5 Reasons You Should Read a Damn Book

Watching too much TV is bad for your health. According to some sources, being a couch potato will make you less smart. It will consume your time, influence your social relationships, affect your physical health in a very bad way, affect your emotional well-being, and skew your worldview. And the list goes on.

But this isn’t an article about the perils of TV watching. It’s an article about why books might be a better pastime (or passion, if you get to that level) for you to pick up.

1 You’ll sleep better

Sleep has two nemeses: light and stress. TV screens, your smartphone, and your tablet emit light. And the blue part of the spectrum they emit is especially problematic because it makes you more alert and affects the production of melatonin, a very important hormone in the sleep-wake cycle. Stress also causes the body to release hormones that interfere with sleep.

And how can a book help you? Well, it doesn’t emit light. And it also helps reduce stress levels.

2 Not all good books have movies or TV shows based on them

The interplay between TV shows and movies based on books can work to your benefit. Let’s say you like Fight Club. You loved the story, you loved the weirdness, you got hooked on the transgression it shows. But you can’t find many movies that give you the same sort of rush. Luckily, the movie was based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, and it’s not the only good one he wrote. So far, two of his novels have been adapted for the big screen, but to access the majority of his work, you will have to read.

3 Some of the TV shows or movies you like are based on real books

That interplay we mentioned works the other way around, too. You like Game of Thrones? You know it’s based on a book series. You like Harry Potter? Also based on a book series. And just imagine how much more content these books contain compared to their screen adaptations. You’re missing out if you’re not reading them.

4 Books are like jogging for your brain

Studies have shown that reading books with a strong narrative arc leaves an impression on your brain, boosting the connectivity in the parts of your brain responsible for language reception. That boost lasts for a couple of days, so you need to keep it up to reap the benefits. The takeaway is that reading books will make your brain work better.

5 You get what you put in

How many hours of fun can a book give you? It depends on how long the book is, sure, but it also depends on how much of yourself you invest in the book. Will you spend time thinking about it, imagining what every character looks like, how they must have felt when this or that happened to them? In that case, a book can keep you happy and entertained for weeks.

Are You Sending Emoji or Emojis?

What do you call those tiny pictures we all use in texts and chats? Do you opt for the Japanese-inspired “emoji” or the English-focused “emojis”?

The debate between these two pluralizations of emoji has been raging for almost as long as emojis have existed. To quote Bustle writer Lucia Peters, the answer to this question is both “incredibly simple and unexpectedly complicated.”

The Short Answer—Emojis

The Associated Press took a hard stand on this issue in March 2013, making it one of the first style guides to draw a line in the sand in favor of “emojis.” Since then, major publications like The Atlantic and The New York Times have mostly adopted this spelling as well, and the emoji-tracking dictionary Emojipedia has officially supported the “-s” pluralization for ease of use. Although neither spelling is technically incorrect, “emojis” follows the normal inflection pattern of English nouns, giving it a slight advantage over “emoji.”

The discussion of emoji pluralization is both simple and complex, but, simply put, English usually makes plurals using English plural rules. To quote Mark Allen, a board member of the American Copy Editors Society, “When words enter English, we usually make them play by our rules, so I think ‘emojis’ has the edge. A corollary might be the Japanese word ‘tsunami.’ We’re more likely to speak of ‘a series of tsunamis’ rather than ‘a series of tsunami.’”

Where Does “Emoji” Come From?

The word emoji comes from Japan, where the tiny, emotionally expressive pictures have existed since the 1990s. Emojis were created by Shigetaka Kurita, a Japanese pager and cellphone designer who was inspired by Japanese kanji and the preexisting kaomoji to create a new form of mobile expression.

While emojis first conquered Japan’s cellphone market, emoticons got their start in the United States. Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman is widely credited with creating the smiley face emoticon when he used it in a 1982 email. Years later, he took issue with emojis, declaring the tiny faces and objects “ugly.” Emojis came to the United States in 2011 when Apple released iOS 5 and truly internationalized a subset of the symbols. But although Apple debuted emojis in the United States, they had already been formally accepted by the computing industry a year earlier, when Unicode Standard version 6.0 added hundreds of emojis to the world’s standard for coding written characters.

When emojis were exported to the United States, the debate about their name began. In Japanese, the answer to this question is simple, since the plural of emoji is simply emoji. This is why some purists insist on a group of “emoji,” but they are probably the same pedants who insist on a string of “tsunami” and a series of “virtuosi.” However, as Allen pointed out, English has a long history of pluralizing words from Japanese according to its own rules.

The Long Answer—It’s Complicated

For the sake of utility, it’s probably easiest for English speakers to agree on “emojis” as the plural of “emoji.” However, the Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, and others have long listed both “emoji” and “emojis” as options. Even the AP Stylebook has softened its stance on the issue: although the guide came out strongly on the side of “emojis” in 2013, this year’s update added “emoji” as an acceptable plural.

Of course, emoji isn’t the only loanword that suffers from plural confusion. Many Japanese words have difficult or inconsistent plurals in English, as do many loanwords from other languages, most notably Italian and Latin. Ever tried to figure out the correct plural of “ignoramus?” You’ll understand the loanword irregular plural struggle.

7 Tips for Writing for Work and Job Searching

by Alison Doyle, Job Search Expert, About.com

Whether you’re sending an email for work or writing a cover letter for a resumé, it’s important to remember that this is professional writing, not personal. Your writing ability reflects on you as an employee or a prospective employee.

It’s important to take the time to carefully write, edit and proofread all your correspondence before you click Send or upload a document online. It will only take a few extra minutes, but taking the time will help you make the best impression on the reader.

Review these tips to make sure that your writing will get your email opened and read, and your resumes and cover letters will be considered for interviews.

Tips for Writing for Work and Job Searching

Make it actionable. Your resume should include your accomplishments, not just a list of what you have done. Your cover letter should show the employer, at a glance, what you have to offer the company. If you’re asking for something in an email message make sure you’re clear about what you want.

Make it personal. It’s always a good idea to include a contact person in your email messages and cover letters. If you don’t have one, check the company website, LinkedIn or Google to see if you can find someone to address your letter to.

Keep it professional. You’re writing to your boss, colleagues, customers or a prospective employer. Keep your correspondence professional and skip the slang, abbreviations, acronyms and emoticons. Use paragraphs and full sentences.

Keep it concise. Most people don’t read beyond the first paragraph or so of an email message. Keep your emails short, concise and focused. Use your opening paragraph for the most important point. With cover letters, include a brief introduction, and then use your second paragraph to pitch your qualifications. Finish your letter with a closing paragraph. Two or three paragraphs are plenty.

Give it a subject line. Your email probably won’t even get opened if it doesn’t have a subject line. If the subject line is vague or sounds spammy, it won’t get opened either. Include a subject line that is relevant to what you’re asking to up your chances of getting your message read.

Add your signature. Don’t forget to include a signature with your contact information. Provide your name, phone number, email address and LinkedIn profile URL, if you have one. It will make it easier for the reader to follow up with you.

Make sure it’s perfect. Spell check, grammar check and proofread your email or letter, and then do it again. Read it out loud or, if you have trouble catching your own mistakes, print it and proof it again. Grammarly is a terrific tool for making sure all your written correspondence is perfect, and catching mistakes that you may not have realized you made.

Alison is a job search and employment expert with many years of experience in human resources, career development and job hunting with a focus on job searching, employment issues, and career options, as well as employment trends and technologies for job seekers and employers alike.

Alison has been the Job Search Expert for About.com since 1998. She is also the founder of CareerToolBelt.com and the creator of the Career Tool Belt series of free apps.

“Can We Guess Your Zodiac Element Based on Your Writing Habits?” Quiz

There are four elements of the zodiac—air, fire, water, and earth. The zodiac signs within each element share characteristics. Take this fun quiz to find out which zodiac element your writing style is like and see if it matches your real zodiac sign!

Did we get it right? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Introducing the Diaeresis

The New Yorker is a quirky magazine. Sure, it’s a go-to when you’re looking to read high-quality writing, but the magazine’s style is full of peculiarities. There are the double consonants where you don’t expect them, as in the word “travelled.” There’s the spelling out of numbers, even the really long ones. And there are the words like “coöperate” and “reëlect,” which are written with two tiny dots over the second o and the second e. Hang on, what exactly do you call those two little dots? A diaeresis. The New Yorker is one of the rare publications that still use the diaeresis sign.

But what is this sign? Does it make sense to use it? And why does it appear so often in the names of hard rock and heavy metal bands, from Blue Öyster Cult to Motörhead?

What Is the Diaeresis?

The diaeresis—also spelled “dieresis”—is a type of sign that’s called a diacritic. (It’s important to note, that diaeresis is also a poetic break in verse; however, we aren’t going to cover that usage here.) Diacritical marks are added to letters to indicate that there is something unusual about the way they are pronounced. A diaeresis is used when you have two vowels next to one another that should be pronounced as separate syllables instead jumbled together as a diphthong. The word “naïve” is a good example. When you pronounce it, you can clearly hear how it’s divided into two parts—na- and -ive. The diaeresis tells you not to combine the two vowel sounds and pronounce the word as one syllable that sounds like “knave.” Essentially, the diaeresis tells you “hey, this vowel is pronounced separately from the other one.” It is occasionally used on vowels that stand on their own to point out that they should be pronounced even though logic might say they shouldn’t, as in the surname Brontë.

Should We Use the Diaeresis?

The short answer is no. The diaeresis is considered obsolete by most authorities in the English language. In some cases, the diaeresis is replaced by the hyphen. Where The New Yorker writes coöperate, other publications prefer co-operate, especially outside the United States. In other cases, you’ll find it written simply as cooperate. People generally know how to pronounce these words. But even if they didn’t, do you think that a diaeresis would be of any help now, when it’s been out of use for so long? So no, there is no reason to use a diaeresis unless it’s really called for as part of a name. So why do heavy metal bands still do it? Well, they actually don’t. The two dots above the o in Motörhead isn’t actually a diaeresis—it’s an umlaut. It’s also a diacritic, but it represents a completely different change in the pronunciation of the letter it marks. Using it in the names of heavy metal bands is a practice that’s so well established that you can read entire articles about the heavy metal umlaut—the umlaut that does nothing except look awesome.

Can You Correct These Super Tricky Sentences?

What’s the Problem with Passive Voice?

If you’re a grammar nerd, chances are you have an opinion about the passive voice. Whether you think it’s acceptable or should be completely avoided, it’s important to understand what passive voice is and how it’s used.

Passive voice occurs when the object of the action in the sentence becomes the subject of the sentence. The opposite of passive voice is active voice, in which the subject simply performs the action. Here are some examples:

Layla threw the ball. (Active voice) The ball was thrown by Layla. (Passive voice)

We corrected the errors. (Active voice) The errors have been corrected. (Passive voice)

Someone took the last piece of cake. (Active voice) The last piece of cake was taken. (Passive voice)

Active voice tends to give writing more clarity, which is why many people prefer it. Writing in passive voice can be confusing, vague, and wordy; however, there are instances in which it’s a better option than active voice. For example:

Incidents of inappropriate behavior were reported. (Passive voice)

In this case, the focus of the sentence should be on the incidents, not on the people who reported them. In fact, there are situations in which the subject of the sentence might be unknown or unimportant. In those cases, sometimes using passive voice is preferable to using “someone” as the subject. Another example:

The test results were delivered late in the afternoon. (Passive voice)

As in the sentence above, the focus of the sentence is on the test results rather than the person who delivered them.

Do you have an opinion about passive voice? Share it in the comments!