The 10 Commandments of Grammar Lovers

Grammar gets a bad rap even without the help of the vigilantes who use it to take the moral high ground. So when a few haters decide to reduce learners, those who make grammatical mistakes, and even old-school grammar pedants to lifeless sea scum, it doesn’t do grammar any favors. It only means true and noble grammarians need to work harder to destigmatize the institution. So, if you truly adore the conventions that structure and shed light on the English language, give some thought to what we think are the guiding principles to a society where everyone understands each other easily and clearly. After all, that’s the point of good grammar. Make grammar love, not war!

1Thou shalt not take the name of grammar for vanity.

Grammar is not a mechanism for one-upmanship, nor is it a device that devalues one person’s existence while causing another’s to appreciate. All are equal in the eyes of grammar.

2Thou shalt remember National Grammar Day (4 March) and keep it holy.

Grammar is the bedrock of communication, and if we want to continue understanding each other, it’s essential we celebrate its existence and advocate its importance. And if that’s not reason enough, we’ll remind you once more that punctuation saves lives.

3Thou shalt honor the fact that grammar is not static.

The rules that govern language constantly change and are growing more and more situational as the way we use language expands. It’s key to acknowledge that grammatical correctness is not so much a case of right or wrong as it is contingent on context. Push yourself to think in gray before you settle for black and white.

4Thou shalt not murder a learner’s passion for grammar by belittling them.

Rather, respect their curiosity and be compassionate. Mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process. If you point out a correction, do it kindly and in a way that will motivate learners to embrace grammar—not turn their backs on it.

5Thou shalt not steal another person’s confidence by inappropriately correcting their grammar.

There are certainly contexts where giving grammatical advice is warranted (during grammar discussions or when helping someone with a piece of writing, for example). But otherwise, calling out a wrongful verb conjugation or misused word in a situation that isn’t language-centric or language-dependent is about as welcome as an insurance salesperson’s call during dinner. If you truly feel the need to have a grammar intervention with someone, think long and hard about the most tactful and most productive way to do so.

6Thou shalt not worship false grammar gods.

If someone brags about the way they corrected a shopkeeper’s grammatically incorrect sign with a Sharpie or humiliated a public speaker for their poor use of language, stand up to them—don’t side with them. By condoning this kind of behavior we’re supporting and encouraging it.

7Thou shalt not commit grammar schadenfreude.

Don’t revel in another person’s grammatical mistakes or wait with bated breath to break someone down the second they slip up and insert a me where an I should have gone. Taking pleasure in other people’s misfortune is only an indication of your own insecurity.

8Thou shalt not bear false witness against grammar pedants.

They’re people too! Talking smack about a purist is as problematic as their penchant for unnecessarily crossing other people’s t’s. Respect their religion and encourage them to respect yours.

9Thou shalt give people the benefit of the doubt.

Even the most brilliant grammatical minds have a mental fart every now and then—that is, a lapse in concentration that results in an error. It will happen to you, and that’s why you shouldn’t venomously censure or harshly judge people when it happens to them. After all, you’ll likely be in their shoes at one time or another. Not to mention, it’s not their intent to blow the English language to smithereens, so try not to act as if they’ve channeled Guy Fawkes.

10Thou shalt not repress your urge to make the world more grammatically correct.

Just because there’s a time and place for your grammatical two cents and a certain way to best deliver it doesn’t mean you should shy away from expressing it. Shout it from the rooftops! Just make sure you’re doing it in a positive, considerate way that illuminates, not chastises or derides.

Help spread the grammar love. Don’t forget to share this post via Facebook or Twitter if you’ve ever been the victim of a grammar hate crime or if you simply want the world to be a more grammatically correct place.

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Stephanie Katz is a San Francisco–based writer who, contrary to the way it may seem, won’t correct your grammar over beers, coffees, or any other normal life interaction. She tells stories about health, history, travel, and more and can be contacted via email at stekatz@gmail.com.

Comma Before Which

• Use a comma before which when it introduces a nonrestrictive phrase.
• Don’t use a comma before which when it’s part of a prepositional phrase, such as “in which.”
• Don’t use a comma before which when it introduces an indirect question.

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Comma Before Which in Nonrestrictive Phrases

A nonrestrictive phrase adds a little bit of extra (but not essential) information about a noun phrase that you’ve already mentioned in your sentence.

Jeff’s new car, which is less than a month old, already started leaking oil.

In the sentence above, which introduces a nonrestrictive phrase (highlighted in gray). Therefore, you need a comma before which and another one at the end of the nonrestrictive phrase. How can you tell that it’s a nonrestrictive phrase? Try taking it out of the sentence.

Jeff’s new car already started leaking oil.

The meaning of the sentence didn’t change—it just contains slightly less detail now. You’re still talking about Jeff’s new car.

If a phrase is restrictive instead of nonrestrictive, it means that you can’t take it out of the sentence without changing the meaning. Restrictive phrases are usually introduced by that instead of which, especially in American English.

Cars that Jeff buys always seem to break down.

The highlighted phrase in the sentence above is restrictive. If you try taking it out of the sentence, the meaning changes: Cars always seem to break down. You’re not talking about cars in general; you’re specifically talking about the cars that Jeff buys. That means the phrase is restrictive and you should not use commas with it.

Here are a few more examples of sentences that require a comma before which:

My mother’s house, which is in a nice neighborhood, needs a new coat of paint.

Tom’s second book, which he spent ten years writing, is now a best seller.

Rob tripped over his shoes, which he had left lying in the middle of the floor.

Everyone loved Robin’s video, which she had filmed in her garage.

Which in Prepositional Phrases

You don’t need a comma before which when it’s part of a prepositional phrase such as of which, in which or on which.

We heard three speeches, the longest of, which went for an hour.

We heard three speeches, the longest of which went for an hour.

The envelope in, which the letter arrived had no return address.

The envelope in which the letter arrived had no return address.

The platform on, which we built our program is very stable.

The platform on which we built our program is very stable.

Which in Questions

You don’t need to use a comma before which when it introduces a question. That’s not much of a problem for direct questions, since which is usually the first word:

Which bus should I take?

But when a sentence contains an indirect question, which might not be the first word. Either way, you don’t need to put a comma before it.

I asked Sam, which bus I should take.

I asked Sam which bus I should take.

This Is Why It’s Important to Track Your Writing Stats

Writing is like going to the gym—you’re excited for the end results, but it takes a lot of hard work to get there! You know daydreaming won’t get you the perfect beach bod or the next New York Times bestseller, so how do you reach your goals?

Just as tracking your fitness progress is a healthy way to stay focused and motivated to work out, tracking your writing stats is a fantastic way to take your writing to the next level!

Here are four ways that tracking your writing stats will help you improve your writing and reach your goals.

1Realistic Expectations

Proudest moment of my life #Grammarly pic.twitter.com/I1iYDlIM6d

— Miguel O’Keefe (@miguelokeefe) April 24, 2017

Have you ever been a little too optimistic about your writing speed?

Sometimes we writers tell ourselves crazy things like “This blog post should only take half an hour!” or “Writing my thesis will take two weeks, tops!” or “I’ll finish the first draft of my novel in a single month!”

Turns out it’s helpful to have realistic expectations about how much you can accomplish. When you know your current writing pace, you’ll be able to plan ahead and give yourself the time you need to produce your best work.

For every writing session, record your start and end time and how many words you wrote. As you track your work, you’ll begin to see how long it takes you to complete a project or meet a word count.

You’ll know the optimal writing time to schedule so you can finish your essay or post. This can also help you set realistic long-term goals if you’re working on a big project like a thesis or a novel.

If you’re starting to charge for your writing, knowing your average writing pace will help you calculate the best price for your clients’ projects so you’re making a profit and not a loss.

2Motivation and Accountability

It’s nice when the #stats support your feelings. Felt #productive last week. Back at it! ������ #ReadWriteRepeat #Grammarly #ManuscriptLife pic.twitter.com/3fVVcYVivr

— Michael S Williams (@DrMikeWill) March 28, 2017

“Write a thousand words a day and in three years you’ll be a writer!” —Ray Bradbury

Tracking your word count is like using a pedometer to track your steps. Getting to watch your progress is exciting, motivating, and keeps you accountable.

Many writing projects take multiple days (or weeks, or months) of work, and it can be demotivating if you feel like you’re not making progress. When you track your daily word count you’ll know exactly how much further you have to go, and it feels great to see what you’ve accomplished so far.

If you’re trying to develop a daily writing habit, shooting for a certain word count—whether that’s 200, 750, or 1,000 words (as Ray Bradbury recommends)—will help you stay on track.

3Goal Achievement

Happy with my weekly #Grammarly stats. Clearly room for improvement which you will see in the weeks ahead! #Croydon #CompleteMarketingMix pic.twitter.com/pRg9HjONhu

— Smallbiz-emarketing (@smallbizemarket) April 1, 2017

A powerful method for staying motivated and making progress is setting clear, achievable goals so you know exactly what you’re working toward.

With fitness, that might be losing a certain number of pounds or inches or lifting a particular weight. With writing, that could be a goal of X words per day, or posting to your blog twice a week, or finishing a short story by a certain date.

Just like you would weigh yourself at the gym, you should track your writing progress so you know how close you are to your goals—and whether you need to adjust your strategy.

Apps like Pacemaker and Ink On are great for helping you meet your goals through planning and tracking your writing projects.

4Increased Quality

Wow, #Grammarly says I’m a #Vocabulary Superhero �� pic.twitter.com/rWPMNeMgI6

— Nikola Danaylov (@singularityblog) May 3, 2017

Tracking your health and fitness goes beyond the scale and can involve multiple measurements, like resting heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, and BFP.

Likewise, writing stats can go beyond quantity (word count) and speed (writing pace), and can help you track the quality of your writing through metrics like

• vocabulary diversity
• grammar mistakes/accuracy
• sentence length
• words per paragraph
• pronouns
• clichés
• most used words
• readability

Check out Count Wordsmith to dive into tracking these more detailed stats.

You can also get a regular stats update delivered right to your inbox through Grammarly’s Weekly Progress Report. Simply stay logged in to your Grammarly account while you write and Grammarly will track your key stats for you. This personalized report records your word count and vocabulary usage, and reveals your top grammar mistakes—so you know exactly what to work on going forward.

Has tracking your writing stats helped you improve your writing? Let us know in the comments below!

How to Address Your Business Email or Letter to a Woman (Without Offending Her)

Let’s face it, formal letter-writing has gone the way of the pager. Once a necessary communication tool, it’s now a relic of an era before email, only to be used in specific, often similarly antiquated situations.

But what should you do if you have occasion to write a letter? And what if you have to write that letter to someone who isn’t a man?

via GIPHY

Never fear, fearless writer, you’ve got this.

The Titles, They Are A-Changin’

If titles confuse you, you’re not alone. A Google search for “how to address a letter” easily returns “to a woman,” and when you look at the recommendations for “how to address a letter to a woman,” the confusion only compounds:

Clearly, nobody knows how to address those darn women in their letters. So, as a representative of the female gender, let me clarify a few things.

via GIPHY

The Short Version: Just Use Her Name

When in doubt, it’s best to use the first and last name of any person you’re addressing a formal letter to. It’s both formal and conveniently gender neutral!

Dear Mrs. Jonathan Smith, Try our special new line of pens. Your husband will be thrilled that you are no longer laboring over your grocery list with a regular pen!

Dear Jane Smith,

Use whatever pens you want. You’re a human being.

Want more proof that this is the way of the future? Grammarly surveyed our audience on this topic, and found that the “Dear [First name] [Last name]” option was widely preferred. Want to voice your opinion? Vote in the poll below.

Here’s a tip: Need a more cohesive guide to addressing a letter to someone you don’t know? Check out this flowchart.

When You Should Use “Ms.”

Of course, this discussion of writing letters to ladies would be incomplete without a discussion of “Ms.” Although this title has a 100+ year history, its use has been varied over the years. Some writers default to “Miss” or “Mrs.” based on their assumptions about a woman’s marital status, or because that’s how they were taught in school. In the twenty-first century, I’d assert that it’s time to put this system of cringe-inducing honorifics behind us and stick with “Ms.” for all female-facing correspondence.

How did “Ms.” come to be? According to The New York Times Magazine the title was first proposed by an unnamed writer in a 1901 Massachusetts newspaper.

via GIPHY

Yes, you read that date right: 1901.

Although this first usage made a little buzz, it was quickly forgotten, and the title stayed out of the public eye for the next forty-eight years, until it appeared as a note in Mario Pei’s The Story of Language. Throughout the 1950s, “Ms.” was mentioned timidly as an expedient time-saver, without much public acclaim. Then, during the women’s movement of the ’60s and ’70s, “Ms.” took on a new, political life. This era heralded the title. Activists began to use it, Ms. magazine published its first issue, and people began to discuss the honorific as an equalizing force between men and women.

The abbreviation Ms. is simple. It is easy to write, and the person concerned can translate it properly according to circumstances. For oral use it might be rendered as Mizz, which would be a close parallel to the practice long universal in many bucolic regions, where a slurred Mis’ does duty for Miss and Mrs. alike. —Anonymous

With its rich history, it’s safe to say that “Ms.” is preferred by many women of the twenty-first century. However, there are a few times when you should definitely avoid this title.

Don’t Use “Ms.” If She Has a Professional Title

First of all, if a woman has a professional title, use it! Women who are doctors, lawyers, professors, judges, officers, etc., should be addressed just like their male counterparts. Your recipient worked hard for her MD, JD, PhD, judgeship, etc., so don’t overlook the importance of the accolade and the opportunity to make a solid first impression.

Some common professional titles include:

• Dr.—In English, this can indicate either a medical doctor (MD) or someone with a doctorate in a subject (PhD). Note: there is some debate about whether lawyers (JD) can use this title.
• Prof.—Used for professors at universities.
• Esq. (American) or Adv. (British)—A suffix used for lawyers.
• Hon. (American)—Used for judges and justices.
• Officer—Used for police officers and other types of law enforcement.

Please note that there are many more titles used in both the UK and the US to denote clergy, politicians, military members, and noble persons. You can refer to this guide from Project Gutenberg if you need help navigating the wide world of English honorifics.

Don’t Use “Ms.” If She Asks You Not to

One great thing about lady-humans is we’re all different. We have different wants, hopes, dreams, favorite bacon-enhanced foods, and even (you guessed) preferred titles. If a woman specifically asks you to use another title to address her (or uses it to describe herself), use her preference. “Ms.” may be handy, but each woman is an individual human being with different views on this topic, and since “honorifics” are meant to “honor” a person, you should respect their wishes.

Also, if you mess up someone’s title in a letter or email, don’t worry! The relative obscurity of letter-writing means most people will be more forgiving with formalities than they used to. After all, we live in a world of business emojis and work-appropriate textspeak.

Don’t Forget About “Mx.”

If you’re addressing someone who identifies as neither male nor female, or if you don’t know the gender of your recipient, “Mx.” is a great option! You can read more about how to use gender-neutral language in my blog post on the subject.

What do you think about “Ms.” as a catch-all title? Tell me in the comments below!

How to Write Dates Correctly in English

If writing dates has you stymied at times, it is probably for one of two reasons. The first is that date formats vary the world over, and we come across these different styles frequently in our reading. The second may be that you aren’t quite sure how to write dates with commas.

The key to overcoming your struggle with dates is to understand the prevailing conventions and then apply them clearly—and consistently.

How to Write the Year

Years should be expressed as numerals except at the beginning of a sentence. Most style guides agree that beginning a sentence with a numeral is poor style, so years placed at the beginning of a sentence should be written out as words. American writers tend not to use and after thousand when expressing a year after 2000 in words, but it is common in British English. Both are correct.

The year 1929 brought the Great Depression, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and an influenza epidemic.

Nineteen twenty-nine brought the Great Depression, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and an influenza epidemic.

Much happened in the political arena in 2016.

Two thousand and sixteen was an eventful year in politics.

Two thousand sixteen was an eventful year in politics.

How to Write the Month and Day

When referring to a specific date in the month-day date format, use cardinal numbers (one, two, three) rather than ordinal numbers (first, second, third). This may feel counterintuitive because we normally use ordinal numbers when we “speak” of dates. For example, one would say January first two thousand seventeen but write January 1, 2017.

Daniel was born on May 13.

Many people get confused about how to write dates with commas, so here is a rule of thumb: in the month-day-year format (used in the United States), place commas after the day and year. In the day-month-year format (used in the UK and other countries), do not use commas at all.

On May 13th, 2007 Daniel was born.

On May 13, 2007, Daniel was born.

On 13 May, 2007, Daniel was born.

On 13 May 2007 Daniel was born.

If you use a construction using of, it is fine to use an ordinal number. It is also fine to use an ordinal number when referring to a specific day without reference to the month.

Daniel was born on the 13th of May.

Daniel was born on the thirteenth.

How to Write Dates with Days of the Week

When writing a long-form date, use a comma after days of the week to ensure readability.

How fortunate that the world did not end on Friday, December 21, 2012!

Monday, May 5, is my last day of work.

How to Write Centuries

Here’s a tip: When writing about whole centuries, do not use an apostrophe before s. Centuries are plurals, not possessives.

For example, when we write the 1800s, we are referring to all the years from 1800 to 1899. Within that range are one hundred discrete years; that is, more than one: a plural. We can also refer to those years collectively as the nineteenth century in all lowercase letters.

Women often wore bonnets in the 1800’s.

Women often wore bonnets in the 1800s.

Women often wore bonnets in the eighteen hundreds.

Women often wore bonnets in the Nineteenth Century.

Women often wore bonnets in the nineteenth century.

How to Write Decades

Here’s a tip: Decades should be written as two-digit numbers with an apostrophe before them and an s after them (e.g., ’90s). When in doubt, write it out. You can write the entire decade in numerals with an safter it (e.g., 1990s), or write out the words (e.g., the nineties).

This is the way to think about writing decades using numbers: they are both abbreviations and plurals. A shorter way of saying “My mother was born in the 1940s” is “My mother was born in the ’40s.” The apostrophe (not an opening single quotation mark) indicates where the two century digits would be, had they been included. There is no need to put an apostrophe between the zero and the s—that would incorrectly indicate a possessive.

In the 80’s, I had a haircut like the lead singer of A Flock of Seagulls.

In the ’80s, I had a haircut like the lead singer of A Flock of Seagulls.

In the eighties, I had a haircut like the lead singer of A Flock of Seagulls.

Writing Dates as Numerals

All-numeral date styles should not be used in formal writing, but there may be times when it is appropriate to use them. When you do, be aware that not all countries express dates with numerals in the same way. American usage calls for a month/day/year date format, the United Kingdom and much of Europe use a day/month/year format, and most countries in Asia use the year/month/day format. Some countries use a combination of these depending on context (Canada, for example, uses all three, depending on who is the recipient of the communication).

So remember, if you are American and you write to your British friend inviting him to celebrate Independence Day on 7/4 with you, you can expect your guest to arrive on April 7 (which he will express as 7 April). Likewise, if he invites you to his Guy Fawkes Day party on 5/11, you will need to mark your calendar for November 5 rather than May 11.

Here’s a tip: Consider your audience when choosing how to express the date.

Monday Motivation Hack: Make the Hard Choice

Whether you’re a decisive taskmaster or someone who struggles to choose what to eat for breakfast, you will eventually have a decision that stumps you. Sometimes, these are big life choices like taking that job, choosing that partner, or moving to that new city. Other times, seemingly small decisions like which font you should use in your presentation can trip you up.

Never fear, future decision-makers! There are several hacks to help with decision-making, but let’s start with the most basic element of a decision—your baseline. In other words, what measuring stick do you consistently use to make decisions? How do you measure yourself?

Finding an “Anchor” for Your Decision-Making Process

Let’s say you had to decide whether you would get a new car. You do your research, find a car you think is cool, and purchase that car. The next day, one of your friends posts a picture of their expensive, flashy car on Facebook. How would you feel?

The Self-Comparison Trap

If that made you feel uncomfortable, you may fall prey to the classic trap of comparing your decisions to those of others. This is an example of what motivation experts call an “anchor”: the baseline you use to make decisions. Common examples of “anchors” are colleagues at work, family members, classmates, friends, and even people you don’t know but look up to.

If you compare yourself to others when making decisions, you’re not alone. In fact, many psychologists have theorized that social media has only made this problem worse. Whether Facebook or good old-fashioned bragging is to blame, it’s clear from the number of searches for “compare yourself” that this anchor isn’t going away anytime soon:

In a world where we’re constantly benchmarking ourselves against one another, how do we make good decisions?

Anchors Away! Changing Your Baseline

The answer to this comparison conundrum is easy: you need to change the anchor you use to make decisions. Instead of comparing your professional success, personal goal completion, and self-image to others, you can use yourself as a baseline. Once you stop making “social” comparisons and begin using your past performance as the anchor for future decisions, you’ll find decision-making becomes much easier and less fraught with stress.

There are a number of techniques to make yourself your decision-making baseline, but it all starts with questioning how you measure a successful decision. Do you compare yourself to others, or do you focus on your past decisions and use those to inform future ones?

What do you think about comparing yourself to others? Tell us in the comments below!

The Best Podcasts to Help Your Work Life

Some say you are what you eat. What about what you listen to? Edison Research found that people who listen to podcasts “often take action in direct response” to what they hear. If you have a career goal, it only makes sense that listening to an informational or motivational podcast on the subject will help you. Here are seven of the best podcasts for improving life at work.

Brain Training Podcast

According to its website, Brain Training Podcast is “the daily audio workout for your head.” Just as physical exercise strengthens your body, mental stimulation makes your brain stronger. Rather than a tedious exercise session, Brain Training uses games to get your mind working. Some of the games seem low-impact, such as Order, which asks you put a list of random numbers in ascending order. Others might make you sweat as you try to recite a list of letters and figures, which sounds easy until you realize the name of the game—Backwards.

Happier With Gretchen Rubin

Who doesn’t want to be happier and more productive? In one British study, the productivity of a group of workers rose by an average of 12 percent. Why? They were happier than before and the study’s author, Dr. Daniel Sgroi indicated that this gain is easily replicable if managers create “work practices aimed at boosting happiness.” Rather than wait for your manager, why not take your happiness into your own hands? Writer Gretchen Rubin tackles the subjects in her podcast series. Plenty of topics apply to the workplace. For example, the episode “One of the Worst Ways to Waste Time Is to ______” identifies things that don’t need to be done. With the time you save, you’ll be able to increase productivity and also spend time in the pursuits that make you happiest.

How I Built This

Are you intimidated by the thought of starting your own business or patenting an invention? The How I Built This series follows the stories of successful entrepreneurs from beginning to end. Not every story is entirely rosy; some innovators had as many hard knocks as they had victories. By the time you finish listening, you may be motivated to get started on your goals.

The Tim Ferriss Show

If you eat a tasty dish in a restaurant, you may be able to guess many of the main ingredients. Tim Ferriss attempts find the recipe for success by “deconstructing excellence.” He asks the highest performers of different industries what their daily habits are like and who their role models are. He separates out the main ingredients, sharing tips that anyone can use. He pushes you to question things you never thought about, such as who you sit next to in the break room. According to Ferriss, “You are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn’t making you stronger, they’re making you weaker.”

Inside Mastery

Most employees would love to increase productivity and reduce stress. Inside Mastery examines performance in the light of neuroscience and psychology. What are the best practices of those at the top of their fields? In each episode, a distinguished presenter shares proven techniques from their own experience or research. For instance, CEO Caroline Webb hosts “How to Have A Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life.” She shares insights from behavioral science such as how implementation intentions affect your work ethic.

Writing Excuses

I don’t have time to learn to be a better writer. In my occupation, writing isn’t very important. What reasons do you give for failing to improve your writing skills? Experienced authors host the podcast each week. The podcasts eliminate the excuses. The audio is short—usually less than twenty minutes—and the methods are for everyone “whether they write for fun or for profit, whether they’re new to the domain or old hands.” Once you run out of excuses, you might find yourself writing better than you ever thought possible.

HBR Ideacast

Sarah Green, editor of Harvard Business Review, hosts this weekly program. It features tips from successful upper managers about everything from dealing with conflict avoiders and seekers to healthy team building practices. Guests hosts include CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and some quite famous names—Greg Louganis, Katie Couric, and Salman Rushdie, to name a few.

Changing from a poor diet to a nutritious one can boost your physical health. Likewise, listening to podcasts can have a strong positive effect on your work life. What are your career goals? Feed them, and watch them grow by listening to one of these seven excellent podcasts today.

Advisor vs. Adviser

• Adviser is a person who gives advice.
• An advisor does the same thing—the only difference is in the spelling.
• Adviser is the older and the preferred spelling.

Advisor vs. adviser is probably not the most important or the most annoying conundrum related to the verb advise. That honor goes to advise vs. advice because mixing them up is a more damaging mistake. But still, people wonder about advisor and adviser because we don’t have two different spellings for every word in the English language—it’s not common. And there’s always the notion that different spellings of the same word might convey at least a slight difference in the meaning. All the more reason to figure out, once and for all, which of the two spellings is correct, or which is more correct than the other, and whether they carry different meanings.

The Difference Between Advisor and Adviser

Advisor and adviser are what we call agent nouns, nouns that are used to indicate someone who does something. If you’re reading this article, then you’re a reader. If you like to write, you might be an aspiring writer. People who dance are dancers, those who translate are translators. So, people who advise are advisers. Or advisors.

The difference between advisor and adviser is mostly in the suffix used to create the noun from the verb. Yes, there are some who claim that the -or spelling is better suited for titles. But this can hardly be called a rule because you’ll often see the other spelling, the -er one, used in professional titles.

So it really comes down to the suffixes. -Or is more commonly used with verbs that have a Latin origin, although -er is the go-to suffix for agent nouns. There’s also -ist, which is sometimes used for verbs that end with -ize. So, it can be said that adviser has a more Germanic tint, while advisor has a classical, Latin feel about it. But the meaning of the word, whichever suffix you use to make it, stays the same.

Advisor, Adviser—Which One to Use?

So if neither of the spellings is wrong, are there any reasons you should choose one instead of the other? For one, there’s consistency. If you plan to include the word in your text, it might be best to choose a spelling and stick with it. Which spelling you choose might depend on where you are, and where your audience is—adviser is the strongly preferred spelling everywhere apart from North America. In the U.S. and Canada, it’s more common to see advisor as a part of official titles, and it’s also the spelling that’s seemingly preferred by the U.S. Government.

But then again, you’ll notice that some newspapers, including The New York Times, prefer adviser over advisor. The AP Stylebook agrees. In academia, however, advisor is the term that’s more commonly used on both sides of the pond. Some industries might use one of the two spellings whether it’s the norm in their country or not. Consequently, your choice of spelling might depend on multiple factors. The important thing to remember is that neither of the two is wrong.

Examples: Advisor and Adviser in Sentences

Impressed, Billy helped Paul land a job as a military advisor on the film Jason Bourne 5. —The Daily Mirror

Some of the advisors have worked with Trump on his real estate projects. —TIME

A former top adviser to President Barack Obama on Sunday labeled Donald Trump a “psychopath,” saying the Republican presidential nominee met the clinical definition of the personality disorder. —Newsweek

If we’re acting that foolishly, clearly we should be handing our money over to professional financial advisers. —Bloomberg

7 Noteworthy Tips for Your First Week at a New Job

Congratulations on landing a new job!

Do you feel nervous or anxious about your first week? Being prepared will not only help you avoid stress but will also set the tone for the rest of your tenure at your new company. Check out these seven useful tips!

1 Build rapport with your colleagues. Your coworkers will be your allies if you take the time to create positive relationships with them. Don’t wait for them to approach you. Take the initiative to extend a friendly greeting and learn their role in the company. For large workforces, it might help you to jot down a few notes in your cell phone or notebook. Though it’s fine to check out fellow workers on professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, some people may find it weird if you comment on things you learned about them through Facebook. Spend the most time getting to know the people you will work with on a daily basis. Lunchtime and breaks are an ideal time to chat.

Karen, red glasses, corner office, accounting, two sons in college

Brent, met in elevator, custodian, speaks Cantonese

2 Learn your way around the building. How confident do you feel when you’re lost? On your first day, take a few moments to walk around the building or ask one of your new friends for a tour. For a big building, you might want to draw yourself a map of the key areas and who works where.

3 Hit the ground running, but not so hard you injure yourself. Volunteering for duties will make an impression on your superiors, but there are some surprising downsides that you should consider. First, if you bite off more than you can chew, you will seem frazzled, untrustworthy, or incompetent. Second, your coworkers might resent you if what you do seems to make them look bad. Aim for balance. Be willing to accept assignments and help others, but don’t commit yourself to more than you can accomplish.

4 Set your priorities. What do you want to accomplish at this job? Why did the company hire you? Write down one or two of your top values or objectives. By determining what your priorities are, you can organize your new schedule around your goals. Many experts encourage people to attack the largest, most important projects early in the day or week. Later, you can work on some of the less pressing tasks.

5 Travel the old trails before you try to blaze new ones. If you are in a managerial role, change may create chaos if you’re not careful. Find out what the old routines are. Though some policies may seem strange to you, why change them if they work? The founder of a job search consultancy firm, Jaime Petkanics, gave a rule of thumb: “My best advice for the first week at a new job is to listen and observe first, and act second. Use your first week on the job to get the lay of the land, learn and listen. Once you have a really solid understanding of what’s going on, who your key partners are and where you can add value, then start moving and making an impact.”

6 Manage your expectations. By the end of the first week, I will befriend everyone in the company, solve one of their major problems, and organize my work schedule for the next three months. Is this a reasonable expectation? If your expectations aren’t reasonable, you will be unhappy and disheartened when you fail to reach them. On the other hand, set your expectations too low and you might end up unemployed in a few months. Make it your mission to find out your employer’s expectations for your job role. (You might revisit the original job posting.) It’s okay to exceed the requirements, but be realistic about what you can accomplish the first week, month, and year on the job.

7 Don’t forget that you are a human being. You’ll work best if you maintain a healthy lifestyle. Wake up early enough to eat a nutritious breakfast. Make smart choices for your lunch and dinner. Keep in touch with your old colleagues and friends, and spend a little time socializing with them, if possible. Get sufficient rest at night. You should also pursue hobbies that interest you. According to Psychology Today, hobbies remind you that you are not just an employee. A failed project at work won’t damage your identity as a musician or an athlete. Joining a club based related to your pastime will also help you foster strong social connections.

Whether your first days at work are stressful or exciting depends on how prepared you are. Will you apply these useful tips? You won’t regret getting your first week off to a great start. And soon, you’ll be an old pro.

Is the Cover Letter Dead?

The cover letter was once a valuable tool for all job seekers hoping to get by the HR gatekeeper. However, the rise of innovative tech, social media, millennials, and good old-fashioned networking is killing the cover letter.

The only thing missing from the decline of the cover letter is a time of death. In fact, chances are your cover letter won’t even be read, according to Fortune. Nearly 90 percent of hiring managers admit to never reading cover letters.

Interestingly, most job posts require a cover letter despite the unlikeliness of it getting more than a quick glance. Studies have found, however, that cover letters still get read if submitted with a resume.

The cover letter is as out of fashion as Hammer pants and Beanie Babies. Unless a cover letter is explicitly required, it is a waste of time and effort. Here’s why.

Your Social Media Accounts Are the New Cover Letter

It may not come as a surprise, but your social media presence is very accessible. Recruiters know this and they will check out your profiles and activity. Social media is, in effect, the new cover letter, and at times the new resume.

This can be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your digital footprint. When recruiters want to know something about potential candidates, they simply Google them or check their Twitter accounts. Your Facebook photos are far more compelling and revealing about who you are compared to a thoughtfully scripted cover letter.

Old-Fashioned Networking Is Another Cover Letter Killer

Your cover letter may include all the traditional pleasantries, but there is always a more effective way to put your best foot forward. Networking is often far more effective than a cover letter.

In fact, 70 to 80 percent of jobs are never posted online, Matt Youngquist, president of Career Horizons, told NPR. This makes the cover letter a time-consuming effort with little return. Networking is possibly the best and fastest way to land the job you want.

Freelancers Have Saturated the Job Market

Companies large and small, including fresh startups, have all gone the route of the freelancer. Often, a cover letter is not part of the equation when hiring for contract positions.

An estimated 34 percent of the American workforce is composed of freelancers, according to a study conducted by the Freelancers Union. And this is expected to rise to 50 percent by 2020.

The wide range and availability of freelancers has made the cover letter irrelevant. Why bring in new employees on a salary when a freelancer will do the work on a project basis? Freelancers are often more economical for companies as well.

Professional Online Platforms Are a Recruiter’s Dream

If a recruiter needs to fill a position fast, why take the time reading endless cover letters? All the information they need is on a potential candidate’s professional online profile such as LinkedIn. In fact, nearly 93 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to fill their company’s talent pool.

Professional online platforms like LinkedIn are not only killing the cover letter, they are also putting the resume to rest as well. Many companies even permit potential candidates to apply to a job with their LinkedIn profile.

Don’t toss your cover letter just yet. There is still a place for it in your job hunt as it takes its last fleeting breaths of life. Though the cover letter is nearly dead, it is still required for the many jobs still posted online. However, focusing on your professional digital footprint more than your cover letter may prove to be time better spent.

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Vera Marie Reed is freelance writer living in Glendale, California. This mother of two specializes in education and parenting content. When she’s not delivering expert advice, you can find her reading, writing, going to museums, and doing craft projects with her children.

Top Student Writing Mistakes: The Real “Madness” in Higher Education

According to some estimates, March Madness costs companies up to $134 million in lost productivity — with employees streaming the tournament online, updating brackets, participating in office pools, and more.

Imagine if the United States cared as much about the quality of a school’s curriculum as we do about the caliber of its basketball team?

In keeping with the competitive spirit of the NCAA basketball championship, the Grammarly team created a “tournament” of our own. We reviewed articles from 16 student newspapers at colleges across the country to come up with our own “Final Four,” as determined by the most well-written student newspapers. Here they are:

• The Stanford Daily (Stanford University)
• Statesman (Utah State University)
• Dartmouth Review (Dartmouth College)
• The Prospector (University of Texas, El Paso)

Congratulations to these exceptional student newspapers for the quality writing!

Is quality of writing a predictor of inclusion in the actual Final Four tournament? Only time will tell. But in the meantime, here is an overview of some of the most common writing mistakes made by students using the Grammarly platform.

What types of writing mistakes did you make as a student?

Active vs. Passive Voice—What Are They and How Do I Use Them?

Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb. Passive voice means that a subject is a recipient of a verb’s action. You may have learned that the passive voice is weak and incorrect, but it isn’t that simple. When used correctly and in moderation, the passive voice is fine.

In English grammar, verbs have five properties: voice, mood, tense, person, and number; here, we are concerned with voice. The two grammatical voices are active and passive.

What is Active Voice?

When the subject of a sentence performs the verb’s action, we say that the sentence is in the active voice. Sentences in the active voice have a strong, direct, and clear tone. Here are some short and straightforward examples of active voice.

Monkeys adore bananas.

The cashier counted the money.

The dog chased the squirrel.

All three sentences have a basic active voice construction: subject, verb, and object. The subject monkey performs the action described by adore. The subject the cashier performs the action described by counted. The subject the dog performs the action described by chased. The subjects are doing, doing, doing—they take action in their sentences. The active voice reminds us of the mega-popular Nike slogan, “Just Do It.”

What is Passive Voice?

A sentence is in the passive voice, on the other hand, when the subject is acted on by the verb. The passive voice is always constructed with a conjugated form of to be plus the verb’s past participle. Doing this usually generates a preposition as well. That sounds much more complicated than it is, because passivity is actually quite easy to detect. For these next examples of passive voice, we will transform the three active sentences above to illustrate the difference.

Bananas are adored by monkeys.

The money was counted by the cashier.

The squirrel was chased by the dog.

Let’s take a closer look at the first pair of sentences, “Monkeys adore bananas” and “Bananas are adored by monkeys.” The active sentence consists of monkeys (subject) + adore (verb) + bananas (object). The passive sentence consists of bananas (object) + are adored (a form of to be plus the past participle adored) + by (preposition) + monkeys (subject). Making the sentence passive flipped the structure and necessitated the preposition by. In fact, all three of the transformed sentences above required the addition of by.

Active Voice vs. Passive Voice—Which Is Better?

There is no question that using the active voice conveys a strong, clear tone and that the passive voice is subtler and weaker. Here’s some good advice: don’t use the passive voice just because you think it sounds a bit fancier than the active voice.

That said, there are times the passive voice is useful and called for. Take “The squirrel was chased by the dog,” for example. That sentence construction would be helpful if the squirrel were the focus of your writing and not the dog.

A good rule of thumb is to try to put the majority of your sentences in the active voice. This is especially true in business.

How to Change a Sentence in Passive Voice to Active Voice

Here is an example of a business communication that could be strengthened by abandoning the passive voice.

An error has occurred with your account, but every attempt was made to remedy it.

That sentence is not incorrect, but it does sound a bit stiff and dishonest. It sounds less trustworthy than it could—almost evasive. Who wants to do business with a company that avoids taking full responsibility by slipping into formal passive voice territory? Face the responsibility head on instead. Own it.

We made an error with your account, but we have made every attempt to remedy it.

To make that sentence active rather than passive, I identified the subject: we. It was “our company” that was responsible.

If there are any questions, I can be reached at the number below.

The structure of this sentence is weak because it doesn’t identify the subjects in either clause. Let’s unveil them. Who might have questions to ask? The person being addressed: you. Who will be doing the reaching (by calling the number below)? It is still the communication’s recipient.

If you have any questions, call me at the number below.

Here’s a tip: What to remember: to change a sentence from passive voice into active voice, identify the subject.

The Importance of Proofreading Your Résumé

Did you know that recruiters only spend an average of six seconds reviewing your résumé? You have a very small window in which to wow them, and in this competitive job market, even the smallest mistake can be enough to knock you out of the running. There are three main aspects of proofreading: spelling, grammar, and consistency. We’ll look at each of those below, but first, some sobering statistics about how many errors we found in a sampling of résumés.

Grammarly recently conducted an audit of 50 active résumés on Indeed.com, learned the following:

• There are 5 potential errors on a typical job seeker’s résumé, and most of these issues (nearly 60 percent) are grammatical.
• Female job seekers make an average of 4 grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes in their résumé, while male job seekers average more than 6 mistakes.
• The average job seeker makes more than 1.5 punctuation errors, but very few spelling mistakes (less than one per résumé).
• Job seekers from the southern U.S. make more mistakes (6) on their résumé than any other region: Northeastern U.S. (3.9), Midwest (3.6) and West (3.6).

Since most word processing programs have built-in spell check, actual spelling errors are not as common in résumés. However, most programs don’t recognize contextual spelling errors—you meant to type manager but typed manger instead—so don’t rely entirely on them to do your proofreading.

Grammar errors are much more common than spelling errors. Sometimes these are simply slips of the keyboard—you meant to add a comma but hit the period key instead. Those typos are relatively easy to spot and correct, but there are other, more subtle errors that are harder to catch.

Make sure that you are deploying your hyphens correctly. If a compound adjective (two words that together describe something else) comes before the word it modifies, it should be hyphenated, as in “entry-level position.” However, if it comes after, it should not be hyphenated, as in “the work was entry level.” For a full rundown of compound adjectives, check out this article.

If you are still currently employed at a position, use the present tense. If you are no longer at the position, use past tense. Keep an eye on wandering tenses! Stay consistent within each section of your résumé, and stick with either the simple past (I worked, I typed) or the simple present (I cook, I create).

Although not technically an error, passive voice is considered to be incorrect (The documents were filed, etc). Make sure that the descriptions of your experience are always active: “I filed the documents.”

While proper nouns—names of companies, managers, and schools, for example—should be capitalized, common nouns should not. Some jobseekers have a tendency to capitalize certain common nouns for emphasis, but this is a mistake and should be avoided.

Although it may not immediately spring to mind, catching errors in consistency is an important part of proofreading your résumé. Check to make sure that the dates have all been formatted in the same way (e.g. month/day/year). Ensure that if you bolded your job title, you did so every time. If you notice extra spaces, remove them—this includes two spaces after periods, extra returns between paragraphs, or spaces at the beginning of a line. Ideally, your résumé should be cleanly and consistently formatted, easy to scan, and laid out logically to make the most out of those precious six seconds.

Still not convinced? Check out this composite of the “Worst Résumé Ever” created by Vivian Giang and Danielle Schlanger of Business Insider. They assembled the worst jobseekers sins in one painfully terrible résumé.

Make Friday Your Most Productive Day

Is Friday a super productive work day? Or are you starting to wonder why you bother coming in at all? For many of us, getting through the day on Friday (especially the afternoon) can be a real struggle.

Who doesn’t get that #FridayFeeling?

Leaving the Office on a Friday GIF from Scrubs GIFs

After a long week of getting stuff done, we’re just ready for the weekend to begin. Staying focused on work can feel impossible, but indulging in a lighter work day can be guilt-inducing when we expect (or others expect) that we’ll get more work done than we actually do.

What if you could truly enjoy your Friday and still have a productive work day where you’re proud of what you accomplished?

Inconceivable? Think again. Here are four simple strategies you can use to make your Fridays more productive and fun.

1 Schedule Your Day Strategically

Has this ever happened to you on a Friday afternoon?You glance at the clock, it’s 4:30, and you still haven’t crossed the most important To Do item off your list.

via GIPHY

Friday is prime time for procrastination, so do what you can to resist this trap. If you’re planning on dipping out early, the last thing you want holding you back are some serious To Do items—or being stuck in a meeting at 4:00 pm.

Instead of drifting into work late, come in early or on time. Schedule your important projects and meetings for the morning when you’re feeling more focused and energetic. Then save the grueling afternoon for tasks that aren’t as important.

When you’re strategic and intentional about your schedule, you can get your most important work done before that Friday Feeling rolls around in the afternoon.

Productive Friday accomplished? Check!

2 Do the Small Stuff You’ve Been Putting Off

If you’re like me, Friday afternoon is the worst time for tasks that require critical thinking. Good thing productivity isn’t just about the big stuff!

Instead of whiling away the hours on Slack or falling down the Internet rabbit hole, why not channel your restless energy for good?

via GIPHY

Friday afternoon is the perfect time to check off those pesky little To Dos and get things prepped for next week.

Go ahead and answer the last emails in your inbox. Fill out that report you’ve been putting off. Do the online training you forgot about. Touch base with Patty in marketing about that thing. If your desk looks like a garbage heap, do some tidying up so your workspace feels fresh and organized.

Start thinking about next week. Prep yourself on the project deadlines and meetings you have coming up. Get clear on your top priorities for Monday so you can roll into work ahead of the game.

You’ll feel super productive and better able to enjoy your weekend when you have everything wrapped up and ready to go for next week!

3 Set Realistic Expectations

via GIPHY

Clear strategies for a more productive Friday are helpful, but you still need to be realistic about how much you can really do. Between the extra distractions (beer hour, anyone?) and lower mental energy, you might be working at a more relaxed pace.

Maybe you have five projects you’d like to cross off your Friday list, but it’s more realistic that you’ll get only three done before you run out of steam.

Setting realistic expectations will help you enjoy what you’re able to accomplish and not beat yourself up over the things you didn’t get done.

4 Give Yourself Permission to Have Fun

via GIPHY

Letting yourself relax a little on a Friday may feel like an easy choice . . . or it may leave you worried that you’re slacking off and should be getting more done.

The reality is this: when you’re tired and distracted, forcing yourself to make sluggish progress or staying late to eke out a little more on a project is not as productive as you think. You’re not doing your best work.

A better option is to accept when you need to take a break. Give yourself permission to relax. It’s okay to leave a little early to unwind with friends or go to a fitness class, take a walk, catch some alone time at a cafe over lunch.

Maybe there’s a coworker you want to connect with or a creative project you love but don’t normally have time for.

After a long week of kicking ass and taking names, sometimes the best thing you can do for your work and for yourself is to take a step back so you can recharge.

Remember, it’s okay if you don’t disrupt the markets, solve world hunger, or write the next Great American Novel. That stuff will be waiting on Monday, but right now it’s Friday—so take a break!

What are your favorite productivity hacks for getting through Fridays? Come share with us in the comments section below!

New Uses for Old Words

Like an unkeyboardinated tween, you can count on language for boundless creativity – and a seeming randomness that’s hard to keep up with.

We’re constantly adding new words and devising new forms and quirky mashups of old ones. But whether you’re squishing two existing words together to create a new one, or perhaps repurposing a familiar pronoun to be more inclusive, many of the ways we tinker with language follow a few well-worn patterns. Here are some that should be on your radar in 2017.

Portmanteaus

Portmanteaus occur when two words are fused into a new invention that includes sounds and meanings from both. Perhaps the most obvious example in 2016 was Brexit – shorthand for the vote by the British to exit the European Union. Other common examples likely to hold your attention include:

• Sexting – combines the words “sex” and “texting” in a way we hope is self-explanatory, but not, ehrm, sexplanatory.
• Sexile – similar to the above, except here “sex” is paired with the word “exile,” like in this TMI gem: “My roommate’s long-distance boyfriend is flying in that weekend, so I planned a camping trip to avoid being sexiled.”
• Spandexual – no really, we think you have the idea by now, thanks.

Other examples abound from recent years, from bromance to frenemies. A few less obvious ones we rather like include:

• Internest – a nest of pillows and blankets from which one Internets (more on verbing nouns in a moment).
• Unkeyboardinated – awkward at typing or generally, ahem, uncoordinated on the keyboard.
• Askhole – As in, “stop asking so many annoying questions if you’re not going to even listen, you askhole.”
• Abeerance – When a social obligation requires you to show up, but you decide to stay for only one drink, you’re making one of these.

But while portmanteaus are a near endless source of fun new words, the concept is hardly new. For instance, the word “brunch,” that most savory of examples, was coined more than a century ago.

Indeed, as we’ve noted before, the very term “portmanteau” dates back as far as 1871, to Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. At the time, the word referred to a suitcase with two sections. As Humpty Dumpty explained the matter to Alice, “You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.”

While portmanteaus aren’t exactly a fresh innovation, some have argued the ever-growing churn of words and ideas on the web, combined with social-media users’ ceaseless hunger for new ways to express their thoughts, may be accelerating the drive to craft new expressions.

Verbing

Another way we tend to develop new words is by taking existing nouns or adjectives and repurposing them as verbs. For instance, where a circle of professional contacts was once a “network” (a noun), now developing such connections is itself a verb: “networking.”

One current example stems from doing the basic work of being a grown-up, like paying one’s bills, making a nice home-cooked dinner, and packing the leftovers to take to the office for lunch. This, as the dag-blasted millennials now coming of age might say, is “adulting.” (By contrast, the basic pastime of leaning against walls and talking trash outside suburban movie theaters and diners might be deemed “teenaging.”)

As with portmanteaus, verbing isn’t new: that “verbing weirds language” has been a joke for decades. That said, it’s worth noting an apparent uptick in the number of companies being verbed. Here are some examples:

• “I went online to Google something, but got distracted and accidentally wasted an hour Facebooking.”
• “I don’t have those files handy; could you Slack me the links?”
• “The water didn’t seem too deep, so the pioneers opted to skip the ferry and Ford the river.”

(That last one is fake; kudos for paying attention.)

For businesses looking to build their brand, being verbed is desireable. It’s almost as if to say, “This company is so ubiquitous, it’s its own class of activity.” Your humble servants at Grammarly, by contrast, would be satisfied with becoming a mere adverb, as in, “You’d do well to get that report edited Grammarly before handing it in.”

Tmesis

A-whole-’nother way to coin a new word is to jam a different word into the middle of it. This is tmesis (pronounced with an optional tuh, then MEE-sis). Think of it as the turducken of the build-your-own-vocabulary buffet.

Tmesis works well for combining colorful language with superlatives, as in “That is ri-gosh-darn-diculous,” or, “I’m fan-freaking-tastic, and yourself?” Be creative, but not too creative.

Literally

Some words just aren’t what they used to be, since language has a nasty tendency of refusing to stand still or behave as it’s told.

As an example, “literally” was once an antonym for “figuratively.” It meant something was not just a poetic turn of phrase, but actually the case in real life. But literally fell into frequent use as a term of emphasis in sentences like this: “The budget the governor inherited was a trainwreck – literally.”

This is not to say anyone was bequeathed a smoldering mess of twisted steel and debris; rather, the word literally came to mean just its opposite. The curmudgeons among us may grouse, but recent dictionaries have come to reflect this reality.

They

The singular “they,” as we’ve noted, is coming into vogue because it’s sometimes handy to use an all-inclusive pronoun in place of “he” or “her,” particularly when a person’s gender is unknown or irrelevant. While this usage may seem emblematic of present attitudes on gender, it’s worth noting that examples date back centuries, to the likes of Shakespeare and Chaucer.

Mx.

As with the singular “they” above, the honorific Mx. (pronounced Mix) can be useful, especially when you’d like a gender-neutral alternative to Mr., Ms., Mrs., etc.

While according to Oxford Dictionaries Mx. dates back to 1977, of late the New York Times has said the term is quite ready to mainstream [another noun verbed ✓]. Still, the drive toward inclusive language is a worthy one – so you might not want to miss out.

How to Quote a Quote?

• In American English, use double quotation marks for quotations and single quotation marks for quotations within quotations.
• In British English, use single quotation marks for quotations and double quotation marks for quotations within quotations.

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The rules for using quotation marks can seem complicated, but once you understand the basic principles, it’s not so bad. But what do you do when you’ve got a quote within a quote? Read on to find out.

Quotations Within Quotations

Why would you ever have a quotation within a quotation? Lots of reasons. For example, a character in a story may quote someone else aloud.

“Let us explore the meaning of the quote ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’”said the teacher.

The example above uses American-style quotation marks. The main quote is enclosed in double quotation marks. The quote within the quote, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, is enclosed in single quotation marks. (The British convention is the opposite; the main quote would use single quotation marks and the quote within the quote would use double quotation marks.) If your single and double quotation marks end up next to each other (either at the beginning or end of the quote), you don’t need to add a space between them.

Quoting a Quote

How do you quote a quote? That is to say, what do you do when you’re quoting material that already contains a quote? The principle doesn’t change. In American English, use double quotes for the outside quote and single quotes for the inside quote. In British English, do the opposite.

Let’s say you need to quote a book for an essay, and the passage you have in mind contains a quote from some other source.

Imagine the original passage from the book looks like this:

I remember our father having strong opinions about many things. Pop was fond of saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch, Jimmy,” but it seemed a little disingenuous because he wasn’t much of a lunch-eater anyway.

When you quote from this passage, you might say:

In the introduction of the book, the author describes a memory of his father. “Pop was fond of saying ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch, Jimmy,’ but it seemed a little disingenuous because he wasn’t much of a lunch-eater anyway.”

Notice that the quotes around there’s no such thing as a free lunch, Jimmy were double quotes in the original passage. But when you quote the passage, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, Jimmy becomes a quote within a quote, so you should change them to single quotation marks.