Are Seasons Capitalized?

When we write the days of the week, we capitalize their names. We do the same for months. But when it comes to seasons, more often than not you’ll see them written in lowercase. Not that they’re always written that way—once in a while you’ll see them capitalized, which should suggest that there are some capitalization rules that apply to seasons after all. So here they are.

In General, Can You Capitalize Seasons?

The seasons—winter, spring, summer and fall—do not require capitalization. Some people think these words are proper nouns and capitalize them using the capitalization rule for proper nouns. But seasons are general nouns, so they follow the capitalization rules that apply to other general nouns.

Does that seem unfair? We capitalize Monday and February, so why not summer? It’s a valid question. But then again, if we were to always capitalize the names we give to specific periods of time, wouldn’t we then also have to capitalize afternoon or morning? You can debate this as much as you’d like (and please do in the comment section), but as things stand right now, seasons are common nouns, so no capital letters for them.

When Can You Capitalize the Names of Seasons?

There’s one exception that you’ve probably already thought of: when the name of a season is the first word of a sentence, you should capitalize it. Likewise, capitalize seasons when they are part of a proper name or a title, like the Summer Olympics. If your name is Summer, which is great because it’s a lovely name, there’s no reason not to capitalize your own name.

If you’re a poetic soul and you like to think about seasons as if they were people, you can also capitalize their names. If you want to write a verse that describes how summer is caressing you with his warm arms, go ahead and capitalize that “s.” But when you’re done with the poem, remember to switch back to lowercase in your everyday correspondence.

A quick summary:

• The general rule says that seasons should not be capitalized. They are common nouns, not proper nouns.
• But there are a few exceptions that call for capitalization. Capitalize the name of a season when it’s the first word of a sentence or part of a proper noun. If the season is being personified, you can capitalize it then, too.

Examples

This fall, you can cozy up in military-style outerwear, throw on a tartan coat, try out a sweeping cape, or keep the chill at bay with an elevated version of the workaday puffer jacket. —New York Magazine

Southern California is having its smoggiest summer in nearly a decade and hospitals report an increase of people with breathing problems. —ABC News

You could say Rob Connolly’s competent but slight thriller “Edge of Winter” is about extreme roughing it. —The New York Times

Only at the end of spring did they rise above average, the Woodland Trust said. —The Guardian

Save Time & Work Smarter with these 5 Email Apps

Do you have any idea how many hours a week you spend reading and writing emails? Well, according to a recent study by McKinsey & Company, it could easily be 11 hours for the average worker—and that doesn’t even count personal time! Just let that sink in for a moment…

Well, now you can take matters into your own hands (and possibly retain some sanity) with these time-saving and feature-packed third-party apps.

1. Yesware     Especially helpful for: Sales professionals

Want to know what happens after you click send? This is Yesware’s big hook, and it’s a meaty way to explain a product that gives you a ton of insights on post-send activity.

 

• Know who opens and clicks on your emails and on what device
• Schedule your emails to send later
• Automated follow-ups via mail merging
• Syncs with Salesforce
• Works with Gmail, Outlook and iPhone

 Get Yesware for Free Here >

2. Boomerang     Especially helpful for: Organization of sent and received email

Boomerang has a similar feature set to Yesware, but we are adding it to the list because it’s a little more mainstream focused and less sales-industry driven. For instance, if you receive a bill but don’t want to deal with it today, you can click on the boomerang icon to send the bill to the top of your inbox at a later date.

• Know when someone opens your email
• Set custom reminders to respond or follow-up
• Schedule your emails to send later
• Works with Gmail and on smartphones

 Get Boomerang for Free Here >

3. Inbox by Gmail     Especially helpful for: Early adopters and users who receive a lot of promotions

Inbox is Google’s latest email product that overhauls the email client experience. Right now, it’s available by invite only but only takes a few seconds to request an invitation on the official site.

 

• Scan important info from emails without having to open them
• Put to-do reminders at the top of your inbox
• Automatically catalogue promos, travel info, and purchases
• Works with Google Chrome or smart-phones

 Get Inbox for Free Here >

4. Rapportive       Especially helpful for: Getting context on whom you’re emailing

Rapportive is basically LinkedIn meets Gmail, and it’s really slick. While emailing contacts you’ll see their profile with important details. It’s a very simple but useful way to save time and to keep content relevant.

 

• See who you’re emailing
• View contact’s job profile and location
• See your shared contacts
• Connect via LinkedIn without leaving Gmail
• Works with Gmail only

Get Rapportive for Free Here >

5. Grammarly on Chrome      Especially helpful for: Eliminating writing errors and improving communication effectiveness

Last but certainly not least is Grammarly for Chrome, which is new and absolutely free. Grammarly will intuitively help you eliminate writing mistakes nearly anywhere you type on the web, including Gmail and other popular email clients.

• Correct up to 10x more writing errors than with popular word processors
• Evolve your writing together as the app becomes smarter the more you use it
• Works with Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn and thousands of other sites

Get Grammarly for Free Here >

5 Tips for Writing an Amazing Thank-you Card

If you want to let someone know how much you appreciate what they’ve done for you or what they’ve given you, the classic way—writing a thank-you card—is still the best, the classiest, and the most appreciated way of expressing gratitude. Lest you forget this, there’s always National Card Reading Day to remind us how fulfilling it is to receive a thank-you card, and how respectful it is to send them. If you’ve never written a thank-you card before, don’t worry—it’s easy to write a great one if you follow the steps below.

Set Aside the Time

Sometimes you might need to write more than one thank-you card. After a wedding, for example, it’s a good idea to send thank-you cards to people who attended or sent gifts. But even if the number of thank-you cards you need to write is relatively small, always set aside enough time to write them. Writing thank-you cards shouldn’t be rushed, and you don’t want to make mistakes in your cards. Consider drafting your messages on scratch paper or your computer first and then copying them into the cards themselves.

Make It Personal

A thank-you card says that you took the time to choose the card, compose the message, write it down, and send it. But if you were to print out your thank-you cards, it would completely ruin the personal touch. That’s why thank-you cards should always be handwritten. Not only that, but they should be handwritten in your nicest writing because there’s no use in writing a thank-you card that the recipient won’t be able to read.

Be Polite

Thank-you cards need to be polite. Don’t start with “Hey You,” even if that’s how you would greet the person on the street. Thank-you cards are a classy way of showing your appreciation for someone’s effort and goodwill, and if you’re going to do it, do it right. Start with “Dear…,” and end with “Sincerely,” or “Yours truly.”

Be Thankful

Being thankful in thank-you cards is more than just a statement, and it should be expressed in more than one sentence. The first sentence of the card should say what you’re thankful for. After that, mention how you are using the thing you’re thankful for or how it has helped you. It’s also a good idea to include a reference to the next time you might see the person you’re writing to, and to state once more that you’re thankful.

Be Pleasant, but Don’t Exaggerate

No matter how thankful you might be, resist the temptation to exaggerate. For example, if you’re writing a thank-you note for a painting you got as a present, saying that it changed the way you think about art might be an exaggeration. On the other hand, saying that you’ve already found a nice place for it on a living room wall demonstrates exactly the right amount of pleasantness expected from a thank-you card.

A Complete Guide to Reevaluating Your 2017 Goals

You came into 2017 with high hopes.

Maybe you decided Stephen King isn’t the only writer who can mash out a few thousand words every day. If Chuck Palahniuk can hammer out an entire novel in under two months, you reasoned, then surely you’d be able to finish your opus by springtime. Journalists churn out many hundreds of words each day and presumably still see the sun once in awhile.

Admittedly, King’s advice to newcomers is to start by aiming for a thousand words a day, six days per week—while many other longtime pros get by doing less: working from an outline, novelist Colson Whitehead shoots for a thoroughly manageable eight pages a week. Zadie Smith has said just getting to 800 words “feels like a champion day.”

Alas, writing is hard.

Distractions abound, as do other, non-writerly responsibilities. Maybe you need to clear out your inbox before your head’s clear enough to tackle your intro. Or maybe it feels essential to transcribe every word of a research interview you taped before you’re ready to map out a structure. “My apartment in college was never cleaner than during exam week,” veteran reporter Michelle Willard jokes, “and it’s still true: I’ll clean my desk when I want to put off writing a story.”

Whatever resolutions or goals you’ve set for your writing this year, if they’re not working for you, that’s okay. Beating yourself up about it isn’t going to help, so the first step is forgiving yourself. There’s no guilt in being realistic, so long as you’re still writing. With that in mind, here are some tips to help you recalibrate your writing goals for 2017.

It’s okay to start small

Goals are helpful tools for getting writing done. But when they feel depressingly out of reach, they can become crippling and counterproductive. When possible, sometimes it’s wise to ease into your project rather than stress over the eventual scope of the end product.

For instance, a radio journalist covering the news of the day might be obliged to write two versions of the same story: one short, the other longer. By first knocking out a few quick sentences for an announcer to read, the reporter crosses the short version off her to-do list and now has a workable outline from which to build the longer spot.

The same lesson holds true whether you’re drafting a grant application or a novella: your word count will be low before it is high, and sometimes it’s practical to work that to your advantage. Be deliberate about it—make it part of your process—and you’ll surmount one of the greatest obstacles writers face: getting started.

Carve out time to work

Writerly concentration is often fragile. It can crumble with the buzz of a single text message and take several precious minutes to reassemble. If you’re juggling other responsibilities—whether you also have to run meetings this afternoon, or just run laundry—it’s easy to pretend you’ll cram in some writing during brief windows of downtime in between, but that rarely works out.

This is why many writers carve out specific hours to be alone with their work. Some put their phones in airplane mode; a few insist on going offline altogether, instead doing their writing with old-school pen and paper. King has advised against working in a room with a phone, TV, or even so much as an interesting window to look out of; for him, the point of working set hours is “to make sure the muse knows where you’re going to be every day.”

But your routine doesn’t have to be brutal, argues Tim Kreider—a committed writer of the four-to-five-hours-a-day school. Your sessions do, however, have to afford enough empty space for your creativity to breathe:

Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.

If your writing objectives feel difficult to achieve, perhaps part of your revised goal should simply be scheduling a realistic window to work in, and sticking to that.

Keep giving yourself deadlines

Parkinson’s law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” But in the end, you’re still aiming to get something finished. That’s where deadlines—even the self-imposed kind—come in handy.

For some writers, it’s the glorious inspiration of last-minute panic that helps shepherd their project across the finish line. For others, the ideal motivation might come from a kind of external pressure—the public declaration, perhaps via social media, that you’ll reach a given milestone by a certain time, for instance. Or the fear of letting someone down. Leveraging that anxiety so it spurs you onward might be all the more reason to let that person know exactly what you’re trying to accomplish, and when.

Phyllis Korkki, a New York Times editor whose book is subtitled “How to Complete Your Creative Project Even If You’re a Lazy, Self-Doubting Procrastinator Like Me,” has remarked that for some folks, making a friendly bet on your ability to hit a deadline, or even hiring a stranger to keep hectoring you through it, might factor into the fix.

Lastly, a deadline can help to enforce your requisite alone-time, lest this ritual feel overly selfish. Consider this entry from the glossary of Jonathan Kern’s Sound Reporting, a seminal guide for anyone writing for the ear:

Crash: To work on a deadline—often an imminent deadline. If you’re crashing, you don’t have time for socializing; phone calls to reporters or editors often begin with the question “Are you crashing?”—and if the answer is yes, the caller apologizes and hangs up.

Key takeaway: the person writing on deadline isn’t sorry; the person bothering them is.

Save editing for later

One other consideration worth keeping in mind as you march toward your new goal: writing is one task; editing is another. It’s often easier and more efficient to cull what’s worth keeping from an overlong draft than it is to try to prune out everything but the most scintillating bits as you go along.

The Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan’s initial draft of his iconic work “Like A Rolling Stone” ran to some 10 pages, for instance, before he was able to whittle it down to four verses. Barbara Kingsolver, the Pulitzer nominee and frequenter of bestseller lists, frames this point perhaps even more starkly:

I write a lot of material that I know I’ll throw away. It’s just part of the process. I have to write hundreds of pages before I get to page one.

Whatever your goal, big or small, go easy on yourself—and get started.

Strikethrough and Why It’s so Popular

A very long time before any of us was born, there were no computers, typewriters, or printing presses. Books were written by hand, on pieces of specially treated leather called parchment or vellum. Back in medieval times, books were not only written but also illuminated, embellished by colorful drawings. And the lettering, even though you might not be able to read it easily, is a testament to the skill and patience of the scribes who wrote them.

Just think about the untold hours spent over rather expensive pieces of leather, writing page after page . . . only to make a mistake in the last sentence. Those things happened, of course, and there were a couple of ways scribes dealt with them. Sometimes, they were able to scratch the mistake off the surface of the parchment. But when that wasn’t an option, they sometimes resorted to drawing a line through the mistaken word—and the strikethrough was born.

Today, we understand a strikethrough intuitively as either crossing out something that is wrong or as crossing out items on a list. There’s nothing like crossing out items on a long to-do list, but also nothing like seeing your article studded by words (or even sentences) crossed out by your editor. But these days, the strikethrough has begun to serve yet another purpose.

If you like to spend a lot of time reading articles online, or hanging out on message boards or forums, you’ll notice that there’s usually nothing wrong with the words that have been crossed out with a strikethrough. This is because, today, on the Internet, a strikethrough is a way of saying something without really saying it. For example, a writer might use a strikethrough to indicate her own thoughts on the subject she’s writing about in a quick and annoying funny way. Did you catch that? The strikethrough is becoming the written equivalent of coughing and saying something at the same time, or mumbling something that you might not want to say out loud, but also wouldn’t mind for people to hear. You might also use the strikethrough to discern between official facts and either your opinions or things that are not official but are known by everyone. If you’re a journalist who does this, you might be accused of opinion journalism. You’re not likely to find a respectable media outlet that uses strikethrough in this way, at least not when reporting.

If you do see strikethrough text on the digital pages of a very serious media outlet, it’s possible you’re looking at information that was corrected after the original text was posted online. When this happens, some websites make a note of revisions at the bottom of the article. However, some use the strikethrough to the same effect—to show that they’ve made a mistake. So traditional media might still use the strikethrough in the traditional way, but new and user-generated media might use it for irony, humor, plausible deniability, or commentary.

7 Quotes on Imposter Syndrome That Will Help You Gain Confidence

“They all know. It’s only a matter of time until I’m called out. I’m a fraud.”

How many times has a similar line of thought traipsed seductively through your consciousness? An estimated 70 percent of us will likely experience at some point the feelings of inadequacy and “fakeness” that accompany imposter syndrome.

While people who experience imposter syndrome—feelings of failure and “pretending”—often experience higher rates of burnout, job dissatisfaction, and stagnancy, they also tend to be successful, as researcher Valerie Young shows. This is likely because many sufferers are perfectionists and over-achievers who are more likely to put in extra time and effort to counteract any perceived justification for their anxieties.

In fact, many of the most successful people in the world have struggled with imposter syndrome. Though it is critical to understand that feeling like a fraud is not a requisite for success, many accomplished people struggle with it from time to time and achieve amazing things in spite of it. There is hope that you can overcome imposter syndrome.

The Poet

I have written 11 books but each time I think ‘Uh-oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.’

—Maya Angelou

Despite her own self-doubt, Angelou was a fiercely accomplished person. She was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony award, won five Grammys for her spoken recordings, and served on two presidential committees. All this while also charming readers with her honesty, vulnerability, and personal fortitude.

The Executive

Every time I was called on in class, I was sure that I was about to embarrass myself. Every time I took a test, I was sure that it had gone badly. And every time I didn’t embarrass myself — or even excelled — I believed that I had fooled everyone yet again. One day soon, the jig would be up … This phenomenon of capable people being plagued by self-doubt has a name — the impostor syndrome. Both men and women are susceptible to the impostor syndrome, but women tend to experience it more intensely and be more limited by it.

—Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In

Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. In addition to being an accomplished tech executive, in her book Lean In she explores the ways women (and men) can make a welcoming and diverse working environment that encourages women to pursue leadership. She has inspired millions of women to advocate for themselves professionally and push through feelings of inadequacy.

The Comedian

The beauty of the impostor syndrome is you vacillate between extreme egomania and a complete feeling of: ‘I’m a fraud! Oh God, they’re on to me! I’m a fraud!’ . . . just try to ride the egomania when it comes and enjoy it, and then slide through the idea of fraud.

—Tina Fey

Tina Fey has a host of successful comic ventures to her credit, including the television series 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the fan-favorite film and endlessly quotable Mean Girls, and the hilarious and well-received book Bossypants, among much else. For her, beating imposter syndrome to continued achievement means riding the waves of validation when they come and recognizing that the phases of self-doubt are impermanent.

The Athlete

Every time I go to a game I always have that fear of losing or a sense of failure. You always have that fear of losing but you always have that confidence of winning. You never want to come off the field thinking you could have done more or given more.

—Darren Lockyer

This accomplished sport commentator and a former Australian rugby player, Darren Lockyer, is considered by many to be the best rugby player of all time, with numerous medals and awards, as well as a record winning streak in his pocket. Part of his success was derived from learning to tap into the fear of not doing enough to push him to his limits so he could leave the field with pride.

The Student

So I have to admit that today, even 12 years after graduation [from Harvard], I’m still insecure about my own worthiness. I have to remind myself today, You are here for a reason. Today, I feel much like I did when I came to Harvard Yard as a freshman in 1999 … I felt like there had been some mistake — that I wasn’t smart enough to be in this company and that every time I opened my mouth I would have to prove I wasn’t just a dumb actress. … Sometimes your insecurities and your inexperience may lead you to embrace other people’s expectations, standards, or values, but you can harness that inexperience to carve out your own path — one that is free of the burden of knowing how things are supposed to be, a path that is defined by its own particular set of reasons.

—Natalie Portman, Harvard Commencement 2015

It seems that Natalie Portman, a multiple Golden Globe winner, Academy Award winner, and Harvard graduate, should have little reason to doubt herself. However, she has spoken openly about her fight against imposter syndrome and how she negotiated the feelings of fraud—accepting that she is striking her own path and doesn’t need to carry the “burden of how things are supposed to be.”

The Novelist

I am not a writer. I’ve been fooling myself and other people.

—John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck was a prolific American author who wrote the Pulitzer Prize–winning Grapes of Wrath—a classic in the American literary canon. Despite his success with Grapes of Wrath, he fought feelings of inadequacy. His work, in spite of his doubt, serves as a lesson for why you should “fake it until you make it.”

The Musician

It’s helpful to have some arrogance with paranoia . . . If we were all paranoia, we’d never leave the house. If we were all arrogance, no one would want us to leave the house.

—Chris Martin

Chris Martin is the Grammy-winning lead singer of the internationally acclaimed band Coldplay. He has served as frontman throughout the band’s twenty-year career while also being quite outspoken about his self-doubt. Finding balance between his arrogance and his paranoia, or at least appreciating both, allows him to harness the benefits of each when they arise.

Everything You Need to Know on How to Write a Reference Letter

You’ve been asked to write a reference letter—nice! Being asked likely means you’ve come far enough in your career that your endorsement is meaningful. At the very least, it means that someone you know personally values your opinion of them.

Reference letters are a staple of modern communications. At some time or another, almost everybody needs one for things like job applications, internships, college or grad school applications, or even volunteer opportunities. It pays to know how to write them. Fortunately, letters of recommendation follow a standard format.

Before You Write a Reference Letter

There are a few things to consider before you sit down to recommend someone. While it’s flattering to be asked, keep in mind that your endorsement may become part of a personnel file, so it’s important to be sure it’s something you’re willing to stand by for the long term. Also, some companies have policies forbidding employees from granting references. Before you give someone your stamp of approval, be sure your company approves of the practice.

Here’s a tip: You’re doing the reference seeker a solid, so be sure to ask for things that will make the process easier. Have them provide a copy of their resume or a fact sheet so you don’t have to look up things like job titles and employment dates. Information about the position or program the person is applying for will also help.

Turning Down a Reference Letter Request

What should you do if you need to turn down a request for a reference letter? The answer depends on the situation.

When You Can’t Honestly Recommend the Person

What happens if you’ve been asked to provide a reference for someone you don’t feel comfortable recommending? Let’s say their work ethic or the quality of their work isn’t up to your standards. It’s acceptable to decline politely with a generic response like, “I don’t think I’m the best person to write you a reference.” There’s no need to give specific reasons.

When You Don’t Know the Person Well Enough

Do you really know the person you’ve been asked to recommend? If you don’t know enough about the quality of their work to say glowing things about them, it’s best to turn down the request. Simply say, “I’m sorry. I’m flattered that you asked me for a reference, but I don’t feel I’m familiar enough with you or your work to write one.”

How to Format a Reference Letter

Most letters of recommendation follow a standard business letter format. Although you’ll have to fill in all the blanks, having a template to follow makes the process a bit easier. Here’s what a reference letter should include.

Your contact information and greeting. It’s a good idea to include your title, phone number, and (if you’re not emailing the recommendation directly) your email address. Open your letter with a formal greeting.

An opening paragraph introducing yourself. Tell the recipient who you are, and why you’re qualified to recommend the person you’re writing about. Include things like how long you’ve known or worked with the person, and in what capacity (as a supervisor, advisor, etc.).

Details about the person you’re recommending. Talk about why this person is qualified. What personal attributes make them a good worker or student? What skills do they bring to the table? What accomplishments have you witnessed or been a part of? If you can include a brief example to illustrate the person’s qualifications, all the better.

A closing and signature. Your closing should reiterate why the person has earned your endorsement. If you’re open to being contacted with further questions or for a verbal recommendation, indicate that. Sign off formally.

Reference Letter Sample

Wile E. Coyote has been asked to write a letter of reference for an intern he directly supervised. Here’s an example of the correct format for a hard copy (or pdf attachment) letter of recommendation.

Wile E. Coyote Director of Manufacturing Acme Corporation 1234 Mesa Loop SW Albuquerque, NM 123456 (123) 456-7890 | wile_e_coyote@acmecorp.com

Elmer J. Fudd Fudd Mansion & Yacht, Inc. 5678 Wabbit Season Way Hollywood, CA 90123

Dear Mr. Fudd,

It is my pleasure to to recommend Road Runner for a courier position with your company. Road worked as a courier intern in Acme Corporation’s Albuquerque office from March to July 2017. During this time he was under my direct supervision.

In his brief time with Acme, Road demonstrated exceptional speed and agility as a courier. His deliveries are timely, and he is always polite and professional. His remarkable ability to think on his feet has gotten him through many high-stress situations. He is always calm, even under pressure. He has shown willingness to take calculated risks and go the extra mile.

Although Road is generally quiet, he has a courteous manner and is excellent with customers and colleagues alike—he truly never bothers anyone. I believe he takes great joy in his work, because he always seems as though he’s having fun. I’ve enjoyed having him greet me daily with a cheerful “Meep meep!”

I believe Road would be an asset to any employer. I do not hesitate to give him my wholehearted recommendation. I look forward to closely following his career trajectory. I’m certain he will go far. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Wile E. Coyote

A Note About Email Reference Letters

When you’re sending an email reference letter, it’s not necessary to include your address or the recipient’s contact information. Instead, include a subject header like:

Letter of Reference: Road Runner

Place your contact information below your signature, like this:

Sincerely,

Wile E. Coyote

Director of Manufacturing

Acme Corporation

(123) 456-7890

If you need more inspiration, visit The Balance for samples of different types of reference letters.

8 Great Hanukkah Reads

Hanukkah, if you didn’t already know, is a Jewish holiday that begins on the twenty-fifth of the Jewish month Kislev and lasts for eight days. It’s a winter holiday, and because Jewish months don’t correspond perfectly to the Gregorian calendar months, Hanukkah can fall in November, December, or even stretch into January. This year, it begins at sunset on December 24 and lasts until nightfall on January 1.

Hanukkah (sometimes spelled Chanukah), is also called the Jewish festival of lights. On each night of the holiday, a candle is lit in the menorah, a candelabrum that holds nine candles. People observing Hanukkah will pray, eat fried food, play dreidel, and share Hanukkah stories. Those stories are often especially interesting to the children, so any good Hanukkah reading list would have to include children’s books. But there’s plenty to pique the interest of adults as well.

1 There’s No Such Thing as a Chanukah Bush, Sandy Goldstein by Susan Sussman Susan Sussman’s book There’s No Such Thing as a Chanukah Bush, Sandy Goldstein might be a children’s book, but it packs a powerful message about knowing how to respect and enjoy other people’s ways and customs while preserving your own.

2 Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman If you can’t celebrate Hanukkah because there are some nasty goblins messing around your village synagogue, this books and its main character will give you a good idea of how to outwit them. If, in a more realistic scenario, you’re looking for a fun and witty Hanukkah story with great illustrations, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins should be on the very top of your list.

3 Dreidels on the Brain by Joel ben Izzy In Joel ben Izzy’s book Dreidels on the Brain, we meet Joel, a twelve-year-old boy who wants one simple thing for Hanukkah—a miracle. It’s a coming-of-age story set during the eight days of Hanukkah, written with plenty of humor and warmth. Plus, you get a miracle that involves a bus, and buses aren’t usually too miraculous.

4 The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket A latke is a type of potato pancake that’s usually eaten for Hanukkah. Latkes don’t usually run around and explain what Hanukkah is about to candy canes and pine trees, but that’s exactly what the latke from Lemony Snicket’s The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story does.

5 The Power of Light: Eight Stories for Hanukkah by Isaac Bashevis Singer Besides winning a Nobel Prize in Literature and being a very prominent figure in the Yiddish literary movement, Isaac Bashevis Singer also wrote stories for a young audience. The Hanukkah stories he wrote for The Power of Light: Eight Stories for Hanukkah, while aimed at younger readers, are the kind of stories that transcend age and religious barriers.

6 What Is Chanukah? by Sholem Aleichem From the pen of the Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich, a.k.a. Sholem Aleichem, the man who wrote the stories on which Fiddler on the Roof was based, comes a very recently translated short story, What Is Chanukah?. Written with the humor Aleichem is celebrated for, the story is set at a Hanukkah party where our narrator is doing his best to figure out whether anyone knows anything about the holiday they’re celebrating.

7 While the Candles Burn: Eight Stories for Hanukkah by Barbara Diamond Goldin While the Candles Burn is a collection of stories, some written by Barbara Diamond Goldin, and some coming from sources as varied as Afghani Jews, Holocaust survivors, and kids from mixed Arab and Jewish schools in Israel. Another kids’ book on the list that should be read by adults as well.

8 Seasons of Our Joy: A Modern Guide to the Jewish Holidays by Arthur Waskow

Arthur Waskow’s Seasons of Our Joy isn’t about Hanukkah alone—it’s about all Jewish holidays and observances. It’s not as much a book of stories as it is a handbook of Jewish holidays, their origins, and how they are celebrated, but it’s a very good book to turn to if knowledge is what you’re looking for.

Neil Gaiman’s 5 Must-see Tips on Perfecting Your Writing

There are many celebrated writers in this world, but few ever reach the rockstar-level status of dark fantasy author Neil Gaiman.

Fans stand in line for hours at his book signings, only to faint when they finally meet him (or ask him to sign their body so they can get his signature tattooed).

His beloved novels and comics—Coraline, Stardust, American Gods, Good Omens, and The Sandman (to name a few)—have gained cult followings and been adapted for the big screen and television.

His 2012 “Make Good Art” commencement address inspired all of us to break the rules and make mistakes, making it clear that after decades of aspiring writers asking him for advice, Gaiman has a quite a bit of inspiration and wisdom to share.

So whether you’re hunting for magic, or just practical tips, we’ve gathered together some of Gaiman’s best advice on writing. Enjoy!

1Don’t Wait on Inspiration

If you’re only going to write when you’re inspired, you may be a fairly decent poet, but you will never be a novelist — because you’re going to have to make your word count today, and those words aren’t going to wait for you, whether you’re inspired or not.

Writer’s block can be a frustrating and even terrifying experience. Gaiman’s advice is twofold. First, work on multiple projects simultaneously, so when one project stalls you can switch over to another. (Now you know why his publishing record is so prolific.)

Second, keep writing even when the inspiration has dried up and you’re convinced that every word you’re putting down is terrible. Your experience of “inspiration” is subjective.

Looking back at your work, you won’t be able to tell the difference between “which bits were the gifts of the Gods and dripped from your fingers like magical words and which bits were the nightmare things you just barely created and got down on paper somehow.”

2Find Your Unique Voice

Tell your story. Don’t try and tell the stories that other people can tell. Because [as a] starting writer, you always start out with other people’s voices—you’ve been reading other people for years… But, as quickly as you can, start telling the stories that only you can tell—because there will always be better writers than you, there will always be smarter writers than you… but you are the only you.

It’s easy to waste time comparing yourself to others and wallowing in imposter syndrome, but the truth is that you are actually your own greatest asset. Don’t get stuck in imitation mode—you will only hold yourself back.

Do your own unique thing, whatever that is. Gaiman always says: “There’s nobody who can write a Neil Gaiman story like I can.”

3Don’t Obsess Over Your First Draft

For me, it’s always been a process of trying to convince myself that what I’m doing in a first draft isn’t important.

One way you get through the wall is by convincing yourself that it doesn’t matter. No one is ever going to see your first draft. Nobody cares about your first draft. And that’s the thing that you may be agonizing over, but honestly, whatever you’re doing can be fixed. …

For now, just get the words out. Get the story down however you can get it down, then fix it.

Writing your first draft can be intimidating, terrifying, and often embarrassing. You may feel like there’s a gulf between where your writing is and where you want it to be.

This is all normal. The key is finding a way to press on despite your insecurities.

Gaiman writes his first drafts by hand because there’s less pressure—what he’s written isn’t “real” until he’s typed it up. Whatever you have to do to trick yourself into writing, do it.

4Make Mistakes

Any perfectionists in the room? The lure of playing it safe and the fear of falling short make a powerful and paralyzing cocktail.

Gaiman shares that the willingness to let go, take chances, and make mistakes is of the utmost importance. Why?

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

…Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

5Be Kind to Yourself

Writing is a skill and learning to write well doesn’t happen overnight, yet we beat ourselves up when our writing isn’t of the same caliber as our favorite authors.

We forget our heroes weren’t always writing bestsellers. Gaiman himself has had the frightening experience of unearthing a story he wrote at age twenty and realizing just how awful it was.

When asked how to get past loathing your own work, Gaiman answered this way:

Write more. And remember that everyone who writes anything good wrote a lot of bad stuff first. You are learning, be kind to yourself, just as you would be kind to anyone learning to do something hard, like juggling or ballroom dancing or surgery.

Learn from your mistakes, and get better, and one day you’ll write something you won’t loathe. (Also, it’s fine to dislike something you’ve written. But don’t dislike yourself for having made it.)

Commas After Introductory Phrases

What Is an Introductory Phrase?

An introductory phrase is like a clause, but it doesn’t have its own subject and verb; it relies on the subject and verb in the main clause. It sets the stage for the main part of the sentence. When you use an introductory phrase in your writing, you’re signaling to the reader that the central message of the sentence is yet to come.

Introductory clause: After the meeting was over, the staff was exhausted. Introductory phrase: While getting ready for bed, Susan heard a knock at the door.

There are several types of introductory phrases, including prepositional phrases and appositive phrases. Sometimes a comma is necessary after an introductory phrase. Other times, the comma is optional, and there are also times when a comma should not be used. It is important to note that a comma should always be used if the sentence could be misinterpreted otherwise.

When to Use Commas After Introductory Prepositional Phrases

When an introductory prepositional phrase is very short (less than four words), the comma is usually optional. But if the phrase is longer than four words, use a comma. Consider the below examples of sentences containing properly placed and omitted commas:

Short prepositional phrase:

Before the movie starts let’s get some popcorn.

Before the movie starts, let’s get some popcorn.

Longer phrase:

After riding his bike around the neighborhood twice, Rob was sweating profusely.

When your introductory phrase actually contains two prepositional phrases, it’s best to use a comma. In the examples below, the introductory phrase contains two prepositional phrases: “during the production” and “of the film.”

During the production of the film the director nearly quit.

During the production of the film, the director nearly quit.

When to Use Commas After Restrictive Appositive Phrases

When the introductory phrase is a restrictive appositive phrase, don’t use a comma to separate it from the main clause. An appositive phrase is a phrase that renames the subject of the sentence. For example, the highlighted phrase in the sentence below is an appositive phrase because it renames the subject:

Kate, an only child, demands a lot of attention.

There are two types of appositive phrases: restrictive and nonrestrictive. A restrictive appositive phrase is one that is necessary to the meaning of the sentence. A nonrestrictive appositive phrase isn’t necessary but simply adds information to the sentence. The example appositive phrase above is nonrestrictive because the sentence still makes sense without the phrase; it just doesn’t include as much information. The sentence below, however, contains a restrictive appositive:

The opera singer Maria Callas had myopia.

In this case, the appositive is restrictive because it is necessary for the reader to know which opera singer had myopia. Sometimes, a restrictive appositive phrase acts as an introductory phrase. In these instances, don’t use a comma to separate the phrase from the subject that it renames.

The award-winning teacher, Mrs. Becky Armstrong, was honored at graduation for her impact on students’ lives.

The award-winning teacher Mrs. Becky Armstrong was honored at graduation for her impact on students’ lives.

The rules regarding commas after introductory phrases are complex, but with practice, applying them will become instinctual.

7 Ways to Write an Effective Out of Office Message

When I was working full-time in media relations, exchanging emails with journalists all day every day, I learned one thing—out-of-office messages don’t have to be boring. Although most of the out-of-office replies I got were pretty standard, a few stood out by either making me laugh or providing me with interesting information. Here are some ways to make good use of your own out-of-office message.

7 Cool Out-of-Office Message Examples

1 The Social Media Booster

I’m always trying to amplify my social media signal. (Ahem! Follow me on Twitter if you like information about writing and productivity.) Your out-of-office message can help you accomplish that.

Hey, there!

I’m out of the office this week, but my Twitter signal is always on. Seriously, I’ve got robotic wonder thumbs! (No, not really.) I never fail to tweet fascinating stories about how people can win big with their marketing efforts. So, until I’m back at my desk, won’t you follow me [link]?

Whether you follow me or not, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can upon returning to my desk on July 17.

2 The Hand-Off

Sometimes your position is so crucial that people will need to have someone to turn to in your absence. When that’s the case, it’s often best to keep things professional by telling people when you’ll return and who they can contact in your absence. But, if your situation is a bit less formal, you can also have some fun.

I’ll be out of the office until Monday, July 24. If your message is urgent, please reach out to the lovely and talented Bob Smith at bob@domain.com. If you have breaking news to share, contact Big News Journal’s hard working managing editor, Ashley Jones, at ashley@domain.com. Just make sure your news is juicy. Ashley has no time for your shenanigans!

3 The GIF

We work hard and we take our work seriously. But sometimes it’s okay to have a little fun. If your job position is such that you can get away with it, why not dig up a fun gif to go with your out-of-office message? It’ll lighten someone’s day and make your email memorable.

I’m out of the office until Monday, July 17 without email and WiFi. I’m sure to return tanned and refreshed, at which time I’ll reply to your email cheerfully. I will not, however, be able to get away with wearing my vacation shirt once I’m back to work. RIP, vacation shirt.

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Here’s a tip: Get cool gifs to use in your email at Giphy or Tenor. Just don’t get too crazy and make sure the gif is appropriate for the culture of your office and your professional field in general. You don’t want to inadvertently send the wrong message.

4 The Networking Opportunity

If you’re going to a professional conference, odds are good that a lot of the colleagues who email you will be there, too. Conferences are a great place to ramp up your networking efforts, so let people know where they can find you.

Greetings! I’m out of the office July 24-28 attending the Epic Professional Conference. Are you there, too? You’ll find me walking the floors with a Starbuck’s coffee in my hand, comfy kicks on my sore feet, and a bag full of brochures and swag. (I hope someone’s giving away those light-up bouncy balls again this year. I burned mine out.)

If you’re at the conference, I’d love to meet up to chat about your email marketing strategies. Feel free to text me at (123) 456-7890 so we can connect.

Here’s a tip: Be careful giving out phone numbers. Remember that complete strangers may send you email, and your auto-reply could be sending them information you’d rather keep private.

5 The “Read My Stuff”

If you write, and you publish, then you’ve got content to promote. Why not use your out-of-office message to make anyone who reaches out to you aware of it?

Hello! Thanks for getting in touch. I’m out of the office until August 5 with limited access to email. But never fear! I’ve left you with some helpful writing tips to read and share.

• Improve Your Writing Time with Quick Recipe Ideas
• How to Give Writing Feedback That’s Constructive, Not Crushing
• How to Improve Writing Skills in 15 Easy Steps

I’m looking forward to connecting with you when I return.

6 The Bot Acknowledgement

While you’re away, your email is going to be handled by a bot. Everyone knows it, so you might as well acknowledge it in a fun automated email.

This is Jane’s bot. Jane is indisposed and unable to respond to your email. I’m replying to let you know that she will return to her desk on August 1. It is her intent to attend to your request promptly at that time.

Meanwhile, Jane leaves you with the following message. Please ponder its significance:

“I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.” —Jane

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7 The Lead Generator

There’s really never a bad time to collect leads or subscribers. Your out-of-office email can be a handy tool for lead generation. When someone tries to connect with you, why not tell them how they can stay connected?

Hi, and thanks for writing! I’m out of the office with no access to email until August 3. If your request is urgent, you can contact helena@handbasket.com for assistance. Otherwise, I’ll get back to you as quickly as possible when I return.

While you wait, why not subscribe to our fantastic newsletter? You’ll get actionable tips once per week geared toward helping you grow your online business. Join us here [link].

Do’s and Don’ts for Out-of-Office Emails

It’s okay to have some fun with your out-of-office message in most cases, but there are a few simple rules you should always follow to make sure that, ultimately, your message is both useful and professional.

• Do check your company’s policy on out-of-office messages. If there’s no firm policy, it might be best to check in with your supervisor and have your message approved in advance.
• Don’t reveal too much. Strangers, spammers, and maybe even scammers could potentially see your auto-reply. Keep that in mind before you tell all and sundry that your house is vacant.
• Do know your audience. If you send more formal emails during your working hours, don’t create an informal out-of-office email for your downtime.
• Don’t make typos. You don’t want to be blasting out the same spelling mistake or grammar error for a week, do you?
• Do consider a message rule. If your email client will handle it, consider creating a message rule where your auto-reply goes out only on the second message from the same person. That way, you won’t be oversharing your status with spammers or colleagues who really don’t care that you’re away.

Now, go enjoy that vacation! You’ve earned it.

How to Write the Perfect Thanksgiving Message to Colleagues

Sure, Thanksgiving is about feasting, but let’s not forget its other main theme: gratitude.

This is the perfect time to show your appreciation for the awesome people in your life— especially those patient folks you spend your days working alongside!

Consider taking a few minutes this holiday season to write your favorite coworkers a Thanksgiving message letting them know how much you appreciate them.

Whether it’s your goofy friend who cracks you up during meetings…

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…or the teammate who keeps you motivated (no matter how absurd office life gets)…

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…or the coworker who seriously came through for you, helping you finish that important project when you were struggling…

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…everyone appreciates a word of thanks.

So give it a try—read on to learn our favorite tips for how to write the perfect Thanksgiving message to your colleagues!

1Know Your Audience

How do you and your coworkers usually communicate? Do you chat it up on Slack? Text on the reg? Email like it’s 1999?

If GIF-offs with your office BFF are the norm, writing a ten-page essay extolling his or her excellence might seem a little odd. Sending a fun note with a GIF or meme via your normal communication channel will be the better plan.

On the other hand, if a relationship with a colleague is more formal, a thoughtful email or handwritten note may be well received.

2Make It Personal

The perfect Thanksgiving message will highlight something specific you appreciate about your colleague. We all struggle with imposter syndrome, so it can mean a lot to someone to know they really are seen and valued!

Let them know how their sunny (or sour!) disposition helps you get through the day, how their fashion style is an inspiration, or how their copywriting skills are wondrous to behold.

Thank them for ruthlessly keeping meetings as short as possible, for having your back in office politics, or for their amazing work on the last team project.

3Short and Sweet: How to Write a Quick Thanksgiving Note

Want to send a quick thank you note to your colleague? Make it funny, sweet, or encouraging (whatever the recipient will enjoy the most) and send via the usual channel (email, Slack, text, Facebook, etc.).

BONUS: Include a GIF or meme they’ll find entertaining, or a photo of a fun office memory together.

Here are some examples of quick Thanksgiving notes:

Linda, thanks for always having my back, telling it like it is, and sharing your secret stash of snacks with me. Office mates forever!

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Is it too much to say “you keep me sane”? Thanks for being an incredible colleague and human being!

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Thanks for always shaking things up. Here’s to another year of office shenanigans!

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It’s safe to say we’ve been through a lot together. : ) Thanks for always knowing how to put things into perspective (and for having way more chill than me). I’m so thankful to have you on my team!

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It’s been a crazy year, but you’ve risen to the challenge with aplomb! We could not have pulled off the product rebrand without your expertise—I feel truly lucky to work with you. Thanks again for going above and beyond!

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4Formal and Heartfelt: How to Write a Thanksgiving Message

A more formal message may be appropriate for a superior, a subordinate, or someone who seriously came through for you. You can email this type of message or preferably handwrite it in a card.

Here are some examples of how to structure a thank you message:

Dear [Name],

This year has been a wild ride, and I want to let you know just how much I appreciate your work on [project or tasks]. You’ve done an incredible job, and your support has been a huge part of our success. I’m so thankful to have you as a teammate and look forward to working with you in the new year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Your Name]

Dear [Name],

Since Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to say “thank you,” I want to let you know how much your guidance and support has meant to me this year. I truly appreciate how you’ve taken the time to invest in me, and how your encouragement has helped me grow into my new role. Thank you for being an amazing mentor.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Your Name]

Other Fun Ways to Thank Your Colleagues

• Bring Goodies: Show your appreciation by bringing in treats your crew will love (donuts, cupcakes, fruit kebabs, bacon).
• Make a Thank You Wall: Decorate a whiteboard or wall in your office and invite your coworkers to post their Thanksgiving messages using sticky notes.
• Treat Them: If a coworker really came through for you this year, take them out to lunch (or coffee, or drinks, or ice cream!).
• Out-of-Office Message: Thank everyone, colleagues and clients alike, by setting up a fun Thanksgiving-themed auto-responder.

What will you do to thank your colleagues this Thanksgiving?

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7 Essential Time Management Skills That Will Improve Your Life

Time is the great equalizer—everybody gets the same twenty-four hours each day. Making productive use of that time can mean the difference between getting things done and scrambling to keep up. These time management tips will help you streamline your day and work smarter.

1Do a time audit.

Do you get to the end of every workday and wonder where the time went? Maybe you wonder why you didn’t manage to accomplish as much as you’d hoped you would. You could be wasting more time than you realize. There may well be a discrepancy between how you think you spend your time and how you actually spend it. A time audit can be an eye-opener!

Here’s a simple method for conducting a time audit.

• Get some sort of timer that you can set to go off every thirty minutes. (The alarm app on your phone could do the trick.)
• Begin the timer and go about your day. Try not to think about the timer—just let it run quietly in the background.
• When the timer goes off, write down what you’re doing at that very moment. Be honest! If you’re checking Facebook or sending your best friend a funny text, own up to it.
• Set the timer for another thirty minutes and repeat the process until the end of your day.
• Review how you’ve spent your time. How often were you caught doing something that wasn’t productive?

Try conducting an audit every day for a week to get a good overview of how you’re spending your time. (You can vary the time between check-ins so that you don’t begin to anticipate the alarm going off every thirty minutes.) If you find that you’ve been spending too much time checking your email, scrolling through your social media feed, or chatting with co-workers, you’ll know exactly where you have to make adjustments.

2Block out distractions

Now that you have a better idea of what’s distracting you, it’s time to block that thing out. If social media is your downfall, for instance, try a productivity app that blocks online distractions. FocusMe, Cold Turkey, and SelfControl are a few available options. If you’re working on a writing project, try going into fullscreen mode to prevent yourself from opening tabs or answering desktop notifications.

Speaking of notifications, turn them off. Unless it’s critical to your job, odds are good you don’t need to be alerted every time a new email comes in or someone interacts with you on social media.

3Schedule yourself

Worrying about how you’ll fit all your tasks into the average workday can put a serious strain on your productivity. When we’re stressed, we struggle to stay productive, which can lead us to work longer hours to meet deadlines. Who needs that?

To-do lists can become overwhelming if you’ve got a lot to accomplish. Instead, use your favorite calendar tool (or even a good old-fashioned datebook) to schedule yourself. You might set aside an hour for answering emails, two for researching and outlining that important report for next week’s meeting, one for a lunch date with a colleague, and so on. If you have a shared corporate calendar, all the better. You can remind your colleagues to interrupt you only when absolutely necessary if you have time blocked off for important tasks. (See tip five!)

You’ll be surprised what time blocking will do for your productivity. For example, if you’re in the habit of answering emails as they come in, you may well be interrupting your own workflow to do it. That means that after you’ve dropped everything to answer that email, you’ll have to take extra time to reorient yourself to the task you’d been working on before it came in. Scheduling yourself allows you to set your priorities in advance and avoid being distracted by less important matters.

4Avoid multitasking

You may think you’re good at multitasking, but odds are you’re wrong. When you divide your focus between tasks, you’re actually diverting attention from one task to another and using more brain bandwidth. You’ll perform better if you give your full attention to one task at a time.

Grouping similar tasks can also keep you in the right mindset. You might, for instance, group your writing tasks together and do them during one particular block of time. Administrative tasks can fall into another time block. Need to be active on social media? Cool. Block time for using a scheduler like Buffer to queue up your posts for the day so you won’t feel the constant need to check in.

Here’s a tip: Keep a small notebook handy when you’re working. When you suddenly remember another task you need to do (“Whoops! Did I schedule my electric bill payment?”), jot it down. That way, you won’t forget that important thing, but you won’t interrupt your jam, either.

5Insist that others respect your time.

You know that meeting you were asked to attend that had almost no relevance to you? The one where you had nothing to contribute? That’s an hour of your time you’ll never get back. Get out of those do-nothing meetings. Every meeting should have to justify its existence, and every meeting organizer should have to justify your required attendance, especially if not attending the meeting would ultimately make you more productive.

The same goes for chatty coworkers. You have a right to work time free from unnecessary interruptions, so ask for it. You could say something like “I have a lot of trouble concentrating sometimes, and interruptions take me out of the flow when I’m working. Could we save chit-chat for when we’re off the clock?”

6Keep your “call to action” in mind.

What do you want to get out of that phone call you’re about to make or that meeting you’re about to schedule? You need to know what you’re asking for, or at least what you hope to achieve, before you dive in. Otherwise, you’ll end up spending time in conversations and meetings that aren’t ultimately productive.

Take a few minutes after meetings and phone calls to reflect on whether you achieved the outcome you were hoping for. If you didn’t, plan your next steps so you can attain it. You’ll be more prepared when the opportunity to address the issue comes around again.

7Get enough down time and rest.

Taking a break when it’s crunch time may seem counterproductive, but one study found that lack of sleep is costing the U.S. workforce $411 billion annually. You’re not at your best when you’re sleep-deprived.

And don’t shy away from taking your vacation time. Skipping vacation is actually bad for your health. Not only that, but taking time to relax can make you more productive. When you’re well rested and refreshed, you’re far more likely to tackle your tasks with focus and enthusiasm.

Now, go out there and get things done!

Why Grammar Matters in Your Content Marketing

If you’re trying to market your brand or sell a product, a grammatical mistake or typo can hold you back from success. Find out how it can hinder you (with funny pictures for proof), why it matters, and what you can do to ensure clean copy.

What do typos do to your messaging?

A few spelling and grammatical errors won’t necessarily prevent people from buying your product. But a writing mistake, even a forgotten letter, can contradict what you’re trying to prove to your customers.

Sometimes, an error can be downright scandalous.

And, to be fair, it can also be pretty hilarious.

We’re not saying a single typo is going to destroy your business. But if you’re a content marketer, advertiser, brand-specific blogger, social media specialist, or other kind of marketing professional, keeping your content crisp and clean can help you maintain your clients’ trust.

Why care about grammar in marketing?

Typos can decrease potential customers’ trust in you and in your product. If you’re not careful in your writing, clients, competitors, and investors might worry (consciously or subconsciously) that you do sloppy work. After all, if you didn’t bother to check for grammar and spelling errors, how can anyone be sure you’ll deliver on other elements of your company’s promise?

That goes whether you’re writing blog posts, tweets, snaps, Facebook updates, or something as antique as a sign or billboard: you’ll have credibility with customers and critics alike if you keep your copy as pristine as whatever you’re selling. Sure, you’re likely to sound more informal in a tweet than in a blog post, for instance, but even if you’re using colloquial turns of phrase to appeal to social media–minded readers, you can still run spell-check and keep your eye out for errors.

In the end, it doesn’t matter whether a mistake is picked up by a few avid grammar spotters or whether it’s risqué enough to make it into a list of worst offenders; if you can avoid making the error, then avoid it.

Case in point: if a politician’s publicity team can’t spell “America,” chances are, voters won’t want him to run it. That’s the power of careful communications.

Where’s the proof?

With the aim of shedding more light on the importance of clear and correct content marketing, the Grammarly team decided to do a little test. We looked at official posts on several companies’ LinkedIn profiles to see which companies paid most attention to accuracy in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. For added fun, we focused on big brand battles. Here’s one example:

In the worldwide cola competition, Coke beats Pepsi with 0.9 mistakes per 100 words, vs. Pepsi’s 3.6 mistakes per 100 words. Fun fact: Coke also beats Pepsi’s market share by a margin of 42% to 31%.

Is that all because of grammar? Not necessarily. (And to be fair, Pepsi has Coke beat on income because of its wider range of products.) With big-name brands like these, the source of success can’t be boiled down to one issue—even an issue as salient as grammar. But brands project professionalism and gain credibility based on how they communicate, and communicating properly can lead to great gains—especially if you’re not already raking in the billions like both Pepsi and Coke. To learn about the typo count for Facebook vs. Google and Ford vs. GM, check out Grammarly’s full article and infographic about the battle of the brands.

How can you avoid the typo trap?

The million-dollar question: how can you succeed where others have failed? Short of becoming a superhuman grammar guru and spelling savant whose fingers never strike a wrong key, you can do these things:

Be aware of your habits and tics, and avoid them. We know: easier said than done. But if you know you have trouble with who’s vs. whose or affect vs. effect (for example), pay extra attention to those problems with a post-it, digital reminder, or remote control to give you an electric shock when you make that mistake. Er, maybe not that last one. But still, watch out for your tics.

Re-read what you wrote. Seriously. It sounds simple, but if you take a few minutes to go through your draft—without zoning out—you might be surprised at the little things you catch.

Get someone else to give it the once-over. It can be a colleague, friend, partner, cat—well, anyone who can read. Even if you read and re-read your own writing, there’s a reason for the phrase “fresh pair of eyes.” Use a proofreading tool. Grammarly, for example.

Hire a proofreader or an editor. If all else fails, put your money where your typos are.

Paying attention and enlisting others to pay attention for you—no matter whether they’re human or machine—can work wonders. And if you’re extra concerned, or if you aren’t quite sure what your own tics are, take a look at other common ones and internalize those, too.

Which common mistakes should you pay extra attention to?

Some errors are more errant than others. Here are a few of the ones that pop up most frequently in advertising, online content, and other areas where you want to put your best word forward.

Switching letters, dropping letters, or adding letters

These errors are pretty easy to spot for a casual observer. Unfortunately, making the find was a bit harder for the marketers who made these mistakes and forgot to proofread.

In words with just a letter or two off like these ones, you can bet the writer would have found the error if he or she hadn’t been working on autopilot.

Using quotation marks for emphasis

This one is more frequent on store signs than in content marketing, but that’s all the more reason not to fall into the trap in your own writing. In fact, when quotation marks are used and there’s not an actual quotation involved, they express irony or sarcasm. Make this mistake, and you imply the opposite of what’s actually being stated, or you sound like you’re making fun of what you’re saying.

So rather than being real (note the italics for emphasis), “real” ice cream might be made from dairy-free milk, a lot of chemicals, or maybe something you would never want to eat at all.

Same story with this dose of irony:

Putting “don’t” in quotation marks is essentially equivalent to saying “do.” And if fire is involved, that could be “dangerous.”

Making mistakes with commas

You’ve got comma splices, serial commas, commas after and between certain types of clauses, commas with dates, conjunctions, quotations, and more. Get your fill of common comma misconceptions in this list of ways to never use your commas incorrectly. And then, imagine the unusual demographic this sign brings into being because it skips commas.

Using the wrong word

Whether this error stems from not knowing the vocab, getting similar-sounding words mixed up, or writing while your head is wandering off somewhere else, it can lead to some humorous outcomes. It can also be bad news for your company.

Apostrophes

Apostrophes create possessives and contractions (get up to speed on all the apostrophe rules). If you’re writing the plural form of a word, keep apostrophes out of the picture. Otherwise, your signs will look less than professional.

Then there’s the its vs. it’s dilemma: it’s another big problem for marketers and writers. The gist: “it’s” means “it is” or “it has,” and “its” is the possessive form of “it.” Brush up here to avoid imperfections in your content.

It’s true, after all: perfection does have its price. This brand may have paid the price of poor marketing, but you don’t have to if you stay aware of what you’re writing and avoid the pitfalls of poor spelling, grammar, and punctuation usage.

The bottom line: reread what you write, and don’t be afraid to enlist help. Keeping your content clean and error-free will keep you credible and your customers committed. And if you need a little extra help, Grammarly has your back!

Why Do We Call It Labor Day?

In the United States and Canada, the first Monday of September is the day we call Labor Day. That holiday means different things to different people. For kids, it’s the start of a new school year. For most people, it signals the end of summer. It’s also (supposedly) a cutoff date for wearing white clothes, even though the practice of not wearing white clothes in the fall predates the establishment of Labor Day as a federal holiday. It’s a day for parties, parades, and other kinds of celebrations.

However, Labor Day has nothing to do with wearing white clothes, or the fact that seasons change, or the start of a new school year. It also has nothing to do with childbirth, which is also called labor. It stands for something that every working American, as well as working people around the world, should remember come the first Monday of September.

Labor Stands for Work

In the heyday of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, back in the late nineteenth century, the life of the average American looked pretty bleak. Most of the country’s jobs were in manufacturing—it was the time of industrialization, after all. And those manufacturing jobs weren’t the manufacturing jobs of today—there were few (if any) safety codes or protective measures. The work day lasted for twelve hours, the work week lasted for seven days, and the pay was sufficient for basic necessities, at best. From the age of five, kids were also eligible to become part of the workforce, working in the same unsafe conditions, but for a much smaller paycheck.

At that time, labor unions were not unheard of. They’d been around since the end of the eighteenth century. But the worsening working conditions and the fact that an increasing number of people were suffering from them made the unions more vocal, better organized, and more prepared to take action in the form of strikes and rallies. The strikes were not always peaceful. Clashes with the police and with strikebreakers were common. At one particularly bloody episode in the struggle, the Pullman Strike of 1894, thirty strikers were killed by the U.S. Army and the Marshall Service. Labor Day, already recognized by thirty states, became a federal holiday the same year.

Labor and Labour

The struggle of the working people of the United States was recognized by working people around the world. International Workers’ Day, celebrated on May 1 around the world, commemorates the Haymarket Affair, an event that took place in Chicago in 1886 and resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians. The American labor movement influenced its Australian counterpart so much that the Australian Labor party uses the American English spelling of the word, even though the British English spelling, labour, is the standard spelling in the country.

So, if you’re wondering why Labor Day is called Labor Day, it’s because of all of the people who fought for better work conditions. And, since we’re Grammarly, we’ll end by pointing out once again that labor is the American English spelling of the word, and labour is the spelling used in British English.

All of a Sudden or All of the Sudden—Which is Correct?

All of a sudden is an idiom that is a more poetic way of saying “suddenly.” A common mistake to make, especially for English learners, is to write all the sudden or all of the sudden. On a sudden is a historic but outmoded variant. Currently, all of a sudden is the only accepted usage.

Is It “All of a Sudden” or “All of the Sudden”?

Although all of the sudden has been used in centuries past, all of a sudden is the phrasing that eventually stuck. Perhaps it is because Shakespeare used of a sudden in The Taming of the Shrew in 1594, and centuries of grammarians couldn’t help but side with The Bard:

Tranio:

I pray, sir, tell me, is it possible That love should of a sudden take such hold?

Some say that on a sudden is an archaic Scottish variant, but consider that London-born Daniel Defoe used it in Robinson Crusoe in 1719.

My crop promised very well, when on a sudden I found I was in danger of losing it all again.

Whatever the evolutionary path of this phrase may have been, the only accepted use of it is all of a sudden. You may hear all of the sudden occasionally in informal speech, but don’t let it creep into your writing, since there is no need to attract the disdain of grammar lovers.

Rover had been quiet for hours when all of the sudden, he launched into a frenzy of barking.

Rover had been quiet for hours when all of a sudden, he launched into a frenzy of barking.

The favored horse looked like a sure win until all of the sudden, a dark horse from the back of the pack started gaining.

The favored horse looked like a sure win until all of a sudden, a dark horse from the back of the pack started gaining.

All of a sudden could be replaced with the adverb suddenly in both of these sentences and they would retain their original meaning.

Rover had been quiet for hours when suddenly, he launched into a frenzy of barking.

The favored horse looked like a sure win until suddenly, a dark horse from the back of the pack started gaining.

Why all became part of the phrase is difficult to say. Perhaps it is meant to underscore how completely sudden an occurrence is instead of being just a fraction of completely sudden, and therefore somewhat expected. Idioms are mysterious that way.

Of course, all of the sudden could be called for in a sentence under certain circumstances and be the correct phrase. It just shouldn’t be used to mean “suddenly.”

All of the sudden moves Bruce Lee made thrilled his moviegoing fans.

A small minority of people may use all of the sudden habitually to mean “suddenly,” and you might be tempted to use it if you are used to hearing it but you don’t. If you revert to it conversationally, no big deal—just be sure to edit it out of your writing.

What Is Plain Language? 5 Ways to Overcome Workplace Jargon

If your work consists largely of moving words around on a screen, being understood is essential. At no time is this more evident than when workplace communications fail.

Say your team has been coordinating a crucial media announcement for weeks. You’ve gathered input from scientists and software developers at your company to clarify the details of your message, you’ve run the language past your boss and a company lawyer—you’ve even sat down with an executive to make sure your tone is on brand.

That’s when the bombshell drops: somehow, parts of the story have leaked early. A journalist is calling—asking to interview your boss’s boss. Maybe that person is on the road. Maybe your boss has been preoccupied with high-level issues and delegated the details of the project to you. As your panic escalates, you notice this final dagger—an email from your company’s D.C. office that makes absolutely no sense to your bleary, uncaffeinated eyes:

“Hey there, WaPo is looking to intvw c-suite rn re rollout. Cheryl has the bug, can you grab? A quick statement would be clutch.”

Argh. When communication breakdowns happen, they can be devastating for you, your clients, and your team. While it’s fun to tinker with language, invent creative slang, and show off your wonkery with jargon, sometimes the best way to get things done is by using straightforward, plain language.

Here’s how to make sure your writing is easy to understand.

1Avoid jargon and strange abbreviations

Every specialty has unique terminology that separates insiders from the general public, but this separation leads to trouble when you need to communicate broadly. That’s true for emergency responders trying to coordinate with other departments that use different radio codes, and for military officials briefing the press on an upcoming deployment, as in this example:

General: “Our unit will rotate back in approximately seven months.”

Reporter: “Will that be enough time for the troops to rest?”

General: “We believe BOG-time will be sufficient.”

What the general means is yes, but he uses a term that most civilians have to look up; in this context, BOG is short for boots on ground. Unfortunately, the reporter probably can’t use this quote in her story without some added explanation.

2Try paraphrasing

When you spot a clunky turn of phrase in your draft, look for a more conversational alternative. In the above examples, you could just as well substitute rest time instead of BOG for the weary troops, as well as executive in lieu of c-suite, and is sick in lieu of has the bug.

While we’re at it, we might swap out the rarefied lieu in that last sentence for the more plainspoken in place of.

3Ask the experts to simplify

Whether you’re getting input from an engineer or a financial guru, you may find yourself searching for a delicate way to ask them to be, er, um, less technical. The quick-witted reporter in the above scenario might broach it with this followup: “For people in our audience who aren’t familiar, what is BOG-time and why is it important?”

Science writers use this tactic constantly with academics, asking them to distill the complexities of their research as they might when speaking to a bright but easily distracted fourth-grader.

It’s a sentiment echoed in a memorable scene from the 2011 film Margin Call, in which the CEO of an investment bank on the verge of collapse deadpans to a young analyst, “Speak as you might to a young child—or a golden retriever.”

4Don’t act like you know

Small misunderstandings have a way of compounding, if you let them.

It can be strange to ask people for clarification, especially if you feel expected to already understand what they’re talking about in full. In this situation, it’s worth remembering that if you’d mastered the subject perfectly, then discussing it further would only be a waste of breath. In other words, asking questions shows people you respect their time.

Also, putting such questions off for later won’t help, and may even set back your efforts, so it’s best to get it over with. You may be surprised: folks tend to value feeling well understood, so they may appreciate your questions more than you’d guess.

5What would George Orwell do?

The need to simplify convoluted language has been evident for decades. George Orwell hammered on it in his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” (PDF).

Some key takeaways can be summarized as follows: Don’t use played-out turns of phrase, the passive voice, or overly long, arcane, or unnecessary words. But Orwell’s final rule also acknowledges that it’s possible to go too far in pursuit of simplicity.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

While it’s tempting to substitute a plainer word there at the end, like awkward, editing Orwell would be outright barbarous. We’ll let it stand.

10 Words and Phrases to Never, Ever Use at Work

Every industry has its jargon. But some words and phrases can be unclear, unnecessary, or even offensive. Maybe some of these are phrases you like building into your business vocab, but use them with caution. If you’re going to offend or annoy someone, or if there’s a clearer way to say something, why not go the easy way?

Our little caveat: every office has different protocol. If you’re buddies with your coworkers, it’s not so strange to talk to them about personal issues. And if you’re in the thick of the consulting, tech, or business world, you might feel inclined to use the lingo and play along. But the joy of language is that there’s always another way to phrase something.

1 “Assume”

We’ve all heard it: “When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.” Cute. But even if the catchphrase earns your eye-roll, it’s a good point: don’t accept something to be the case without proof. For example:

“I assume you finished the report?” “I assumed Bob would run that part of the presentation.” “I assume you’ll be working on Saturday?”

From a boss, “assume” is a passive-aggressive way to show authority. From an underling, it looks like ducking responsibility. In both cases, there are ways to make your point without making an ass out of you and me.

2 “Like”

“I like these doughnuts” is fair game. But avoid using “like,” “um,” “sort of,” “basically,” and other weasel words that fill dead air. They make you sound less confident and can even sort of give the impression that you basically don’t know what you’re, like, talking about.

See what we mean?

3 “We made a $400K offer”

Or, “I finally got that $10K raise,” or even “I’ve never eaten there because it’s too expensive.” Good rule of thumb: avoid stating the amount of money you make or the pile of dough you spent on your trip to Iceland. If someone makes a lot more or a lot less than you, it could lead to awkwardness.

4 “Open the kimono”

Some business folk use this to mean “reveal information,” but it doesn’t necessarily come across that way. It’s a good idea to steer clear of words that could be misinterpreted or cause offense, even if they’re not meant that way.

5 “Hey, man”

Not everyone who works is a man, and even seemingly innocent phrases like “Hey, man” or “What’s up, dude,” when used between people who identify as men, can create an environment of exclusion. Nicknames in general can help build a bond of casual camaraderie—but when that bond is based on being the same sex, that means anyone who doesn’t fall under the category of “man” or “dude” is excluded from the camaraderie.

Most people who use these phrases aren’t being exclusive on purpose. But by calling out a connection based on something that other people in the office don’t share, these “dudes” might be making it harder for women to build the connections that will get them ahead.

6 “Let’s talk that”

“Talk about it”? “Discuss it”? “Have a meaningful and productive dialogue about the issue and its repercussions”?

Here’s why Grammarly doesn’t like this phrase: “talk” is not traditionally a transitive verb because it doesn’t take a direct object. You can talk about something, but that’s an intransitive verb with a prepositional phrase: a very different category.

While phrases like “we can talk it out” or “let’s talk things through” have shown the potential for talk to take on transitive qualities, “let’s talk that” is a step too far.

7 “That was a fail”

If you’re pointing out someone else’s mistake, you seem blaming and harsh; if you’re talking about your own, you risk undermining your coworkers’ sense of your abilities.

Here’s how to turn it around: if you messed up, find a task too tough, or aren’t sure how to address a problem, don’t start in with “I can’t,” “it’s hard,” or “I failed.” Find someone to ask for help and tell them what the problem is, what you’ve tried so far, and what you need to know or do to fix it.

On the flip side, some companies love talking about failures as opportunities for learning and growth. If you work in an environment brimming with that kind of positivity, kudos. But no matter whether your company embraces the word “failure” or avoids it like the plague, same idea goes: focus on next steps and ways to learn moving forward, not on who’s to blame.

8 “She was in labor for 20 hours”

Everyone loves kids, right? Sure, once they’re out and about in the world. The details of your experience are better kept to yourself. When it comes to labor, keep it to the kind you do with your coworkers in the office Monday to Friday.

9 “Over the wall”

In business, “throw it over the wall” can be translated as “send it to the client.” This is one of the cases where jargon gets in the way of clarity—and that can, in turn, lead to things not getting done. If you want to be understood, this is a phrase you can throw over the wall—as in, get rid of it.

10 “Think outside the box”

If your goal in the office is to think outside the box, why not do the same with your well-worn clichés? There’s nothing really wrong with this phrase, but it’s been used so many times that we dare you to find new ways to express the idea. You can keep it simple, like “innovate,” “find unusual solutions,” or even “come up with creative ideas,” or you can invent something totally new like “think one galaxy over.” (Though if you’re going for clarity, you might want to stick to “brainstorm.”)

Either way, if you’re trying to find creative solutions at work, you might as well think outside the box in how you use language, too.