8 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Return from Vacation

What follows a fantastic vacation? For many, it’s the post-vacation blues. What you might not realize is that small, correctable mistakes may be the cause of your slump. Let’s learn the eight most avoidable of these errors so you can return from your next vacation on a high note.

1 Staying Gone Too Long

How can you guarantee yourself a horrifically stressful Monday? Arrive home from vacation late Sunday night! Resist the urge to spend all of your vacation days out of town. Instead, include a recuperation day or two at the end of your trip. Running a few errands is okay, but try to spend most of the evening relaxing at home. Unpack, check your email, and get a good night’s rest. Come Monday morning, you’ll be ready to face the day.

2 Apologizing

If you’re apologizing for going on vacation or not being completely caught up, stop it! Every hard worker deserves a break from time to time. And it’s only natural to need a few days to get back on track. On the other hand, feel free let people know that you are on vacation or have just returned by setting up an email autoreply.

3 Broadcasting Your Return

Of course, let your boss know you’re back. Beyond that, be selective. Flying under the radar will give you a chance to catch up on what you missed without being bombarded with questions and more work. Even going incognito for a half day will buy you some much needed quiet time.

4 Returning Emails in Chronological Order

You open your inbox and see about a hundred messages waiting for your attention. The only solution is to set aside a couple of hours and plug through them in order, right? Wrong! The email you received inviting you to connect with a vague acquaintance on LinkedIn is not as significant as the one from your boss about the project due at the end of the week. Here’s a strategy: Read the most recent emails first, but skip (or delete) anything that you can see from the subject line is of low priority. This method saves time because senders may have resolved many questions and issues in your absence. If not, they probably sent a follow-up email that will appear in your recent messages.

5 Failing to Delegate

“If you want something done right, do it yourself.” This adage is old and incorrect. Pick the most qualified members of your company and delegate tasks that are relevant to the ones they already do. If you are in management, inform your team who the go-to people are for certain projects, questions, and problems. Some employees fear delegating because they don’t want to seem replaceable. However, if you do it right, delegation will show your value. Organizational Behavior professor Jeffrey Pfeffer explains: “Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think. . .so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off,” Prepare everyone before your vacation, and your wisdom and managerial qualities will shine.”

6 Working Your Fingers to the Bone

Remember what they say about “all work and no play”? Don’t turn yourself into a dull boy! Just because your trip is over doesn’t mean your life is. According to medical professionals, negative emotions are normal after a happy event. Why not make some fun plans for your first weekend home? Even something small, such as visiting a new cafe with a couple of friends or renting a flick you want to see, will give you something to look forward to while you dig yourself out of a pile of paperwork.

7 Bringing in Souvenirs.

How many clients and colleagues pass through your working space in a typical day? Unless you want to take the time to explain the significance of your handmade Central American rain stick to each passerby, you ought to leave it at home. Besides, seeing photos of the delicious food you sampled and the adventures you had might deepen your post-vacation nostalgia. If you can’t resist showing off some memento of your trip, try sharing something that everyone can enjoy. Leaving a box of exotic candy in the breakroom would be just the trick.

8 Saying Yes to Unessential Work

Optional or voluntary duties are a great way to support your company—when you have spare time. Saying no, although it may feel uncomfortable, ensures you will have time to complete everything on your to-do list. Be firm, but kind: “I’d love to help you, but my schedule won’t allow it.”

Which of these mistakes have you made? You can’t change the past, but you can apply these tips to your next holiday. The next time you book a trip, refer to this article so you can plan a seamless return.

5 Tips for Avoiding Work on Your Vacation

Like many of us, I’ve been a victim of working whilst being on holiday. As someone who works for a handful of startups and for myself, the pressure of not being connected or involved was always front of mind as I headed off to the sun.

Our modern society keeps us connected to the world of social media, apps, email, and cloud services. On average, we commence 150 mobile sessions on our smartphones every single day. Another study highlights that this can consist of over 2,500 touches. Staying in the loop has become a natural human habit, and we weave it into our vacation routines. Many people jump on emails, written work, calls, and even meetings when they’re supposed to be soaking up the sun on vacation. For many of us, work takes up one-third to one-half of every day.

Sounds obvious, but vacations boost our mood. Everything from daily stress to our risk for developing heart problems decreases. The American Medical Association’s research showed that, for men, taking a yearly vacation decreased the likelihood of heart disease by 32 percent.

The same resonates for productivity. Seventy-seven percent of HR professionals believe that your productivity and results improve after a vacation.

We’ve put together a few suggestions for avoiding work on vacation, but also addressing the planned vacation, so your calendar is totally free in advance:

1Work like a machine

Working on holiday isn’t ideal. Making sure you are prepared is important if you hope to avoid even a glimpse of work during the vacation.

Making sure you plan ahead will save you a lot of efforts when you are on holiday. Doing an extra hour or two of work each night the week before your vacation will pay off. Putting in extra hours now will allow you to zone out of work by leaving all of your work energy at the office.

2Create an Out-of-Office Reply

A well-constructed out-of-office email can be a very effective way to reduce any incoming workload while you’re on vacation. Out of office replies alert your colleagues and contacts that there will be a delay in response.

To reduce the chance of any annoying messages, meeting requests, or even calls while you’re on vacation, you’ll need to make sure your OOO message points people in the right direction.

Before you jet off, spend some time creating a draft OOO message.

Here are a few things to consider as you begin to craft your auto responses:

• Inform them with websites, links, statistics.
• Re-direct them with contacts, email addresses, or phone numbers.
• Educate them with attachments, websites, and articles.
• Entertain then with a snappy bit of comedy about where you are.

Pass the draft over to one of your colleagues or even your manager to double check that you are directing people to the best resources. It’s easy to do, and it can free you from having to check email on your vacation.

3Prepare Your Internal Team

For your co-workers, you heading off for a few days (or even weeks) could present a logistical nightmare. All of the knowledge you hold travels with you. Capturing that knowledge where your teammates can access it makes life easier for everyone.

Using services like Evernote, Dropbox, and Google Drive to store essential information in clear, well-outlined folders will help pass the baton to those still in the office.

Evernote is a great example of a service for capturing notes, images, and documents. You can create a free account here. Start creating a mega note with all of the useful information and data that your internal team will need while you’re gone. Send them the note before you leave and ensure they know what’s inside.

The same can be done using a Dropbox account to help keep all of the cogs turning.

4Clear Your Mind

Zenning out on holiday is one of the biggest challenges for many people. According to data provided travel company Expedia, only 53 percent of workers come back feeling rested after their holiday. This is a huge problem for the world of work.

If employees aren’t getting the rest they need, company productivity and, more importantly, employees’ mental health, will suffer.

Meditation is growing in popularity thanks to its cognitive benefits. Meditation boosts memory and reduces stress and anxiety. A 2012 study found that, over an eight-week period, meditation reduced stress in candidates who meditated after they worked on tests or exercises.

Many people try to avoid personal development activities while on vacation because practicing them can feel like work in itself. However, meditation is something you should consider. A five to ten minute daily meditation during your vacation can help to clear your mind of stress, negative feelings, and even anxiety about work issues.

Spending time on yourself is so important. If you are still skeptical, try the following for a full week and see how you get on.

How to get started:

• Download a meditation app like Headspace, Calm, or Mindfulness
• Try a five-minute meditation for a full week, in a quiet environment
• Find a meditation buddy to work with

The benefits of meditation are continuing to grow. This evidence-based resource provides a strong list of cognitive, stress-associated, and health benefits to meditating.

5No Wi-Fi zones

Exploring rural areas on your vacation can be a little unnerving. Your knowledge of the area is often limited, and you’re likely to face language barriers. To make matters worse, you may encounter Wi-Fi dead zones.

Scary, right?! Not necessarily. Getting out of the reach of technology can also be very effective at helping you to escape work. If you want to zen out fully, there’s no better excuse than being in an area with no access to Wi-Fi. Rather than trying to figure out phone contracts and ways to stay connected, why not just disconnect? If it’s free to call emergency services wherever you’re headed, then there may be no need for Wi-Fi.

Whether or not you successfully avoid work on vacation is totally up to you. If you can remove digital temptations and mentally remove yourself from the work zone, you’re more likely to return to work refreshed and ready to tackle any challenge.

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About the author:Francesco D’Alessio runs a YouTube channel with over 8,000 subscribers that features weekly videos about productivity apps and tools. He works remotely in the South West of the UK for a handful of technology startups.

13 Kinds of Grammar Trolls We Love to Hate

How many different rules of grammar and punctuation exist? For every rule, there exists a person eager to publicly expose any rulebreakers. These vigilante defenders of grammatical order are grammar trolls. Here are thirteen types to watch out for.

The Fish Throwers

In the world of writing, a red herring doesn’t refer to a fish. Instead, it’s misleading or distracting information. Fish Throwers are grammar trolls who don’t add anything essential to a conversation. Rather than focusing on the objective of the writing, they distract everyone by criticizing grammar. Who do they think they are? You might ask these trolls, “What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”

The Drowning Fish Throwers

Closely related to Fish Throwers are the Drowning Fish Throwers. These trolls begin as regular interlocutors on social media. However, sooner or later they get into a debate and begin to lose the argument. Rather than admit defeat, they try to win points by insulting their opponents’ grammar. Unfortunately, they don’t fool anyone.

The Late Bloomers

The discussion is over. Everyone has had their say. But someone out there thinks that it’s still necessary to comment on a post. Who is it? None other than the Late Bloomer, a troll who wants to point out errors from years past. This troll doesn’t realize that everyone else has moved on to new topics. The good news is, no one really reads late arrivals anyway.

The Breeders

How many tweets does the average person publish each day? Breeder trolls multiply tweets by the hour! In their opinion, it’s their sacred duty to point out each and every spelling error with an asterisk and the correct spelling. Confused words prompt them to question the writer: “Did you mean. . .?” Comma splices practically make steam pour from their ears. These highly educated grammar trolls have too much time on their hands. Wouldn’t it be best if they found a more productive hobby?

The Franks

No, Frank isn’t the real first name of this troll. However, it does describe his personality. To be frank is to be honest and straightforward in your speech. Frank trolls tell it like it is. They aren’t trying to hurt you. Actually, they want to help you by pointing out the obvious. The trouble is, sometimes people don’t like the truth and certainly not when it comes in the form of public censure. Frank, might you start a private chat next time?

The Derps

Maybe this troll isn’t dumb, but his comments are. Enough said!

The Jumpy Jurors

Have you ever been wrongly accused of committing a grammar faux pas? Jumpy Jurors base all their judgments on circumstantial evidence. They don’t read the piece carefully. They don’t research to make sure their understanding is correct before making an accusation. Forget innocent until proven guilty. In their eyes, you’re wrong! Don’t bother trying to present evidence because jumpy jurors never listen to reason. And the only opinion that matters to them is their own.

The Broken Mirror Trolls

Broken Mirror Trolls are so busy looking at your grammar that they forget to examine their own. It’s as if they don’t have a spelling checker installed in their word processing program. How dare they critique anyone else with so many mistakes in their own writing? These trolls need to take a good look in a non-broken mirror!

The Bandwagon Riders

Bandwagon Riders don’t know a lot about grammar. However, they have mastered the difference between possessive pronouns, such as your and their, and contractions, such as you’re and they’re. Empowered with a little knowledge that they learned from other trolls, they vocally and viciously identify typos they find online. These trolls are practically unstoppable because each correction they make feeds their egos.

The Passive-Aggressive Trolls

The Passive Aggressive Trolls would never directly correct you. Oh, no! They simply post comments that are suspiciously similar to yours, only with certain changes to punctuation and syntax. These trolls hate Frank, by the way.

The Stalker Trolls

Stalker Trolls are the creepiest of all the grammar trolls. These trolls didn’t stumble upon an error by accident; they searched all your posts methodically and commented on every one. Why are they targeting you? Is it for attention? Are they jealous? Their motives are highly suspect, so your best course of action is to avoid these bad guys.

The Internet Arsonists

These trolls start trouble for one reason and for one reason only. They find it amusing to start trouble and then read the resulting comments. Usually, they don’t even participate after they have made their scorching attacks. For them, the fun lies in watching you burn in anger or shame.

The Fire Squads

It’s perhaps unfair to accuse members of the troll Fire Squad of being trolls themselves; the phrase “anti-troll” might be more apt. These folks look for fires started by Internet Arsonists and douse the flames by posting quotes from reputable sources to resolve the dispute. These are the people you will want to call if you need someone to protect and defend your writing.

Why learn about grammar trolls? According to The Art of War, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” If you really want to take a stand against grammar trolls, use this list to identify their motives. Then, you can decide whether you want to thank your troll, ignore him, or retaliate with a scathing comment of your own.

Celebrate Social Media Day with These 5 Tips

Happy World Social Media Day!

It’s no secret that we love social media. And as Grammarly’s Social Media Manager, I’ve devoted most of my professional life to figuring out what the cool kids are doing online. And today, I’m here to help you do the same. Let’s dive into all the things you should (and shouldn’t) be doing on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.

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1Write, Reread, Ponder, Then Post

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I’d wager that 99 percent of social media “fails” could have been avoided if the poster had taken thirty seconds to reconsider that tweet, comment, or post before hitting publish. Before you post, ask yourself the following three questions:

1. Do I mean what I said in this post? Am I comfortable with how it will be shared?

2. Will I be proud of this post one, three, five years from now?

3. Does this post hurt someone else? Could it hurt someone if they found it?

Those extra few seconds you spend avoiding a grammar mistake or embarrassing photo are worth the wait. Remember what your mom told you: Facebook photos are forever.

2Don’t Join a Social Channel Just Because It’s Hot or New

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If you’re the trend-obsessed, meme-creating maven of your social circles, skip this tip and move on to the next. But if you’re a mere mortal, you probably don’t need to be on every social network in existence. Find a community that resonates with you, and spend your social media hours there. (A personal note: for me, that channel is Instagram, but not everyone loves the ‘gram as much as I do! Follow your arrow.)

3If You Don’t Know What It Means, Don’t Use It

Say what?

One of the most beautiful facets of the Internet is its effect on language. From “spam” to “geeks” to “phubbing,” the ways online culture has influenced English are legion. And brand new online slang is as inevitable as it is ubiquitous. But what do you do when you see a new hashtag, word, emoji, or reaction gif?

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If your answer is “use it immediately and without question,” it might be time to reconsider your approach. Many brands have gotten into trouble by jumping on inappropriate “trending” hashtags, and we all should learn from their mistakes. You don’t want a milkshake duck situation on your hands.

4Don’t Feed the Trolls

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As Grammarly’s Social Media Manager, I’m no stranger to trolls. We receive dozens of messages telling us to “shut it down” or “go home” each month. But instead of the ever-popular clapback, we’ve chosen to leave the trolls alone to shout into the endless Twitter void.

Here’s a tip: Having problems with grammar trolls? Here are a few steps to stop them.

Of course, avoiding antagonizers is much harder when they’re attacking you personally. The first step is to remember that you aren’t alone: 51 percent of women and 50 percent of men experience online harassment. After that, make sure you know your rights, and follow steps like these to ensure your safety without feeding one of those pesky trolls.

5Remember, People Online Are Just People

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Despite evidence to the contrary, I think sincerity is not yet dead on the Internet. Whenever I look at the wonderfully supportive comments on Grammarly’s Facebook, I remember that there are individual humans behind each avatar online (except bots, but let’s not go there). At the end of the day, you can’t choose how you’re treated online, but you can choose how you respond. And for me, the “social” part of social media is the most important: we have to want to engage with one another as real human people. And of course, I think Grammarly’s follower-people are the best humans.

So on this Social Media Day, I want to say thank you to all of the communication enthusiasts who read, share, and respond to Grammarly’s various musings. We love each and every one of you.

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Do you think there should be “rules” to social media? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you.

The 5 Best Ways to Stay Motivated During a Job Search

Are you disappointed with the progress of your job search? Unemployment can make your spirits plummet. You’ve heard the comparisons: Resumes are a way to market yourself. Successful resumes reveal why you are the ideal candidate. Andrew Reiffenberger, a recruiting director, stated, “Your resume is you. It’s you on a page.” No wonder you feel down when you don’t get responses to your inquiries. It’s hard not to feel personally rejected.

How can you maintain high spirits? Here are the five best ways to keep your motivation during a job search.

1Control Your Goals

Writing your goals improves your chances of accomplishing them, according to research conducted at Dominican University. Getting a job offer this week sounds great; however, it is not a motivating goal. Why doesn’t it qualify? You have no control over whether a company will offer you a position. Even if you perform well on an interview during the week, you can’t control whether the hiring manager decides to hire you or not.

Motivating goals are measurable goals that depend on you—and no one but you. For example, here are three goals that you can control: Attend one networking event per month. Create a list of ten target companies by the end of the day. Identify and contact at least one reference from each previous job listed on your resume. Setting goals like these, and achieving them, will give you the sense of forward movement that is essential to stay motivated during a job hunt.

2Maintain a Reasonable Schedule

Lazing about the house all day in your pajamas probably won’t help you land a new job, and neither will scouring job postings for hours on end. In fact, both radical courses of action will do more harm than good. In other words, you’ll be in no state to shine when you do get a promising interview if you fall to either extreme. Balance is needed. Set your alarm so you don’t snooze away the day. (However, it’s okay to enjoy an extra hour or two of sleep during your first week off work. Your body may be catching up on some lost shut-eye.) Schedule a couple of days, or an hour each day, to concentrate on your search. Give thought to how you will structure your activities. For instance, you might update your CV and contact your references before you spend time searching for jobs online. That way, when you find an intriguing prospect, you’ll be ready to apply right away.

3Take Care of the Product

If a resume is to sell you, you have to make sure that you keep the product (i.e., you) in prime condition. Isn’t it true that you avoid wilted greens and dented containers when you go grocery shopping? In the same way, you need to make sure that you remain marketable to potential employers. Renew certifications and licenses as necessary. Stay on top of industry news and innovations. Remember to care for your physical health too. Get some sun every day. Eat a healthy diet. Follow an exercise regimen and get sufficient rest. If you do, you can be confident that you’re presenting your best self to the world.

4Explore Your Options

Do you have more free time now that you are not working? Is there something that you’ve always dreamed of doing? Gloria Steinem once said, ” Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” Once you have an idea of what you want to do, pursue it! Explore different career paths by reading about them and talking to people who work in the field. Leisure activities and interests also qualify as worthy pursuits. Why not find a club that centers on your hobby? Consider taking a class. With a little investigation, you might find plenty of options to study for little or no cost.

5Surround Yourself with Positivity

Negativity is contagious. If you associate with negative people, their bad vibes will rub off on your attitude. Think about the people who surround you. Who is the most encouraging? Maximize your time with the ones who make you feel the best. And don’t forget, your friends don’t all have to be the flesh-and-blood variety. By joining an online forum like Unemploymentville, you can network, get advice, or simply find a listening ear among people who are sharing the same experience. You might also find encouragement, along with helpful hints, in motivational blogs and podcasts.

Don’t let the progress of your job search run you into the ground. Your ideal job could be just around the corner. While you continue to look for a suitable job opening, maintain high spirits by implementing these five tips. If you do, you’ll remember your period of unemployment with more fondness than you thought possible.

10 Jargon Phrases to Avoid in Business Writing

Business-speak. The fact that the jargon of the business world is often annoying is the least of its problems. If there’s one trait business writing needs to have, it’s clarity—which is the trait most business jargon phrases completely lack. They’re neither precise nor informative. They’re not even professional. They’re just vague, even though some of them sound awesome and trendy. But we writers should know better than to use the following phrases in business writing.

Paradigm Shift

Paradigms are widely accepted models of how certain things are. Flat Earth was a paradigm. When paradigms shift, the consequences are substantial—on the scale of humans accepting that the heavens do not revolve around us. The introduction of quantum mechanics was a paradigm shift. So unless a business produces changes on par with these, we should avoid using the phrase “paradigm shift,” and use “major change” or “significant change” instead.

Moving Forward

“Moving forward” is a phrase used when we want to end one part of a conversation and go to the next one. It might also be used when we want to say that the business needs to begin the next phase of a development plan. But in that case, it’s better to skip this empty phrase and just say what “moving forward” actually entails. If we want to use it to advance the conversation or to move to the next point in a business letter, there are much better ways of doing it. “On a related matter” is a phrase that is sometimes used, although it has to be followed by a matter that’s actually related to the previous subject. “Regarding” might be used, and it should also be followed by an explanation. Or you might forgo the use of advancing phrases altogether.

Rock Star

To some people, rock stars are individuals who stand on stages, towering over masses of people who soak up every word they sing or note they play. To others, they are people from the past who have lived a wild lifestyle and sadly left us too early. Is it a sound long-term business strategy to hire the latter? It’s not, so it’s more likely that people who write things like “Looking for a ROCKSTAR content writer” in their job posts are actually looking for a person with a good reputation, relevant experience, and exceptional skills. So why not just say so?

Next Level

Oh, the mysterious next level. The prospect of reaching the next level is what keeps us glued to video games. In business, however, mysteries aren’t so fun. What exactly is the next level? What are the requirements for getting there? And why should we bother? These things are usually known only by the person uttering the phrase. So it should be avoided in business writing. Instead, when talking about change, try to describe the goal, the methods and means of achieving it, and the reasons it’s needed.

Results-Oriented

This phrase is often used in a very specific kind of business writing—job applications. Resumes and CVs alike often list “results-oriented” as a personal trait, and that’s not good. It means that either you are prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve specific results, or you expect to perform actions which cause results. If the former is true, you should think long and hard about whether you really want to say that or not. If so, you’d better understand what “whatever it takes” means. If the latter is true, you should know that the whole point of performing actions is for them to cause results, and they usually do because that’s one of the fundamental laws of physics. It might be better to say that you’re hardworking and dedicated to achieving great results.

Give 110 Percent

The only way you could give 110 percent of yourself on a project is if there were two of you, and you could borrow the 10 percent from the other you. Or the other you could borrow it from you—it works both ways because you’re both you. This is a phrase that was borrowed from sports, which happens a lot in American business-speak. But even in sports, it didn’t make much sense in the first place. Instead of using it, you can say “do your best” or “invest significant effort.”

Pre-plan or Pre-prepare

Planning and preparation should happen before we take a course of action, so saying that something needs to be pre-planned or pre-prepared is redundant and silly. When you need to emphasize the need for careful and timely planning, it might be better to simply state that timeliness and care are needed.

Think Outside the Box

“Thinking outside the box” is one of the best-known jargon phrases, and also one of the vaguest. We know what the goal of thinking outside the box is—to come up with unorthodox and original ideas or solutions. But when you’re in a meeting and someone says “we need to think outside the box on this one,” and you sit in the room and feel all the brainpower being used, it’s not being used for thinking outside the box. It’s actually being used to try to figure out what the person who said you need to think outside the box actually wants. It’s as imprecise a phrase as they come, and it should be replaced with more detailed explanations about the goal of the thinking process.

Synergize

The popularity of the verb “to synergize” in business circles is probably due to its use in Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” a very influential book among the business-minded. Synergize sounds exotic and powerful, and it’s a great practice to adopt at the workplace because it involves cooperation. But in business writing, using the verb “to cooperate” instead of “to synergize” will make the writing much clearer.

A Perfect Storm

“A perfect storm,” when used in business-speak, denotes the simultaneous occurrence of many unusual and unfavorable circumstances, usually with an undesirable effect. It should be followed by an explanation of those circumstances, and in that case, the phrase becomes redundant. Plus, the phrase is dramatic and there’s rarely a need for that in business writing, so it might be best to steer clear of it.

Cannot vs. Can Not vs. Can’t—What’s the Difference?

Can’t? Cannot? Can not? Find out the right way to use all three.

Can’t is a contraction of cannot, and as such it’s sometimes unsuitable for formal writing. In everyday writing and in speaking, it’s ubiquitous:

I can’t go out until I proofread my paper.

Peter can’t believe what’s happening in front of his eyes.

Cannot is better for formal writing:

I cannot wait until Friday to get the report.

We cannot allow these obstacles to slow us down.

Don’t use can not when you mean cannot. The only time you’re likely to see can not written as separate words is when the word “can” happens to precede some other phrase that happens to start with “not”:

We can not only break even, but also turn a profit.

The company’s new product can not only reduce emissions, but also trap some of the existing greenhouse gasses.

Here is a quick summary:

• Can’t is a contraction of cannot, and it’s best suited for informal writing.
• In formal writing and where contractions are frowned upon, use cannot.
• It is possible to write can not, but you generally find it only as part of some other construction, such as “not only . . . but also.”

Examples

The 30-year-old now says she’s recovering, but there are still days when she can’t drag herself out of bed for her part-time job at a university.

Bloomberg

Jose Mourinho has warned Anthony Martial he cannot keep wasting opportunities given the intense competition in his position after the struggling Manchester United forward was dropped from the squad against Feyenoord.

The Daily Telegraph

Even commit to change publicly to encourage accountability. In this way, apologizing can not only repair a relationship, but it can also become a powerful catalyst for your own personal growth.

Harvard Business Review

Cannot and its related forms aren’t the only words in the English language that give you a choice of spelling. Axe is another one of them, as are minuscule and flyer.

Grammar Basics: What Is Subject-Verb Agreement?

In English, subject-verb agreement is important. What this means is that the characteristics of the subject should be reflected in the verb. For example, if a subject is a singular, the verb form must also be singular.

She see you.

She sees you.

Likewise, if a subject is plural, the verb must also be plural.

We sees you.

We see you.

Unlike in other languages that require that subject and verb agree in both number and gender, English verbs are not conjugated for gender and so require only that they match in number.

To learn more about grammar and to help us celebrate National Grammar Day this March, visit our new resource page.

What Are Proper Nouns, and How Do I Use Them?

A proper noun is a specific (i.e., not generic) name for a particular person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are always capitalized in English, no matter where they fall in a sentence. Because they endow nouns with a specific name, they are also sometimes called proper names.

Every noun can be classified as either common or proper. A common noun is the generic name for one item in a class or group.

palace

girl

book

A proper noun, on the other hand, names a noun precisely.

Buckingham Palace

Cynthia

War and Peace

The distinction between common and proper nouns is usually quite easy to make, but it can occasionally be more difficult to intuit. When we speak, it makes no difference whether a noun is proper or common because it does not impact syntax. When we write, however, we need to know which nouns are proper because we need to know where to place capital letters.

You Too Can Prevent Capital Abuse

Capitalization overuse is the most prevalent type of spelling error there is. Psychologically, it is difficult to resist using capitals to emphasize what we think is important in a sentence. Marketing professionals capitalize liberally to Grab Your Attention And Sell You Things, but this is a bad habit you should avoid in your writing.

Carefully capitalizing only proper nouns will enhance the readability of your writing—after all, your readers have spent years of their lives being educated in English conventions. Extra capital letters seem like “speed bumps” on their course through your paragraphs.

Here are a few examples of common and proper nouns that are often capitalized incorrectly.

Mom or mom? Nouns Indicating a Family Relationship

The nouns we use to talk about our families cause a lot of trouble. The rule of thumb is, when you use a word like mom, dad, or aunt, capitalize it only if the word is being used exactly as you would a name, as if you were addressing the person directly. If the word is not being used as a name, it is not capitalized—although that has nothing to do with the word’s importance.

Please ask Mom if she would like steak for dinner.

Is your mom coming over for dinner?

Even if the speaker of the last sentence is acquainted with your mom and is thinking of that mom specifically, mom is not being used as a proper name, so it is not capitalized.

Adam asked his Uncle if he could stay for dinner.

Adam asked his uncle if he could stay for dinner.

Are Directions Capitalized?

The directions of the compass are not capitalized unless they are used as part of the proper name of a region.

The trail continued west all the way to the coastline.

What time is it on the West Coast?

Capitalizing Seasons

Because we capitalize the days of the week and the months of the year, people sometimes capitalize the seasons spring, summer, fall (or autumn), and winter by extension. However, they should only be capitalized when they are used as a part of a proper name.

Will you be visiting New York in the Spring?

Will you be visiting New York in the spring?

I am thinking of attending the Spring Social this year.

Jobs and Other Titles

It is just plain hard to resist capitalizing job titles, but once again, unless they are used in the act of naming someone, do not capitalize them.

Please allow me to introduce you to our managing director, Bob Smith.

Today Julie had an interview with Managing Director Bob Smith.

No matter how important you deem the job a person does, resist the urge to capitalize his or her title if it does not name him or her.

The next time I visit Rome, I’m going to drop in on the pope.

I can’t wait to meet Pope Francis when I am in Rome.

Should Brand Names Be Capitalized?

When brand names come into common use to describe a whole class of items, it is easy to forget to capitalize them. Brand names, however, are proper names.

He asked his mother to hand him a tissue.

Could you pass me the Kleenex?

Should Eponyms Be Capitalized?

That said, some nouns that are named for a person or region—eponyms—become so commonly used that it is no longer considered necessary to capitalize them. The sandwich, for example, was named for John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich.

The professor always packed a sandwich for office hours.

There are many more instances when you may have to decide whether a noun is common or proper to determine whether it is capitalized. (You may wish to read our articles on countries, nationalities, and languages or periods and events, for example.) When in doubt, do what all the best writers do: look it up.

8 Things You Should Really Delete from Your LinkedIn Profile

There’s a lot you can do to make your LinkedIn profile shine. You list your greatest achievements. You make connections. You take the time to write a great LinkedIn summary.

But for everything you do to make your profile stand out from the crowd, there are a lot of mistakes to avoid on LinkedIn, too. Whether you’re looking for a job or just giving your LinkedIn profile its monthly polish, here are eight problems to avoid.

1 Lies

We all know that lying is bad, and lying on a resume can be especially dangerous.

It goes without saying that you should delete any fudged details. And fudging them accidentally is no excuse. Even if you mixed up your dates of employment or wrote “associate” instead of “assistant” because you hadn’t had your coffee yet that day, not being honest and not being detail-oriented are both red flags for LinkedIn recruiters. Take what Angela Ritter, a recruiter at Grammarly, has to say:

“I pay attention to detail in candidate LinkedIn profiles. I double check that the job title in their intro matches the job they are currently in, that they took the time to outline what they’re doing in their role (at least slightly), etc.”

There you have it: no lies and no mistakes.

2 Posts better suited for Facebook

Vacations. Parties. The world’s most adorable dogs. No matter how perfect those pups are, LinkedIn is not the place. As a rule, pictures and posts related to your personal rather than professional life should be reserved for Facebook, Instagram, and other more socially oriented social media platforms.

If you’re looking for a job, you might want to be careful what you post on those platforms, too. Take a look at social media mistakes to avoid while you’re job-hunting.

3 That high school babysitting job

In general, skip professional experiences from a long time ago or that aren’t relevant to your current career.

However, if a long-ago or seemingly unrelated job helped you develop skills that you want to showcase at your new job or specifically highlight in your interview, you might think about how to spin it, rather than just pressing delete. According to Nicole Williams, Linkedin’s Connection Director:

“You never know—maybe you were trained as a salesperson at The Gap in high school, and the hiring manager looking at your profile went through the same program and wants you for the skills she knows you learned.”

4 The wrong photo Was your photo taken ten years ago? Are you making a goofy face? Is your S.O. in the photo with you? Or—social media gods forbid—are you not in the picture at all, and it shows your dog, cat, baby, iguana, or nothing at all?

Williams shares an analogy:

“It’s a lot like when you’re selling a house. If there’s no photo, it’s like ‘there must be something wrong with this property.’”

No picture is bad, but selfies and vacation photos are also better left to more social social media. Your best bet is to pick a picture in which you’re smiling and looking at least somewhat professional.

5 Company secrets

You want to show off that you brought in millions of dollars of revenue for your company last year. But your company might not want that number floating on the web. Keep specific numbers off public sites—save them for your resume or in-person interviews.

6 Unexciting accomplishments

It’s the quality-over-quantity argument. You may be really proud of that award you won in high school, but unless that was still relatively recent or you have a specific reason for showing it off, it’s smart to remove stale achievements.

As with professional experiences that are irrelevant to your current career, accomplishments that don’t demonstrate appropriate qualifications for your future job end up looking like filler rather than highlighting how great you are.

7 Overused words

Creative. Effective. Problem-solver. Yawn. Some words are used so much they don’t seem to mean anything at all.

Pick your words wisely. Other words show up a lot but will give you a boost: leader, strategic, solution, and innovative are LinkedIn standouts, according to a Grammarly study of language on LinkedIn. Ritter says:

“These kinds of terms help recruiters easily search and find qualified candidates on LinkedIn. Having common business language on your profile is important, but you have to be prepared to talk about your expertise with those terms. ”

8 Bad style

Yes, there’s a style for LinkedIn. It involves consistency, conciseness, and knowing the right words to use. Read up on writing mistakes to avoid in your LinkedIn profile, and grab some extra tips for updating your LinkedIn profile like a pro.

Being smart about what you delete and what you include can help you make an impression, make yourself look good, and make LinkedIn your ally.

Check out Grammarly’s LinkedIn data study for more pro tips.

9 Skills You Need to Master Before You Become a Manager

There’s no doubt that being a manager has its perks — increased prestige, recognition from upper management, and a higher paycheck among them. But as with anything worth aspiring to, it’s not all fun and games. As a manager, there are plenty of times you’ll find yourself in tough spots. Maybe you need to let someone know they’re no longer a good fit for their role or smooth things over with an upset client.

Because of that, it’s important that you don’t simply jump into a management role without having prepared for it first. If you want to do it right, there are a number of skill sets that you should build up first. So before you throw your hat in the ring for a manager position, make sure that you’ve got these nine traits down pat.

1. An Understanding of Budget and Financials

Even if you don’t work in a particularly quantitative field, understanding budget and finance is critical if you want to climb up the corporate ladder. The higher you go, the more people expect you to prove the impact that you and your team are making.

“Managers must always know what the numbers mean: how they were derived and what they may or may not hide,” says Roy Cohen, career coach and author of The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide. “As a manager, you cannot blame others for mistakes if you are clueless about the process by which they are reported. It is viewed as lazy and irresponsible. Even if you overlook a flaw at least you can explain why the oversight occurred.”

Suffering from numbers-phobia? Don’t worry — you can easily brush up your skills if you take a course in accounting, budgeting, or spreadsheet analysis, Cohen says.

2. Delegation

Control freaks, you’ll want to pay especially close attention to this one. As a manager, you’re tasked with not only your own projects but also overseeing others. With that added level of responsibility, you often simply won’t have the time to single-handedly take on everything that needs to get done. And when that moment comes, you need to know how to hand it off.

“An important part of getting things done as a manager comes through delegation,” says career coach Angela Copeland. “You have to learn to let go and rely on your team. And, most of all, you’ve got to trust them. The happiest employees are those who feel they have a supportive boss who trusts them to get the job done.”

3. Prioritization

On a similar note, the limited bandwidth and resources you’ll have as a manager will also make identifying the most mission-critical projects and tasks essential.

“As a new manager, you will inevitably be asked to take on more than you and your team have the time or budget to do,” Copeland says. “The ability to prioritize initiatives will propel your management career forward. It will allow you to set reasonable expectations for your manager, and will help shield your employees from burnout.”

4. Basic Technology

If you don’t already know your way around a spreadsheet or PowerPoint, it’s high time that you start figuring it out.

“The ability to prepare spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and other documents is a lifesaver for executives who cannot always rely on administrative support; particularly for those who are road warriors or who work for leanly staffed companies,” Cohen says. “The same [goes] for a basic understanding of tech troubleshooting. When you are dependent on those who are junior to you to rescue you from a crisis, you lose your power and authority.”

5. Communication

Strong communication skills are always a boon in the workplace, but if you’re leading a team, they go from a plus to a must. You’ll likely find yourself having to provide constructive feedback, navigate crises, and possibly even let people go — all of which require a delicate hand.

“Hard conversations are important as they cause growth and change. But, change is also painful, so these conversations are not easy. To be an effective manager, you have to be prepared for the hard conversations,” Copeland says.

6. Emotional Intelligence

One of the traits that will help you hold these difficult conversations? Emotional intelligence.

“A huge part of developing and retaining successful employees boils down to emotional intelligence,” Copeland continues. “Having empathy and an understanding of others will help you to motivate your employees to get on board with your vision. This is also a critical skill when it comes to selling your ideas to higher level executives.”

7. Project Management

Being a manager means you can no longer shrug off the missteps of others on your team, brushing it off as not your fault since you took care of the individual items you were assigned. As a more senior employee, you’ll be expected to see things through from start to finish — no ifs, ands, or buts.

“Project management represents virtually every aspect of your role as a manager,” Cohen says. “No matter what your role and responsibilities as a manager [are], you will need to know how to motivate and inspire high performing teams to work together collaboratively and with a shared commitment.”

Don’t worry if you aren’t a certified professional project manager, though, says Cohen. “You just need to understand the process and to appreciate that members of your team each bring different work styles and motivators to their job. It may be enough to read a book on effective project management and leadership. Perhaps identify a senior mentor to help you stay on track,” he suggests.

8. In-the-Trenches Experience

However, just because you’re spearheading a project doesn’t mean you won’t be expected to get your hands dirty with day-to-day execution, either.

“Be willing to roll up your sleeves. When your team knows that you can perform in the job in a pinch, they are less likely to cut corners and you are better able to establish both your authority and credibility quickly,” Cohen says. “Work alongside them on occasion as a reminder that you know your stuff.”

9. Backbone

Being a manager often requires you to make tough decisions and stand up for what you believe in.

“Being a manager will push your boundaries of right and wrong. Before becoming a manager, you need to develop a strong sense of your personal values and the courage to stick up for them,” Copeland says. “You should be comfortable standing up for what’s right, even when it’s not comfortable. Your employer and future employees will thank you.”

It’s important to develop empathy, but still know “the difference between BS and the truth,” adds Cohen. “Good managers are fair and reasonable. But they are not milquetoast. They have learned how to be assertive while identifying and addressing their own weaknesses.”

A version of this post originally appeared on Glassdoor’s blog.

Fantastic Lists and How to Use Them

If you want to get more done, lists are potent tools that can make you a productivity wizard. Our grimoire will reveal the most fantastic lists and teach you how to wield their power.

via GIPHY

Goal Lists

Goal lists are for plotting your long game strategy. What do you want to accomplish in the next six months, year, five years? Odds are, you already have some things in mind. Put them in writing! Research shows that those with clear written goals achieve about 50% more of them than those without.

Goals can seem nebulous until we actually commit to them—the things we hope to do “someday” don’t happen unless we put a plan into action. First, look at the big picture. What do you want to achieve? Put it in writing. For instance, if you’ve been telling yourself that you want to write your memoir, write down that goal. Now, break that goal down into actionable steps. The first steps might be something like: “Prepare an outline” or “Write 500 words per day.” You can then add those action items to your . . .

To-Do Lists

As lists go, it doesn’t get any more classic than the time-honored to-do list. These lists focus on short-term (usually daily) goals. Unfortunately, we sometimes feel compelled to use them less like a productivity tool and more like a massive backlog. Backlogs are more likely to stress us out by putting the focus on everything that’s unfinished. Prioritizing is the key to creating to-do list that will help keep us sane rather than overwhelmed.

Experts suggest you keep your to-do lists simple and focused. Try to limit them to no more than three main items per day, and consider breaking those items down into smaller sub-tasks. (Save the big, overarching tasks for your goal list.) If you have a zillion things you want to accomplish and you feel the urge to write a massive list, go ahead and get it out of your system, but then dive back in and select the most important tasks to focus on right now, the ones that will help you make the most immediate progress toward your goal. Pro tip: Write your to-do list the at the end of the day so you can tackle it fresh in the morning.

Idea Lists

Have you ever found yourself thinking, I had a great idea for that project once . . . if I could only remember what it was! We all do it—inspiration can be fleeting. Keeping an idea list can help you log those ideas and shape the best of them into reality.

Technology makes keeping a record of your ideas much simpler. Most of us are within reach of our smartphones or other mobile devices at any given time, so make use of apps to help you capture those moments of inspiration. You could use a note-taking app to jot down your ideas, or try a cloud-based solution such as Evernote or Dropbox to keep things handy no matter what device you’re using. Refer to your idea lists when you’re running short on creativity or motivation.

Helpful Tools and Resources Lists

You’ve got a big writing project to wrap up. You swear you saw an ad somewhere for a useful writing app that could help you proofread. What was that thing called again? (Um . . . Grammarly, perhaps?) Your brain is bombarded with a ton of input every day. Don’t count on it to retrieve information you saw in passing—keep a list.

Perhaps not surprisingly, there are useful tools available to help you save lists of useful tools and online resources. Bookmarking apps like Pocket help you file things away to reference later. (Or you could kick it old school and just use your browser’s native bookmarking function.) When you come across a tool or resource you think you might have a use for, bookmark it and categorize it so you’ll be able to track it down quickly when you need it.

Book Reading Lists

Avid readers already know the benefits of losing themselves in a good book, but science bears it out—reading reduces stress. In fact, it can lower stress levels by 68%, which makes it superior to more traditional methods like listening to music or making a cup of tea. Since reading is so good for you, why not keep a list of books you’d like to explore?

Goodreads will help you create shelves where you can store your “Want to Read” finds, and it works cooperatively with Kindle and Nook if e-reading happens to be your thing. If you prefer a more streamlined system, you could create a spreadsheet and add the titles and authors of books you find intriguing. For a low-tech approach, keep a handwritten list. You could even write it on a sheet of paper, fold it in half, and use it as a bookmark so it’s handy when you’re ready for your next reading adventure.

Done Lists

We always seem to have tons of things we want to accomplish at any given time. People remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than those they’ve completed. It’s great to have projects and goals, but they can become overwhelming when we focus solely on what we haven’t accomplished without looking back to acknowledge what we have. That’s where the ego-boosting done list comes in.

At the end of a busy week, sit down and make a list of some of your major accomplishments. You may not have finished everything you set out to do, but remembering what you did will help you keep a positive focus and stay motivated. You can use your weekly done lists to create a self-affirming month-end and year-end list, too. You’ve done stuff! Pat yourself on the back.

It’s vs. Its: How Should You Use Them?

When you’re in a hurry, you might write “it’s” when you really mean “its,” or the other way around. You need to be aware of this mistake and know when to use which.

It’s is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” Its is a possessive determiner we use to say that something belongs to or refers to something.

It’s and its are among the most commonly confused words. They are pronounced the same, there’s a very small difference in how they’re written, and it’s also easy to mistake the contraction in it’s for a possessive. But the rules are very clear—it’s is the same type of contraction as “where’s” or “there’s,” and its is a possessive just like “my” or “your.”

Examples

He doesn’t think its a good idea to spend all his money on video games.

He doesn’t think it’s a good idea to spend all his money on video games.

Its been a year since the last time they met.

It’s been a year since the last time they met.

The computer looked as though it’s power supply had failed.

The computer looked as though its power supply had failed.

A car is no good without it’s wheels.

A car is no good without its wheels.

7 Smart Ways to Handle Negativity on Social Media

You’ve just poured your heart into your latest blog post. You got real! You got vulnerable!

…And now a total stranger is publicly ridiculing you.

Life on the Internet can be stressful. As you express your experiences and opinions, you are bound to run into the naysayers, the haters, and the outright trolls.

Dealing with these characters may not be fun, but they don’t have to ruin your day. Here are seven smart ways to handle negativity on social media and come out on top.

1Don’t Feed the Trolls

The simplest and most direct way to destroy trolls’ power? Ignore their hateful comments and refuse to engage with their negativity.

Trolls feed on attention. Your frustration and anger are their goal. When you indignantly reply to an ugly comment, you’re giving them exactly what they want.

Your anger at injustice and desire to prove your point will tempt you to argue with them, but remember: trolls aren’t interested in productive dialogue. They will twist your words, accuse you, and make non-factual statements—they will not concede.

It doesn’t matter how intelligently you present your point, the argument will only devolve further, resulting in a colossal waste of time and emotional energy. But when you deprive a troll of attention, they’ll soon slink away to sow discord somewhere else.

2Champion a Supportive Community

Say you’re reading a friend’s blog (or Facebook post or Twitter feed…) and you see that someone has left a nasty comment.

Instead of engaging directly with the troll (giving them the power and attention they want), respond with a positive comment for your friend. Let your friend know how much you enjoyed their post and that you appreciate her sharing it.

Your support will mean a lot to your friend and will encourage others to speak up, unleashing an avalanche of positive support to drown out the negativity.

Whenever possible, do your part to foster a supportive online community where people feel safe to have real dialogue, listen, ask questions, and express their points respectfully.

3Provide the Facts

Trolls frequently spout misinformation, propping up their arguments with factually inaccurate assertions. This can confuse other readers and make a troll’s argument sound credible to those who don’t know the truth.

If you see a troll making inaccurate statements, on your own social media post or someone else’s, share some primary sources that refute their arguments and back up the facts.

You are doing this to educate other readers, so don’t respond to the troll directly (shouting matches will ensue). Instead, leave a comment such as “Hey folks, there seems to be some confusion around [issue].” Then calmly state the facts and your sources.

4Respond With Humor or Kindness

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Trolls only have as much power as you allow them to have. You can disarm their attack by showing them just how little you take their hateful words seriously.

Respond to them with a witty retort or thank them for their comment.

Well, the fumes from the DVDs might be toxic and I’ve still got your money, so by all means borrow my lighter. pic.twitter.com/kVoi8VGEoK

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 31, 2017

Just remember, keep things clever and focus on deflecting their words—don’t sink to their level of ugliness or engage in personal attacks.

5Report Harassment

If someone is making you uncomfortable or even threatening you on social media, don’t hesitate to report them. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other major sites all allow you to file complaints about abusive behavior. Many platforms also have a “block” or “ignore” feature you can use to stop receiving the bully’s harassment.

If you personally moderate an online community, such as a Facebook group or message board, consider creating a “rules of conduct” post. If someone behaves inappropriately, you’ll have a clear justification for booting them and defense against any claims that they’re being singled out.

6Repair the Relationship

Sometimes the people who argue with us on the Internet aren’t vicious strangers—they’re friends and family. If you and your uncle are duking it out on a Facebook thread, maybe take a moment to pause and consider how much you value the relationship.

If this is a person you don’t agree with, but you still want to have an amicable relationship with, consider sending them a private message or ask if they’re open to a phone call to work things out.

In the public theater of the Internet, it can be difficult to admit “I was wrong” or “You really hurt me.” Continuing the conversation via private channels can help facilitate a peaceful solution.

7Practice Self-Care

Dealing with negativity can be exhausting and discouraging, so remember to take care of yourself. If a rude comment really got to you, call a trusted friend to vent and get perspective.

Remember, no matter how “personal” a comment may seem—such as someone on Instagram criticizing your weight—those hateful words are coming from their insecurities and baggage. You don’t have to let their issues ruin your day.

Be secure in your value, focus on the positives, and let the negatives fade into the background.

14 Conversational Skills You Can Easily Learn and Apply at Work

Making Conversation at the Office

Making conversation at the office can be awkward. Stay all business and you risk coming across as a buttoned-up, stuffy person who doesn’t know how to cut loose. Too nice? You might find yourself taken for granted or even passed over for promotions. And if your conversations are too casual, you may find that you’re not taken seriously. How do you strike the perfect balance when making workday chat?

When it comes to office chatter, there are a few simple best practices you should observe.

1 Show interest in others. We naturally like people who are interested in us. Open conversations with a question, and then genuinely pay attention to the answer. A simple “How’s your day going?” goes a long way.

2 Respect your office culture. Casual banter and humor may not fly in a formal setting. Ditto for an overly serious attitude at a workplace that embraces a more casual tone. The office is one place where you want to fit in.

3 Keep your opinions about life outside the office to yourself. It’s cool if you let your co-workers know that you love your dog, or that you like to skydive on the weekends, but leave more charged topics like religion and politics alone.

4 Stay positive. Yes, bad things happen at work, but that doesn’t mean you have to have a negative mindset. Keep your tone positive by focusing on solutions instead of grumbling about problems.

5 Don’t gossip. Office gossip will almost always come back to haunt you. When someone shares private information with you, be sure to keep their confidence. And whatever you do, don’t badmouth management or your colleagues.

6 Listen and observe. Make it a rule to listen more often than you talk. The more insight you gain into your colleagues and the general vibe of your office environment, the more relevant and meaningful things you’ll have to say when it’s your turn to speak.

Chatting with Senior Colleagues

Conversing with office mates who share the same rung of the corporate ladder is one thing, but the dynamic changes when you’re talking to someone higher up. All of the tips we just provided are still in play (you weren’t really going to talk politics with your manager, were you?), but there are a few more you should observe to keep things professional.

7 To be interesting, be interested. Within reason. Dale Carnegie was right—the secret to being liked is to show an interest in others. But mind that you keep the topics professional. “How was your fishing trip?” is a great question. “Were you as drunk as you looked at the club this weekend?” . . . not so much.

8 Make conversation at the appropriate times. Chat with your senior colleagues when you know they’re not in a hurry, like when you’re both heading to grab a cup of coffee. Match the topic to the length of time at hand. Asking something like “How did you get into this field of work?” might be an appropriate conversation-starter at an office dinner function, but it’s not well-suited for a two-minute break at the water cooler.

9 Schedule time to discuss work-related topics. Have an idea for improving the quality of your social media analytics? Don’t present that during a thirty-second elevator ride. Instead, consider using email or other office channels to schedule a meeting. Otherwise, your ideas may get lost in the shuffle or, worse, you’ll come across as a pest.

10 Don’t kiss up. No one likes the colleague who’s doing everything short of jumping up and down, shouting “Look at me! Look at me!” to stay on the boss’s radar.

Communicating with Your Employees

Once more, the rules change a bit when you’re making conversation with someone you directly manage. Now you’re in a position where you need to command respect, and that applies even in casual settings. Here’s how.

11 Have a sense of humor. If it comes naturally, use humor to make yourself more approachable. Just keep it office-appropriate. Remember, you’re setting the tone for everyone else.

12 Bring others into your conversations. Even the most casual banter with a senior colleague can feel intimidating when it’s one-on-one. Consider inviting others into the mix to ease the tension and help everyone feel comfortable.

13 Don’t get too personal. Keep your chatty questions neutral. It’s fine to ask whether your employee had a nice time on vacation, but when you ask about their relationships with their significant others, you’re straying into personal territory. Would you feel comfortable answering if your employee asked you the same question?

14 Sincere compliments are always welcome. It’s helpful to praise individual performance-related wins that you might only mention cumulatively on a performance review. (“Good job on the presentation this morning! Your Powerpoint chops are becoming legendary.”) They can provide confidence boosts that increase morale.

Whatever your hierarchy in the office jungle, making conversation is a matter of applying a combination of empathy (chat like you’d like to be chatted to!), good observation skills, and a little common sense.

Irregular Plural Nouns—Learn Patterns to Help You Remember the Tricky Ones

Irregular plural nouns are nouns that do not become plural by adding -s or -es, as most nouns in the English language do. You’re probably familiar with many of these already. For example, the plural form of man is men, not mans. The plural form of woman is women, not womans. There are hundreds of irregular plural nouns, and in truth, you must memorize them through reading and speaking. There are, however, some common patterns to look out for.

The Most Common Irregular Plurals

Nouns ending in -f and -fe

To make a plural of a word ending in -f, change the f to a v and add es. Similarly, if a word ends in -fe, change the f to a v and add an s. The result for both types is a plural that ends in -ves. This spelling arose because of the difficulty of pronouncing f and s together in English (an attempt to do this will produce a v sound).

Singular (-f, -fe)	Plural (-ves)
knive	knives
life	lives
wife	wives
calf	calves
leaf	leaves

Exceptions: roofs and proofs (among others).

Nouns Ending in -o

Plurals of words ending in -o are usually made by adding -es.

Singular (-o)	Plural (-oes)
potato	potatoes
tomato	tomatoes
hero	heroes
torpedo	torpedoes
veto	vetoes

But of course, there are exceptions. (Aren’t there always?) Some words ending in -o that are borrowed from other languages take only an s to make a plural, such as pianos, cantos, photos, and zeros. Cello, which is an abbreviation of the Italian word violoncello, can be written the traditional way, celli, or the commonly accepted anglicized way, cellos.

Nouns That Change Vowels

Many English words become plural by changing their vowels, such as oo to ee or an to en.

Singular	Plural (vowel change)
foot	feet
tooth	teeth
goose	geese
man	men
woman	women

Fun fact: The eighteenth-century American dictionary reformer Noah Webster preferred spellings that were closer to their most common pronunciations. Thus, he advocated for the return of the Old English plural wimmen. Wouldn’t that have been convenient?

Irregular Nouns That Change Substantially

For a variety of historical reasons, some words change in spelling substantially when made plural.

Singular	Plural
louse	lice
mouse	mice
die	dice
ox	oxen
child	children
person	people*
penny	pence (in British usage)

Irregular Nouns That Do Not Change At All When Made Plural

Some English nouns are identical in both the singular and the plural forms. Many of these are names for animals.

Singular/ Plural (no change)

sheep

fish

deer

moose

swine

buffalo

shrimp

trout

I have seen several deer when walking in the woods near here.

How many shrimp did you catch?

Aircraft, watercraft, hovercraft, and spacecraft are all the same whether singular or plural.

NASA has made several different types of spacecraft in their fifty-nine-year history.

Plurals of Latin and Greek Words

There are certain words we use on a regular basis, especially in mathematical and scientific contexts, that are borrowed from Latin or Greek. Many of these words retain their Latin or Greek plurals in math and science settings. Some of them also have anglicized plural forms that have come into common use.

Nouns Ending in -us

To make a word ending in -us plural, change -us to -i. Many plurals of words ending in -us have anglicized versions, formed by simply adding -es. The latter method sounds more natural in informal settings. If there is an anglicized version that is well accepted, this will be noted in the dictionary entry for the word you are using.

Singular (-us)	Plural (-i)
focus	foci (also focuses)
radius	radii (also radiuses)
fungus	fungi
nucleus	nuclei
cactus	cacti
alumnus	alumni*
octopus	octopi (or octopuses)
hippopotamus	hippopotami (or hippopotamuses)

With the double i, radii (pronounced RAY-dee-i) sounds unwieldy, but if you are a mathematician, you probably use it every day. If you are a zoologist, you might say, “Hey, did you see those hippopotami?” but it would sound silly on a casual visit to the zoo. Many people resist the spelling octopuses, but it is perfectly acceptable. In fact, if you put a fine point on it, since octopus is of Greek origin rather than from Latin, theoretically the spelling should be octopodes, not octopi.

Irregular Formation of Nouns Ending in -is

Nouns with an -is ending can be made plural by changing -is to -es. Some people have a hard time remembering that the plural of crisis is crises and the plural of axis is axes, but crisises and axises are incorrect.

Singular (-is)	Plural (-es)
axis	axes (this is also the plural of ax and axe)
analysis	analyses
crisis	crises
thesis	theses

Irregular Formation of Nouns Ending in -on

These Greek words change their -on ending to -a.

Singular (-on)	Plural (-a)
phenomenon	phenomena
criterion	criteria

Irregular Formation of Nouns Ending in -um

Words ending in -um shed their -um and replace it with -a to form a plural. The plurals of some of these words are far better known than their singular counterparts.

Singular (-um)	Plural (-a)
datum	data
memorandum	memoranda
bacterium	bacteria
stratum	strata
curriculum	curricula (also curriculums)

Irregular Formation of Nouns Ending in -ix

Nouns ending in -ix are changed to -ices in formal settings, but sometimes -xes is perfectly acceptable.

Singular (-ix)	Plural (-ces, -xes)
index	indices (or indexes)
appendix	appendices (or appendixes, in a medical context)
vortex	vortices (or vortexes)

These rules for irregular plural nouns must simply be memorized, although it is helpful to understand the patterns first in order to master them. We also have information on the Grammarly blog about patterns for regular nouns.