13 Common Distractions at Work and How to Fight Them

Whether you work in a busy office or a busy home, there’s plenty to distract you. Besides preventing you from getting things done, distractions can negatively impact your work relationships. For example, careless errors and forgotten appointments can damage your reputation in the eyes of your clients and colleagues. Don’t let it happen to you! Let’s identify strategies to fight thirteen common work distractions.

Technology

Cell Phones

If distractions were diseases, your cell phone would be the plague-spreading host organism. Besides phone calls, you might receive text messages and notifications. You might be tempted to play games or check social media. However, let’s face facts. Unless your cell phone is essential to your job, nothing is stopping you from putting it on silent and tucking it out of sight during work hours. In an emergency, your loved ones can reach you on the landline. If you need your cell phone to work, limit yourself to the functions and apps that directly relate to your job.

Social Media and Games

Some people find it easier to resist temptation if they permit themselves to check social media or play games during their lunch break. You will have a guilt-free pleasure to look forward to and an extra incentive to keep your nose to the grindstone. If your willpower doesn’t cut it, block your most irresistible diversions on your web browser. You can install monitoring programs on your mobile devices, too. Mobile Spy logs what you do with your phone, allowing you to see how much time you spend (or waste) on nonessential activities.

Emails

Answering emails quickly is a plus in the business world. However, every email doesn’t have the same priority. Delete or archive emails that don’t need a reply (e.g. spam, newsletters, receipts). Send an immediate response to urgent requests and major clients. Star or mark as unread lower-priority and non-work-related emails. A recent feature of Outlook called Focused Inbox might make organizing your email simpler for you. The Focused Inbox divides your inbox into two category tabs, displaying only important messages in your Focused tab. Email sorted into the Other tab is out of sight until you are ready to deal with it. Of course, you can move emails from one box to another, and the program prioritizes emails from frequent contacts.

People

Workmates

How do you discourage interruptions while preserving friendly relations with colleagues? One woman was so distraught that she wrote to Lifehacker.com for advice: “Whether I’m in the middle of a task or . . . trying to talk on the phone . . . , these folks keep coming up to socialize. I like them . . . so I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but how can I make them stop bothering me?” Lifehacker responded with some great ideas.

Wearing noise-canceling headphones serves a dual purpose. Even if you aren’t listening to music, which could itself be distracting, you appear unapproachable and busy to your coworkers. They probably won’t disturb you unless they have good reason. If someone is so bold as to talk to you while you have them on, don’t take them off. Tilt them away from your ears to give a brief reply before replacing them. If you pair your answer with a smile before looking away, they should get the hint that the conversation is over without being offended. The second benefit is that they do drown out background noise! If your company doesn’t allow them, you may accomplish the same illusion with your phone headset.

Family and Friends

Lifehacker.com offered three tips to “Not-so-chatty Cathy” that might indirectly discourage your family and friends from disturbing your work time. (1) Make them do something for you. If your partner calls multiple times to chat, ask them to do something for you. “I’m so glad you called back, I forgot to take that load of clothes out of the dryer! Can you do it for me so my shirts don’t get so wrinkled?” With any luck, your partner will rush off to your rescue and you’ll be free to continue your project. (2) Don’t make it worth their while. If they regularly call you at work, they might be bored and looking to be entertained by your sarcastic wit. Instead of providing amusement, be a conversational dud. Lackluster replies might prompt them to ask if anything’s wrong. That’s your opportunity! Explain that nothing’s wrong, but you’re too busy to talk right now. Ask if you can call them back at a more convenient time, and make sure you follow through on your promise. If that becomes the norm, you should be able to break their habit of calling during work hours.

Clients

Getting rid of interruptions from customers is tricky. Offend them or make them feel unvalued, and you’ve lost your bread and butter. The best way to handle it is to make the clients feel that you are busy managing their needs. You might say something along these lines: “Hi Greg. I was just researching the data I need for your project, but I can set it aside if you need me now. Otherwise, can you call and leave a message for me on my voicemail letting me know what I can do for you?” He might decide he’d rather you finish up what you’re doing. You might also delegate some small client requests to your assistant. “Oh, yes! Barbara is ready to take care of that for you right now!”

You

Is it fair to blame all of the distractions on other people? You probably do your fair share of procrastination for various reasons

Daydreaming and Worrying

What can you do to keep your mental focus? When a concern or question pops up, make a note of it so you can take care of it later without letting it preoccupy your mind. Dehydration can sap your energy and concentration, too. Keep a water bottle near your desk and take sips throughout the day to stay hydrated.

Sleepiness

The culprit could be your lunch box. Foods high in fat and sugar can make you drowsy! Almonds, salmon, and kale reportedly boost energy. Set a bedtime for yourself and ban electronic devices an hour before that time to get a good night’s sleep.

Your Work Space

Noise What if it’s not the people but your work environment that distracts you? You won’t get much work done if you are always getting up to adjust the thermostat or yelling across the cubicle wall for your neighbor to turn his music down. In these instances, preventive measures are in order. Wear your noise-canceling earphones to drown out your cubicle-mate’s tunes. You might also find a quiet corner away from your desk, such as an empty meeting room. If all else fails, bring a white noise machine, a device designed to mask unpleasant noise with soothing or pleasing sounds. And if a coworker asks what it is or why you have it, your explanation might prompt them to think twice the next time they talk on the phone or play music in the cubicles around you.

Temperature Dress for work in layers that can be removed or added so that you maintain a comfortable temperature. If it’s allowed, buy a personal space heater for your office. Most heaters double as fans, so you can stay cool in the summertime too.

Whether you work remotely or in a bustling office, distractions abound. Fortunately, you can avoid, reduce, or even eliminate most distractions. Don’t let anything interrupt your mission to apply these tips!

How often do you try to improve your writing skills?

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.

Our GrammoWrimo Group Novel Is for Sale on Amazon!

When everything is about to change, the air becomes still. The sky turns a nondescript color of gray and people throw themselves into normalcy with a sense of purpose usually reserved for special occasions. They’ll walk through town and wave brightly to familiar faces, laugh a little too loudly, and buy a loaf of bread for dinner. All the while, they’ll readjust protective amulets and spend an extra minute in front of a household lararium, understanding that their reality will soon shift ever-so-slightly from its axis and life will never be the same again. They feel it in the air, and so do I. — Excerpt from Frozen by Fire: A GrammoWriMo Group Novel about the Ancient City of Pompeii

During November 2014, Grammarly gathered nearly 500 writers from 54 countries to write a group novel together online as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). We called our effort GrammoWriMo, and as of last week, our novel is finally published!

GrammoWriMo was crowdsourced from the beginning, starting with a poll sent out to participants to let them vote on the theme for our novel. From a short list of historical events, our participants chose the destruction of the ancient city of Pompeii by the eruption of the volcano Mt. Vesuvius.

Next, it was time to get our writers organized. In order to make the project manageable for such a massive group, we came up with 20 story ideas, or vignettes, around the theme of the destruction of Pompeii. A group of writers was assigned to each vignette and given the chance to brainstorm around their topic.

During the month of November, writers contributed to their vignettes using Penflip, an online collaborative writing platform. In addition to the 20 vignettes, we also solicited submissions for our GrammoWriMo short story contest.

Once the writing period was complete, we ran contests to come up with the title and cover design for our novel. We took the submitted text from our contributors and ran it through Grammarly’s automated proofreader, then had a human proofreader read over the text for historical accuracy and consistency.

After months of hard work, our novel is now available for sale as an eBook on Amazon! 100% of the price of the book ($.99) will be donated to a literacy-focused charity. Frozen by Fire is a collection of short stories that centers around the destruction of the ancient city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The novel features various perspectives on the event—ranging from the viewpoints of everyday citizens, to the experience of an archeologist uncovering the city years later, to a literal bird’s-eye view of Pompeii—creating a dynamic portrait of what it might have been like back on that fateful day in the doomed city.

Click here to purchase our group novel on Amazon!

Is Irregardless a Word?

• Irregardless means the same thing as “regardless.”
• Yes, it’s a word. But major dictionaries label it nonstandard.

Language is a living thing. No matter how many times we say it, it never gets any less true—language does resemble a living thing. It grows and changes, adapting to new circumstances, new words, new ways to use old words, and new combinations of letters and meaning. It’s a beautiful thing, the fact that language is alive. And you can use that fact to console yourself every time you hear someone say the word irregardless.

Definition of Irregardless

Irregardless is used in the same way you would use the word “regardless.” “Regardless” means “without regard,” because that’s what happens when you add the suffix -less to a word.

You might notice here that irregardless also has “regard” as its root word, and that it also contains the suffix -less. So, if there were any logic about irregardless, the prefix ir-, which has also been added to the root word, would have to bear no meaning. But it does, and that’s the problem with irregardless—it has two negations. The ir- prefix means “not,” and if you add it to a word that already means “without regard,” you get “not without regard.” This double negative is what makes irregardless a mess of a word, and an insult to the army of people who are passionate about English vocabulary. Many of them go so far as to assert that irregardless is not a real word.

Is Irregardless a Real Word?

However, there is a problem with the assertion that irregardless is not a real word. For one, it has a meaning. When someone uses it, you know what they are saying, even though you don’t like how they are doing it. Regardless of your dislike, it carries a meaning.

And people are using it. It might make you cringe, but irregardless is in use. It’s been in use for a whole century. You won’t find too many examples of it in respectable publications that employ editors, but you will hear people say it. In fact, it’s used often enough to catch the eye of lexicographers, and it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened.

So yes, irregardless is a word you can find in most dictionaries. And it’s not because the lexicographers working on these dictionaries have betrayed the English language by allowing such a mongrel of a word into them.

Nonstandard Words and Descriptive Dictionaries

Dictionaries today are descriptive. They don’t tell you how to use the language or which words you should and shouldn’t use. Descriptive dictionaries simply note the ways language is being used by people. That’s how words like emoji, clickbait, and meme can get in there, and that’s how irregardless got in there as well.

Granted, lexicographers have a way of noting that some of those, let’s call them unusual words, are not words an educated language user would use in formal discussions. Dictionaries add a “nonstandard” tag to such words, and they stay nonstandard until they gain enough traction to be included among the “standard” words. In case you’re wondering, irregardless is a nonstandard word.

Can I Use Irregardless in a Sentence?

If you want to, no one in this world can stop you from adopting irregardless into your speech and using it as much as you’d like. However, you should expect that when someone is grading or editing your work, it will be marked as a mistake. And you should also be aware that it might not be good to use a word a lot of people rightfully see as very problematic. So it might be best to steer clear of it, at least until it makes a run for standard status. Which could happen. Language is a living thing, you know.

Here’s How to Get out of Meetings with Grace

I once worked remotely for a company that had a regular content editor meeting every Friday. That meeting was the bane of my working existence. We’d all gather on a conference call line starting at 10 a.m. We’d arrive with good intentions, but inevitably no one had an agenda and we’d walk away (sometimes hours later) without having reached any actionable conclusions. The only thing anyone would act on would be to take a few minutes at the start of next week’s meeting to bemoan the lack of things we accomplished with the previous one.

I was required to be at those meetings, although often I didn’t have anything to contribute other than a few futile requests that we get back on track. Any track. I would find excuses to bail whenever I could. (Oops! My cat is trapped in the dryer vent. Okay, bye-eee!) The number of times I was inexplicably “sick” on Fridays was growing suspicious. I’m ashamed to admit that, because I had a headset I could mute, occasionally I’d fall asleep and wake to find myself softly snoring.

According to Inc., ninety-nine percent of meetings are a complete waste of money. And yet, even though everyone hates them, they’re a staple of corporate culture. Knowing how to get out of non-essential meetings gracefully is a job skill that can save you hours of torment and help you get more done.

Just say no to (unnecessary) meetings

Many of us persevere when it comes to meetings because we don’t want to be that person—the slacker who skips the meetings everyone else dutifully attends. But while yawning your way through every meeting might make you feel super committed to your work, it might also make you less productive.

The key to saying no to meetings lies in figuring out whether the meeting is essential for you and, if it’s not, making it known that there are better ways you could be spending your time. Here’s how to wiggle out without damaging your status as a team player.

1Take a “fewer meetings” stance.

Unless you’re clear on the reasons for a meeting from the get-go, question its purpose. Adopt the stance that every meeting should have to justify its existence. Although you shouldn’t insult meeting organizers by suggesting their meetings are superfluous, don’t be afraid to voice alternatives like “Is this something we could handle in email or Slack?” Ultimately, you’ll be a hero if you’re able to reduce the number of meetings your team holds.

Here’s a tip: Some offices are jumping on the trend for having a meeting-free day each week. If yours isn’t one of them, consider it an initiative to work toward. Make sure you frame your meeting-free idea as a push for more productivity and not a whiny rant against the tyranny of meetings. The Harvard Business Review has some advice for making it happen.

2Determine whether your presence at the meeting is essential.

Not all meetings are created equal. Just because you’ve been invited to one doesn’t mean that you’re a key player. And who needs meetings that involve sitting around listening to everyone else talk?

When you get a meeting invite, ask for more details or an agenda. It’s perfectly okay to ask what your role will be. This lets your colleagues know that you value your time and want to spend it wisely.

3Ask for help establishing your priorities

I’m going to share a little secret with you. In fact, this tactic works so well for getting out of meetings that it should be in every worker’s bag of tricks. Simply ask the meeting holder to help you prioritize. Should you put the meeting first, or the project you’re working on? It looks something like this:

“I’m scheduled for the 10 a.m. content team meeting tomorrow morning. I’m working on finishing the [insert big project here]. Would you rather I prioritize the meeting or the project?”

Odds are good that the meeting holder is going to insist you prioritize the project. And, if he or she doesn’t, then you’ll know the meeting really is one you shouldn’t miss. This simple technique has helped me step out of many a meeting so I could focus on getting work done over listening to people talk about the work I should be getting done. Give it a try!

4Push for meeting notes.

Many companies have staff meetings for information sharing. For most players, they involve listening and learning about current plans and happenings affecting the team. You may not have a crucial role in the meeting, but that doesn’t mean the information you might glean from it isn’t important.

A simple change in meeting strategy could make staff meetings something people can bow out of when they have higher priority tasks to work on. Bring up the idea of having someone keep meeting notes at each session so that everyone who’s unable to attend will have access to the information that was shared and any action items that were determined. To keep things fair, the note taking task can fall to a different person each session. (Be sure you volunteer to be the note taker, too.)

If notes aren’t a possibility, show your commitment by briefly following-up with the meeting leader so you can get up-to-date.

5Ask to step out when the meeting no longer pertains to you.

Sometimes, you’ll attend a meeting where only part of the agenda is relevant to you. If you’re particularly busy, it’s okay to request that the team address those pertinent agenda items first so you can bow out when the meeting shifts to topics that aren’t in your purview. Chat with the meeting organizer a few minutes before the meeting to explain that you’re trying to manage your time and prioritize, and you’d be grateful if he or she could tackle your items first.

Here’s a tip: Take a seat by the door. That way it’ll be easier for you to bow out when the meeting is no longer relevant to you. Avert your eyes from the envious gazes of your less meeting-savvy colleagues who didn’t make an escape plan like you did.

There’s no reason to whine or make excuses to get out of meetings. All that’s required if you want to skip the talk and get to the action is to show your team that the company will be better served if you don’t attend. If you want your superiors and teammates to value your time, it’s important to show that you value it, too.

In Between or In-between–What’s the Difference?

In between should always appear as two words. Although inbetween is common, it is a misspelling and does not appear in any English dictionary. Unnecessarily adding in to between is also a common grammatical mistake. As a compound adjective, in-between should be hyphenated.

Between, On Its Own, Is Often the Correct Choice

When we speak, we often add in before between when it isn’t needed. It’s not the worst thing in the world to do, but be careful not to let it creep into your writing. Between can be used several ways as a preposition or an adverb, but the confusion of between vs. in between tends to arise when we use between as a preposition that means “in the time, space, or interval that separates.”

Please have the movers place the bed in between the two nightstands.

Because between already means “in the space that separates” in this sentence, an extra in is redundant. There is no other kind of between than the “in that space” sort; there is no on between, no at between, no through between, and so on. There is no need for a preposition in addition to between.

Please have the movers place the bed between the two nightstands.

Here the preposition between has an object, the two nightstands, and together they form the prepositional phrase between the two nightstands. In cases when between is used a preposition but does not have an object, it will feel more natural to use in between.

I go to the gym on Mondays, on Saturdays, and sometimes in between.

The dog ran off with his prize, while the boy was left with two hot dog buns and nothing in between.

The most important thing to remember is that when used together, in between is never spelled as one word.

A Phrasal Verb Makes Neighbors of In and Between As a Part of a Phrasal Verb

When in is part of a phrasal verb—that is, idiomatically connected to a verb in an indispensable way—it might fall naturally before between even if between has an object. Two examples of phrasal verbs containing in are pull in and drop in.

The Hummer’s owner inconsiderately pulled in between two “No Parking” signs.

Feel free to drop in between the hours of nine and ten o’clock.

In both of these sentences, in functions as part of a phrasal verb and not with the preposition between.

In-Between Should Be Hyphenated as an Adjective

Occasionally,in and between join forces as a compound adjective before a noun in the sense of “intermediate,” and when they do, spell them with a hyphen for readability.

I would grow my hair longer, but I dread that awful in-between stage.

The Rise of the Helping Verb

You hire a fashion consultant to help you redesign your wardrobe. He tells you to get rid of your most recently acquired shoes. You gasp in surprise because you bought the shoes only a couple of days ago. All the celebrities are wearing them. How can they not be fashionable? You may ask the same thing about helping verbs. Aren’t they always in fashion? The short answer is no. New words are always emerging. All types of words, not just verbs, shift in meaning or become obsolete. For example, consider the case of thee and thou. These words were standard a few generations ago. Today, the pronoun whom is in danger of falling completely out of use. Dictionaries eliminate dozens of words every year to make room for new additions. Language is like a living thing, growing and adjusting to changing circumstances. In particular, the use of helping verbs is changing at a remarkable pace. What are some of the major trends and why are they occurring? Here is the story of the helping verb.

Auxiliary means “giving support or serving as an aid.” An auxiliary verb, then, is another name for a helping verb. So, these verbs help, or support, the main verb in the sentence. The three most common auxiliary verbs, to be, to do, and to have, are not experiencing much change. They are called the primary helping verbs. All three of them can serve as main verbs, but they perform special duties when used as helping verbs. Briefly, here is an overview of these popular verbs and their function.

Forms of to be often help the main verb express tense. Forms of to do appear in negative statements, questions, and emphatic statements. To do also helps speakers and writers avoid repetition by standing in for the main verb. The last of the primary helping verbs is to have. When you want to say that a particular action occurred at some earlier time, you use the past perfect tense with the aid of a form of to have: She had already eaten all the pizza when the movers arrived.

Let’s look at the rest of the auxiliary verbs. The modal verbs express ideas such as ability, uncertainty, necessity, and permission. In fact, the term modal means “noting or pertaining to mood.” Some of the modal verbs perform extra duty; they have more than one meaning. Let’s briefly look at how modals function.

Could and can express ability: Jim can bench press 150 pounds. Lina could run faster if she trained with a marathon coach. You can use may and might to represent possibilities: It looks like it might rain today. It may rain tomorrow. Modals such as must express necessity: I must listen more closely next time. Finally, may is also used for permission: You may go outside after you put your toys away.

Did the last example sound a little formal to you? Years ago, using may was the most common way to request or grant permission to do something. Nowadays, people are more likely to use can: Can I go outside after I put my toys away? One case study compared the use of can and may in personal letters. In letters from the seventeenth and eighteenth century, can mostly expressed “personal ability,” or what people were able to do. Because may could convey both personal ability and permission, some phrases were rather ambiguous, as in one historical example: “I begg [sic] of you to let Mrs. Warren send me word when I may attend you.” By the twentieth century, may hadn’t just become scarcer—its definition had narrowed, too. In the letters examined in the case study, it nearly always referred to possibility: “I may come over…”

To be clear, need to and going to are semi-modal verbs. True modal verbs don’t have an infinitive form or a past tense form. They never end in -ed or -ing. Semi-modal verbs sometimes act like main verbs and other times they function like modal verbs. Other modals that seem to be in flux are “might,” and “have to.” In the past, the verb must usually expressed necessity: I must run faster if I want to catch the train. Presently, people are more likely to talk about necessity with going to, have to, or need to: I am going to have to run faster if I want to catch the train. Ann needs to order some mealworms for her lizard.

In the old letters and in new documents, must hasn’t varied much in frequency, but it has expanded in meaning. In the earliest of the letters, must communicated personal obligation and not much else. Over time, writers began to use must to talk about other things. You can view seven definitions on Dictionary.com that show its broadened nuances. Which term replaced must? In the letters, it was “have to.” In everyday speech, “have got to” may be used. Must might have gone out of style as a way to convey necessity, but it is still completely in vogue in modern vocabulary.

In any case, it’s extremely difficult to detect grammatical trends within a few decades. Language is unpredictable. The article “Current change in the modal system of English” explains: “A change measured over a shorter period of thirty years or so, however, will not necessarily be completed in the time period, and it is impossible to know how, when, or even if a particular change will complete.” What’s more, the experts don’t agree on how each instance of the modals should be defined. The same article mentions studies by Jennifer Coates and Geoffrey Leech: “Coates (1983) states that have to and have got to are infrequent as epistemic modals and Leech (2003) claims that must is one of a few modals not becoming monosemous [limited to one meaning].”

So what’s the verdict? Should you throw out the declining helping verbs along with your faux-crocodile plaid loafers? Not so fast. While the data do conclude so far that the frequency of must declined between the 1960s and the 1990s, one of its freshest replacements, have got to, is going out of fashion as fast as it came into fashion. There may be a resurgence of must for expressing necessity, or some other way to express the idea of necessity may emerge. The point is, you can’t predict how fast or to what extent language will change over time. It is much easier to look back at the trends after several centuries have passed. If that’s the case, it will be the job of your great, great-grandchildren to figure out the fate of the helping verbs and fashion fads.

Fascinating New Languages

Despite all our smarts and scientific advancements, there is still a lot we don’t know about the phenomenon of human language. We don’t know what the first human language sounded like. We don’t know exactly where, how, or when it came to be. We may never be able to find out—there’s an overwhelming lack of data to work with. What we can say, however, is that once we figured out how to create language, we went ahead and created a bunch of them. And we’re still doing it today.

Where There’s a Need, There Is a Way

Two of the main senses for using language are speech, our ability to create sounds, and hearing, our ability to perceive sounds created by others. We can also give language a visual form by writing, but the visual element is important even in face-to-face communication. We send off and receive a number of non-verbal communication signs, such as facial expressions, postures, and gestures. A number of our fellow humans aren’t able to communicate with all three senses, but doesn’t stop them from finding effective ways of communication.

People who are deaf learn sign language—a language of hand gestures and signs that allows them to communicate with great fluency. But what happens in a community of deaf people who don’t have a sign language they can use to communicate? They come up with their own. When a group of deaf children in Nicaragua was taught to lip-read and use American Sign Language, they shunned lip-reading and quickly developed a sign language of their own—behind the backs of their teachers. The result was a completely new language, developed in the 1980s by Nicaraguan kids. And just like that, Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua, or ISN, was born.

People who can’t hear or see have an even bigger challenge—they can’t rely on signs and gestures. In the United States, people who are deaf and blind have been developing a sign language that is based on American Sign Language but has a tactile twist to it. A person speaking in Pro-Tactile ASL, which is what the new language is called, uses her own hands and arms as well as the hands and arms of the person she’s talking to create gestures and signs. It’s a contact language that allows speakers to communicate nuances such as nodding and other gestures.

Other Reasons to Invent a Language

Constructed languages have been created with different agendas, apart from the basic human need to communicate. Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, the creator of arguably the best-known constructed language in the world, Esperanto, wanted to make a language that was easy to learn, could be used as an international second language, and could help overcome cultural misunderstandings. Robot Interaction Language, or ROILA, is a language currently under development at the Eindhoven University of Technology’s Department of Industrial Design. It is the first language created specially for use by talking robots. Loglan, created Dr. James Cooke Brown, is a language used by linguists to research linguistic relativity.

But new languages also pop up spontaneously when conditions are right. People living in Lajamanu, a small and isolated town in Australia, already had a heritage language they could speak, Walpiri. They also spoke both English and Kriol, an English-based creole. When parents spoke to their kids in a mixture of the three languages, the kids took the words they heard and married them with a syntax that wasn’t present in any of the three parent languages, creating a new native language for about 350 of Lajamanu’s residents. It’s spoken only by people who are around thirty-five years old.

Artistic Languages That Entertain

Fantasy settings invite us to create new languages. Alien cultures, alternative histories, dystopian futures, worlds of magic and swordplay—these settings are often very different from the world we live in. So, it only makes sense to, at least from time to time, populate these strange worlds with their own languages. Occasionally, you’ll get fantasy languages that really work (kind of). You might call them artistic languages, or artlangs.

If you’re a fan of the Star Trek franchise, you probably know there are Trekkers who can speak Klingon, a language created for a Star Trek movie by the American linguist Marc Okrand. If you’re familiar with the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, you’re probably aware of Quenya and Sindarin, two Elvish languages of Middle Earth. Na’vi, created by Dr. Paul Frommer, is what the big blue aliens speak in James Cameron’s movie Avatar. The Verdurian language was created by Mark Rosenfelder for a role-playing game, and it contains 400,000 words.

There’s no end to human inventiveness when it comes to language. What new languages do you speak?

“Dear Sir or Madam”—Learn When to Use It and Some Alternatives

How do you know when to use Dear Sir or Madam or something else? When writing a business letter or email, it can be a real challenge to get the salutation right—especially for someone you don’t know or an organization you’ve never worked with. In such situations, you should err on the side of formality, but even then there are good reasons to avoid Dear Sir or Madam. Luckily, there are a number of alternatives for Dear Sir or Madam that will help you remain professional.

Is Dear Sir or Madam Acceptable?

The short answer is yes but only rarely—though of course, not everyone agrees.

Here’s why:

• In today’s technologically connected world, there is (almost) no excuse for not knowing whom you are writing to.
• Dear Sir or Dear Madam may offend your recipient if you’re unsure of their gender or get it wrong.

If you want to write a better cover letter to a prospective employer or an outstanding business letter to a potential client, you want to stand out, right? Likely you want to show how you are already a great fit for the team. Knowing someone’s name, gender, and what they do is a fundamental way to show your investment.

Dear Sir/Madam Cover Letter vs. Dear Sir/Madam Email

You should avoid using Dear Sir/Madam in emails as well as in cover letters.

Cover letters are notably more formal than emails, but some of the same rules apply, especially if you are writing to someone for the first time. Regardless of format, use a formal tone, while—as stated earlier—investing time in researching whom you are writing to.

Dear Sir/Madam Alternatives

Because you should invest some time trying to find out exactly whom you are writing to, the best alternatives to the highly impersonal Dear Sir or Madam include, in order of preference:

• Dear [First Name Last Name],
• Dear Mr./Ms./Dr. [Last Name],
• Dear [First Name], or Hello, [First Name], (informal only. Good if you’ve worked together before or the environment is casual.)
• Dear [Name of group or department],
• Dear [Job Title],
• To Whom It May Concern,
• Dear Sir or Dear Madam,
• Dear Sir or Madam,

This business writing salutations flow chart will help you understand when to use Dear Sir or Madam and when to use something else.

Dear Sir/Madam vs. To Whom It May Concern

If, after diligent searching online and off, you are unable to learn the the name, role, or gender of your intended recipient, what should you do? In this (rare) situation, you should use Dear Sir or Madam and not To Whom It May Concern.

Though many people use Dear Sir or Madam interchangeably with To Whom It May Concern, there is a notable difference in meaning that employers or companies in certain formal sectors (academia, law, finance, etc.) will be sensitive to.

To Whom It May Concern implies that the information discussed in the letter can go to any relevant party within the organization.

This salutation should be used for general concerns like support requests or feedback.

Dear Sir or Madam implies that you have one specific person in mind for this letter, but do not know their name, title, or gender.

This salutation should be used for communication regarding specific projects, specific concerns, or employment.

How to Use Dear Sir or Madam Correctly

If you must use Dear Sir or Madam or a variant of it, traditionally this salutation is paired with Yours Faithfully, in the signature. Here is a template of a letter or email which uses Dear Sir or Madam correctly.

Dear Sir or Madam, (or Dear Sir, or Dear Madam,)

Letter text centered vertically on page.

Yours Faithfully,

[your signature when possible]

Your first name and last name Your designation

Dear Sir or Madam or Something Else? Take the Poll!

Which salutation do you use for cover letters and emails? How do you know which to use?

Commas in Dates

When writing a date, a comma is used to separate the day from the month, and the date from the year.

July 4, 1776, was an important day in American history.

I was born on Sunday, May 12, 1968.

But if you’re writing the date in day-month-year format, you don’t need a comma.

The project will commence on 1 June 2018.

Do use a comma if you’re including a day of the week with the date. Note the use of the comma after the date when it appears in the middle of a sentence.

On Friday, October 28th at four o’clock, we’ll have a small gathering in the office kitchen to celebrate Mark’s birthday.

Please come out on Saturday, April 15th, 2017, to show your support for the marathon runners.

When you’re giving only a month and a year, you don’t need a comma.

I haven’t seen this much snow since January 2002.

A Colossal List of Creators to Inspire Your Writing

Whether you write novels, blogs, marketing content, news articles, movies, social media posts, transcripts for podcasts, or something that we don’t even know about yet, you probably sometimes feel the need for inspiration. Maybe you could use some tips on reaching a wider audience. If you work freelance, maybe you’re in search of some ideas for expanding your business. Or perhaps you’re in the market for a new set of skills—web design, marketing strategy, new media, you name it.

Lucky for you, this list has it all. Grammarly hunted down all the best blogs about writing inspiration, writing as a job, writing fiction, and working with social media, content marketing, journalism, and design—plus a few bonuses about creativity in general. So put on your thinking cap, get ready to get creative, and browse away.

All Writers

Whatever type of writing you do, here’s a place to get started. These blogs offer general inspiration, advice for being a content writer full-time, and tips for getting started on whatever you’re working on.

This Pinterest About Inspiration Quotations, writing prompts, synonyms for blah words like “very” and “nice,” and tips on character, structure, plot, and much more. It’s Pinterest: if you want to know something, you’ll find it.

Freelance Writers Online This well-organized blog by a full-time freelance writer has tips on how to make the gig work as a career, plus ideas for marketing yourself, creating a portfolio, and the art of writing. Bonus: here’s a collection of 5 TED talks on storytelling, creativity, and writing in general.

Write to Done This site is organized by advice about fiction (character arcs, target audiences, and exercises to boost your creativity), nonfiction (blogging, boosting traffic, making money), marketing for writers, and tips that could be useful for pretty much everyone.

Live Write Thrive A copyeditor’s guide to getting your writing going. A low-key WordPress-type affair, the site includes resources for writers and inspiring to-dos. For example, look at something green or blue—colors that apparently help boost creativity.

ProBlogger This is a blog about blogging full-time. Meta, isn’t it? It has advice and ideas organized into eight areas, including getting started, creating content, finding readers and community, making the big bucks, productivity, and getting clients. Those categories are sorted in a handy side tab, and you can find more resources up top.

Fiction Writers

If you’re an aspiring fiction writer, check out these blogs for writing prompts, refining your plots and characters, polishing your style, and getting published.

Now Novel Characters, plots, settings, beginnings, endings, the very principles of storytelling—Now Novel delivers all the dirt on writing big books of fiction, and does it in bite-sized bloggy chunks. It’s pretty bare bones as a site, but it has great stuff for helping you get started, and the categories on the right go deeper into specific interests.

The Writer Creative name, we know. For professional writers and wannabe professional writers, The Writer magazine has guidance for improving your writing and getting through problems with the craft, advice for finding audiences and agents, and tips from working authors. The website has resources for getting published and prompts for when you get stuck, too.

DIY Author Take it from the blog authors themselves: “DIY Author exists to educate and empower authors with the knowledge and tools they need to do the work, find an audience, and build a career.” This blog is well organized and chock-full of tips, tools, and techniques you can put into practice, from developing your writing habits to getting published. Plus, there’s a podcast.

Advanced Fiction Writing With the tagline “Successful fiction writing = organizing + creating + marketing,” this blog does not mess around. Be warned: some of the content is behind a paywall. But even the free content can be super useful, whether you’re figuring out how to structure a scene, writing a dog, or creating a whiny character who’s just whiny enough. It could be a bit easier to navigate, but since the focus is on selling a writing technique—one that clearly comes in handy for a lot of people—it’s still worth checking out.

Pictures to Inspire Words Are you the visual type? This is a Pinterest Board of strange and intriguing images that should help get your imagination churning.

Content marketers

Calling all content marketers, bloggers, social media specialists, advertisers, and strategists—this is the place for you. These are the top nine blogs with tips for successful content marketing as well as examples of who does it best. Ranging from the more technical, data-oriented side of marketing to the perfect social media post, these blogs will give you plenty of food for thought, whether you’re building a blog, a business, an audience, or your own portfolio.

Autopilot With case studies, marketing automation expertise, and examples of A/B testing and other forms of marketing research, Autopilot will satisfy your need for data and in-depth analysis. Its sparse layout and focus on case studies and research give Autopilot a sophisticated feel, but it’s still easy to dive into.

ContentWriters This blog’s specialty is general marketing info and how-tos for content strategy, but it also has articles focused on specific industries (medicine, real estate), companies (Airbnb), and tools (Google Analytics). With descriptive titles, previews of articles before you click, and tons of content, this is a great spot for ideas and getting started.

Content Marketing Institute Advice and how-tos for marketing, content, and innovations in creating and executing ideas. There’s a lot of content, but also a lot of organization (tabs at the top, tabs on the side, tabs on tabs on tabs). It’s also very orange.

Copyblogger This blog about copy has info about building an online presence, expanding your business, engaging audiences, and the ins and outs of content marketing. Rather than a more compact list of multiple articles, which is the norm for many content marketing sites, Copyblogger shows the first chunk of an article, with popular articles listed on the right. It can feel a bit clunky if you prefer the dashboard look, but if you like knowing what you’re getting into before you click, this is the format—and the content—for you.

Hootsuite Hootsuite focuses on social media and brand-building, with tips on how to maneuver the gamut of social media platforms. There’s also a section on innovations in tech and the social web. Its Pinterest-like dashboard makes for easy clicking.

Hubspot Hubspot has one of the most granular breakdowns of topics related to sales and marketing (spanning blogging, productivity, office life, sales closing, you name it), plus analysis of trending business strategies and tips for duplicating them. With its scrollable lists of recent posts and comprehensive categorization, Hubspot is indeed the hub for inbound marketing.

Inbound Marketing Blog With sections on inbound marketing, social media, SEO, design, and lead generation, this blog by Inbound Marketing Agents is chock-full of tips, tools, rules, and need-to-knows of online marketing. The thumbnail-arranged articles are digestible and implementable.

Kissmetrics It sounds like it counts how many smooches are given on a daily basis, but this is a marketing blog about analytics and optimization. Because Kissmetrics is an analytics company, it’s got a lot of heavy-duty detail on the numbers end of things, but its blog has useful tips on content creation, too.

Mention Mention has a focus on digital marketing and media monitoring, with articles about strategy, reputation management, writing, and editing. The dashboard layout is neat and easy to navigate, though there are only twelve articles on the homepage. Still, plenty of food for thought.

Journalists

If you want to be a journalist, pick your favorite news source and read it religiously: there’s your model for how to write. If you’re interested in the state of journalism, different reporting styles, and new forms of media, dive into the blogs below.

Advanced Media Institute With its focus on new media, this blog, which is run through the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, has articles (and of course, other forms of media) about video, podcasts, social media, film, mobile and digital media, and visualizing data, stories, and more. With tips, how-tos, and examples, it’s a great portal for exploring non-traditional methods for communicating your ideas.

MediaShift This PBS blog has info about social media, business, education (especially digital education), and articles and tips about digital media in general. And don’t forget the Idea Lab, which is all about the changing face of journalism.

Nieman Lab Covering media analysis, journalism ideas, and examples of reporting in different categories, the Nieman Lab is a useful resource for journalists looking for inspiration or aiming to get into the rights and wrongs of contemporary news.

Old Media, New Tricks Started by a former journalist/news strategist and social media editor/teacher, this blog was built with enough expertise to have plenty of tricks up its sleeve. Categories include blogging, social media sites, and the future of media in general. The design isn’t anything to write home about, but hey, maybe that’s the next trick. Until then, there’s plenty of media to read about.

Society of Professional Journalists Blog This site boasts blogs by professional journalists and writers on issues in contemporary journalism, the changing media, and how information is presented, shared, consumed, and understood. Sounds serious, but it’s a must-read for aspiring journalists.

Designers

Whether you design web tools, user interfaces, buildings, or online content, there’s something for you in these blogs. Most of them focus on UX and web design, but other creative types are sure to find something to chew on here, too.

Canva Canva’s Design School has info ranging from the very general (social media engagement) to the super specific (web banner ads and real estate flyers). The site features articles about design, interactive tutorials, and tips, plus an easily browsable category list if you scroll down. Bonus for nice colors and navigability.

Codrops With its many columns, cards, and categories, Codrops truly looks like a design blog. It’s a great resource for tutorials and tips about trends and methods in web design and development.

The Dsgn Blog Inspiring tidbits, featured designers, quotes of the week, and plenty of material about design for websites, apps, graphics, music, architecture and interior decor (like this weird chair), and more. The sparse but thorough blog also provides a list of other design blogs at the right.

nuSchool The nuSchool blog has tips for gaining clients and making it as a freelance designer. With its emphasis on education, helping you expand your design toolbox, and tips on running a business, this is a key site for freelancers.

Treehouse Treehouse focuses on coding, but it’s also got useful content about the aesthetics of web design. The goal: launching a career that bridges technical knowledge with creativity.

Creatives In General

Any of the above categories—or anyone, really—can find something below. Whether you’re a freelancer, want to inject more creativity into your normal job, or would rather take a break from your desk and read about a cool art thing, these blogs have got you covered.

Creative Boom An online magazine for, by, and about creative types, Creative Boom is excellently designed and overflowing with inspiration. Even if you’re not a visual artist, their content on visual art can help get your creative juices flowing. If you’re not in the mood for a muse, they’ve also got tips and resources for professional freelancers, marketers, and anyone who’s interested.

Hyperallergic This site’s name may make you think of sneezing uncontrollably or possibly breaking out in hives, but its really cool content is basically the opposite of that. A contemporary blog about all things arty, Hyperallergic has posts about artists from around the world (like Bhutanese painters), artistic interpretations of world events (protest photography), and weird artsy things from world history (creepy Victorian-era Christmas cards).

Format Magazine Format Magazine is all about creativity. The online publication features profiles of artists, discussion and education posts, videos, and generally interesting stuff about art, design, music, and creativity. Get ready to get inspired.

Flavorwire This site has you covered on art, books, music, movies, and TV. It has interesting takes on pop culture and quick reads to inspire or distract you—whatever you’re in the mood for.

The Inspiration Room This online “room” is a collaboratively created library of innovations in advertising, photography, print, TV, design, and anywhere else you can think of. Most of the content is from advertising, but the creativity is constant.

There’s plenty more where these blogs come from, but we did our homework, and we think these are the best and the brightest blogs for writers, freelancers, content marketers, journalists, designers, and creatives. Oh, and as far as inspiring blogs go, Grammarly is a pretty great one, too.

3 Young Adult Series You Should Read before You See the Movies

We’ve all heard it before: The movie was great, but the book was so much better. No matter which version of the story you prefer, the great thing about book-to-movie adaptations is that you can enjoy the story twice: once on the page and again on the screen. Here are three young adult series we recommend you read before you see their on-screen counterparts:

The Divergent series by Veronica Roth

In the film version of Divergent, the first book in the trilogy by Veronica Roth, Shailene Woodley does a wonderful job of conveying protagonist Tris Prior’s determination and bravery as the world around her changes into something she barely recognizes. The movie keeps all the essential scenes from the book, but as movies often do, it compresses some of the relationships and plotlines that are more deeply developed in the novel. For this reason, pick up a copy of Divergent and give it a chance before you watch the movie.

The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

There’s no denying that Jennifer Lawrence embodies the character of Katniss Everdeen on screen. But there’s one character who gets a lot more development in the book series, particularly the first book, than in the movies: Gale, Katniss’s best friend. In order to feel the true tension of the Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle, you must get to know Gale better. And to get to know Gale better, you must read the books.

The Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness

The most obvious reason you should read the Chaos Walking series before watching the movies is that the movies haven’t been released yet! This young adult sci-fi series is set in a world where humans can hear each other’s thoughts, which makes for a very loud and often chaotic society. It also makes the writing creative and colorful, which is why the book is worth a read before the movie makes it to the big screen.

Which book-to-movie adaptation is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

If you’re looking for more movie versions of your favorite books, check out these films we recommend.

Each and Every–What’s the difference?

Each vs. every is a common grammar issue, even for proficient writers, because let’s face it—they’re very similar words. Although both words refer to something that is singular, each refers to an individual object or person, while the term every refers to a group of objects or people lumped together as one. For example, consider the following sentences:

Every artist is sensitive.

Each artist sees things differently.

Each vs. Every (Two Objects)

In addition, the word each is used when there are only two objects in question. Consider these examples:

Jessica wore anklets on each ankle.

Jessica wore anklets on every ankle.

Each vs. Every (More than Two Objects)

When the quantifier refers to more than two objects, each and every can sometimes be used interchangeably. Look at the sentences below:

The bride received each item on her registry.

The bride received every item on her registry.

Each and Every

It is common to see each and every used alongside one another for emphasis as illustrated in the following sentence:

The bride received each and every item on her registry.

Note that although this is a common usage, it may not be acceptable in formal writing.

How to Use “Former” vs. “Latter”

The terms former and latter are words used to distinguish between two things. Former directs us to the first of these two things, and latter directs us to the second (or last) of them. Do not use former or latter when you are writing about more than two things.

Former and latter are words that sound old-fashioned to some people, and indeed they are very old words.

According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, former derives from the Old English word forma, meaning “first.” By the 12th century, former was used to mean “first, earliest in time or order,” and by the 1580s, it arrived at its present meaning, “the first of two.”Latter has a similar history. In Old English, lætra was the comparative form of “late” and latter had arrived at its present meaning of “the second of two” by the 1550s. It is a relative of our modern word later.

”Former” vs. “Latter”: Remembering Which Is Which Couldn’t Be Easier

When using former and latter to distinguish between two things, remember “F for first, L for last.”

The Simpsons and Game of Thrones are both great shows, but I prefer the former.

This writer is a fan of The Simpsons, which is the first show mentioned.

She thinks polar bears and hamsters are both cute, but I could only recommend the latter as a pet.

This writer holds a belief that hamsters, the last animal mentioned, is the better of the two companions for a human.

Keep in mind that it isn’t a good idea to overuse former and latter in any one piece of writing. Readers tend to be confused by this because it essentially asks the reader to glance back at the two items to reference which item was listed first and which was last. If you ask your readers to perform too many mental maneuvers, they tend to lose interest quickly. However, in academic writing it can be very useful. Naturally, because these terms refer to items in a list, never use them in spoken language, because there is nothing for the listener to go back and refer to—they are just words in the wind.

Never Use “Former” and “Latter” with Lists of More Than Two

Here’s a tip: The principal caveat about using former and latter is this: these are words that can only be applied to two things, never three (or more).

My hobbies are singing, playing the piano, and dancing, but the former is my true passion.

My hobbies are singing, playing the piano, and dancing, but the first is my true passion.