Words to Purge From Your Emails

Do your bloated emails need a diet? If an email is too wordy, the recipient may not be inclined to read it carefully. Make your emails brief, clean, and effective by eliminating these unnecessary phrases.

One Potentially Impolite Word

When you type an email, the receiver can’t see your twinkling eyes and impish grin. Certain words, such as “actually,” can seem sarcastic, condescending, or even impolite. Consider these example conversations, and decide which of the two sends the more polite message.:

Boss: Marie, I asked you for the Boulder report this morning. Can you please bring it to my office ASAP?

Reply 1: Actually, I put it on your desk earlier. It should be under your green paperweight. Let me know if you don’t see it.

Reply 2: I put it under your desk earlier. It should be under your green paperweight. Let me know if you don’t see it.

Does version one actually seem a bit snippy? Rather than run the risk of your words being misconstrued, why not leave out the unnecessary phrase “actually” in your emails?

7 Weasel Words and Phrases

Weasel words make you sound unsure or unreliable. In particular, there are seven expressions that should be eliminated if you want to make a good impression on the reader: like, sort of, kind of, maybe, perhaps, might, and can. Let’s look at another sample email with and without the weasels.

Client: Will the package arrive on Monday?

Reply 1: We might be able to deliver the package by Monday. I sort of need your tracking number. Perhaps if you send it, I can see where the package is.

Reply 2: To see exactly where your package is, I need the tracking number. Please send it and I will let you know if the package will arrive by Monday.

Reply two is direct and honest. Doesn’t reply one sound hesitant? If you want to send the impression that you have everything under control, avoid expressions that sound like you are trying to weasel out of something.

3 Add-Nothing Adverbs

Some writers hate adverbs, but most agree that they have their place. Henry James wrote “Adjectives are the sugar of literature and adverbs the salt.” To carry the metaphor forward, salt enhances the taste of food when used in the right proportion. Too much salt spoils a dish. On the other hand, salt has no place in certain edibles. Imagine putting salt in your lemonade, for example! Three adverbs are the worst of the worst because they add nothing important to a phrase. Avoid basically, currently, and seriously. Take a look at these examples to see why you should permanently leave these three words behind.

Message 1: I seriously considered your job offer. Basically, I am writing to decline because I currently have commitments that extend through April 2 of next year. Once they are fulfilled, I will contact you again to discuss what openings you have.

Message 2: I am writing to decline your job offer because I have previous commitments that extend through April 2 of next year. Once they are fulfilled, I will contact you again to discuss what openings you have.

It’s a job offer! Of course you seriously considered it. You are writing in present tense. Therefore, “currently” is extraneous. “Basically” indicates that a statement summarizes the most important aspects of a complicated situation. However, you explained the main points. If your readers need more details, they will ask.

3 Redundant or Imprecise Phrases

We’ve covered several redundant phrases that do nothing more than bloat writing. In an email, where brevity is especially appreciated, these phrases should be cut without delay. Let’s revisit a few of the worst offenders:

As a matter of fact

As a matter of fact means “in reality.” Speakers often use it to correct a misunderstanding or point out an error.

Speaker 1: I don’t eat polenta because I am allergic to wheat.

Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, polenta is a corn product.

Remember when we discussed why “actually” should be avoided? If you read the conversation above aloud, perhaps you might imagine Speaker 2 delivering the correction with hands on hips and a roll of the eyes. Why risk offending your readers? Don’t take for granted that they will understand your motives. It’s always better to make important corrections or clarifications in person. If you must send an email, choose your words carefully. A little tact goes a long way.

In the process of

Dear client, we are in the process of remodeling our store. The Bates location will be closed until further notice.

Will your clients get confused if you take out the phrase “in the process of”? Will they turn up at the storefront scratching their heads? If you reread the sentence without “in the process of,” you still understand why the location is closed. Why state the obvious?

For all intents and purposes

For all intents and purposes means “in effect.” People use it when there may be some ambiguity in a statement of fact. For instance, imagine you are a company owner who wants to discontinue the manufacture of a product. You set the date to cease production. Most of the materials to make the product should be used by that date. If you end up with materials left over, you will continue production for a few more days to avoid waste. Rather than go into exhaustive detail with your workers, you state: For all intents and purposes, production will cease on October 15.

Instead of this wordy phrase, opt for a more precise way of expressing ambiguous details. In the example above, the company owner could say that production is predicted to cease on October 12. Or, she might say that production will cease mid-October. Either way, the workers would understand the general timeframe of the end of production.

If you aren’t convinced, consider another problem that arises with “for all intents and purposes.” Many people use it incorrectly. Rather than take a chance on being one of them, you might want to use a synonym such as “in effect.”

English is full of unneeded filler words. The best emails are clear, direct, and brief. If you want your emails to communicate their purpose, eliminate these superfluous phrases.

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!

These 4 Tips Will Save You Time in Meetings

Sick of unfocused, unproductive meetings? The average office meeting is a modern-day implement of torture, dragging on forever while everyone talks in circles and your annoying coworker (yeah, there’s one in every crowd) hijacks the meeting with his ramblings.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. A well-run meeting will last a bearable amount of time, get everyone aligned and on the same page, and develop clear next steps for what you’re trying to achieve together.

So if you’re ready to stop wasting time and start using your meetings to their full potential, here are four tips for how to save time in meetings and maximize your productivity:

1Always Have an Agenda

Save time in your meetings and get everyone on the same page (literally) by creating a meeting agenda in advance.

Be sure your agenda clearly states the goal or goals you want to accomplish by the end of the meeting—whether that’s making a key decision, brainstorming ideas, or organizing a plan of action.

Here’s a tip: If you can’t think of a clear goal for the meeting to accomplish, or your goal could be achieved by another method, then you don’t need to have a meeting.

Send the agenda out in advance so your meeting attendees have time to ask questions, get any materials prepped, and start thinking through solutions.

During the meeting, use your agenda as a roadmap to keep the conversation on topic so you can make productive use of your time and achieve your goals.

2Appoint a Moderator

Put an end to pointless, rambling speeches, unnecessary debates, and momentum-stealing bunny trails. Have an attendee act as a moderator responsible for keeping the group on task with the agenda and curtailing unproductive behavior.

A good moderator will kindly but firmly cut off Jorge-from-Marketing’s long-winded tirade and encourage Latifa-from-Design to share her thoughts.The loudest voice in the room isn’t necessarily the one with the best ideas, so it’s important to make space for the shy and introverted among us who feel less confident about sharing.

Having a moderator is useful for guiding the group in brainstorming or getting back on track if the conversation has stalled. And best of all, a moderator will not only save time during the meeting but can also use their power to make sure the meeting ends on time!

3End the Meeting on Time

Right now you may be thinking this isn’t possible. “Oh yes,” you say, “meetings will end on time—when unicorns prance once again through the wooded glades!”

Have faith—it is possible.

First, think critically about how long the meeting needs to be. The standard on many scheduling calendars is one hour, but you may need only thirty or forty-five minutes to get everything done. A shorter meeting can create a sense of urgency and focus that encourages efficiency.

Take a shot at beginning the meeting on time. Send a reminder message thirty minutes before go-time and encourage people to arrive five minutes early so they can grab coffee and settle in.

Clearly state the meeting’s end time in the original invite, the reminder, and at the beginning of the meeting. Make it clear that the meeting will be over at the appointed time, and conversations can be continued afterward via Slack or email if needed.

Set up a countdown clock so everyone can see how much time is left and be mindful of using it efficiently. (This can also make it obvious if someone is wasting time.)

On your agenda, set aside the last five to ten minutes for discussing everyone’s next steps after the meeting. Make sure you leave the meeting with action steps. Otherwise, what was the point of getting in the room in the first place? The moderator can proactively wrap the meeting up and make sure each person knows which action items they’re responsible for.

And if the meeting miraculously finishes early, don’t keep the people waiting, let everyone go on their merry way!

4Include Only Essential People

Do you love crowded meetings where everyone has an opinion and nothing can get decided? No, you don’t. No one does.

Turns out a great way to promote productivity and efficient time use is to keep your meetings small. Invite only the people who are playing a critical role in the meeting’s purpose and have a truly important reason to be there.

It may be tempting to invite anyone who is vaguely connected (“Sure, it would be good for you to be there!”), but if they’re not key players or decision-makers, they probably can’t contribute much to the meeting. In fact, they might even derail it.

So keep your guest list exclusive. The fewer people in the room, the more responsibility everyone feels. Try keeping it between five and ten people for decision making and planning, and expand that number to include additional voices if you need a brainstorming session.

Grammar Basics: What Are Commonly Confused Phrases in English?

Are there certain phrases in English that you can never quite remember? Chances are, others have the same difficulty. Here are some of the most commonly confused expressions in English.

I couldn’t care less So you do care! That’s what you’ll be saying if you say what many others mistakenly do: I could care less.

By accident If you say this wrong, you might have learned it from a native speaker. Plenty of them say “on accident.”

First come, first served The ones who come first don’t serve, they are served.

Should have, would have, could have Of is a preposition with many meanings, none of which make sense with should, could, or would. The confusion might stem from how people hear the pronunciation of contractions like should’ve (should have). Admittedly, they do sound like “should of, could of, would of.”

You have (got) another think coming Almost no one gets this one right. The expression started as a clever rebuttal. If a friend says, “I think so-and-so would make a great president,” you could reply that she has another think coming. You’ve got another thing coming sounds ominous. It implies that something once came and another thing is on its way. But what thing is that?

For all intents and purposes Though some purposes intensify, this expression is not “for all intensive purposes.” It means for every practical reason.

If you are confused about an expression that is not on the list, visit Grammarly Answers. Hundreds of people are asking questions about phrases that puzzle them. As a matter of fact, you might find questions about an expression you learned about in this article. Share your newfound understanding or ask a question of your own.

Masters Degree or Master’s Degree?

• The correct way to spell master’s degree is with the apostrophe.
• The s in master’s indicates a possessive (the degree of a master), not a plural.
• If you’re speaking of a specific degree, you should capitalize master and avoid creating a possessive: Master of Science.
• The same rules apply to a bachelor’s degree.

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You don’t have to be a bachelor to get a bachelor’s degree, but you do need to demonstrate mastery to get a master’s degree. Either way, you should know how to correctly spell the degree you have; avoid misspelling them as masters degree and bachelors degree.

Master’s Degree vs. Masters Degree

When someone is awarded a master’s degree, they are recognized as having sufficient knowledge in a field of study to be called a master of it. That’s why the correct way to spell master’s degree is with an apostrophe—it’s the degree of a master:

Jane enrolled in a university to get a master’s degree.

If you’re referring to a degree in a specific field, like the arts or sciences, leave out the apostrophe and the s. Instead, capitalize both the word “master” and the field:

Writing a thesis is the last step before being awarded a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics.

Often enough, terms like Master of Arts and Master of Sciences are abbreviated, and the rules on how to do it vary from one university and style guide to another. The academic title Master of Arts can be abbreviated as MA or M.A., and if the university in question is keen on Latin phrases, it may be abbreviated as AM or A.M., from the Latin Artium Magister.

Bachelor’s Degree or Bachelors Degree

Bachelor’s degree follows the same spelling rules as master’s degree. When talking about the degree in general, it doesn’t need to be capitalized, the bachelor’s is written as a possessive, not a plural:

If you don’t study hard, you’ll never get a bachelor’s degree.

When speaking about a specific degree, you drop the possessive and capitalize both the word bachelor and the field of study:

He has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from a prestigious college.

Abbreviations for bachelor’s degree can be styled in several ways. A Bachelor of Science title can be abbreviated as BS, B.S., or BSc, but also as SB, S.B., and Sc.B. for the Latin Scientiae Baccalaureus.

Master’s Degree and Bachelor’s Degree: Examples

For the second year in a row, Western Illinois University has been ranked second in the nation among institutions that offer a master’s degree in physics as its highest degree.

Western Illinois University News

Graduates will receive both a Master of Arts Administration degree from the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs and a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies from the College of Arts and Social Sciences at Australian National University.

IU Bloomington Newsroom

The correlation between advanced degrees — anything above a bachelor’s degree — and Clinton vote (and vice versa with Trump vote) is striking.

The Washington Post

Students studying a Bachelor of Science can opt into advanced versions of each unit.

Honi Soit