Everytime should be written as two separate words: every time. While some compound words like everywhere, everyday, and everyone have become commonplace in the English language, everytime is not considered an acceptable compound word. Consider the examples below:
Nobody writes a perfect first draft. Whether you love the red pen or hate it with a passion, your first draft will require some polishing. The trick is to write prose that’s brilliant yet brief, colorful yet concise. Here are five tips for writing concisely.
Cut Weasel Words
Even the best writers fall prey to weasel words. These pesky critters sneak into your writing, take up space, and contribute nothing. Common weasel words include the following:
They often attack in groups. Consider these weasely phrases:
After you write a draft, take time to banish all weasel words back to the wilderness where they belong.
Axe Redundancy
Why do something twice if you only need to do it once? Redundant phrases clutter your writing and hinder its flow.
Consider the sentence: “I love the blue color of her eyes.”
“Blue color” is redundant. Your reader already understands that blue is a color. “I love her blue eyes” is more concise.
Another example: “The reason I’m reading this is because I love writing.”
You don’t need the word “reason” and the word “because” in the same sentence. One implies the other. “I’m reading this because I love writing” conveys your point with fewer words; it’s more concise.
Incorporate Transitional Words and Phrases
Transitional words and phrases unify ideas and make your writing easy to understand. Without them, your prose can come off as choppy and directionless.
Next time you write, try to incorporate one or more transitional words or phrases to improve cohesion.
Go Easy on the Adverbs
Some writers resist adverbs the way a cat resists a leash. The grammar gods won’t strike you down if you insert an adverb here or there, but before you do, read these two sentences:
Which sentence packs more of a punch? The one without adverbs – number two. Words that end in “ly” are often just careless intensifiers that add no real meaning. Vivid writing shows the reader a picture; it doesn’t tell the reader what to think.
The second example includes no adverbs, and it creates a clearer picture in the reader’s mind than the first. We see the salty chocolate crumbs on Betty’s lips, and we feel her bittersweet anguish.
Skip “There is” and “There are”
You could be the most energetic person on earth, but writing “There is” or “There are” makes you look lazy. Consider rearranging your sentence parts when these passive pairings pop up in your writing.
Plenty of writers, both amateur and professional, start their sentences with “There is” and “There are.” You needn’t be one of them.
Stephen King said, “To write is human. To edit is divine.” So the next time you find yourself wrestling with a few extra words, just remember: you’re in excellent company. Are you ready to pick up that red pen and start slashing?
The reader must understand that they are at the mercy of the author’s imagination.
What’s wrong with the sentence above? Some might say there is nothing at all is wrong with it. Others, however, will take issue with the use of ‘they,’ a plural pronoun, in place of the singular ‘reader.’ How can this sentence be corrected? Some would use ‘he’ in place of ‘they,’ with the understanding that masculine pronouns are a stand-in for proper nouns of either gender. Others would advocate ‘he or she’ in place of ‘they,’ because it includes both genders.
Gendered pronouns have a long history of causing grammatical confusion and debate. As far back as the 1800s, writers and linguists have proposed gender-neutral pronouns (including ze, co, hesh, thon, and zher) to solve the complicated issues that gendered pronouns cause in English.
Gender-neutral pronouns solve many grammatical problems, but why haven’t they caught on in English? According to John McWhorter at The New Republic, that’s because there are two kinds of words: open-class and closed-class. Nouns and verbs are among the open-class words and can be adapted or even made up depending on necessity and context. Pronouns and prepositions are closed-class words—words that we use as tools to show the relationships between open-class words. Closed-class words are harder to adapt and change since they’re already representing something else (for example, ‘he’ represents ‘Brian’).
McWhorter argues that since it’s unlikely that a new gender-neutral pronoun will ever gain wide acceptance in English, it’s okay to use the plural ‘they’ in place of ‘he’ or ‘she.’ Other alternatives include ‘one’ to mean ‘a person,’ and ‘you’ in certain contexts.
Many other languages don’t include gendered pronouns at all or include gender neutral pronouns in their structure.
Will the English language eventually accept the use of ‘they’ as a singular gender-neutral pronoun? Will an alternative like ze gain widespread acceptance and use? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
Sources: 1,2,3
The time has come to choose the most vile, odious, offensive, and obnoxious work pet peeve. March MADness has had its ups and downs, covering everything from emojis to people who like to lean in when they talk. But alas, all good things must come to an end, and the time has come to choose our March MADness champion.
Now, let’s meet our Final Infuriating Four. Vote for your least favorite habit to be crowned the worst work habit. Also, let us know what you think of the results of our month-long bracket below!
The Worst Chat Crime: Emoji Overload
��������☠️ These people like to send a string of seemingly useless emojis in work chat, especially in public channels. While they may think it’s cute, it actually shows they have nothing to say.
The Worst Email Fail: Autonotification Email Hell
Autonotifications are sent automatically when someone updates a task, project, or chat. In the best-case scenario, these autonotifications can be batched, but usually your inbox gets swamped by minor updates to various channels. Is it really necessary to know that someone left a chat? Rarely.
The Worst Call Catastrophe: Background Noise Nuisances
We’ve all joined a call where the other participants sounded like they were either in an echo chamber, a wind tunnel, or the middle of Times Square. Nobody likes those calls, and nobody likes distracting background noise.
The Worst IRL Irritation: “Well, actually . . .”
This phrase is the hallmark of a know-it-all. With a penchant for perfection and an inability to filter relevant details from irrelevant ones, this person never misses an opportunity to correct or clarify themselves and others.
A possessive noun is a noun that possesses something—i.e., it has something. In most cases, a possessive noun is formed by adding an apostrophe +s to the noun, or if the noun is plural and already ends in s, only an apostrophe needs to be added. In the following sentence, boy’s is a possessive noun modifying pencil: The boy’s pencil snapped in half. It is clear that the pencil belongs to the boy; the ’s signifies ownership.
The cat possesses the toy, and we denote this by use of an apostrophe + s at the end of cat.
When a noun ends in the letter s or an s sound, the same format applies. This is a matter of style, however, and some style guides suggest leaving off the extra s.
Plural nouns ending in an s simply take an apostrophe at the end to form a possessive noun. Of course, there are many plural nouns in English that are irregular and do not end in s.
Sometimes the idea of possession is more abstract. When you talk about long you’ve been doing something, it’s possible to use an apostrophe.
But it usually sounds better to use the word of instead of an apostrophe.
For more examples on how to use apostrophes to form possessives, read Apostrophe.
A subordinating conjunction is a word or phrase that links a dependent clause to an independent clause. This word or phrase indicates that a clause has informative value to add to the sentence’s main idea, signaling a cause-and-effect relationship or a shift in time and place between the two clauses.
Sound complicated? Let’s break it down.
A dependent clause, also known as a subordinate clause, is a clause with two specific qualities. Firstly, it does not express a complete unit of thought on its own; it cannot stand as its own sentence. Secondly, it depends upon an independent clause—one that can stand on its own as a complete sentence—to form a complete idea. If independent and dependent clauses could be likened to Batman and Robin, the dependent, or subordinate clause would be Robin, Batman’s assistant. The independent, main clause would be Batman, his superhero boss.
The subordinating conjunction that is simplest to explain is because. Because is a conjunction with just one purpose: to show a cause-and-effect relationship between a subordinate clause and a main clause. On its own, a clause beginning with because is incomplete.
We have the sense that there is something missing here. Let’s add an independent clause so this statement has something to lean on.
Now we will combine the two in a complex sentence.
In this sentence, “Robin wasn’t allowed in the Batmobile any longer” is an independent clause. It could stand on its own as a complete sentence. A clause that shows a causal relationship such as “because he wouldn’t wear a seatbelt” (answering the question “Why?” or “For what purpose?” is often referred to as a clause of purpose.
Other subordinating conjunctions that can show cause-and-effect relationships and function in the same way are for, as, since, therefore, hence, as a result, consequently, though, due to, provided that, because of, unless, as a result of, and so/so that.
Another function of subordinating conjunctions is to show a relationship between two clauses involving a transition of time or place. Some examples of such subordinating conjunctions are once, while, when, whenever, where, wherever, before, and after.
Subordinating conjunctions that fall in the middle of a sentence are generally not preceded by a comma. This is the opposite of what is done with coordinating conjunctions, or words that join two independent clauses (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and sometimes so).
When a subordinate clause begins a sentence, however, the whole clause (but not the subordinating conjunction itself) is followed by a comma.
