President Obama and Comedians Dominate Top 5 for Grammar on Twitter, Grammarly Research Finds

Thinking about the quality of writing in social media is usually enough to make English teachers the world over weep. But, it’s not all bad and it’s about time to celebrate some of the more grammar-conscious writers on social networks. This year, in honor of National Grammar Day on March 4, we decided to find social media’s celebrity grammar hero.

After analyzing the tweets of the top fifty celebrities by size of follower base, Conan O’Brien comes out on top as our #GrammarDay champion. O’Brien averages just 0.21 mistakes per 100 words. But he’s in good company with his fellow comedians—Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon also made the top five with 0.29 and 0.3 errors per 100 words, respectively.

Our top ten grammar heroes are a pretty diverse bunch that includes tech tycoons, comedians, international politicians, pop stars, and reality television stars.

We also found that politicians, as a group, have the best grammar on average at 0.6 mistakes per 100 words, with President Obama leading the category. Reality TV stars come in second with 1.59 errors per 100 words, with Khloé Kardashian leading the category. Nicki Minaj has the best grammar of hip-hop and rap artists, who, as a group, outperform pop stars by about 31 percent.

To share this infographic with your readers, embed this in your blog post by pasting the following HTML snippet into your web editor:

Are you curious about how you stack up? Find your celebrity grammar twin with our Grammar Hero Personality Quiz!

The Early Bird Catches the Word: Analysis Shows We Write Better by Day

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

So says the old proverb, often attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Of course, Franklin lived in a time before electric lighting, when staying up late meant burning the midnight oil and people had good reason to be productive during the daylight hours. Even so, at least when it comes to writing well, he may have been onto something.

Centuries later, with our homes illuminated by not only electric lights but also the glow of TVs, computers, and handheld devices, many of us have come to identify as either early birds or night owls. Early birds turn in at a reasonable hour so they can wake refreshed first thing in the morning. Night owls stay active long past dark and tend to sleep later.

The Grammarly team wanted to know whether time of day had a measurable effect on the quality of a person’s writing, so we crunched over one billion words proofread by our app in search of answers. Ben Franklin might have been pleased with our discoveries. We learned that, although we can’t know the status of their health, wealth, or wisdom, Grammarly users do their best online writing early in the day. Have a look at our infographic to see how early birds and night owls fared when blogging, writing emails, and using social media.

To share this infographic on your website or blog, copy-paste the embed code into your editor.

Early birds make fewer writing mistakes

Our research showed that early birds, defined by our study as those who write online between the hours of 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. in their local time zones, made fewer writing mistakes overall with an average of 13.8 mistakes per 100 words. Night owls, those writing the evening hours away between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., were more error-prone with 17 mistakes per 100 words.

When it comes to platforms, writers tend to make fewer spelling, grammar, and punctuation blunders when writing blog posts than they do in either email or social media. There’s also a prime time for blogging if you want to write more accurately—between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. During that period, blog writers made just 3.7 errors per 100 words.

Writers made more mistakes in emails than in blog posts (11.8 per 100 words for the early birds, and 14.3 for the night owls.) The next time you’re firing off an electronic missive, pay attention to spelling. Spelling errors accounted for over half of the mistakes made in email communiques.

It’s probably no surprise that people make the most grammatical gaffes in social media, where communication tends to be more casual and writers often use slang and, particularly on Twitter, abbreviations or text-speak. On average, writers make three times as many mistakes in social media posts as they do in email.

In each online writing category, early birds wrote with more accuracy than their night owl counterparts. Night owls who want to hone their abilities should consider learning the differences between commonly confused words. In fact, night owls confuse words 66% more often than early birds. If homonyms and other mistakes trip you up, here are a few articles to help you sharpen your skills:

• Apostrophe Mistakes (e.g. let’s vs. lets)
• Too vs. To
• Everyday vs. Every Day
• Than vs. Then
• Of vs. Off

Night owls have smarts

The circadian rhythm is the biological cycle of activity and rest that nearly all animals have. In the time before electricity and technology, we human animals were primarily diurnal—active during the daylight hours, when we could see well and heed the proverb to make hay while the sun shines. But as we developed technology that allowed us to be active and even productive into the hours after dark, some of us adopted the tendency to stay up late, becoming night owls.

In a 2009 study, evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa hypothesized that humans who developed a tendency to be nocturnal were adopting evolutionarily novel values. As technology advanced, night owls advanced to do something their ancestors hadn’t—stay up later and wake later. That evolutionary step, Kanazawa believed, could predict that people with higher IQs were more likely to be nocturnal than those with lower IQs. Kanazawa’s research, using a large sample of young Americans, bore out this hypothesis—children with higher IQs grew to be more nocturnal adults.

Although night owls may need to be more careful while writing during the evening hours, science shows that innate intelligence probably isn’t a factor.

Good writing can happen at any time

When do you do your best writing? Whether or not you’ve noticed a tendency to be sharper by day or night, one thing’s for certain—good writing depends on proofreading. Take a moment to double-check your blog posts, emails, and social media shares so your writing will shine at every time of day.

15 Words Invented by Shakespeare

Guest post from Mignon Fogarty

The 452nd anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth is coming. He is not only known as a timeless playwright, but also as a prolific inventor of words. Although modern researchers have found that some words originally attributed to him, such as puke, have earlier sources, there are still many that hold up today as Shakespeare’s creations according to the Oxford English Dictionary:

Bandit

Henry VI, Part 2. 1594

Critic

Love’s Labour Lost. 1598.

Dauntless

Henry VI, Part 3. 1616.

Dwindle

Henry IV, Part 1. 1598.

Elbow (as a verb)

King Lear. 1608.

Green-Eyed (to describe jealousy)

The Merchant of Venice. 1600.

Lackluster

As You Like It. 1616.

Lonely

Coriolanus. 1616.

Skim-milk

Henry IV, Part 1. 1598.

Swagger

Midsummer Night’s Dream. 1600.

Shakespeare must have loved the prefix un- because he created or gave new meaning to more than 300 words that begin with it. Here are just a few:

Unaware

Venus & Adonis. 1593.

Uncomfortable

Romeo & Juliet. 1599

Undress

Taming of the Shrew. 1616.

Unearthly

A Winter’s Tale. 1616

Unreal

Macbeth. 1623

Visit the Grammar Girl site to learn about famous Shakespearean phrases and insults.

About the Author

Mignon Fogarty is the founder the Quick and Dirty Tipspodcast network and creator of Grammar Girl, which was named one of Writer’s Digest‘s 101 Best Websites for Writers in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Mignon is the author of the New York Times best-seller Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing and six other books on writing.Sheappeared as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and has been featured in the New York Times, Business Week, the Washington Post, USA Today, CNN.com, and more. She hates the phrase “grammar nazi” and loves the word “kerfuffle.”

No-one, Noone, or No One—Which Is Right?

• No one is right.
• No-one is an uncommon variant form. It’s best to stick to the two-word version.
• Noone is wrong.

---

Too many choices can sometimes confuse you, but with no one, it’s easy to learn which should be your go-to spelling.

No-one, Noone, or No One—Which Should I Use?

The correct way to spell no one is as two words, without the hyphen:

No one warned us about the incoming storm.

We went to the schoolyard, but there was no one there.

If you add a hyphen to no one, you get a much less common variant spelling of the word: no-one. Although it’s not technically incorrect, the hyphenated version cannot always be used instead of no one:

No-one person can lift that much weight.

No one person can lift that much weight.

Noone is not an acceptable way to spell no one in any context:

We owe nothing and noone.

We owe nothing and no one.

Examples

He’d warned his colleagues of the dangers of Brexit and no one had bothered to listen.

The Guardian

China’s first astronaut says he heard mysterious knocks during his first flight in space – but no one has been able to explain the cause of them.

The Daily Mirror

The Prince arrived in the Commonwealth realm of St Kitts and Nevis after an overnight crossing from Antigua, but docked so early that there was no one there to welcome him.

The Daily Telegraph

There are several reasons for a word to have multiple spellings. Sooner or later you’ll run across one that will make you second-guess your spelling choices. Camaraderie is that type of word. Minuscule has become that type of word as well. And that’s without mentioning all the words that shift their spelling depending on the country in which they’re used.

5 Authors Who You May Not Know Were Women

Let’s say you’ve written your very first novel, and you’re shopping it around to various publishers. And they generally like it, or at least one of them does, but they have a weird request—you need to change your name before they’ll publish the book. Not legally, of course. That would be silly. Just, you know, assume a pen name or use your initials instead of your full name because it might help you reach certain segments of the market. So if your name is Joanne, for example, you might go with something like J. K. in order to attract boy readers. Never mind the fact that you’ll become a celebrated author, even after the news that you’re a woman gets out. Sound familiar? That’s exactly what happened with J. K. Rowling. And it illustrates that even today, gender matters in the world of writing and female writers still have to fight for equal treatment.

In the literary world, the tradition of women posing as men in order to publish their work reaches back to at least the nineteenth century. Jane Austen hid her identity, although not her gender, behind the pen name “A Lady.” The Brontë sisters all wrote under male pen names at one time or another. Louisa May Alcott championed the use of ambiguous initials. And all of them are recognized under their own names today. But are there other female authors who worked (or still work) under male pen names who haven’t gained that recognition? Let’s have a look.

1George Sand (1804–1876)

If there’s one thing to say about Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, better known as George Sand, it’s that she was a lady ahead of her time and who never left anyone indifferent to her. Flaubert and Balzac sang her praises; Baudelaire was her critic. She wrote novels, memoirs, and plays, and she was notorious for her companionship with prominent men, including the writer Charles Didier, the composer Frederic Chopin, and the writer Prosper Mérimée. Among her more famous works are the novels La Mare au Diable, La Petite Fadette, and the autobiographical novel A Winter in Majorca.

2 George Eliot (1819–1880)

Mary Ann Evans wanted her literary work to be taken seriously, so she did something that made perfect sense in the age she lived in—she took George Eliot as her pen name. Eliot became one of the most prominent authors of the Victorian era, writing seven novels and a number of books of poetry and short stories. Her best-known work includes the novels Adam Bede, Middlemarch, and Daniel Deronda.

3 Vernon Lee (1856–1935)

Violet Paget was a British author who used the pen name Vernon Lee to publish her work. Paget was a prolific writer, known today for essays about art, music, and travel as much as for her supernatural fiction. Paget was also politically active as a pacifist during World War I and held feminist views. She had romantic relationships with women, and like George Sand, she had a nonconformist attitude toward the prescribed gender roles of her time.

4 Isak Dinesen (1885–1962)

At the 1985 Academy Award ceremony, the movie Out of Africa won no fewer than seven Oscars, including the one for best picture. The movie was based on a memoir of the same title by a Danish author named Isak Dinesen. Dinesen’s real name was Karen Blixen, and Isak Dinesen is not the only male pen name she used—she also wrote under the name Pierre Andrézel. Out of Africa is not the only book of hers that was adapted into an Oscar-winning movie—she also wrote Babette’s Feast, which was made into a movie that won an Oscar for best foreign language film.

5 Rob Thurman

Rob Thurman is a contemporary New York Times bestselling author whose work includes the urban fiction–themed Cal Leandros series and the Trickster series. Thurman’s actual name is Robyn, but her use of a male moniker as a literary name doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with catering to audiences—Rob is actually Thurman’s nickname. She did, however, keep the “about the author” sections of her books gender-ambiguous until her fourth novel.

14 Expressions with Crazy Origins that You Would Never Have Guessed

Guest post by Anais John

You probably use tons of expressions, idioms, and slang phrases every day that don’t make literal sense. If you ever thought long and hard about why you say something a certain way, you could probably make a guess. However, some English expressions are so crazy and unusual that it is impossible to guess where on earth it originated from — unless you know the history.

In case you didn’t know, historical events, legends, important figures, religion, and even advertisements form the basis of many expressions used today. Here are the origins of some of the most interesting idioms!

Bite the bullet

Meaning: To accept something difficult or unpleasant

Origin: In the olden days, when doctors were short on anesthesia or time during a battle, they would ask the patient to bite down on a bullet to distract from the pain. The first recorded use of the phrase was in 1891 in The Light that Failed.

Break the ice

Meaning: To break off a conflict or commence a friendship.

Origin: Back when road transportation was not developed, ships would be the only transportation and means of trade. At times, the ships would get stuck during the winter because of ice formation. The receiving country would send small ships to “break the ice” to clear a way for the trade ships. This gesture showed affiliation and understanding between two territories.

Butter someone up

Meaning: To impress someone with flattery

Origin: This was a customary religious act in ancient India. The devout would throw butter balls at the statues of their gods to seek favor and forgiveness.

Mad as a hatter

Meaning: To be completely crazy

Origin: No, you didn’t already know this one, because it didn’t originate from Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Its origins date from the 17th and 18th centuries — well before Lewis Caroll’s book was published. In 17th century France, poisoning occurred among hat makers who used mercury for the hat felt. The “Mad Hatter Disease” was marked by shyness, irritability, and tremors that would make the person appear “mad.”

Cat got your tongue?

Meaning: Asked to a person who is at loss of words

Origin: The English Navy used to use a whip called “Cat-o’-nine-tails” for flogging. The pain was so severe that it caused the victim to stay quiet for a long time. Another possible source could be from ancient Egypt, where liars’ and blasphemers’ tongues were cut out and fed to the cats. (What a treat for the cats!)

Barking up the wrong tree

Meaning: To have misguided thoughts about an event or situation, a false lead

Origin: This refers to hunting dogs that may have chased their prey up a tree. The dogs bark, assuming that the prey is still in the tree, when the prey is no longer there.

Turn a blind eye

Meaning: To ignore situations, facts, or reality

Origin: The British Naval hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, had one blind eye. Once when the British forces signaled for him to stop attacking a fleet of Danish ships, he held up a telescope to his blind eye and said, “I do not see the signal.” He attacked, nevertheless, and was victorious.

Bury the hatchet

Meaning: To stop a conflict and make peace

Origins: This one dates back to the early times North America when the Puritans were in conflict with the Native Americans. When negotiating peace, the Native Americans would bury all their hatchets, knives, clubs, and tomahawks. Weapons literally were buried and made inaccessible.

Caught red-handed

Meaning: To be caught in the act of doing something wrong

Origin: This originates from an old English law that ordered any person to be punished for butchering an animal that wasn’t his own. The only way the person could be convicted is if he was caught with the animal’s blood still on his hands.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater

Meaning: Don’t get rid of valuable things along with the unnecessary ones.

Origin: You won’t believe this one! In the early 1500s, people only bathed once a year. Not only that, but they also bathed in the same water without changing it! The adult males would bath first, then the females, leaving the children and babies to go last. By the time the babies got in, the water was clouded with filth. The poor mothers had to take extra care that their babies were not thrown out with the bathwater.

Give a cold shoulder

Meaning: Being unwelcoming or antisocial toward someone

Origin: In medieval England, it was customary to give a guest a cold piece of meat from the shoulder of mutton, pork, or beef chop when the host felt it was time for the guest to leave. This was a polite way to communicate, “You may leave, now.”

Go the whole nine yards

Meaning: To try your best at something

Origin: During World War II, the fighter pilots were equipped with nine yards of ammunition. When they ran out, it meant that they had tried their best at fighting off the target with the entirety of their ammunition.

Let one’s hair down

Meaning: To relax or be at ease

Origin: In public, the aristocratic women of medieval times were obliged to appear in elegant hair-dos that were usually pulled up. The only time they would “let their hair down” was when they came home and relaxed.

Rub the wrong way

Meaning: To bother or annoy someone

Origin: Early Americans, during the colonial times, would ask their servants to rub their oak floorboards “the right way”. The wrong way (not wiping them with dry fabric after wet fabric) would cause streaks to form and ruin it, leaving the homeowner annoyed. Alternatively, it could have derived from rubbing a cat’s fur the “wrong way,” which annoys them.

What other idioms are confusing for you? Which origin most surprised you?

 

---

About the Author Anais John is an specialist in English Language and loves to share her expertise on online communities. Currently she’s working with an online consultancy Essay Mall, supervising their editing panel. Apart from writing, she has an endless passion for every form of art, i.e., from abstract to realistic art. Get to know more about her on Google+.