Spelling Rules

Anyone who has ever had to memorize a tough-to-spell English word (It’s fuchsia, right? Or is it fuschia? Fushia?) has noticed that the spelling of some words is wildly different from the way we pronounce them. To make matters worse, some words are spelled differently in American English and British English. If it makes you feel any better, the eccentricities of English spelling weren’t invented just to make life difficult for writers.

Around Shakespeare’s time, when spelling was first becoming standardized, the spelling of most English words was mostly phonetic—or at least more phonetic than it is today. For example, English speakers did once pronounce the k at the beginning of words like knife and knee. But even though no one has pronounced knee as “kuh-nee” in centuries, we still hang on to the old spelling.

Fortunately, there are a few rules of thumb that can help when you’re faced with a word you’re not sure how to spell.

Spelling Rule 1: I Before E, Except After C

The rule goes like this:

I before E, Except after C, unless it sounds like A, as in neighbor or weigh

There are many exceptions to this rule—maybe it’s better to think of it as a guideline—but it can be helpful with words like the ones below.

I before E

Would you like a piece of cake? Jerry will believe anything. They’re planting new grass on the football field.

Except before C

Darnell received an A on his spelling test. Jeremy spotted a spider on the ceiling. I never expected such deceit from you!

Unless it sounds like A

Our neighbors live in a beige house. How much does the kitten weigh?

Here’s a tip: It’s a good idea to memorize these common exceptions to the rule:

seize, either, weird, height, foreign, leisure, conscience, counterfeit, forfeit, neither, science, species, sufficient

Spelling Rule 2: Adding Suffixes to Words that End in Y

When you add a suffix that starts with E (such as -ed, -er, or -est) to a word that ends in Y, the Y usually changes to an I.

• Cry – cried – crier
• Dry – dried – drier
• Lay – laid (note the irregular spelling: no E)
• Baby – babies
• Family – families
• Ugly – ugliest

This is the dustiest old house I’ve ever seen. The best bakers make the flakiest pie crusts. The soup needs the tiniest pinch of salt, and then it’s perfect. Seawater dries out your skin.

The Y doesn’t change for the suffix -ing.

The baby has been crying for almost an hour. The minute we brought in the new puppy, our mother began laying down sheets of newspaper. We should spend some time tidying before the guests arrive.

If the word in question has two consonants before the Y, change the Y to I before adding the suffix ‑ly.

• Sloppy – sloppily
• Happy – happily
• Scary – scarily

Funnily enough, I said the same thing just yesterday.

Of course, there are always exceptions:

“Funny,” he said dryly.

Spelling Rule 3: The Silent E

Typically, an E after a consonant at the end of a word is silent, but it does affect the way you pronounce the vowel that comes before the consonant. The E makes the vowel sound of the word (or syllable) long (like the I sound in kite) instead of short (like the I sound in kitten). It’s important to get the silent E right, because its presence or absence can change the meaning of a word.

The monkey bit me. Keep your fingers out of the cage: the monkeys bite.
By adding the E to the end of bit, the word is changed from past to present tense.
Don’t cut yourself on the sharp knives. The kitten is really cute.
In this case, the silent E creates a completely different word.

When adding a suffix like -ed, -er or -est, the silent E is usually dropped from the end of the root word.

The dog bared his teeth at the mail carrier. The baby’s eyes were the bluest I’d ever seen.

Spelling Rule 4: Double Consonants

Watch out for double consonants. It can be difficult to hear them when a word is said aloud—especially if the word has only one syllable. Double consonants are frequently found in words that have suffixes added to them:

I dropped the heavy bags to the floor. Someone called for you earlier.

Some words can be pronounced as either one or two syllables, but the spelling remains the same:

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth.
In this sentence, which is a fixed expression, blessed is pronounced as two syllables: bless-ed.
The father blessed his son before the wedding.
In this sentence, blessed is pronounced as one syllable: blest.

Be particularly careful with words where a double consonant can change the pronunciation and the meaning of the word.

Cacti are native to the desert. Would you like ice cream for dessert?

Spelling Rule 5: Plural Suffixes

When do you add ‑s and when do you add ‑es to make a plural? It’s not quite as arbitrary as it may seem. The rule is this: if a word ends in ‑s, ‑sh, ‑ch, ‑x, or ‑z, you add ‑es.

I only had to take one bus; you had to take two buses. I only get one wish; you get two wishes. I have a splotch on my shirt; you have two splotches. I’m carrying one box; you’re carrying two boxes. Would you like a spritz of perfume? Two spritzes, please.

For all other endings, add ‑s.

I have one cat; you have two cats. I have one cup; you have two cups. I have one shoe; you have two shoes. Where is my other shoe? I have one ski; you have two skis. How am I supposed to ski? I have one toque; you have two toques.

Be careful of words that don’t change when they’re pluralized (e.g., fish, sheep, moose). If you’re unsure, check the dictionary.

Be sure to also check out this list of commonly confused words to help you choose the right spelling of words with similar meanings and pronunciations.

Semicolon

What Is a Semicolon?

Semicolons (;) are as basic as a period stacked on top of a comma. Does that mean you can use it like either one? Don’t get your hopes up. But don’t let this punctuation mark get you down, either. After all, that sly emoticon winky eye can’t be all bad. ��

How to Use a Semicolon Correctly

The most common use of the semicolon is to join two independent clauses without using a conjunction like and. 

Do you use a capital letter after a semicolon? The general answer is no. A semicolon should be followed by a capital letter only if the word is a proper noun or an acronym.

We can go to the museum to do some research; Mondays are pretty quiet there.

Remember, semicolons are not interchangeable with commas or periods. Instead, they’re somewhere in between: stronger than a comma but not quite as divisive as a period. Sounds pretty cunning to us.

Here are the rules for using semicolons correctly; we hope you’re taking notes.

 

1. Semicolons Connect Related Independent Clauses

You can use a semicolon to join two closely related independent clauses. Let’s put that another way. The group of words that comes before the semicolon should form a complete sentence, the group of words that comes after the semicolon should form a complete sentence, and the two sentences should share a close, logical connection:

I ordered a cheeseburger for lunch; life’s too short for counting calories.

Money is the root of all evil; I don’t believe the reverse is necessarily true.

Martha has gone to the library; Andrew has gone to play soccer.

Notice that the letter following the semicolon is not capitalized. The examples above are both made up of two complete, grammatically correct sentences glued together. Yes, that means there are four total sentences up there—and thanks to the semicolon, only two capital letters. That’s exactly why you can’t substitute a comma for a semicolon. Using a comma instead of a semicolon in the sentences above would result in a comma splice. And there’s nothing as painful as a comma splice.

2. Delete the Conjunction When You Use a Semicolon

A semicolon isn’t the only thing that can link two independent clauses. Conjunctions (that’s your ands, buts, and ors) can do that too. But you shouldn’t use a semicolon and a conjunction. That means when you use a semicolon, you use it instead of the ands, buts, and ors; you don’t need both. Here’s a hint: if you used a comma and an “and” to link two related ideas, think of the period (you know, the top part of the semicolon) as a replacement “and.”

I saw a magnificent albatross, and it was eating a mouse.

I saw a magnificent albatross; it was eating a mouse.

You need a comma plus something to avoid a comma splice. That something can either be the right conjunction or the period that turns a comma into a semicolon. If semicolons can link independent clauses that would otherwise have a period or a conjunction between them, that means they can demonstrate contrast, too. This is part of the same rule, but the conjunction in question is “but” instead of “and.” In other words:

This is part of the same rule; the conjunction in question is “but” instead of “and.”

To summarize, a semicolon links up two related ideas by narrowing the gap between the ideas of two separate sentences or by replacing a conjunction between two related ideas. That goes for showing contrast, too: just because two ideas are opposed or contradictory, that doesn’t mean they aren’t related closely enough to earn themselves a semicolon.

3. Use Semicolons in a Serial List

You can use semicolons to divide the items of a list if the items are long or contain internal punctuation. In these cases, the semicolon helps readers keep track of the divisions between the items.

I need the weather statistics for the following cities: London, England; London, Ontario; Paris, France; Paris, Ontario; Perth, Scotland; Perth, Ontario.

My plan included taking him to a nice—though not necessarily expensive—dinner; going to the park to look at the stars, which, by the way, are amazing this time of year; and serenading him with my accordion.

Let’s recap: so far we’ve got semicolons for linking two independent clauses; replacing a conjunction (whether showing similarity, like “and,” or opposition, like “but”); and long, comma-loving lists. Yup, that was one now.

4. Use Semicolons With Conjunctive Adverbs

When you have a conjunctive adverb linking two independent clauses, you should use a semicolon. Some common conjunctive adverbs include moreover, nevertheless, however, otherwise, therefore, then, finally, likewise, and consequently. 

I needed to go for a walk and get some fresh air; >also, I needed to buy milk.

Reports of the damage caused by the hurricane were greatly exaggerated; indeed, the storm was not a “hurricane” at all.

The students had been advised against walking alone at night; however, Cathy decided walking wasn’t dangerous if it was early in the evening.

I’m not all that fond of the colors of tiger lilies; moreover, they don’t smell very good.

These words sometimes show up in other parts of a sentence; therefore, the semicolon rule only applies if it helps the conjunctive adverb join two independent clauses. (See what we did there?) This conjunctive adverb rule is similar to the conjunction rule. In both cases, check that the two ideas are independent clauses that could stand on their own as sentences. If so, then you’re grammatically good to go as far as the semicolon is concerned.

5. Use a Semicolon to Give a Wily Wink

Emoticons will never replace a solid knowledge of the English language. But they can sure spice it up from time to time. �� The semicolon is a good punctuation mark to have in your back pocket. Or on top of your parenthetical smile. So whether you’re using it to whip up a good complex sentence or to give someone a wink, now you know how to do it right.

Passive Voice

The passive voice is often maligned by grammazons as a bad writing habit. Or, to put it in the active voice, grammazons across the English-speaking world malign the passive voice as a bad writing habit.

In general, the active voice makes your writing stronger, more direct, and, you guessed it, more active. The subject is something, or it does the action of the verb in the sentence. With the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by some other performer of the verb. (In case you weren’t paying attention, the previous two sentences use the type of voice they describe.)

But the passive voice is not incorrect. In fact, there are times when it can come in handy. Read on to learn how to form the active and passive voices, when using the passive voice is a good idea, and how to avoid confusing it with similar forms.

Forming the Passive Voice

While tense is all about time references, voice describes whether the grammatical subject of a clause performs or receives the action of the verb. Here’s the formula for the active voice: [subject]+[verb (performed by the subject)]+[optional object]

Chester kicked the ball.

In a passive voice construction, the grammatical subject of the clause receives the action of the verb. So, the ball from the above sentence, which is receiving the action, becomes the subject. The formula: [subject]+[some form of the verb to be]+[past participle of a transitive verb]+[optional prepositional phrase]

The ball was kicked by Chester.

That last little bit—“by Chester”—is a prepositional phrase that tells you who the performer of the action is. But even though Chester is the one doing the kicking, he’s no longer the grammatical subject. A passive voice construction can even drop him from the sentence entirely:

The ball was kicked.

How’s that for anticlimactic?

When to use the passive voice

That said, there are times when the passive voice does a better job of presenting an idea, especially in certain formal, professional, and legal discussions. Here are three common uses of the passive voice: 1 Reports of crimes or incidents with unknown perpetrators

My car was stolen yesterday.

If you knew who stole the car, it probably wouldn’t be as big a problem. The passive voice emphasizes the stolen item and the action of theft. 2 Scientific contexts

The rat was placed into a T-shaped maze.

Who places the rat into the maze? Scientists, duh. But that’s less important than the experiment they’re conducting. Therefore, passive voice. 3 When you want to emphasize an action itself and the doer of the action is irrelevant or distracting:

The president was sworn in on a cold January morning.

How many people can remember off the top of their heads who swears in presidents? Clearly the occasion of swearing in the commander in chief is the thing to emphasize here. In each of the above contexts, the action itself—or the person or thing receiving the action—is the part that matters. That means the performer of the action can appear in a prepositional phrase or be absent from the sentence altogether.

Getting away with the passive voice in writing

The above examples show some formal uses of the passive voice, but some writers take advantage of the shift in emphasis it provides for other reasons. Here are moments when the passive voice is a stylistic decision that suits the author’s writing goals. 1 Avoid getting blamed There are times when you want to get away with something without making it crystal-clear who’s at fault. The classic example:

“Mistakes were made.” —most politicians

Who made them? Is anyone taking responsibility? What’s the solution here? One political scientist dubbed this structure the “past exonerative” because it’s meant to exonerate a speaker from whatever foul they may have committed. In other words, drop the subject, get off the hook.

2 Beat around the bush

Jane Austen is a master of poking fun at her characters so euphemistically that it seems almost polite, and the passive voice is one of her favorite methods for doing that.

“[He] pressed them so cordially to dine at Barton Park every day till they were better settled at home that, though his entreaties were carried to a point of perseverance beyond civility, they could not give offense.” —Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Austen could have rephrased this sentence like so:

“Though Mr. Middleton carried his entreaties to a point of perseverance beyond civility, they could not give offense.”

Though maybe she means something closer to:

“Mr. Middleton pushed his invitations beyond the point of politeness and into pushiness, but he still meant well.”

In cases like this, the passive voice allows for more polite phrasing, even if it’s also a little less clear.

3 Make your reader pay more attention to the something

This is like the president getting sworn in: the thing that gets the action of the verb is more important than the people performing the action.

“That treasure lying in its bed of coral, and the corpse of the commander floating sideways on the bridge, were evoked by historians as an emblem of the city drowned in memories.” —Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Here, you could invert the sentence to say “Historians evoked that treasure (and so on).” But that would take the focus away from that oh-so-intriguing treasure and the corpse. And since the historians are less important here, the author makes the choice to stress the key idea of the sentence through the passive voice.

Here’s another famous example that puts the emphasis on what happens to the subject, instead of on what the subject is doing:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” —The Declaration of Independence, 1776

“All men” (and these days, women, too) get boosted to the front of the phrase because their equality and rights are the focus. It makes sense that a statement declaring independence would focus on the people who get that independence, after all.

So writers use it. Can you?

The above examples lean toward the literary side of things, but don’t forget that there are times when the passive voice is useful and necessary in daily life. In each of the sentences below, the passive voice is natural and clear. Rewriting these sentences in the active voice renders them sterile, awkward, or syntactically contorted. Passive: Bob Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident. Active: A motorcycle accident injured Bob Dylan. Passive: Elvis is rumored to be alive. Active: People rumor Elvis to be alive. Passive: Don’t be fooled! Active: Don’t allow anything to fool you!

Seriously, Don’t Be Fooled

Deciding when to use the passive voice can be tricky. Identifying it can be even trickier.

Chester’s favorite activity is kicking. The bank robbery took place just before closing time. There is nothing we can do about it. There were a great number of dead leaves covering the ground.

Despite what any well-meaning English teachers may have told you, none of the sentences above are written in the passive voice. The sentence about the leaves, in fact, was (wrongly) presented as an example of the passive voice by none other than Strunk and White in The Elements of Style. Here’s how to remember: using the verb to be doesn’t automatically put a verb phrase into the passive voice. You also need a past participle. That’s how to keep passive voice masqueraders from fooling you.

The gist is summed up here:

The passive voice isn’t a grammatical error; it’s a matter of style Use the active voice if it makes your sentence sound clearer and more natural Forming passive voice requires the verb “to be” and a past participle The passive voice is your friend when the thing receiving an action is the important part of the the sentence—especially in scientific and legal contexts, times when the performer of an action is unknown, or cases where the subject is distracting or irrelevant When it comes to good writing, don’t be passive—even if your sentences sometimes need to be.

Should You Send Them a Holiday Card?

There’s no doubt that electronic communication is fast and convenient, but there’s one time of year when we seem to prefer a more conventional approach. Americans send 1.6 billion holiday cards by postal mail annually, proving that we still favor tradition when the days get shorter and the year draws to a close.

A Little History Sir Henry Cole of London commissioned the first Christmas card in 1843 by having an artist create an image for a holiday greeting. He then had two batches of cards printed—2,050 in total—and sold them for a shilling each. Over the years, holiday cards gained momentum. Today, even the White House gets in on it. Since Calvin Coolidge issued the first official Christmas message to the American people in 1927, it’s been traditional for the president and first lady to send White House Christmas cards each year.

A Little Help Despite tradition, the holidays are a busy time and you might be tempted to cross holiday cards off your to-do list. Before you do, we have a few tips on how to wrap up this annual task faster than you can say “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”! Remember that not everyone you’ve ever met needs to get a card this year. If you’re still sending yuletide cheer to distant relatives and old friends whom you haven’t actually spoken to in decades, it may be time to cross them off the list. If you don’t want to feel like a total Grinch, consider sending an environmentally friendly ecard instead. Our tongue-in-cheek flowchart will help you decide who to ditch! When it comes to getting your holiday cards sent out, organization is key. You know how Santa’s elves manage to make all those toys? No, it’s not magic; it’s efficient production. If you’re using snail mail, prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and embarrassing spelling errors by printing out address labels. Draft a message on your computer (and check it for grammar mistakes; may we suggest Grammarly?), then copy it by hand onto your cards or cut and paste into your ecard. It’s a lot easier to work in batches, completing each step for all your cards. Sending holiday cards can be a delightful way to let people know you’re thinking of them. Put on some seasonal music, pour a glass of eggnog, and carry on this time-honored tradition.

Holiday Card Flowchart for Pro Adults

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What PS Means and How to Use It Correctly in Your Email

In the days before email, Paul McCartney famously sang, “PS I love you” on The Beatles’ 1963 album, Please Please Me. But what does PS mean and how do we use it in modern communication?

What Is the Meaning of PS?

PS stands for postscript. It comes from the Latin postscriptum, which literally means “written after.” A postscript is an additional thought added to letters (and sometimes other documents) that comes after it has been completed.

Here’s a tip: People wonder—does the PS come before or after the signature? Since a postscript is an addition that comes after a letter is completed, it should always follow the signature.

In the days of handwritten and typed letters, we often found ourselves remembering something we wanted to include only after we’d signed off. That’s where a PS came in handy. It’s also often used for effect to add a clever or funny afterthought. It can be added for emphasis, or even as an argumentative “So there!” It’s a tool still used in direct and email marketing, which we’ll talk about in a moment.

The P.S. is the most charming part of a letter. It’s the wink you give as you walk away.

—Shaun Usher, author of Letters of Note, for The Wall Street Journal

 

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READ: The 15 Most Common Email Mistakes of 2017

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How to Punctuate and Format PS

Should PS be capitalized? How is it abbreviated; with (P.S.) or without (PS) periods? Should you use any trailing punctuation? Surprisingly, there are no hard and fast answers to these questions.

The Cambridge Dictionary suggests that PS is the proper format in British English.

PS Don’t forget to let the cat in before you go to bed.

The Cambridge Dictionary also says that P.S. (with periods after each letter) is the American English format. Indeed, you’ll often find it abbreviated as such in the US. But The Chicago Manual of Style favors PS, without the periods.

The verdict? Usage varies, and PS doesn’t factor into most style guides. The safest bet is to capitalize the P and S (use periods after each letter if that’s your preference), and leave out any trailing punctuation.

PS in Email

PS once saved us from having to edit or rewrite an entire letter just to include an important afterthought. But email allows us to go back and edit before sending. Technically, we could avoid the use of PS altogether in electronic communication. But should we?

Not really. PS is still useful for effect, and it’s a great way to get a specific point noticed. Although the Internet has made us a culture of skimmers rather than people who read things like email word-for-word, we tend to notice what’s at the beginning and end of a text. Can you think of a time when you didn’t read the PS in an email you cared enough about to open?

Including a PS has long been a direct mail marketing strategy. Statistics once showed that as many as 79 percent of people who opened a direct mail letter would read the PS first. Although times have changed, email marketers still swear by it as a way to reiterate a call to action, create FOMO, provide some sort of bonus information or offer, or even share a testimonial.

Examples of PS in a Letter

To demonstrate just how effective a PS can be, here are some examples from letters written by famous and notable people. (Read more at Letters of Note.)

John Lennon

We opened this article with The Beatles, so let’s return to that theme for a moment. Here’s a letter John Lennon famously wrote to a groupie who dissed Yoko Ono. This PS isn’t exactly an I love you.

Yoko’s been an artist before you were ever a groupie. Why don’t you open your box and dig ‘Mind Train’ on [Yoko/Plastic Ono band album] ‘Fly’? Your prejudices can’t be that deep.

Love, John Lennon

P.S. You might have an aging problem. Me? I wouldn’t go back one day!

Ronald Reagan

This excerpt comes from a letter Ronald Reagan penned to his son, Michael, in 1971, shortly after Michael was married.

. . . Mike, you know better than many what an unhappy home is and what it can do to others. Now you have a chance to make it come out the way it should. There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.

Love,

Dad

P.S. You’ll never get in trouble if you say “I love you” at least once a day.

Philip K. Dick

In 1973, four years before it was published, Philip K. Dick sent his agent, Scott Meredith, an outline of his novel A Scanner Darkly. This cover letter includes an enthusiastic PS.

Dear Scott:

Here is the outline for my proposed new novel. A SCANNER DARKLY, which I told you about. It’s a good long outline, running well over sixty pages. I guess you can’t sell it to any publisher until I write a bunch of sample chapters, but anyhow this is what I’ll be working on for quite some time.

If you’d like to show it—for example to Doubleday—that would of course be fine with me. Otherwise, hang onto this outline while I continue from my carbon.

Let me know what you think of it, and meanwhile I’ll keep you posted as to how I’m coming with the novel itself.

Cordially,

Philip K. Dick

P.S. I swear, Scott, this is shaping up to be the greatest novel ever written. Or at least the greatest novel I’ve ever written, anyhow.

Richard Feynman

Influential American physicist Richard Feynman (a 1965 Nobel Prize winner) lost his wife and high school sweetheart, Arline, when she died of tuberculosis at age 25. In October 1946, sixteen months after Arline’s death, he wrote her a tender love letter, which remained in a sealed envelope until after his death in 1988.

. . . I know you will assure me that I am foolish and that you want me to have full happiness and don’t want to be in my way. I’ll bet you are surprised that I don’t even have a girlfriend (except you, sweetheart) after two years. But you can’t help it, darling, nor can I — I don’t understand it, for I have met many girls and very nice ones and I don’t want to remain alone — but in two or three meetings they all seem ashes. You only are left to me. You are real.

My darling wife, I do adore you.

I love my wife. My wife is dead.

Rich.

PS Please excuse my not mailing this — but I don’t know your new address.

How to Update Your LinkedIn Profile with Stealth-like Precision

Every social circle has that one friend who occasionally “stalks” people online. Don’t be alarmed. It’s more common than you might realize and can give you greater perspective on your career path. You mention someone’s first name to the group, and moments later . . . voila! Your friend has found that person’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts.

In my group of friends, that investigative person is me.

I aim to use these powers for good. But having this level of social media awareness comes with consequences. It means that, when I’m trying to operate online in stealth mode, I trend toward the paranoid end of the spectrum. What if I want to update my LinkedIn profile, network privately, or investigate future employment opportunities? Is there someone at my company that can uncover these items as efficiently as I can?

To be safe, I always assume the things I type online are public. Regardless of privacy settings, medium, or channel, I know I’m one screenshot away from any information becoming public. But when it comes to professional “research,” I do have a few tips to make your networking, job search, or plans to exit a company more discreet.

1 LinkedIn Profile Evaluation 101

In order to get a sense of the level of awareness you need on LinkedIn, let’s start by viewing LinkedIn from a curiosity perspective. With its emphasis on searchability, transparency, and public perception, LinkedIn is the ideal social network for would-be stalkers, from potential contacts to your current manager.

The first thing you should know is that LinkedIn will notify someone any time you look at their profile, if you are logged in and in a non-incognito window. This essentially makes a “profile view” like a first point of contact with a person, so if you aren’t ready to engage with a potential customer, partner, or employer, don’t initiate contact this way.

Here’s a tip: Pro Tip: Want to look at someone’s LinkedIn profile without letting them know you “viewed” their profile? Search them in LinkedIn’s native search, then right click and copy-paste their LinkedIn profile URL to a new incognito window.

Searching for potential new contacts in LinkedIn is deceptively easy, with extra filters and searching functionality for users with LinkedIn Premium. When a LinkedIn user pops up in your search results, it won’t count as a “profile view,” unless you click through to their actual LinkedIn profile. This may seem small, but it’s something to keep in mind if you simply want to find a specific person in a specific role at a specific company.

Here’s a tip: Pro Tip: LinkedIn also provides insight into the other side of the search experience. Check out this link to see who has been searching for your profile.

2What LinkedIn Information Is Public?

Unless you have edited your settings, most of your LinkedIn profile is public. Information like your name, company, summary, and experience can be viewed by other LinkedIn users and the general public. In fact, LinkedIn recently updated their platform to make all status updates public, meaning that they’re picked up by search engines like Google. This can be helpful from a “research” perspective, but it also means you should be careful what you post.

In general, this means that you should be careful about what you update, when you update, and how you update on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has a default setting that notifies your LinkedIn connections (including coworkers and your boss) if you update your profile. If you’re actively searching for a new job, you will want to turn this off.

3How to Make Parts of Your LinkedIn Profile Private

That’s the bad news: most of LinkedIn is public by default. The good news is that you can update your settings to be as public or as stealthy as you like. You can adjust these settings depending on your needs. Need to promote your personal brand? You probably want your profile to be public. Want to look for a new job? It’s probably a good idea to increase the level of privacy on your profile. Here’s how you can do that:

1 First, you’re going to want to turn off that pesky “update everyone I know when I edit my profile” feature. To do this, first click the “edit” pencil icon.

Next, switch the option at the bottom marked “Share profile changes” to “No.”

Voila! You’ve officially entered stealth mode.

2 Now, what if you want to make your profile less public? It’s time to take a long, hard look at your privacy settings. To reach these, just click the top-right menu option that says “Settings & Privacy.”

Then, click on “Privacy,” and you’ll see a host of options to make your profile less publicly-accessible. This is where you can specify whether you show up in search results, news results, on your company’s page, etc.

After this, you can also check out the “Job seeking” menu, which allows you to turn on “job seeker” mode. This stealthily lets recruiters know that you’re open to new opportunities. Although LinkedIn has said they block recruiters from your company from seeing this feature, it’s always possible for a bug to show up in the system, so be wary. You can learn more about how LinkedIn built “job seeker” mode here.

How do you sneakily update LinkedIn? Any tips I missed?

5 Tough Interview Questions and the Perfect Responses for Them

Congratulations. (Maybe. Hopefully!)

You haven’t clinched your new job yet, but getting this far is encouraging. You may already be excitedly imagining life in your upcoming role, but the more immediate task at hand will be nailing the interview. That means it’s time to prepare for an array of tough potential interview questions you may have to field.

Besides knowing how you want to present your background and experience, it helps to research the place you’re applying. What challenges are they facing? How are they evolving? How might someone with your resume be an asset in that process? Knowing how to couch your answers in that context is essential to crushing whatever tough questions an interviewer might throw out.

To help you get ready, we’ve put together this list of challenging queries worth rehearsing for. While not all are guaranteed to come up—and unforeseen curveballs from “who are your heroes?” to “what’s your favorite food?” have sometimes tilted brilliant minds—considering these questions in advance can help you steer the conversation with grace and aplomb.

We’ll start, as many interviews do, with a deceptively simple doozy:

Can you tell me about yourself?

The key here is to be succinct and not get overwhelmed with the multitude of possible answers. Seize this opportunity to give a quick career overview that highlights relevant strengths and accomplishments.

Wrong approach: “I grew up in North Alabama, or upstate Alabama as my mom likes to joke, aheh. But it’s funny, I never really got into outdoorsy stuff until I discovered beer, so as a kid I always…” NO.

Right approach: “While majoring in journalism I began developing a portfolio by writing and editing for the student newspaper and volunteering at my college radio station. That helped me secure an internship that set me up after graduation to…” SOLID.

Ideally, this dovetails into one particular accomplishment that’s easy to summarize—a recent project you successfully spearheaded, or an award you won, perhaps—before you stick the landing with what you hope to do next, and how that aligns with the position you’re applying for.

That last part is worth thinking through, lest you get caught flat-footed by this little peach:

How does this job fit into your life plan?

Another variation on this theme is “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

Wrong response: “I… I have no idea! I’ll be so much older then—So many doors will have closed, augh!”

Also the wrong response: “Sleeping on the same futon, looking at a fancier phone.”

To knock this one out of the park, understand the basis for asking it. The interviewer wants to know what motivates you, in order to better gauge what kind of match you might be for the position, and what potential you and the company have to grow together. The last thing they want is to hire someone who, in a few short months, will feel like they’re at a dead end and want out.

Remember, you’re not etching your fate into stone with your answer so much as explaining why you’re a good fit.

What’s your greatest weakness?

That sound you just heard was a thousand potential hires gulping in unison. There are a few ways to handle this without taking yourself out of the running:

• Make it about something that doesn’t particularly matter to the job at hand. Having a clear grasp of what the position entails can help here. Just beware—not everyone has the luxury of deciding some aspect of a job is outside their wheelhouse and not their problem.
• Describe an area where you’ve improved, and explain how. Why was it a challenge, what did you do to improve it, and how can you illustrate your success?
• Frame a weakness as an asset. For instance: “Before sending out copy, I always find myself triple-checking to make sure it’s free of errors. I realize that’s not something anyone can afford to spend all day on, so I’ve pushed myself to manage my time deliberately, so I always have a chance to look back and polish my work well before my deadline.”

You want the focus of the interview to be everything that makes you a strong candidate; don’t let this question derail that emphasis.

What does your ideal company look like?

Questions in this vein range from “Why do you want to work here?” to “Describe your dream job,” and they can blindside an applicant who hasn’t prepared.

Again, advance research is crucial so you can connect your answer to your prospective role in specific terms. As ever, you don’t want to remove yourself from consideration by essentially telling the interviewer you’d hate working there.

Wrong response: “My ideal company is small and nimble, so ideally I wouldn’t have to work under the managerial bloat this place seems to suffer from.”

Right response: “I think the value of agility is hard to overstate, so the way this company uses the divide-and-conquer approach to tackle problems resonates with me. I think my skills with pair programming could really shine in that respect.”

And finally:

Why should I hire you?

This is your chance to give the interviewer FOMO—a fear that if they don’t offer you the gig, they’ll miss out. You want to emphasize your uniqueness—the value you alone can offer, which no other candidate could rival. And you don’t want to water down your sales pitch by droning on, so it needs to be straightforward.

It’s worth spending some time to think through an organized response beforehand, so based on everything you know about what your prospective employer needs done, choose a few specific qualities to underscore. Think through why they make you the standout pick to do the work and enhance the team. Then practice explaining as much out loud, so it comes naturally; these are your strongest attributes you’re talking about, after all.

You’re going to do great in there, by the way. Good luck!