What Are the Best Ways to Deal with Difficult People?

Difficult people can quickly turn your dream job into a nightmare if you let them. However, your happiness and productivity are worth the fight. Let’s consider the best ways to deal with challenging personalities.

Start with Yourself

In “Man in the Mirror,” a song recorded by Michael Jackson, the lyrics provide an effective formula for improving your environment: “Take a look at yourself, and then make a change.” Self-examination might reveal that you are overreacting to a situation. For example, perhaps you don’t appreciate a particular coworker who gives harsh criticism. Stop for a moment and consider: what are the person’s motives? Instead of assuming she’s trying to bring you down, why not assume she’s trying to make you the best you can be? Adjusting your attitude can help you to see the bright side of irritating behavior.

The song continues: “It’s gonna feel real good.” Scientific evidence supports the claim. Emotional intelligence includes having empathy and good social skills. In 2013, a study published in Psychological Science found that people with high emotional intelligence made wise decisions. A 2008 study revealed that positive work interactions correlated with good health, a factor associated with few sick days and thus higher productivity. What author William Arthur Ward said was true: “When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.”

Communicate

You can’t expect anyone to read your mind. Often, problems arise when one person misunderstands the humor or intentions of another. You need to give your colleague the opportunity to make things right.

Approach your colleague and explain why his behavior offends you. Plan your words. Strive for the most palatable way to voice your complaint. You might role-play first with an objective party. Ask a friend to monitor your tone, your words, and your body language. When you speak to the difficult person in real life, carefully choose a time and place. (For instance, avoid addressing issues in the middle of stressful projects.) Find a neutral place (i.e., not your office) where you can discuss the matter privately.

Bill Eddy, President of High Conflict Institute, suggests the following formula: Express regret that you have to address the behavior. Explain how you plan to help the person. Give examples of how you want them to act and how new practices would be beneficial to both parties. Let’s look at an example scenario. Think about your workplace challenge and how you can adapt the script to deal with it.

You: . . ., I’m sorry that I have to bring this up, but the way you . . . makes me feel . . . On my end, I will . . . However, if in the future, you could . . . If you do, the process of . . . will work much more smoothly than it does now.

What to Do When Your Efforts Fail

You approached the employee about how his or her behavior. If there is no change or the situation worsens, what can you do?

Ignore the Bad Behavior

Just like young bullies, difficult adults may seek attention with bad behavior. To show them that you are unaffected, you can deflect insults by laughing along with their jokes or making a neutral retort as if you didn’t understand their rude intentions. Then, change the subject. Once they fail to get the attention they crave from you, they may move on to a new target.

Nasty colleague: I heard Benjamin took vacation leave because he was embarrassed about losing the Denman account.

You: The beach is a restful environment. I can’t wait for my next vacation.

Avoid the Person

If it’s possible without damaging your ability to work, limit the interaction you have with the difficult person. Withdraw from shared voluntary duties and choose projects and committees that don’t include him or her.

Involve the Superiors

Involving the superiors is the second-to-last resort. In the best case scenario, the boss can straighten out the issue for you. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, the situation becomes worse because the colleague resents you for getting him or her in trouble. Or, you might find that the boss sides with the culprit.

Find a New Job

The real last resort is quitting your job. You can either transfer to a different department within the same company or break ties altogether. You’ll have to weigh the cost of this decision. Is the problem significant enough to merit such drastic action? Will you enjoy another kind of work? Will you easily find another position? And if you do, how will you handle it if there are challenging people at the new workplace?

What are the best ways of dealing with difficult people at work? Will you confront the problem directly by approaching the person to talk about their behavior? Will you let a supervisor know and let them handle the problem? Or will you flee to greener pastures by finding a new job? If you weigh the pros and cons of each strategy carefully, you’ll likely find a solution that works for you.

How to Start an Email: 6 Never-Fail Introductions and 6 to Avoid

We’ve talked about the best ways to end an email; now let’s talk about beginnings.

You might wonder whether it’s really necessary to put much thought into how you begin your emails and other correspondence. If you’ve ever ignored a letter because it began with “To Whom It May Concern,” groaned because your name was misspelled, or wondered if the sender was human or canine because their greeting was so overly enthusiastic, then you know that getting your email salutation right is a big deal. In job search emails, for example, using the wrong greeting could make you seem less competent and even cost you an interview.

Here are the six best ways to begin an email, followed by six you should avoid at all costs.

The Six Best Ways to Start an Email

1Hi [Name],

In all but the most formal settings, this email greeting is the clear winner. It’s simple, friendly, and direct. If you want a slightly more formal tone, consider replacing hi with hello.

Here’s a tip: Should you put a comma after “Hi”? Well, technically, yes . . . but nobody does. When a salutation starts with a direct address like “Hi” or “Hello,” some sticklers say you should follow it with a comma, and also put a comma after the name of the person you’re addressing. But, since leaving the comma out has become standard practice, it’s okay to let it go.

2Dear [Name],

Although dear can come across as stuffy, it’s appropriate for formal emails. Use it when you’re addressing a person in a position of respect (e.g., Dear Lieutenant Smith) and in formal business missives such as a résumé cover letter.

Here’s a tip: In cover letters, use “Dear” followed by an honorific and the person’s last name (if known) and a colon:

Dear Ms. Roberts:

If the recipient’s gender is unknown, or their name is the least bit ambiguous, use a full name instead:

Dear Terry Jones:

Avoid honorifics that imply marital status such as “Mrs.” Use “Ms.” instead.

3Greetings,

There are a couple of useful alternatives when you don’t know your recipient’s name or you’re writing to a general email inbox, such as feedback@[company].com. Greetings is one of them. But we also like . . .

4Hi there,

The advantage of Hi there is that it works well if you’re sending a mass email or using a mail merge feature with customized name fields. You can set up your fields like this:

Hi [Name],

That way, when you use “there” in the [Name] field, your recipient will see a non-specific greeting: “Hi there.”

Here’s a tip: Be careful with mail merges and mass emails. Using first names only is usually your best bet. People are likely to identify emails with greetings like “Hi Alexa J. Roth” as spam.

5Hello, or Hello [Name],

This one bridges the gap between the breezy hi and the more formal dear. It’s used less often, though, so be aware that it might stand out, and don’t use it if you want your greeting to be unobtrusive.

6Hi everyone,

If you’re addressing a group of people, this is the way to go. We prefer it to more abrupt greetings like “All,” or the too gender-specific “Gentlemen” or “Ladies.”

The Six Worst Ways to Start an Email

1[Misspelled Name],

Don’t misspell your recipient’s name. Ever.

Double-check the spelling of the person’s name and either get it right or omit it and use a generic greeting like Hi there. Although a nonspecific greeting may come off as impersonal, a misspelled name is a red flag that says you’re careless.

2Dear Sir or Madam,

Have you ever read and responded to a letter that greeted you with Dear Sir or Madam? We’re going to go ahead and guess you haven’t. Not only is this salutation stiff and formal, it shows that you couldn’t be bothered to look up a contact name and address someone specific.

3To Whom It May Concern,

The same sentiments that apply to Dear Sir or Madam apply here. If your letter opens with To Whom It May Concern, we’re probably going to assume it doesn’t concern us.

Here’s a tip: Don’t use this greeting with job application cover letters. Make a point to find the hiring manager’s name, even if that means calling the company and asking. If you can’t find a name, “Dear Hiring Manager:” or “Dear [Company] Team:” will work.

4Hey! or Hey, [Name]!

Reserve this one for your friends and close colleagues. Otherwise, hey is glaringly informal and can even come across as disrespectful. Have you ever felt warmly greeted by someone saying, “Hey, you!”?

5Happy Friday!!! Or Welcome to Monday!

If you’re a golden retriever, you might be able to get away with a greeting this exuberant. Otherwise, you’ll come across as trying too hard. Forget the cutesy greetings, or at least save them for the most informal correspondence between you and your close friends.

6Hi [Nickname],

If you’ve done your research and discovered that your recipient’s name is Michael McTavish, don’t assume familiarity and shorten his name to Mike. However, if he signs his reply with Mike, it’s okay to address him that way in the future. In fact, he might find it a bit peculiar if you decide to stick with the more formal moniker.

Do You Write By Hand or Digitally?

5 Ways League of Legends Helps You Communicate Better Under Pressure

You are battling toward the nexus in a 5v5-ranked game late on a Wednesday night. You have to work the next day and know you are not going to get enough sleep. But fear not! Your dedication to League of Legends is helping more than just your online rep. It’s helping you to be a better team player by teaching you these five valuable lessons in communicating under pressure.

1 You’re ready to fill the gaps

If your team gets thrown a lot of projects each day at work, you have to quickly prioritize your tasks and assess how your team’s skills align. When you understand each other’s strengths and abilities, new challenges are easier for your team to tackle. In League of Legends, you get matched with random players in solo queue. You then have a couple of minutes to pull an all-star team together. In real life, as in League of Legends, you often have to work with what you are given. You don’t always get your first pick in a project, nor are all people easy to get along with. So you have to figure out how to help fill the gaps on your team without sacrificing your skills.

2 You know how to align your objectives

Getting ready for a team fight? Attack Baron? Clear enemy jungle? Kill Teemo? In the Summoner’s Rift, you are constantly aligning your team around the most immediate and impactful objectives. If one teammate is missing or not on board, it could cost you the fight or, worse, the game. In a fast-paced work environment, your team needs to work together effectively. Playing League of Legends has taught you to understand what your objective is and to be clear about what it will take to complete it.

3 You understand that flaming gets you nowhere

You are working late on a project that’s due tomorrow. Your colleague realizes he made a mistake that will keep you in the office longer. Option 1: ignite a pillar of flaming anger in your conference room with a snarky “GG noob,” dividing your team and setting yourself up for an even longer night. Option 2: take the mistake into account and refocus your team around the objective. If LoL has taught you anything, it’s that not sweating the small stuff under pressure can make the difference between victory or defeat.

4 You speak your team’s language

If you are trying to get out of the Bronze league, you have to know what it means to build an adc, stack mr, and go backdoor. Knowing the lingo saves time and makes you sound competent. In the office, you might Slack your colleague, “Hey Chad, what’s the ROI on the FB account for tomorrow’s Q1 meeting?” Just as in online gaming, every company has a list of acronyms they use around the office daily. Being able to speak that common language helps everyone get on the same page quickly.

5 You know when to stop beating a dead Warrick

Not all of your projects are going to be a success. You fail, and you learn. However, it’s important to know when to call it. League players understand that if a team has lost their top, mid, and bottom lane on the Rift, defeat is predictable and it’s time to call “gg.” You can beat your head against the wall and drag your team with you, hoping for something to change, or you can take your losses and analyze them so you know what to do differently in the next match.

You might not benefit from putting “Diamond League Player” on your résumé, but you can be confident that League has taught you l33t team communication skills you can apply IRL. So, when you’re on your third cup of coffee and your boss asks you why you’re so tired, tell her that you stayed up late working on effective communication strategies. Or . . . maybe not. Just grab that caffeinated beverage and buckle up for the day!

This Is How to Put Positive Spin on Weaknesses in a Job Interview

No job candidate is perfect. Everyone has their flaws. Fortunately, employers aren’t looking for perfect people, just the right people.

Honesty is always the best policy during a job interview, but that doesn’t mean you have to put your weaknesses on display. Whether it’s your resume or your personal challenges that might raise red flags with a hiring manager, addressing your weaknesses and framing them in a positive way can help you avoid making excuses or sounding defensive.

Resume Weaknesses

Even if your resume is a little less than ideal, you can put a positive spin on some of the most common trouble spots employers are likely to question.

When you don’t have much experience

Lack of experience sets up a frustrating paradox—employers want to hire people with experience, but in order to gain that experience, you have to find an employer who’ll give a person without any a chance. What to do?

Remember that everybody starts somewhere, and hiring managers interview inexperienced candidates all the time. When you’re still growing in your career, there’s one positive quality you can emphasize to help you win over a potential employer—enthusiasm for learning. Show the employer that not only are you able to learn, but you’re excited by the possibilities.

RELATED: 4 Must-see Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile

It’s not enough to say that you pick things up quickly, however. Everyone says that. Emphasize real-life examples of your ability to learn and adapt. If you’ve made a point to take extra classes, earn certifications, or even pursue new and interesting hobbies for the love of learning new things, take a moment to point them out. Ditto if you’re making a career change and you can point out skills from your previous job that show you’re quick on your feet.

Demonstrating that you’re a good cultural fit is also important. Skills can be trained, but finding the right personality match is much trickier for employers. Even the most qualified candidate isn’t likely to work out if she doesn’t fit in with the company’s overall vibe. If you’ve done your homework, you’ll have a good sense of the ideals the company embodies. Drawing attention to how well you’ll fit in can take the spotlight off your lack of experience.

When you have gaps in your employment

Don’t kid yourself—hiring managers are going to notice those gaps on your resume, so you’ll need to address them.

Although honesty is the best policy, there are ways to turn things around so they don’t look so troublesome. If you struggled to find a new position after a layoff, for instance, you could say that you took your time trying to ensure that your next employer was a good fit. If you took a break to raise small children, care for a family member, or even broaden your horizons by traveling, don’t be afraid to say so. You’ll come off as more genuine and sympathetic than you would if you tried to sweep those things under the rug.

If you’re able to show that you did productive things with your downtime, such as taking classes or doing volunteer work, make sure you note them. It’s important to demonstrate that your resume gap was a period of personal and professional growth and not just a time when you allowed yourself to sleep in late and binge-watch Netflix in your pajamas all day.

When you’ve hopped from job to job

In a Robert Half survey, HR managers said that having more than five jobs over a ten-year period is just too much job hopping. If you’ve made frequent job changes, be prepared to explain them.

Although moving between jobs every few years is more common these days, especially among younger workers, too many job hops in a short span of time can raise red flags. Are you never satisfied? Difficult to work with? Do you lack follow-through and commitment? The hiring manager will wonder, and it’s your responsibility to enlighten him.

Hiring managers are looking for reassurance that the company won’t go through the expense and effort of onboarding and training you only to have you leave in six months. Start by explaining why you made each career move, and be prepared to tell the hiring manager how it helped you advance your career. Be honest, but keep it positive. (Don’t say “I hated that job”, say “I felt I needed to move on to find a better fit for my skills”.) If you left because the job bored you, say that you were “looking for more of a challenge.”

Rather than getting defensive about your frequent job changes, focus instead on what you learned from each one. Be sure to play up the transferable skills you gained along the way.

Personal Weaknesses

Even if the interview process has revealed a few personal challenges—perhaps through the dreaded “What’s your greatest weakness” interview question—there are ways to spin them as positives.

When you’re a perfectionist

Employers don’t want to hire people who nitpick every little thing and make life difficult. No one wants to work with that person. Instead, say that you’re thorough and you have high standards for yourself and your own work. It’s best to leave the word “perfectionist” out of your interview altogether, even if you identify yourself as one. The Muse explains why.

When you’re quiet or shy

Shyness can be misconstrued as awkwardness or social ineptitude. Hopefully, through your interview, you’ve been able to demonstrate your ability to “people.” But, if you can’t help but let your shyness show, frame it as a “reflective nature.” Explain that you get very focused when you’re at work.

When you take a long time to do things

Sci-fi author Douglas Adams said, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Unfortunately, hiring managers aren’t going to view missed deadlines as a positive. If you take a while to accomplish things, don’t lie and sell yourself as someone who’s always prompt. Instead, emphasize your attention to detail and your belief that each task deserves enough time to be done right.

Whatever you do, don’t make excuses for your weaknesses. A job interview isn’t a time to defend yourself, it’s a time to present yourself in a positive way that shows why you’re the best candidate. To get more job offers, make sure to focus on your potential.

What Is the Singular They, and Why Should I Use It?

Last year, Grammarly polled our social audiences to see if they supported gender-neutral pronoun usage. The results were a bit surprising: more than half of the audience polled felt that the idea of gender-neutral pronouns was a nonstarter.

With this knowledge, I’d like to make an appeal to our audience: consider the singular they. Language has changed a lot in the last year, with the singular they being voted the most important word of the year, and numerous dictionaries adding gender-neutral usage notes. Merriam-Webster even introduced the gender-neutral honorific Mx. to their unabridged dictionary this year, forever ending the question of what to call someone whose gender is nonbinary (i.e., not male or female).

It’s about time we talked about they in particular and gender-neutral pronouns as a whole, and it’s time we discussed why they’re important to binary and nonbinary folks alike.

First, Some Terminology

Since it’s Pride Month, we’d like to start by defining a few key terms in this discussion, with some help from our friends at the Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Here are four gender-related terms that you should know:

Gender: A set of cultural identities, expressions, and roles—traditionally categorized as feminine or masculine—that are assigned to people based on the interpretation of their bodies, and more specifically, their sexual and reproductive anatomy. Since gender is a social construction, it is possible for people to reject or modify the assignments given to them and develop something that feels truer and more just to themselves.

Gender binary: A socially constructed system of viewing gender as male or female, in which no other possibilities for gender are believed to exist. The gender binary is inaccurate because it does not take into account the diversity of gender identities and gender expressions among all people. The gender binary is oppressive to anyone who does not conform to dominant societal gender norms.

Nonbinary: Adjective describing a person who identifies as neither male nor female.

Of course, these three terms are just the beginning of a discussion about gender, but for the purposes of talking about gender-neutral or third-gender pronouns, they’re a great start. If you have more questions about gender or sexuality, I’d highly recommend GLSEN’s resources on the subject.

Now, to return to pronouns . . .

English Evolves!

One of the great lies about the English language is that it remains static. Grammar pedants and trolls generally operate under a series of assumptions about language, which may or may not reflect current usage and accepted norms. In the linguistics community, there is actually a term for this view of language—prescriptivism.

Unfortunately for prescriptivists, English is constantly changing—and always has been. Some words that grammar pedants scoff at as obnoxious neologisms were in fact coined as long ago as the nineteenth century. Take “dude” for example. Reviled by grammar trolls the world over, this term has provoked the ire of multiple generations of fuddy-duddies. But did you know that it has its roots in late nineteenth-century British dandyism? Although the term originally described a cultural trend in England, it eventually came to mean “clueless city-dweller” to American cowboys and ranchers (as Mental Floss notes, this is also the origin of the “dude ranch”). However, by WWI, “dude” had flip-flopped again to its current meaning—a cool guy.

Even if we adhere to certain rules to make communication easier for people across regions, dialects, and levels of writing proficiency, the language will eventually evolve. The singular they is simply another way English is changing for the shorter, the more empathetic, the better. As we’ve mentioned before, the singular they is not even a new phenomenon. Merriam-Webster includes usage examples of the singular they dating back to Shakespeare, with notable additions from the likes of Jane Austen and even the traditionalist W. H. Auden. The singular they is nothing new, but in making our language more inclusive of people of a myriad of genders, this simple word is becoming more and more important.

LGBTQ Harassment and Personal Gender Pronouns

According to a 2013 GLSEN study, more than 64.5 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students hear homophobic remarks at school. Of these students, 33.1 percent have heard harassing remarks specifically targeting transgender students. For transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid, and other nonbinary students, this can have extreme consequences, from lower GPAs to missed classes to suicide.

Clearly, language matters, and it’s especially important to people whose gender does not match cultural assumptions. That’s why we support and respect the use of whichever personal gender pronouns a person or group may choose to describe themselves. What’s a personal gender pronoun, you ask? GLSEN defines personal gender pronouns (PGPs for short) as “The pronoun or set of pronouns that a person would like to be called by when their proper name is not being used.” For people who identify as male or female, this is generally he or she, but trans, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming folks may use a variety of pronouns. They could use the singular gender-neutral “they,” but they could also use one of these options:

Although we won’t touch on all the pronoun options listed here, you can see that there are many. So how do you know which one to use? Ask! Asking someone their personal gender pronoun is easy. Just say something like “What pronouns do you use?” or “Is this pronoun right for you?” Most people will be happy to inform or correct you, especially when you ask them early on in your relationship.

Since we’re focusing on the singular gender-neutral they here, it’s important to note that many people at different points of the gender spectrum use “they.” When you’re using it in a sentence, you can say something like this:

“They is a talented artist. I really enjoyed their painting of a flower in art class yesterday.”

But Wait, “They” Is Useful for Everyone!

Now that we’ve talked briefly about how to use they for people who have chosen it as their PGP, let’s talk about how it can help people who identify as he or she. Merriam-Webster sums up the situation well in their usage note for they:

They, their, them, themselves: English lacks a common-gender third person singular pronoun that can be used to refer to indefinite pronouns (as everyone, anyone, someone).

Although English has many great qualities, it’s never been great with indefinite pronouns. Traditionally, he was the default pronoun for a person whose gender you didn’t know, as in this quote from Thomas Huxley:

“Suppose the life and fortune of every one of us would depend on his winning or losing a game of chess.”— Thomas Huxley

But, as many have pointed out, gendering all unknown people as male is sexist and inaccurate. That’s why Merriam-Webster, the Oxford English Dictionary, and the American Heritage Dictionary have recently added notes supporting the use of the singular they for a person whose gender you don’t know. “The trend, then, is clear. Writers who choose to use they with a singular antecedent should rest assured that they are in good company—even if a fair number of traditionalists still wince at the usage,” says the American Heritage Dictionary, in their usage note on the subject.

Admittedly, using the singular they in a formal context may still cause some raised eyebrows, so be careful if you’re submitting a paper to a particularly traditional teacher or professor. But the tides are turning, and English will soon be more efficient because of usages like this:

If Sally or George got a cold, I would have sympathy for them.

Note that, if we did not use the singular they, that sentence would read:

If Sally or George got a cold, I would have sympathy for him.

Or, if we tried to make some awkward amalgam of current language norms, we might write:

If Sally or George got a cold, I would have sympathy for him/her.

Furthermore, if Sally or George identified as a gender other than male or female, even the above Frankenstein-ed sentence would be incorrect. After all, your name does not determine your gender or your preferred gender pronouns.

There must be a better way!

Luckily, using the singular they makes English a more efficient language, and it helps us to avoid awkward sentence constructions. More importantly, though, it allows you to avoid making assumptions about the gender of a person you don’t know.

Their Pronoun, Themself

Of course, not everyone will agree that it’s time to formally accept the singular gender-neutral they. GLSEN’s research reminds us that people who would use they as their preferred gender pronoun have long been the subjects of harassment and discrimination, although things are changing. Grammarly supports the individual choice of pronouns and is using the hashtag #theyisok this week to start a dialogue about PGPs, gender neutral pronouns, and the singular they.

What do you think about the gender-neutral use of they? Leave a comment below, or tweet your experience with personal gender pronouns.

Empathy vs. Sympathy

• Empathy is a term we use for the ability to understand other people’s feelings as if we were having them ourselves.
• Empathy can also mean projecting our own feeling onto a work of art or another object.
• Sympathy refers to the ability to take part in someone else’s feelings, mostly by feeling sorrowful about their misfortune.
• Sympathy can also be used in relation to opinions and taste, like when you say that you have sympathy for a political cause.

In 1855, Walt Whitman described his reaction to a person in pain in his poem “Song of Myself.”

I do not ask a wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person, My hurt turns livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe.

What did the poet mean when he said that he would “become the wounded person?” Would his transformation be an example of empathy or sympathy? What’s the difference between empathy and sympathy? The words are easy to confuse. They are both derived from Greek, and the spelling only differs by a couple of letters. It’s almost as if they were made to be used as synonyms. But they weren’t.

The Difference Between Sympathy and Empathy

Of the two words, empathy is the more recent entry into the English language. Sympathy was in use for almost 300 years before empathy’s first written record in the nineteenth century. You might notice that both words contain -pathy, and that’s what makes them sort of similar – they share the same Greek root word pathos, which means “feelings” or “emotion,” but also “suffering” or “calamity.” But while both words deal with emotions, they are still very far from being synonyms.

What Is Sympathy?

Sympathy derives from Greek words meaning “with feeling.” The word is most commonly used to describe the way we share someone else’s feelings, especially feelings of sorrow or trouble. Hence, greeting cards given to mourning families are called sympathy cards. Sympathy can also refer to the sense of harmony between people with the same tastes, disposition, or opinions. When a person feels sympathy toward a cause or an organization, he has feelings of approval, loyalty, or support.

What Is Empathy?

The Greek phrase that lends empathy its meaning is “passion from feelings or emotion.” Most people know empathy has to do with understanding and sharing the experiences, feelings, and emotions of another person. However, empathy can also refer to using imagination to ascribe your feelings or attitudes to an object, such as a painting or a natural object.

Examples: Sympathy and Empathy in Sentences

Which quality was Whitman illustrating in his poem? Empathy. By becoming “the wounded person,” he vicariously experiences their suffering. Is it possible to completely understand how someone else feels? Most people have to content themselves with feeling sympathy—the quality of caring about someone’s misfortunes or the feeling of emotional or intellectual accord with another individual. Neil deGrasse Tyson proposes that since “humans aren’t as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others . . . maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, [we learned] ‘reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.’” But if you finished your schooling, maybe these examples might help you understand the difference between sympathy and empathy: A Canadian woman has criticised a “disgusting” sympathy card sent by two “ambulance chasing” estate agents offering their services following the death of her mother. —The Telegraph

So I have to say that my sympathy for Tyrone would be fairly limited. —The Irish Times

From an evolutionary standpoint, empathy is a valuable impulse that helps humans survive in groups. —The Atlantic

People with a higher level of empathy learn to help others more quickly than their more hard-hearted peers, scientists say. —The Guardian