Yes, You Can Make a Complex Point Over Text

Making a point in a clear, assertive email is one thing. But doing it in a text? LOL, way 2 much 4 txtspk.

Or is it?

Sure, you don’t have as much leeway in a text as in an email because of sheer lack of space, but it is possible to make a point, ask for something important, or express a serious idea in a text message. Here are some tips for how to make it so.

Use real words

As in, “you,” “for,” “today,” “thanks.” Writing in real-speak instead of text-speak shows that you’re serious. For example:

Thx 4 mtg w me 2day. U r rly helpful. WML 4 interview 2moro!

Not quite as effective as:

Thank you for meeting with me today. You were really helpful. Wish me luck for the interview tomorrow!

Sure, it depends on who you’re writing: if it’s your best friend and you always swap “you” for “u,” no need to make things unexpectedly formal. But before you type out your message, think about what you’re trying to say, who’s going to read it, and whether your point will be more effective with actual words.

Start with “Hey”

When people are about to say something important in conversation, they often start with “listen” or “look.” Those senses don’t exactly make sense over text, but a casual “hey” can have the same effect. Plus, it signals that you’re about to get a bit more serious than normal, and even pads the blow a little.

Hey, I wanted to apologize for taking my bad mood out on you earlier.

Without the hey, it sounds stiff, even insincere. With the hey, you get a casual, human touch that leads neatly into the point.

Don’t write a novel

We get it: it’s hard to make a point in a couple lines. But if the message is longer than the phone screen and you have to scroll to see the whole thing, it’s probably too much for the person to digest. Just like in other forms of writing, you’ll make a stronger point if you avoid filler words and get directly to the issue.

Compare these two texts to a coworker:

Hey Karen, I’m really sorry, but I think I ate something weird last night and I’m feeling really sick. I know we were supposed to prep for our big presentation today, but I’m just feeling too sick to leave the house today. Hopefully I’ll be better tomorrow and we can figure things out then. Sorry again, but thanks for understanding!

Then, you take out the (digital) red pen:

Hey Karen, so sorry, but I’ve got food poisoning. We’ll have to do our meeting prep when I’m back. I’ll follow up by email when possible.

More succinct, and more professional, too.

Sum up your argument

What is this, expository essay class? It may sound like even more added weight, but if you have to say something complicated, one way to keep it clean is to write the main point in one text, and send your “conclusion” as a separate text. For example:

Text 1: Hey, I understand that you have a lot going on right now and can’t make it to the dinner tonight, but I’ve got to say I’m disappointed. I planned it months ago and was really counting on you being there. Even with everything you have on your plate, I thought this would be a priority for you.

Text 2: Anyway, sorry for being upset and I do understand you’ve got a lot happening, but wanted you to know.

Heavy stuff—maybe even better over the phone or in person. Still, there are times when you need to have your say, and text is the only venue for doing it. And in those cases, a final line—sometimes with an extra “thanks” or “sorry”—can make the message more personal and caring.

Offer a follow-up

The tips so far have given you some fuel for your serious, thoughtful, or bad-news texts. But there are some conversations that should be had in person. You can lay the groundwork in your text and then plug for a different venue to keep the discussion going. For example:

• Hey, our presentation is coming along, but I think it needs more work. Let’s set up some time to talk about moving it forward.
• Hey, I’m sorry I hurt your feelings with that stupid joke earlier. Can I call you?
• Hi Mom, guess what? I got the job offer! Too many details to text but I’ll tell you more over dinner tomorrow.

With this kind of message, you can say what you need to say but not overburden your text recipient with information.

Send a gif

Caveat: Maybe you don’t send a white rabbit gif to your boss to explain you’re running late for your very important date—er, meeting.

But if you think the person you’re writing will respond well to a bit of levity, adding a gif or a meme is a great way to lighten the mood of a serious message. Technology has given us the gift of sending moving cats to people by phone, so why not take advantage of it?

Here are some ways to make it go purringly:

• Things are pretty tough right now (cat getting a bath)
• I didn’t mean to lash out at you (cat lashing out at its balloon lookalike)
• What you said hurt my feelings (cat hanging its head with a wounded air)
• I’m really sorry I messed up this time (cat falling off a chair)
• I’m sorry I can’t make it. Just can’t handle a party tonight (cat looking like it can’t handle a party any night. Even with the sombrero.)

As with emails, conversations in person, or other forms of communication, if you’re saying something important in a text message, think through how best to say it. Make sure you plan your words based on the person you’re writing to (e.g., you’ll be more formal in professional settings than personal ones), and before you tap Send, read your message through to make sure it doesn’t sound aggressive, whiny, or mean.

And nine times out of ten, animal gifs are your friend.

How to Best Introduce Yourself at a Job Interview

You’re sitting in a reception area, dressed in a carefully chosen outfit. You’re showered and polished. Your hair is perfect. Your hands are manicured. Now, if only your palms would stop sweating!

Few things are quite as unnerving as job interviews. You approach them knowing that unless you match the employer’s expectations you’re not going to land that sweet gig. Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do to ensure you’ll make a good impression when the stakes are high.

Introduce yourself in a professional way

First impressions start here, so make sure you get it right. Your next career move could well begin with a hello and a handshake. In the reception area, introduce yourself.

Hi, I’m Jill Jackson. I’m here for my 10:30 interview with Jane Smith.

When you meet the person who’ll be interviewing you, extend a hand, say hello, and introduce yourself again.

Hi, Ms. Smith. I’m Jill Jackson. Thanks for inviting me to meet with you today.

Here’s a tip: Keep a folded napkin or handkerchief in your pocket. It’ll be helpful if you need to dry your hands quickly before you meet the interviewer. It’s harder to make a good impression with sweaty palms.

Make sure you’ve done your homework up front

The single best thing you can do to ace an interview is to conduct some research ahead of time. Learn as much as you can about the company you’re interviewing with. Visit their website and look for things like a careers or culture page. Scan their social media accounts to get a feel for their brand voice. Visit Glassdoor to see what employees are saying about them, which might give you more culture clues as well as insight into their strengths and challenges. When you’re armed with information, you’ll feel less vulnerable, and when the time comes, you’ll be able to demonstrate your insight into the company.

I noticed that The ABC Corporation’s blog focuses on content for working professionals. Can you tell me more about how that plays into your branding strategy?

ABC’s website has a great culture page! It gave me a real sense of what drives your team.

Answer the dreaded “Tell me about yourself” with style

There’s no more open-ended question than the one every job seeker loves to hate—“Tell me about yourself.” How do you project an image of confidence without arrogance? Do you mention anything personal or stick to business?

It’s a good idea to prepare your answer to this question ahead of time. It’s often used as an ice-breaker, so go ahead and begin with a few bits of personal information.

I moved cross-country to the west coast two years ago—I love it here! I’ve been spending time adventuring and getting to know the area cuisine. I’m a foodie at heart.

Make sure you avoid politics or anything potentially controversial. Even relating something like your enthusiasm for hunting can go wrong if you come across an interviewer who’s opposed to the practice. By all means, be interesting—if you have an unusual hobby like paragliding or snake charming, make yourself memorable by sharing it. (Well, maybe hold off on sharing the snake charming thing. You don’t want to come off as that much of a risk taker.)

Don’t dwell on the personal for more than a couple of beats. Segue into talking about your professional life.

I ventured out west because marketing is my passion, and I saw so many opportunities in Silicon Valley. I’d love to tell you about some of the strengths I’d bring to this position.

Don’t overdo it. Before the interview, consider three or four personality assets or skills you believe the hiring manager will value. Outline them briefly. (Remember that the interviewer can always ask more questions if one of your points intrigues her.)

I enjoy networking. I attended three professional conferences last year, and not only did I get valuable insights, but I also connected with some solid new leads.

Good communication is important to me, so I’m always sharpening my writing skills. I wrote my company’s top-performing blog article last quarter.

Be concrete. Show how your skills have made a difference in your professional life. But also, be concise. Nattering on about your talents for too long can make you seem arrogant or self-absorbed.

Here’s a tip: You’ll have the advantage if you know what the hiring manager is looking for in advance. If you used a keyword strategy to craft your resume, apply that to your understanding of the topics you should focus on during your interview.

Be prepared to take charge of the interview

Interviewers may be in positions of power, but that doesn’t mean most are good at interviewing. In fact, many interviewers struggle with it. They overestimate their intuitive sense of you and make snap judgments. They may overvalue things like how articulate you are, your assertiveness, and even your technical chops without really asking the questions that will determine how fit you are for the position.

If the interviewer isn’t asking the right questions and assessing you in a way that lets you show your best angles, be prepared to step in and demonstrate your strengths.

Most interviewers ask questions unrelated to real job requirements. As the person being interviewed, you need to take control to ensure you’re being evaluated properly. This starts by asking the person to describe the job in terms of real objectives and challenges. Then you need to describe work you’ve done that’s most related.

—Lou Adler for Inc.

Preparation is the key to knocking your interview out of the park. Take time to rehearse your answers to popular interview questions. Stay positive, smile, and try to relax. You’ve got this!

Verbs

There are up to five forms for each verb: root, third-person singular, present participle, past, and past participle.

Root Form of the Verb

The root form of a verb is the base form of the word. Roots have not been conjugated and do not include prefixes or suffixes.

The root form of the verb is the same as the infinitive form with “to” removed. See the examples below: to see – see

to be – be

to wear – wear

to go – go

The root form of a verb is used to create other forms of the verb when conjugated. This is always true with regular verbs, but may not apply with irregular verbs, depending on the tense. The examples below illustrate this concept.

I am going to school.

(Root: go)

What did you do yesterday?

(Root: do)

The girl showed her mother the picture she drew in school.

(Root: show)

He had eaten three hamburgers.

(Root: eat)

Third Person Singular Form of a Verb

The third person singular (he/she/it/one) conjugation is the verb form that tends to be different from other conjugations. For regular verbs, this verb form end in ‑s (or sometimes ‑es). Consider the examples below: he sees

she watches

it shrinks

one does

Present Participle Form of a Verb

The present participle verb form is created by adding -ing to the root word. It’s used in the past, present, and future progressive verb tenses. Look at the examples below:

We’re coming to the party tonight.

(come – coming)

They have been drawing for hours.

(draw – drawing)

We will be washing the car before vacation.

(wash – washing)

Past and Past Participle Forms of the Verb

The past and past participle verb form for regular verbs is the root word + ‑ed. It’s only used with the past tenses. Consider the examples below:

We shopped for hours on Saturday afternoon.

(shop – shopped)

The books were stacked on the shelf.

(stack – stacked)

He had played computer games for the whole weekend.

(play – played)

The past participle can be difficult to determine for some irregular verbs. It’s best to look these up in a dictionary if you’re at all unsure of the past participle. Here are a few examples of irregular verbs:

Root	Simple Past	Past Participle
Sing	Sang	Sung
See	Saw	Seen
Fall	Fell	Fallen
Give	Gave	Given
Go	Went	Gone

I had forgiven him for his unkind words.

Simon had lit candles all around the room.

And the Oscar for Best Grammar Goes to. . .

Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences creates a Hollywood spectacle to honor the best films, actors, screenwriters, directors, and more. Before the Academy rolls out the red carpet on February 28 to announce 2016’s Oscar winners, we decided to roll out the red pen (metaphorically speaking) and rank the movies, actors, and actresses by how well their fans write when they’re buzzing about them online.

First, we looked at fan-written movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. We gathered the most recent one hundred four- and five-star reviews of at least fifteen words for each film, analyzed them with Grammarly, and then verified them with a team of live proofreaders. We counted only black-and-white mistakes, such as misspellings, wrong and missing punctuation, misused or missing words, and subject-verb disagreement. We ignored stylistic variations, such as common slang words, nicknames, serial commas, or the use of numerals instead of spelled-out numbers.

Then, we set out for IMDb and followed the same procedure to rank the Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress nominees according to how well IMDb commenters wrote when they discussed them in the forums. We also searched out the top three adjectives or phrases commenters used to describe the celebs.

Leonardo DiCaprio may be the odds-on favorite to win an Oscar for The Revenant, but the “amazing, desperate guy,” who has yet to score an Oscar, didn’t fare well in our research, coming in second-to-last—just above Sylvester Stallone, who’s nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Creed. Although Variety predicts that The Big Short will walk away with the gleaming golden statue for Best Picture, where fan grammar is concerned, Brooklyn takes the win.

Of course, our research is all in the name of fun and good grammar. To see who really gets to step up to the microphone and say “I’d like to thank the Academy,” you’ll have to tune in to the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday, February 28.

11 Delectable Holiday Words to Celebrate LitMas Eve

Merry LitMas Eve!

If you recall, LitMas is our made-up bookish holiday to celebrate all things nerdy and word-related before the holidays. So far, we’ve given you everything from winter quotes to Christmas grammar fails, and we’ve loved every minute of it. Although we’re sad to see this nerdy holiday season come to a close, our penultimate gift will be sweet. Literally.

Because we know food is a large part of any holiday, we’ve collected some of our favorite holiday food words. As you read through this list, try to imagine a food that you could describe with each word. Or, if you’d like an extra challenge, try complimenting (or critiquing) your neighbor’s cookies, your coworker’s pie, or your mom’s Christmas dinner with these words!

1 Toothsome, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Temptingly tasty.

2 Flaky, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Easy to break into pieces.

3 Saccharine, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Sickly sweet.

4 Piquant, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Having a pleasantly spicy taste or appetizing flavor.

5 Verdant, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Lush with green foliage.

6 Treacly, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Having traits of molasses (treacle).

7 Acerbic, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Sour, bitter, or sharp.

8 Ambrosial, n.

via GIPHY

Definition: Tasty enough to be served to the gods.

9 Rich, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Full of flavor, sweetness, or fat.

10 Edulcorate, v.

via GIPHY

To make something more palatable.

11 Sapid, adj.

via GIPHY

Definition: Having a strong, great taste.

Did we miss one of your tasty Christmas word favorites? Tweet your favorites with #LitMas.

5 Writing Mistakes You’re Making on Your LinkedIn Profile

On Twitter, we let our wit loose into the world. On Facebook, we showcase our social selves. On dating websites, we focus on our romantic side. And on LinkedIn, we carefully construct an image we wouldn’t mind an employer seeing—no photos from parties, no funny cat videos, no wisecracks. After all, it’s the professional social network, and using it means we consent to the general notion that it should be used for serious pursuits. Serious social networks and serious pursuits require serious profiles. Yes, your LinkedIn profile picture counts and you should definitely look professional in it. Words count for a lot on LinkedIn as well. Let’s look at a few common problems and talk about ways to fix them.

Your Style Is All Over the Place

The way you write in your LinkedIn profile should be uniform. You should be able to write consistently in each section, using the same style conventions to avoid inconsistencies. Numbers, spaces after a period, punctuation marks before or after a closing quotation mark—all of these things and many more have to be the same throughout your profile. If you’re having problems with consistency, try using a style guide. Almost any of them will do, so just pick one and stick with it.

You’re Using Too Many Words

Even if you’re a novelist, you shouldn’t write novels in your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is not a place for anecdotes or flowery language. Think about it—the people you want to look at your LinkedIn profile are probably a business owners, managers, or recruiters. Don’t make them slog through a lot of unimportant stuff before they get the information they need (because they won’t bother). Put that information front and center so that it’s clearly visible and easy to read.

You’re Not Proofreading Your Profile

You cannot have spelling mistakes in your LinkedIn profile. We’re not just saying that because this is Grammarly and we have an awesome, free proofreading tool we’d like you to try out. You really can’t have any mistakes. If you can’t take the time to proofread your own profile, or if you’re not willing to invest in software or human proofreaders to look through your profile for mistakes, what kind of message do you think you’ll be sending to potential employers?

You’re Not Thinking About Keywords

Keywords are important. Search engines use keywords to determine whether to include your profile in search results. Keywords are also very easy to figure out—the most relevant ones are usually the title of your profession plus a variation or two, or maybe a word that’s closely related to your field of work. Here’s an example: you’re a flower arranger, and that’s your most important keyword. You can also add “flower arrangement” because that’s what you produce. That’s it—you have two good keywords. Now that you have your keywords, make sure you mention them throughout your profile, but not too many times—it’s counterproductive and it might actually lower your rank in search results. The most important keyword should be listed as one of your skills. It should also be in your headline and mentioned once or twice in your summary. Make sure you include the other keywords here and there.

You’re Not Using LinkedIn to Its Fullest Potential

There are plenty of tricks that can help you make the most out of your LinkedIn profile. You can edit your profile URL so that it contains, let’s say, your first and last names and your profession. You can also edit the anchor text for the blog and website links on your profile. You can rearrange the sections of your profile to put the most important and impressive ones at the top. If you build your LinkedIn profile really well, you can convert it into a resume using the Resume Builder tool. There are plenty of additional tips and tricks for using LinkedIn. The more of them you know, the more useful the website will be for you.

11 Words and Phrases to Use in Salary Negotiations if You Want to Succeed

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a magic word you could say in order to get people to agree with you? If, for example, a simple utterance of “abracadabra” could instantly convince your employer to see things your way, salary negotiations would be a whole lot easier.

Unfortunately, we live in the real world, and those magic words that guarantee instant success don’t quite exist — but the good news is, we’ve got the next best thing. The following words and phrases are expert-level ways to demonstrate the confidence, congeniality, and knowledge necessary to secure a higher salary.

Use these in your next negotiation, and you might just see a bump in your paycheck sooner than you can say “alakazam.”

1 “I am excited by the opportunity to work together.”

Too often, people think of salary negotiation as a battle: you, trying to get as much as you possibly can, versus your employer, trying to stay within budget. However, this type of thinking can be counterproductive, explains Roy Cohen, career coach and author of The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide.

“Never engage in negotiation as an ultimatum — an either/or — but rather as a collaborative process and a unique opportunity to create a compensation package that makes sense for both you and for them. Establish priorities as to what is most important to you and what items you are willing to trade off,” Cohen advises.

“Unless you know for sure that you are indispensable, and few of us ever are, successful negotiation should never become adversarial. That is a bad sign that the process has broken down or will,” Cohen continues.

2 “Based on my research…”

It’s only natural to see if you can get a higher salary than the one that you were offered, but it needs to be grounded in reality. Rather than just throwing out a number that you think sounds nice, you need to do your homework on what your skills are worth in order to provide a compelling case for your employer to compensate you accordingly.

“One phrase to use is something along the lines of ‘based on my research.’ That shows the other person you’ve done your homework and know what you’re talking about when negotiating,” says David Bakke, Writer/Contributor at Money Crashers.

One tip to come to the negotiation table prepared: get a free, personalized salary estimate from Glassdoor’s Know Your Worth™ calculator.

3 “Market”

As part of your research, make sure you know what the market for your job is, says Labor & Employment Attorney Alex Granovsky of Granovsky & Sundaresh PLLC. “Market refers to what the employee can earn if he or she went out on the job market and found a new, similar position,” Granovsky says. “If you are making $80,000, but could get a job around the corner making $100,000, the ‘market’ suggests that you are being underpaid.” And since companies presumably don’t want to lose you to the competition, they take that number seriously.

4 “Value” Value, on the other hand, “refers to what you bring to your employer,” Granovsky says. “From an employer’s perspective, each employee has to either (1) increase revenue, or (2) increase margin (ideally both). While probably not as compelling as the job market, if you can show to your employer how you are bringing ‘value’ to the company (in the form of increased revenue and/or increased margin), you can make a compelling case for a raise.”

So if, for example, you can prove that a new initiative you implemented earned the company $100,000, asking for a $5,000 raise sounds a lot more palatable to your employer.

5 “Similarly situated employees”

Forget any advice you’ve received about not snooping into your coworkers’ salaries — it can be a powerful data point in negotiations.

“‘Similarly situated employees’ are people who do what you do within the company,” Granovsky says. “If your position is ‘senior account manager’ and every other ‘senior account manager’ is making more money than you, this is something you should explore too.”

While you certainly don’t want to force any of your colleagues to disclose information they’re not comfortable sharing, you can use tools like Glassdoor to find out what they’re making, and therefore, whether or not you’re being fairly compensated.

6 “Is that number flexible at all?”

If an employer offers a number that’s below your desired range, pushing back is essential — but you want to make sure you handle it with tact. Saying “is that number flexible at all” is a graceful way to “[give] the employer the opportunity to offer more, or even mention other perks you might be able to gain if a higher salary isn’t in the picture,” Bakke says.

7 “I would be more comfortable if…”

Blunt phrasing like “I need” or “I want” can be a turn-off to employers. But expressing your desired salary with this phrase “is a collaborative way to let the recruiter or hiring manager know specifically what you’re looking for so they can focus on that dimension of your job offer,” says Josh Doody, author of Fearless Salary Negotiation.

“The rest of this sentence should be a specific ask. For example, the rest of this sentence might be ‘…we can settle on a base salary of $60,000.’ or ‘…we can increase the Restricted Stock Unit allotment to 100 units.’ Contrast this with something like, ‘Do you have any wiggle room?’, which is vague and allows them to say ‘No’ and short-circuit the negotiation,” Doody continues.

8 “If you can do that, I’m on board.”

We’ll let you in on a little secret — often times, recruiters are just as anxious as you for salary negotiations to come to a close. So if you can specifically spell out what it would take for you to accept an offer, you’ll be doing recruiters and hiring managers a favor.

“When you get to this phase of the negotiation, you want to make it clear to the recruiter or hiring manager that saying ‘Yes’ will end the negotiation so they’re more comfortable acquiescing,” Doody says. For example, you may want to say, “I understand you can’t come all the way up to $60,000. It would be great to add an additional week of paid vacation along with the $55,000 you suggested. If you can do that, I’m on board,” he suggests.

9 “I would prefer not to leave.”

This is a good one for employees who are negotiating raises to keep in their back pocket. Why? It comes down to the fact that it’s part of a defensible strategy, Cohen says.

“A defensible strategy explains what you want, why you want it, and how it is a win/win for both your boss and for you. The goal is to show value and benefit,” Cohen says. If a low salary at work is truly a dealbreaker for you, “get an offer that you would be willing to accept, but prefer not to,” Cohen advises. “Tell your boss that you have received an offer, that it is attractive, [but] that you prefer not to leave… It is far cheaper to give you a raise than to recruit and train a new candidate.”

But be warned: this phrase should not be taken lightly. “Know that this is a risky proposition: It could backfire. So please don’t use it if you don’t really want to leave or don’t have a bona fide offer on the table,” Cohen cautions.

10 “Do you mind if I take a couple of days to consider your offer?”

Even if a job offer exceeds your expectations, try to play it cool. “The first thing you should do when you receive a job offer is ask for time to consider it,” Doody says. “This little phrase accomplishes several things. Primarily, it buys you time to consider the offer, determine the appropriate counter offer, and begin building your case to support your counter offer. [But] it also enables you to move the negotiation to email if it’s not already there,” Doody says. This, he says, is a key to successfully pulling off a counter-offer.

“You want to counter offer over email whenever possible because you can be very deliberate with exactly what you say. Your salary negotiation will be more successful if you carefully choose your counter offer amount and clearly articulate why you’re worth it,” he explains.

11 “Thank you.”

Your pleases and thank-yous didn’t stop becoming important after you learned them in preschool — in the business setting, manners can mean everything.

“At the end of the salary discussion, be sure to thank the person for taking the time to sit down with you, just to maintain your professionalism,” Bakke says.

Not only is it simply the right thing to do — an employer is much more likely to accommodate the wants and needs of somebody who shows them respect.

A version of this post originally appeared on Glassdoor’s blog.