007) : the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone

shovel-ready adj (1998) of a construction project or site : ready for the start of work

systemic risk n (1982) : the risk that the failure of one financial institution (as a bank) could cause other interconnected institutions to fail and harm the economy as a whole [the global financial crisis]

tipping point n (1959) : the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place

¹toxic adj  (1664) … 4 : relating to or being an asset that has lost so much value that it cannot be sold on the market

underwater adj (1672) … 3 : having, relating to, or being a mortgage loan for which more is owed than the property securing the loan is worth

Read more: Meet the Dictionary’s New Words

5 More Endangered Words

New words come into use, old words slowly fade away. It’s a natural, all-too-familiar cycle. We’ve already covered words that may be headed toward extinction. Here are five more words in various stages of endangerment. But, who knows? Maybe some of them can still be saved—but should we save all of them?

Tag isn’t a word that’ll disappear anytime soon, as long as things still cost money and come with price tags. But in the United States, and in the state of Virginia especially, tag is a slang term for a pine needle. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, this meaning of tag might soon disappear, and it’s one of the fifty regional slang words they’ve included in their endangered words list. If more people using a word means the word is less likely to die out, tag and other dialectical words might need to go mainstream in order to survive.

While we’re on the subject of dialects, when whole dialects die out, they take plenty of words and expressions with them. Young people in the United Kingdom are not particularly interested in Cockney rhyming slang, so it’s foreseeable that in the future, phrases like apples and pears, meaning “stairs,” or china plate, meaning “mate,” might not be heard, except in old TV shows.

Often enough, we see a word disappear because the thing it was used for no longer exists. That’s what happened with drysalter. Drysalters were people who sold chemicals, and things like glue and paint. This profession existed up to the early twentieth century, but in 2011, Collins Dictionary decided that the word is so far gone it should be removed from their dictionaries.

Marvellous is having a hard time in the UK. According to a study performed by Lancaster University and Cambridge University Press, the word appeared in spoken English 155 times per million words just twenty years ago. Now, it’s down to two appearances per million words. The culprit seems to be the Brits’ willingness to adopt synonyms commonly used in American English. In this case, it’s awesome that’s taking the place of marvellous.

Some words fade from everyday language because of changing societal attitudes. Macalester College’s More Than Words Campaign aims to eradicate the use of certain words in an offensive context, including spaz. In the US, this word is fairly benign—it simply means “klutz.” But in the UK, it is a deeply offensive insult toward people with disabilities. So, maybe this is one that we should let go of.

What do you think? Should we keep marvelous, tag, and drysalter alive?

A Parallel Love Letter to Grammar

In honor of National Poetry Month, writer Antonella Gazzardi has contributed a poem about grammar for your reading pleasure!

Every weekday in April, we will be sharing a poem, an excerpt of poetry, or a feature on a poet. Our celebration will feature poetry from every era, and we ask our friends to join us throughout the month by sharing their favorite poetry under the tag #PoetryMonth.

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I was asked to write creatively about grammar.

As a gift to myself. To my passion. To my writing.

I was asked to write and give my creation

To my friend. To my mentor. To my inspiration.

I started an ode – got two words down.

I started an essay – got four words down.

I stared at the wall – got zero down.

I started free-writing – I got this down.

So let me just talk to you, grammar.

Let me just confess to you, dearest.

Last spring you reminded me how much I love you

When I tutored my first class and its little chickens

You worked hard to torture

Because you are a sadist

But I love you anyway.

This fall you made me realize I can’t live without you

While I tutored my last class and its little chickens

You insisted to torture

Because you insist on being a sadist

But I insist on loving you anyway.

I adore every single one of your limbs

Your phonology, your morphology, your sexy syntax.

I adore the complex workings of your brain

Phrases and clauses, adjectives and adverbs

Participles and gerunds.

Simple sentences

Compound sentences

Complex sentences

You are an absolute in my life!

With your bashful tiny commas

Your imperative exclamation points

Your uncertain questions marks

Your emphatic little dashes.

I so appreciated your gift of a wooden chair

Of an oak table

Of pen and paper

Of a role

That called me so loud

A role

That made me so proud

So I decided to marry you – would you marry me, grammar?

And then we’ll move to Tampa

To be absolutely happily ever after.

The end?

The beginning.

by Antonella Gazzardi

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About the Author

Antonella Gazzardi is from Italy, has been living in Orlando, FL since 2005, and is a graduate student in Applied Linguistics: ESL at the University of South Florida, Tampa. She has recently transferred there from a Master of Liberal Studies program at Rollins College, Winter Park, where she worked as a writing consultant and grammar tutor for two years, and where she interned as teaching assistant in Editing Essentials, core course on grammar and style in the English major, in the fall of 2014. In 2012, she worked as a freelance writer on Italian culture for Examiner.com.

Confusing Words: Versus vs. Verses

Versus:

meaning against (especially in sports and legal use); as opposed to, in contrast to. (Often abbreviated as vs.) For example:

The rivalry of the Green Monkeys versus the Blue Barracudas has raged for years.

I’m weighing the pros and cons of the white-and-gold dress versus the blue-and-black dress.

Verses:

meaning a kind of writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme; small sections of the Jewish or Christian Bible; several similar units of a song. For example:

Due to her writer’s block, the poet could only complete a few verses each day.

John 3:16 is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible.

I like this song, but the verses are hard to remember.

For explanations of other confusing word pairs read this blog post about the difference between then and than.

Spelled or Spelt?

The verb spell commonly means to write or name the letters making up a word in the right order. Spell is a verb with irregular and regular forms. Spelled and spelt are both common forms of the past tense and the past participle of spell, though with geographical differences.

Learn more about the details of this difference, as well as additional uses for spelt, below.

Spelled or Spelt—Which Is Correct?

An obvious place to start is the dictionary. You will find a few definitions for the verb spell. It can mean “to signify” or “to explain explicitly.” The definition in question is the one that deals with naming, writing, or signing the letters of a word in order. Searching spelled and spelt will yield invaluable information: both of these variants are used as the past tense of the verb to spell. Is this one of those British English versus American English spelling differences?

It’s true; the American English past tense form is spelled. In other varieties of English, both spelled and spelt are common. So, if you’re in the United States, you would probably write it like this:

The past tense of the verb “spell” can be spelled in two ways.

If you’re anywhere else, you might also write it like that, but you can also do it like this:

The past tense of the verb “spell” can be spelt in two ways.

Spelled in Phrases

Where you live dictates which form you use for the past tense of the verb spell. But remember, spell has other definitions besides the most common one, and it’s frequently used idiomatically to say that something “spells doom,” “spells trouble,” or “spells ruin.” It’s not the happiest bunch of expressions, but they can be useful. When it comes to using them, spelled may be the preferred choice throughout the world.

Similarly, spelt can be used in different ways. Namely, spelt is a particular kind of hulled wheat.

Spelled and Spelt—Examples

Considering local custom when choosing spelled or spelt can help you to get your point across without unnecessary distraction. In the United States, stick with spelled. Elsewhere, spelt is an acceptable option. Here are some examples from publications from different English-speaking countries:

Spare a thought for Katerina Johnson-Thompson, who when competing at the highest level of her respected field found her name spelt wrong on her official Rio 2016 racing bib.

—The Independent

The US sub-prime mortgage crisis that spelled ruin for thousands and left many homeless is not exactly a catchy subject for a Hollywood movie.

—The Daily Mail

The other remarkable aspect of Cotter’s life was his friendship with an aboriginal leader named Onyong, spelt in various ways.

—The Sydney Morning Herald

The “FeeJee Mermaid” (sometimes it’s spelled “Fiji Mermaid”), an amalgam of papier-mâché, fish and possibly monkey parts, and wood, is one of many artifacts…

—The Boston Globe

The title of Frank Ocean’s excellent and bizarre new release is spelled different ways in different official locations.

—The Atlantic

The 5 Most Famous Limericks and Their Histories

Edward Lear’s first influential limerick collection, A Book of Nonsense, hit bookstore shelves nearly 200 years ago. Lear didn’t invent the limerick, however; the snappy five-line poems probably sprang to life on the streets and in the taverns of 14th century Britain. Over time, people from all walks of life — children, scholars, drunks, beggars — have delighted in the witty limerick. Here’s a brief history of five of the world’s best-loved limericks.

Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory Dickory Dock showed up in ”

“Hickory dickory dock.

The mouse ran up the clock.

The clock struck one,

And down he run.

Hickory dickory dock.”

The Man from Nantucket

The Man from Nantucket serves as inspiration for limericks both dirty and pure. Perhaps you’ve even heard a “Rated X” ending to this story-starter. However, the original Nantucket limerick was quite tame. It appeared in Princeton University’s humor magazine, the ”

“There once was a man from Nantucket

Who kept all his cash in a bucket.

But his daughter, named Nan,

Ran away with a man,

And as for the bucket, Nantucket.”

Speaking of Geography . . .

Princeton wasn’t the only publisher of geographically themed limericks. Lear chose Peru as his muse at least once, as shown by the following:

“There was an Old Man of Peru

Who watched his wife making a stew.

But once, by mistake,

In a stove she did bake

That unfortunate Man of Peru.”

Lear’s story of the unlucky Peru gent blazed a path for hundreds of amateur Peru poems to come, many of which are less than chaste. Middle schoolers excel at crafting this kind of literature, from what we hear. Perhaps a Peru limerick or two lingers in your own adolescent memory.

Shakespearean Limerick

Even William Shakespeare practiced what some would call the lowest form of poetry. The following limerick about imbibing spirits appeared in “Othello, Act II, Scene III”:

“And let me the canakin clink, clink.

And let me the canakin clink.

A soldier’s a man.

A life’s but a span.

Why, then, let a soldier drink.”

The Bard also used limericks in “King Lear” and “The Tempest.”

Ogden Nash

Poet Ogden Nash coined the phrase, “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.” Some limerick fans insist he wrote the following limerick about a pelican:

“A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill can hold more than his beli-can.

He can take in his beak

Food enough for a week

But I’m damned if I see how the heli-can.”

This clever verse has also been attributed to Dixon Lanier Merritt, a humorist who lived at the same time. Nash died in 1971 and Merritt in 1972.

Crafting a Limerick

Limericks are “closed form” poems that adhere to a strict template. Want to write your own? Follow these guidelines:

• The last word in lines 1, 2, and 5 must rhyme and contain 8-9 syllables each.

• The last word in lines 3 and 4 must rhyme and contain 5-6 syllables each.

Of course, what fun are rules unless they’re broken — or at least bent — every once in a while? Consider this limerick by Zach Weiner of the comic “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal,” which coherently flows both backward and forward:

“This limerick goes in reverse

Unless I’m remiss

The neat thing is this:

If you start from the bottom-most verse

This limerick’s not any worse.”

Now we challenge you to write your own limerick. It’s fast, easy, and incredibly satisfying. What will yours be about?

10 Words That English Needs

A young man named John Koenig was trying to write poems. However, some emotions seemed difficult to express in words. He had the idea of creating words for these previously unnamed feelings in a dictionary. Thus, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows was born. He began a website and a web series on Youtube that introduced his words to the world. Now, people everywhere can contribute to the dictionary.

Ten of The Coolest Words

The dictionary has over a hundred entries. Here are ten of the most intriguing invented words. To which of them do you relate the most?

Lachesism is the desire to experience disaster—a hurricane, a plane crash, a shipwreck, etc.—in order to disturb the smooth and predictable path of your life and “forge it into something hardened and flexible and sharp.”

Exulansis is the inclination to avoid relating an experience until the memory begins to feel foreign to you.

Avenoir is the wish that memory could flow backward. The image conjured is of a rower facing backward in order to see the path that he is leaving. So much in life now is anticipation for the future. What if we could anticipate the past?

Altschmerz expresses the weariness you feel with the same old imperfections and worries. After “gnawing” them so long, they become “soggy and tasteless and inert.” Are you so tired of your flaws that you would welcome a fresh issue? You have experienced altschmerz.

Occhiolism is the acknowledgment that your perspective is truly limited, so much so that you can’t make any real conclusions about anything.

Liberosis is the desire to care less. If you worry about strangers crossing the street, whether the postman will bring the mail on time, and if you will still have all your favorite things in five years, you might wish for liberosis.

Vellichor is the odd melancholy and longing of secondhand bookstores. Aren’t they “somehow infused with the passage of time”? Think about it; all the characters whose stories you’ll never read in your lifetime. What thoughts captured will never be set free from their paper prisons?

Rückkehrunruhe describes how you feel after a long journey. The memories are so fresh, but already they are starting to recede as your everyday life rushes in to reclaim you.

Gnossienne is the flash of awareness that you really don’t know the people that you thought you knew best. Your spouse, your friends, your family members have a mysterious side of them that you will never fully discover. It’s like “a door locked from the inside, a stairway leading to a wing of the house that you’ve never fully explored…”

Anecdoche occurs when everyone talks but nobody listens. Each speaker contributes, but none of the pieces add up to anything. Eventually, there’s nothing left to say and anecdoche is over.

Can you relate to these obscure sorrows? Have you experienced your own unique emotions? You need not leave these sentiments unexpressed. If there is no word, invent one and submit it to John Koenig’s website. For those who long to see a book version rather than read about these feelings online, a book version is scheduled to be released in 2017. Wait a minute; is there a word for yearning for the texture of paper in your fingers in these increasingly paperless times?

Does spelling accuracy influence your opinion?

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.

Dragged or Drug—Which Is Correct?

The recognized and correct past tense form of the verb drag is dragged. Drug can still sometimes be heard, but only in certain dialects within the United States.

Sometimes, a group of people have a way of speaking that’s particular to them. It can be a phrase they’ve coined. It can be a bending of the generally accepted linguistic norms. It can be pronunciation, spelling, or grammar misinterpretations. And the criteria for membership to the group can differ as well—a group can be made up of people who were educated at the same institution. It can be made up of people who live in a single geographic region. It can be made up of people who share common ancestry, or political ideas, or social class—it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s a group and there’s a noticeable difference in the way they use language, we call it a “dialect.” Dialectical differences might be broad tendencies, like pronunciation, or specific quirks, like using drug as the past tense of the verb drag.

How to Use Drag and Past Tense of Drag

For the majority of English-speakers, drag is a regular verb used in a couple of different ways, but always having to do with movement. So we can say we drag ourselves home after work, we drag our dogs to the vet, or we drag our tables across the floor, but we can also drag a field or drag as in drag race.

Being a regular verb, the past participle of drag is made by adding the suffix -ed and doubling the g at the end of the infinitive. If you do all that, you get dragged, which is the widely accepted past tense of the verb drag. It’s also the verb’s past participle.

Where Does Drug Come From?

Drug is used in some American dialects as the past participle or past tense of the verb drag. It’s not one of those things where British English and American English differ—dragged is still the recognized past participle of the verb drag in the US. But, especially in some southern parts of the country, drag is sometimes treated as an irregular verb, and that’s where we get drug.

Which Form Should You Use?

Dragged is always the safer bet. If you live in or are passing through a town and you hear a lot of people saying drug, you can switch to it if you like. But all in all, drag is a regular verb, and there’s no need to complicate it.

Examples of Dragged

Two pilots were dragged out of the cockpit and arrested moments before their plane was set to take off over fears they were drunk. —NEWS.com.au

This is the extraordinary moment a passenger was dragged along a station platform after getting her hand stuck in a train door. —The Daily Mail

Terrified tourists in China were dragged screaming across a dizzying glass walkway—suspended hundreds of feet in the air over a canyon. —The Daily Mirror

Examples of Drug

She refused to exit the vehicle and was drug out of the vehicle. —Merrill Foto News

She wasn’t carried out of the house. She was drug out of the house. —Rapid City Journal

To that extent, Networx was handicapped out of the gate when the licensing process was drug out over 18 months by telecoms like Time Warner, which wanted to prevent Memphis from obtaining a competitive edge in the industry. —Memphis Flyer

This Week in Writing, 9/5-9/11

Do you ever worry that one day someone will invent a robot that puts you out of a job? If you happen to be a choose-your-own adventure novelist, that worry just might have become a little bit more real. Check out that story and a few other highlights from around the web this week. Have something you’d like to see us cover here? Let us know in the comment section!

Our Favorite Stories:

1. Georgia Tech’s AI Is a Choose-Your-Own Adventure Author (Engadget)
2. The Most Popular Books in U.S. Public Libraries, Mapped by City (Quartz)
3. How Corporate America Killed My Writing (The Washington Post)
4. Celebrate International Literacy Day (Grammarly)

 

Staff Book Picks of the Week:

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights (Fiction) Salman Rushdie

“From Salman Rushdie, one of the great writers of our time, comes a spellbinding work of fiction that blends history, mythology, and a timeless love story. A lush, richly layered novel in which our world has been plunged into an age of unreason, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights is a breathtaking achievement and an enduring testament to the power of storytelling.”

Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity–What Our Online Lives Tell Us about Our Offline Selves (Nonfiction) Christian Rudder

“Our personal data has been used to spy on us, hire and fire us, and sell us stuff we don’t need. In Dataclysm, Christian Rudder uses it to show us who we truly are.”

 

Author & Illustrator Birthdays

Robert Persig – September 6, 1928

Eric Hill – September 7, 1927

Alexandra Day – September 7, 1941

Alison Bechdel – September 10, 1960

O. Henry – September 11, 1862

 

7 Truly Horrifying Grammar Rules

Places with strict and unforgiving rules make great settings for spooky stories. Think about all the books and movies set against the backdrop of a strict school, a rigid convent, or an oppressive family home. The unyielding rules contribute to an atmosphere that invites creepiness. The same is true for grammar—when rules are enforced arbitrarily, sometimes horror ensues. Especially when it’s Halloween and the moon is full.

1 The Initial Conjunction Oh, the repression that is being unable to start a sentence with “and,” “but,” or “so”! Of the many horrifying rules that don’t make sense, this one takes the cake. You don’t have to be afraid of starting a sentence with a conjunction as long as it makes sense and you don’t start every sentence with one. 2 The Terminal Preposition All things must come to an end. But when your sentence comes to an end, and it just so happens to end with a preposition, do you have to rearrange it? Would you craft one jack-o’-lantern after another because somehow their eyes always seem too big? Well, maybe you would, but with sentences, it’s perfectly okay to leave the terminal preposition be. In fact, sometimes you don’t have a choice, as the alternative would be much worse.

3 The Plural Apostrophe That Should Not Be There’s nothing inherently scary about acronyms and initialisms. There aren’t any in particular associated with Halloween. But let’s say that you prefer watching TV to reading a book on Halloween and that you’re using a DVR to record that scary movie marathon. If you had more than one TV and DVR, how would you write the plural? You’d just add an s, giving you TVs and DVRs. That’s the favored practice these days, but not so long ago some styles guides did advise using an apostrophe to pluralize acronyms. In fact, The New York Times still does it, but only when the abbreviation contains periods (M.D.’s.) or when pluralizing a single letter (dot the i’s and cross the t’s).

4 Who Is It? It Is I! Here’s a quick test to help you make sure the person knocking at your door is not something scary disguised as a person: when they knock and you ask who it is, if they say “it is I,” they are either a nineteenth-century monster or a relentless grammar pedant. While the use of “I” instead of “me” in this case is technically grammatically sound, using “me” is so much more common that saying “it is I” sounds awkward and unnatural.

5 The Generic “He” Scary monsters don’t have to be male. Sure, Dracula is, and werewolves often are, but there are also bad witches and all kinds of monsters you can’t refer to as “he.” It was once standard to use “he” as a generic pronoun for people and monsters of unspecified gender. We’ve moved on from those times, however, and we’ve adopted “he or she” or “they” as the generic pronouns.

6 To Whom It May Concern… Some things just refuse to accept that it’s their time to go. Like zombies, ghosts, and vampires, “whom” likes to come out from time to time and wreak havoc on unsuspecting victims who think there’s nothing wrong with saying “to who.” And there was a time when “whom” was the only correct form to use when referring to the object of a verb. However, using “who” has become so widespread that “whom” may be on its way out.

7 No Splitting When Infinitives Are Involved While splitting your group of friends might be helpful if you want to cover more Halloween parties, splitting an infinitive will do you no good. At least, that’s what some misinformed pedants would say. In practice, however, splitting an infinitive is sometimes the better-sounding choice, and it often makes more sense. So don’t be afraid to split—a rule to live by when it comes to both infinitives and scary noises in the middle of the night.