Imply vs. Infer—What’s the Difference?

• Imply means to suggest or to say something in an indirect way.
• Infer means to suppose or come to a conclusion, especially based on an indirect suggestion.

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Implying and inferring are both common elements of communication. One means to state something, and the other to conclude something. But it’s surprisingly easy to confuse these two verbs.

What Does Imply Mean?

When we imply something, we’re hinting at what we mean but not saying it directly:

I didn’t mean to imply that your grasp on grammar is bad.

He didn’t make any promises, but he did imply that he’d be back for the holidays.

What Does Infer Mean?

When you come to a conclusion based on something you think someone implied, you’re inferring:

Am I right to infer that you think my grammar is bad?

We inferred that he’d be back before the holidays because he didn’t leave with enough luggage for a long trip.

Examples

Even at face value, well-intentioned repairs surely imply why repairs were necessary.

Chicago Tribune

But the inclusion of the term “migration” was not meant to imply a general federal power to restrict migration, but was a euphemism intended to bolster the pretense that the Constitution did not endorse slavery.

The Washington Post

Current technology uses radars on satellites to infer wind speeds, and both sending and receiving these signals is a more costly process.

NBC-2

You can probably infer from its R18 rating that Verhoeven doesn’t shy away from the sexual violence aspects of the narrative, and the film’s repeated flashbacks to the assault seem a little gratuitous.

Stuff

Parallel Structure and Prepositions

When prepositional phrases are used in a parallel series, prepositions (with, to, of, over, under, by, etc.) should be repeated with every element of the series unless all elements use the same preposition. A common error is to repeat prepositions unnecessarily, resulting in a stilted style.

I am making a stew with beef, with carrots, and with onions.

In this sentence, there are three prepositional phrases complementing I am making a stew. If written separately and not in a single, parallel structure, they would read:

I am making a stew with beef. I am making a stew with carrots. I am making a stew with onions.

When combining these elements into a single sentence, there is no need to repeat the preposition with because it is used identically for each element.

I am making a stew with beef, carrots, and onions.

Writing the sentence this way ensures a clear, uncluttered style.

What to Avoid: Mixing Prepositions in a Parallel Structure

Mixing prepositions improperly in a parallel structure is a common writing mistake. If a writer allows multiple phrases to share a preposition and then introduces a different preposition with another element, the result is a clumsy sentence.

The baby flung spaghetti strands on the walls, the counters, and under the table.

If we separate the elements of this sentence, we have:

The baby flung spaghetti strands on the walls. The baby flung spaghetti strands on the counters. The baby flung spaghetti strands under the table.

The first two elements require the preposition on, but the last element requires the preposition under. Therefore, it is necessary to repeat all three prepositions when combining the elements into a parallel sentence structure.

The baby flung spaghetti strands on the walls, on the counters, and under the table.

Double Negatives: 3 Rules You Must Know

You probably have been told more than once that double negatives are wrong and that you shouldn’t use them. However, usually, it’s left at that — without any explanation of what exactly a double negative is or why it’s considered incorrect (in standard English). We want to fix that. Here is the essential list of things you must understand about double negatives.

1 In standard English, each subject-predicate construction should only have one negative form.

Negative forms in English are created by adding a negation to the verb.

I will bake a cake.

I will not bake a cake.

I can go anywhere tonight.

I cannot go anywhere tonight.

We are planning a trip.

We are not planning a trip.

Sometimes there are negative forms of nouns — such as “nowhere,” “nothing,” and “no one” — that are used. If these are in a sentence, it is important that the verb in the sentence is not negated.

He’s going nowhere.

He’s not going nowhere.

2 A double negative is a non-standard sentence construction that uses two negative forms.

Double negatives are created by adding a negation to the verb and to the modifier of the noun (adjectives, adverbs, etc.) or to the object of the verb.

I won’t (will not) bake no cake.

(verb negation + object negation)

I can’t (cannot) go nowhere tonight.

(verb negation + modifier negation)

3 Learning standard English negation is difficult because many languages and some English dialects use double negatives conventionally.

Though it’s easy to assume that double negatives are simply unnatural aberrations, this assumption is wrong. In many languages worldwide, it is grammatically incorrect to use anything but the double negative! (This is called negative concord.)

No hay ningun problema. (Spanish) “There isn’t no problem.” meaning “There isn’t a problem.”

Я не хочу нічого їсти. (Ya ne hochu nichogo yisty.) (Ukrainian) “I don’t want nothing to eat.” meaning “I don’t want to eat anything.”

To make it more complicated, it’s not just foreign languages that conventionally employ double negatives but some dialects of English do as well! African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Southern American English, and some British regional forms use negative concord constructions. Negative concord is even used several times in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. (For example, a line about the Friar, “Ther nas no man no wher so vertuous,” literally means “there wasn’t no man nowhere as virtuous.”)

So, while double negatives are not correct in standard English, that doesn’t make them any less useful in other dialects. We encourage writers to learn how to negate sentences using the standard grammar — especially for professional settings — but we love the diversity of English (and language in general) and think that use of dialectal grammar is fine in open, less formal environments.

How do you remember not to use double negatives? Do you think double negatives should be considered incorrect?

Welcome to LitMas, the Bookish Holiday Season

’Tis the season . . . to read! The holiday season means colder nights and more time inside for some, so why not spend it with your nose buried in a book?

We know the winter season can be tough for many people, with its short days and long nights. We also know bibiliotherapy is both real and wonderful. So, in the spirit of the holidays and bookishness, we’ve decided to create a new holiday focused on bibliophiles, bookworms, and jokesters of all sorts. Put on your reading hats and pour a new cup of cocoa, because LitMas is here!

Of course, LitMas would be terrible fake holiday without gifts! Today, we have one gift for our loyally nerdy bookworms. Instead of a partridge in a pear tree, here’s a poem on the beauty of snow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Source: “Snow-Flakes” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, via The Poetry Foundation

What’s your favorite holiday read? Send us your favorites with #LitMas, and we’ll post some of them later this week.

Would Have or Would of?

When spoken aloud, would of and its fellows should of and could of sound exactly like would’ve, could’ve and should’ve. But even if no one can tell the difference when you’re speaking, the mistake becomes obvious as soon as you write it down.

The Right Way to Spell Would of, Should of, and Could of

When people write would of, should of, could of, will of or might of, they are usually confusing the verb have with the preposition of. So would of is would have, could of is could have, should of is should have, will of is will have, and might of is might have:

I would of come earlier, but I got stuck at work.

He would have stayed if he’d known you were coming.

You should of called yesterday.

You should have finished your homework by now.

This common mistake is likely caused by the similar pronunciation of the words of and have, especially when have is contracted, as in should’ve. This mistake also happens with the negations of modal verbs:

Stella couldn’t of known she was going to win the lottery.

John couldn’t have come any earlier.

Tell us what you think about traditional language rules.

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.

Here Are the Top 10 Writing Mistakes of 2016

Of the three billion or so people on Earth who enjoy web access, roughly half speak – and write – mainly in English. If they’re at all like a typical Grammarly user, they crank out around a thousand words each week, mainly in email, social media, blogs, and the like.

One other thing folks writing on the Internet do a good bit of is make mistakes. We routinely mangle proper spellings, savage the rules of punctuation, email sensitive details to the wrong person, and mix up words – say by referring to an ambidextrous baseball pitcher as “amphibious” while hurriedly dashing off a newspaper headline.

Because Grammarly helps users avoid unforced errors on the web, we’ve had front-row seats to observe, tally, and correct tens of millions of mistakes online. Of those that people frequently stumbled over in 2016, here are the ten most common.

10 Altogether

Altogether is easily mistaken for all together, but the two are far from interchangeable. Altogether is an adverb meaning completely, whereas all together refers to several parts of a group being united.

It’s altogether clear that we’re all together in the need of straightening this matter out. More details and examples are all together right here.

9 Nowadays

It’s one word, meaning “these days” or “in current times” – as in contrast to the past. Also, it shouldn’t be mistaken for now days, now a days, or now adays.

Indeed, if your first instinct on glancing at nowadays is that it should be two words, take solace in the knowledge that it used to be, back in the 14th century, when it was nou adayes. Still, nowadays it’s just one, and that’s worth getting right.

8 Wouldn’t of vs. Wouldn’t have

This wouldn’t have been such a recurring problem, except, well – maybe it shouldn’t have been so confusing in the first place.

The key to getting this one straight is to remember there is no correct would of – and no could of or should of, for that matter. So couldn’t of simply couldn’t have ever been correct.

We could have and should have gotten it right, and knowing this, we will. (More help, should you need it, is on our blog.)

7 Verbing

Using nouns as verbs – to phone someone, to friend them on social media, to plate a nice dinner for them – is verbing, and while it’s very common, in the wrong context it can seem overly casual and out of place, like a visiting uncle wearing a bathrobe to Thanksgiving. In formal writing, it’s best to instead find a common verb that conveys your meaning.

We’ve blogged a time or two about verbing ourselves, you know.

6 Won’t vs. Wont

These two are easily mixed up, and the confusion is made worse by the fact that wont, while often erroneously taken in place of won’t, is itself a perfectly legitimate word in English that isn’t always easy to recognize as a mistake.

As an adjective, wont means inclined or accustomed, as in “She was wont to work late into the night.” As a noun, wont refers to typical behavior in a given situation: “His wont over the holidays is to cook an elaborate feast.”

It may also be helpful to know that won’t is a contraction of an archaic version of “will not” that’s no longer in use: “I wol not.” The Middle English author Geoffrey Chaucer offers examples in The Canterbury Tales like “I wol not lie” and “I wol not do no labour with myn hondes.”

Because it’s a contraction, shortening will not (or wol not) means replacing the middle part with an apostrophe – hence, won’t. You may have been wont to confuse the matter before, but you won’t make that mistake again.

5Who vs. Whom

There’s one key to using these two in their proper places: whom is always the object of a verb or proposition, as in John Donne’s poem “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which was subsequently taken for the title of a novel by Ernest Hemingway. The bell is tolling for someone, but for whom?

Who, on the other hand, is correct as a subject. For instance, “Who sent these flowers? I don’t know whom to thank for the thoughtful surprise!”

Check here for lots more helpful tricks on this rule.

4 Commas

Ah, the pesky comma. Given the multitude of ways comma usage can go wrong, it may be unsurprising so many people get tripped up over it.

In some instances, a misplaced comma simply makes an ordinary sentence feel stilted, like an awkward pause in the middle of a thought. Other times – like when several items are being listed in a row – a misplaced comma can radically alter the whole meaning of the sentence, as in this example:

“Her vacation photos included shots of my sister, a champion kickboxer and a baboon.”

Your sister might not appreciate that, and if she’s as good a fighter as you say, you’ll want to be wary. We’ve got you covered with helpful pointers to avoid this kind of debacle right here.

3 Hyphen

Hyphens are tricky. So much so that in the past we’ve noted that even editors sometimes struggle to get them right. There are several ways for hyphens to go astray (and we have tips for all of them), but the most frequent offender is the compound adjective.

Compound adjectives occur when two or more words work together to modify a noun, as in “For her birthday, she asked him for one of the most sought-after toys.” Neither “sought” nor “after” makes sense on its own as an adjective in that sentence, so they function together as a single compound adjective, and thus need a hyphen.

That said, you have to be on the watch for adverbs, which require no hyphen. An example is “Such highly desirable toys were all but forgotten a few short months later.” Here, “highly” is an adverb modifying “desirable,” which could work just fine as an adjective on its own, meaning no hyphen is necessary.

That should make honing your compound-adjective-usage skills a little easier.

2 Preposition

Many writers struggle with prepositions – little words that tell you where or when something is, like in, on, above, below and so forth. But while their multifarious uses can seem daunting, prepositions are essential to many of the best things in life. Here are a few examples:

• Prepositions allow us to relate to waffles, e.g., sitting in front of them, putting syrup on them, saving them for Saturday, etc.
• Prepositions are also crucial to any movie trailer that begins with the words, “In a world…”
• Do you listen to music in the car, on the radio? Maybe you check out reviews in magazines. Or perhaps you’d rather be at the library. Wherever you go, prepositions abound.

1 Nowhere and Anywhere

In 2016, we frequently observed writers inserting spaces in the middle of nowhere and anywhere. But both of these words are legitimate examples of indefinite pronouns, no spaces required.

As indefinite pronouns, nowhere and anywhere don’t refer to specific places. If there’s nowhere you’d rather be, it means there are zero particular places you’d refer to. You can think of these indefinite pronouns as part of a continuum that also includes somewhere and everywhere – two other examples that don’t require spaces, either.

Also, these words have cousins that refer to people (anybody or nobody) as well as objects (nothing and anything).

Whatever the object of your writing, saying it well and using the right words and punctuation is a worthy endeavor that will help you look sharp.

12 Essential Books to Read on LitMas

Merry LitMas!

Joy to the world, the bookish holiday has arrived! How will you celebrate?

We will be cracking the spines of a few of our favorite reads from this year (which, incidentally, make great last-minute gifts for that other holiday that rhymes with LitMas). We may curl up with a book and some tea, stretch out with cocoa and a sweater, or bring a book to a favorite literary haunt. Wherever we end up, we’ll be reading some of the best books of 2016, a year marked by some impressive contributions to the fiction and nonfiction worlds alike.

What will you do today to make the world a little more bookworm friendly? Tweet your thoughts at us with #LitMas.

Here are our official LitMas best books of 2016, neatly organized by category.

Fiction

1 Swing Time by Zadie Smith

It’s no secret that this is one of the best books of the year. It’s been a top pick on even the most discerning book critics’ 2016 lists, and for good reason. Zadie Smith is a masterful storyteller, and this book is proof.

2 Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

To read or not to read is never a question we ask, especially about this instant classic. Margaret Atwood takes on Shakespeare’s The Tempest from a fresh, Canadian point of view. It has the advantages of a familiar plot arc and brand-new characters, and is definitely worth a read.

3 What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi

Not looking for a long read? This loose collection of stories will keep you reading, without the emotional tax of one narrative. Keep an eye out for #trending references to YouTube stars amidst the magical prose.

Nonfiction

4 Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

If the trailers for the upcoming film adaptation don’t excite you, then we’re not sure what we can say about this important work. It has space, math, strong female characters, and a true story that would rival any novel.

5 Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer

We’ll admit, this one is a bit obscure. But, if you need a gift for the family hipster cousin or want to journey into the weird unknown solo, this is definitely the map to guide you.

6 Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Jahren may be a geobiologist by trade, but she writes like a seasoned memoirist. Her descriptions of her life, peppered with musings on the natural world, are as moving as they are beautiful.

Graphic Novels

7 MARCH by Andrew Aydin

Much like Swing Time, this book comes with its fair share of positive hype. Luckily, its blend of breathtaking illustration and historical fact lives up to every word.

8 Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier

For those with younger comics enthusiasts in their lives, Ghosts is a great last-minute gift idea! A touching story combines with bold images to make a lovely graphic novel.

9 Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan

Okay, this one may be stretching the idea of “graphic novel,” since it is actually a series of comics. However, the weird and wonderful storytelling from a bunch of strong pre-teen girls is refreshing enough to make this a must-have on this list.

Books on Books

10 The Bad-*** Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer

Despite its off-color title, this is one awesome (and true) story of literary perseverance. These warriors for knowledge and cultural preservation prove that librarians are the true superheroes, and Hammer’s description of their struggle is at some points touching and at others simply action-packed.

11 A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston

This entry might strike you as a bit odd, since it is a short picture book. However, the wonder the main character experiences when talking about books will help you recapture the feeling of reading your first novel. Read it. You’ll see.

12 How to Write Like Tolstoy by Richard Cohen

If you’re a fan of Grammarly’s blog, the Brain Pickings blog, or any of the other books-and-writing-related blogs around, chances are you’ll love this book. Cohen analyzes different writers’ mindsets, habits, and routines to see how they wrote what they wrote. It’s great whether you’re looking for writing tips or are just fascinated with the eccentric daily lives of writers.

“Are You the Jedi Master or the Sith Lord of Your Office?” Quiz

There is a light and dark side to the balance of office life. Which way do you lean? Find out whether you’re an Office Jedi or Sith with our fun quiz!

What do you think, did we get it right? Share your reactions in the comments.

Is it Used To or Use To? How to Use Both

Don’t feel bad if you mix up use to and used to now and again—it is not an uncommon mistake. Used to is a phrase that can mean “accustomed or habituated to” or refers to something from the past that is no longer true. Use to and used to are also frequently used in English grammar as modal verb phrases.

”Use” Followed by an Infinitive

Before we get into idiomatic meanings for the phrase used to, it is worth pointing out that both use and used can correctly appear before to when to is part of the infinitive of a second verb. That sounds far more complicated than it is, so let’s go straight to some examples.

What do you use to decorate cakes and cookies?

Buttercream icing was used to frost all of today’s cakes and cookies.

In these kinds of sentences, whether you decide to write use to or used to will depend on whether the present or past tense is needed.

“Use To” vs. “Used To” as a Synonym for “Accustomed To”

When your intention is to say the equivalent of accustomed to or habituated to, always write used to and never use to.

Horseback riding was frightening to me at first, but now I am use to it.

Horseback riding was frightening to me at first, but now I am used to it.

Why do people get confused so often with this phrase and incorrectly write use to? It is probably because of our ear’s influence over how we write. When you say used to aloud, the d in used and the t in to blend to almost become one consonant sound. Often, we spell words incorrectly because in our mind’s ear, that is how they sound. A similar mistake frequently happens with the phrase supposed to.

“Get Used to It”—How To Use It Correctly

The construction of the example above involves the verb to be + used to in order to show that the speaker is in a state of being accustomed to something. A closely related construction is get + used to, which is an idiomatic phrase meaning “become accustomed to.” When you use get + used to, it means that the process of habituation is still ongoing. It is also incorrect to write use to in this case.

Horseback riding has been frightening for me, but I will get use to it.

Horseback riding has been frightening for me, but I will get used to it.

Here’s a tip: Avoid writing I am use to it or Get use to it. Always include the d: I am used to it and Get used to it.

“Used To” Shows a Former Fact, Habit, or Action

We also use the phrase used to in the sense of formerly to indicate something that happened in the past but no longer does. While in centuries past there was a corresponding present tense form, use to, we now use this construction only in the past tense.

The grocery store used to be at the corner of Main and Fifth.

Karl used to work out every morning, but he has been too busy to keep up with it.

My father used to take a donkey to school.

The only time you should write use to instead of used to with this meaning of the phrase is when it is paired with did or didn’t. The reason is that did or didn’t will have assumed the obligation of reflecting the past tense.

Did your father use to take his donkey to school?

My father didn’t use to take his donkey to school on Mondays, because it was needed at the farm.

If the negative construction in the above example feels too formal for the setting you are writing in, rewrite the sentence without it.

My father didn’t take his donkey to school on Mondays, because it was needed at the farm.

Now that you have learned about use to and used to, you may want to check out these other commonly confused words.

Make Up Your Mind, English! Conscious vs. Conscience and Unconscious vs. Unconscionable

English is anything but a straightforward language. Words that look alike but actually mean something slightly different are a common source of confusion. Take conscious, conscience, unconscious, and unconscionable. All are derived from the same root, so it’s natural to assume that the first two are the opposite of the last two. But use them interchangeably like this and you are likely to confuse (and possibly amuse) your listeners.

Conscious means “aware or alert.” This word can be used to convey a fundamental biological state (“Hey, I’m awake!”), or it can be used to describe a bit more than just basic awareness:

He was conscious of the fact that nobody was talking to him.

The opposite of conscious is unconscious. And, like conscious, unconscious doesn’t have to relate to awareness or lack thereof. In fact, you can be wide awake but also unconscious, or unaware, of something:

New to the country, Fred was unconscious of the etiquette and began eating before the main host.

Now, conscience doesn’t describe your level of alertness, but instead your inner voice, the one that guides you between right and wrong—the proverbial angel on one shoulder winning out (ideally!) over the devil on the other.

She could have easily pocketed the fresh $20 bill, but she was guided by her conscience and told the waiter that there was money hiding under a napkin.

Something that is unconscionable, on the other hand, is not guided by morality but by an utter lack of it. In other words, an unconscionable act is one that is so unethical that, for many, it is unthinkable.

The harshest forms of punishment tend to be reserved for the most unconscionable acts.

Unconscionable has also taken on another meaning over the years, one that doesn’t relate to conscience. Something that is unconscionable might also be unreasonable or excessive. There doesn’t necessarily have to be any ethical violation.

Many believe that paying 50,000 per year in college tuition is unconscionable.

As long as you’re conscious of the differences above, you don’t have to knock yourself out or bother your conscience to figure out which of these four words to use.

Examples

“What she has said is unconscionable, and ‘hurtful’ barely scratches the surface.” —Slate

“Popes do not endorse political candidates, though he urged Catholic voters to ‘study the proposals well, pray and choose in conscience.’” —Associated Press

“Cognitive science backs up the ancient Indian philosophy that we’re conscious even in deep sleep.” —Quartz

“Your brain can be tricked, and some of the best tricks are the unconscious kind that influence your thinking without you ever realizing it.” —Forbes

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This post was written by Chris Lele, resident GRE expert at Magoosh, a leader in GRE prep. For more advice on taking the GRE, check out Magoosh’s GRE blog.

How to Show Your Writing Chops on a Resume

If you’re a good writer, never miss a chance to show off your writing skills. Think of your resume as an opportunity to tell the story of your candidacy. Why are you the right person for the job? How did you develop your skills? Why will you benefit the company? Let’s talk about how you can reflect your writing skills on your resume and how these talents can land you your dream job.

Be Effective

The best writers know how to get their point across succinctly. When you list your experience, include a few brief statements describing what you accomplished in each position. Choose powerful action verbs rather than boring ones such as taught, utilized, or sold. Don’t use generic adjectives. Instead, use specific vocabulary to describe your strengths.

Be Accurate

The worst thing you can do is overlook an error. Some hiring managers, especially in the writing industry, immediately discard resumes that contain misspellings or grammar mistakes. Proofread your resume several times. Then, ask a friend or colleague to look it over for you. Some people find it easier to see flaws if they review a printed copy of their resume rather than look at it on their computer screen.

Consider Your Audience

Just like when you write an article, you need to consider who will be reading your resume. If the reviewer won’t be an industry insider, avoid jargon and use terms that anyone can understand. If you know that the chief of the department in which you want to work will read it, use terms that show you know how to do the job.

Do a Peer Review

You might enjoy searching for resumes in your field. Print out a few of the best and then compare them with yours. If you were a recruiter, which resume would stand out to you? Which candidate’s word choices reflect intelligence and fluency? If your resume can’t withstand the scrutiny, make adjustments until it’s the best of the best.

Be Logical

The layout of your resume will directly influence how hiring managers perceive your writing skills. If the arrangement is thoughtless or confusing, why would a recruiter imagine that your writing would be any different? Many applicants automatically assume that a chronological format is the best way to go, but you’ll need to do a bit of research to see whether this is the best format for the type of work you do.

Replace the Objective Statement with a Targeted Summary

Many websites about resume writing encourage applicants to omit an objective statement. After all, it’s evident from your experience that you’re a content writer, sales writer, editor, etc. Obviously, you are looking for a position like the one that’s being offered. Therefore, it’s not necessary to spell out the obvious. A better use of the space below your name and contact information is a summary of your strongest qualifications for the open position. But keep it brief because you need the rest of the space for your education, certifications, and experience. You should be able to accomplish this aim in no more than three bullet points or a three-line paragraph.

Write About What’s Related

What have you done besides writing? While you may be proud of your years spent in nursing, it really only belongs on your resume if you want to be a medical writer. Freelance writers must be especially careful. Many of them have worked on everything from screenplays to children’s nursery rhymes. Focus on experience that is most relevant to each job announcement. Otherwise, you might seem like the kind of candidate who applies for everything, even positions in which you have no real aptitude or interest. On the other hand, some abilities are clearly a plus for almost any writing job. Feel free to enumerate your mastery of word processing programs, foreign languages, or typing.

Send a Thank You Note

A thank you note isn’t a part of the resume, but it should be a part of the process. Why? First of all, it’s simply a nice thing to do. Secondly, you can express your thanks and display your personal writing style at the same time. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! Remember, too, that a thank you note can be sent by email. You actually might be more likely to get a response if human resources has your email at their fingertips. Also, ensure that your thank you note has a personal touch. No one likes a canned message!

Include an Attachment

When sending your resume by email or publishing it on a website, it’s easy to upload samples of your best writing. If you have room on your resume, you can make a list of published writing. Published work is always the best option, but newbies might feature unpublished work if that’s all they have. Make sure to organize your works into genres to make it easy to see what type of writing they feature. Place either the most recently published or the most relevant pieces at the beginning of the list. If you are including website hyperlinks, make sure they work before you send the email! Show that you understand copyright law by including only clips of works that you own or have permission to use.

A resume isn’t going to take the place of a short story or a newspaper article, but it can give potential clients a good idea of your writing style. Be sure that your resume reflects your accuracy, organizational skills, and effectiveness with your choice of words and formatting. Remember the questions asked at the onset? Why are you the right person for the job? How did you develop your skills? Why will you benefit the company? If you allow your resume to tell your story, you may just get the happy ending that you deserve!

Simple Future Tense

The simple future is a verb tense that’s used to talk about things that haven’t happened yet.

This year, Jen will read War and Peace. It will be hard, but she’s determined to do it.

Use the simple future to talk about an action or condition that will begin and end in the future.

How to Form the Simple Future

The formula for the simple future is will + [root form of verb].

I will learn a new language. Jen will read that book. My brothers will sleep till noon if no one wakes them up. You will see what I mean.

It doesn’t matter if the subject is singular or plural; the formula for the simple future doesn’t change.

But…

There is another way to show that something will happen in the future. It follows the formula [am/is/are] + going to + [root form verb].

I am going to learn a new language. Jen is going to read that book. My brothers are going to sleep till noon if no one wakes them up. You are going to see what I mean.

The “going to” construction is common in speech and casual writing. Keep in mind though that it’s on the informal side, so it’s a good idea to stick to the will + [root form] construction in formal writing.

How to Make the Simple Future Negative

To make the simple future negative, the formula is will + not + [root form].

Jen will not quit before she reaches her goal. Make sure you arrive on time tomorrow because the bus will not wait for you. He will not say anything bad about his boss. I will not finish my homework in time for class.

Using the “going to” construction, the formula is [am/is/are] + not + going to + [root form].

Jen is not going to quit before she reaches her goal. Make sure you arrive on time tomorrow because the bus is not going to wait for you. He is not going to say anything bad about his boss. I am not going to finish my homework in time for class.

How to Ask a Question

To ask a question in the simple future, the formula is will + [subject] + [root form].

Will Jen finish War and Peace over the summer? Will I have the discipline to study Spanish every day? What will you buy with the money you found?

The formula for the “going to” construction is [am/is/are] + [subject] +going to + [root form].

Is Jen going to finish War and Peace over the summer? Am I going to have the discipline to study Spanish every day? What are you going to buy with the money you found?

Common Verbs in the Simple Past

The “Going to” Construction

How to Write Nowhere, Somewhere, and Anywhere?

There’s only one way to write nowhere, somewhere, and anywhere, and that is as one word. If you write them as no where, some where, and any where, you’re making a mistake.

He was no where to be found.

Tony tried to build his own business, but it went nowhere.

More Examples

Some where over the rainbow there’s candy waiting for you.

He lost his key somewhere on his route home.

Any where she went, she was looking for something that resembled her home.

He felt comfortable anywhere he went for the holidays.

What’s the Difference between Less and Fewer?

Why is it so easy to confuse less and fewer? Perhaps because they both represent the opposite of the comparative adjective more. Luckily, the conundrum of less vs. fewer has a solution that is simple to remember. It involves deducing whether fewer or less will be working with a countable or uncountable noun in your intended sentence.

In English, we use the same word, more, for a greater number and a greater amount/quantity. There is little doubt about when to use more.

Cookie Monster has demanded more cookies.

Could you give Cookie Monster more milk to wash those down with?

Cookies is a countable noun; it is possible to count cookies. Milk, on the other hand, is an uncountable noun; it is a liquid that we measure in terms of volume. Uncountable nouns are always singular.

Here’s a tip: A good way to test that a noun is truly uncountable is to try making a plural out of it.

Could you give Cookie Monster more milks to wash those down with?

That quick check confirms that milk is an uncountable noun.

The Difference between “Less” and “Fewer”

Fewer means “not as many.” We use fewer with countable nouns like cookies.

Cookie Monster was told to eat fewer cookies.

Less means “not as much.” We use less with uncountable nouns like milk.

Could you give Cookie Monster less milk next time?

Most often, you will not have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce whether a noun is countable or uncountable, thus the decision between less and fewer will be an effortless one.

If fewer people used disposable water bottles, there would be less plastic in landfills.

Molly has been drinking less water than she should on this dry day.

David makes fewer grammatical mistakes than the average person.

My new furniture leaves me with less space for yoga practice.

As the days passed, the rose had fewer petals left on it.

In these examples, determining the countability of the nouns involved was easy. People, grammatical mistakes, and petals are all countable nouns. As difficult as it would be to count all the people who use plastic water bottles, it would be possible to enumerate them because they are itemizable individuals.

Plastic, water, and space, on the other hand, are uncountable; we only describe them in quantities. To make them countable, we would be obliged to compartmentalize them in some way (e.g., pieces of plastic or glasses of water). Nouns that can be further defined and measured in this way make the distinction trickier. For example, here are two sentences with almost the same meaning, but one requires fewer while the other requires less.

Now that my commute is shorter, I use fewer gallons of gasoline each week.

Now that my commute is shorter, I use less gasoline each week.

In the first sentence, fewer is used with the countable compound noun gallons of gasoline. In the second, less is used with the uncountable noun gasoline.

“Less vs. Fewer” with Money

Although we can count money, it is usual for us to think of money as a bulk quantity rather than an aggregate of currency units. Therefore, we use less rather than fewer.

Rebecca has less than twenty dollars left in her checking account.

It would not be wrong to say, “Rebecca has fewer than twenty dollars left,” but it would seem awkward and unexpected to your reader.

“Less vs. Fewer” with Time

It is also customary to use less with regard to time, even though we can count time in seconds, minutes, hours, and so on.

Ethan has been at his job for less than five years.

I wish I could spend less time on household chores.

Yet, depending on how general or specific your reference to time is, it may require the use of fewer.

I wish I could spend fewer hours on household chores and more on watching television.

“Less vs. Fewer” with Weight

Weights are also nouns that are measured in a countable way, yet are customarily used with less rather than fewer.

Baby pandas weigh less than 200 grams at birth.

Even though the pandas’ weight is countable (and in fact we did count it, in grams), it would seem awkward to write, “Baby pandas weigh fewer than 200 grams at birth.”

“Less vs. Fewer” and Percentages

Determining whether percentages represent something countable or uncountable can be tricky. To decide whether to use fewer or less with a percentage, you will have to look at the bigger picture and ask yourself, “What is this a percentage of? Is it countable?”

Fewer than eight percent of the world’s people have blue eyes.

Although counting the world’s people would be an unenviable task, it is possible to count individual people. Therefore, eight percent of the world’s people is countable and we use the word fewer.

I see you have eaten less than ten percent of your mashed potatoes.

As determined as the speaker in this sentence might be, it would not be possible for him or her to enumerate the uneaten percentage of potatoes. Therefore, we use the word less.

All the Wondrous Ways We Express Wonder in English

As we get nearer to the end of December, we are reminded of why it’s called the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the season of holidays, with Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Mawlid usually celebrated within a month of one another. And then there’s the New Year, a great opportunity to commit ourselves to plans and resolutions we’ll never actually make good on. This time of year is a great opportunity to remind ourselves of some of the words we have at our disposal to express all the wonder that’s going on.

Let’s kick off with wondrous, an adjective we get from the word “wonder.” Something that creates a feeling of wonder can be called wondrous. It can also be called wonderful, but let’s stick with the rarer of the two. Also, note that there’s no e in wondrous—wonderous was once an alternative, albeit less common spelling of the word. But as with monstrous and ambidextrous, we use the spelling without an e because it’s much closer to the way we pronounce the word.

There’s more than one thing we could do with awe. There’s always awesome, but if you’re tired of hearing that word, you might use awful instead. It once meant “awe-inspiring,” even though it’s rarely, if ever, used that way anymore. If you don’t want to spend the holidays explaining to people that you’re not a Grinch but a fighter for grammatical lost causes, you can just say that something is awe-inspiring or that you are awe-filled.

Of course, the English language isn’t lacking in synonyms for awesome and its relatives. Marvelous is a very nice word (which you’ll want to spell with two l’s if you’re in the UK). You might also want to pronounce it “maah-velous!”—it makes the word sound even better. Astonishing is a word you’d use for something that causes amazement or wonder. And look, we almost forgot amazing.

If you want to say that something is so good it actually overwhelmed you with wonder, you can call it astounding. Although, if something really astounds you, you can say that it flabbergasted you or even dumbfounded you. It might have even stupefied you—but be careful when using these words because some of them might also carry negative connotations.

If you want to stray from the path of overly formal words, there’s no better place to start than supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The word means “exceptionally good,” and when was the last time someone wished you a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious New Year? From there, you can head onto fantabulous. It’s is a mix of “fantastic” and “fabulous,” and when you encounter something that can only be described with the combined powers of those two words, you know it’s full of wonder. If you’re in the UK and you want to compliment something but you don’t want to say it’s wonderful, you might say it’s dench, or well dench if you want to take it up a notch. Of course, there’s no need to point out that people sometimes use words like “sick,” “ill,” or “wicked” to describe something that’s good. But why would they, when fantabulous is around? Really makes you wonder.