Why Grammar Still Matters in Today’s Digital Age

Guest post by Matt Banner

Today’s digital age has brought back the craft of writing, but at a cost. With the rising popularity of hashtags, tweets, emoticons, and shorthand phrases like the ever-present “LOL,” it seems like good grammar has gone out the window. At the end of the day, does grammar still matter in this digital age?

For the foreseeable future, the answer is yes. While you can’t take ten steps on the Internet these days without running into a typo-ridden blog post or a social media post that looks like Freddy Krueger took his clawed hands to the language, there’s still a place for those who hold grammar in high regard.

6 Reasons Every Writer Should Adhere to Proper Grammar

Let’s take a look at six compelling reasons for using proper grammar, despite the rising tide of haphazard content flooding the Internet. No perfect blog post is complete without a healthy dose of pristine writing, so keep these reasons in mind.

1 Credibility and Reputation

We all seek to create an online persona that is respected by the community. To find success in that endeavor, we must build a reputation for accuracy and credibility. Unfortunately, poor grammar and spelling errors are not trademarks of a credible writer.

These types of issues reflect ignorance and carelessness and suggest the writer didn’t truly care about the quality of the post. In short, mistakes reflect poorly on your brand. If you want the respect and adoration of your readers, provide them with high-quality and polished content free of grammatical errors.

2 Maintain Professionalism

Nowhere in the list of grammar rules is there one that prohibits having fun with your writing. That being said, lazy writing and sloppy grammar are detrimental to any sense of professionalism you’re seeking to establish.

It doesn’t matter if your content is being read by your mother or by a corporate CEO—it should always be professional and well written.

3 Respect For Your Readers

At the end of the day, quality grammar is a sign of respect. It allows your writing to clearly and concisely deliver your message. Without it, you’re not respecting the time or the intelligence of your readers. Besides, if you’re sending it to someone who intends to publish it, your errors will simply slow down the process.

4 Clear Understanding

Proper grammar ensures that your message is delivered properly to the reader. A host of typos and grammatical errors will do nothing but cloud the ultimate purpose of your writing.

5 Convenience for Everyone Involved

Great content will inspire people to share it. If you neglect proper grammar, many people will be less inclined to share what you have to offer. They will feel embarrassed to share it because it might reflect poorly on their own reputation.

People will be more inclined to share your content if it’s well written and free of errors.

6Long-Term Posterity

Unless you take it down yourself, your writing can theoretically appear anywhere on the Internet. Once published, it will stay there for all to see. Do you want people to remember your post for its excellent content, or should they use it as a warning to those who dare to ignore the power of grammar?

Final Thoughts

While it may seem like the English language is slowly devolving, there are still plenty of people who cherish the time and effort spent on a well-crafted article or post. Grammar may not be as popular as Twitter, but it still deserves a place in the digital age. How do you keep good grammar alive? Let us know in the comments below!

Who cares about her education? Our Scholarship Giveaway Winner, of course!

On April 7, 2015 Grammarly partnered with Niche.com to launch the Grammarly $1000 Scholarship Giveaway. We know how difficult finding money for college can be which is why, this time around, we did away with the essay requirements — college is tough enough without the added stress of explaining why you need money to continue your studies. We get it.

Over 10,000 students entered our scholarship giveaway, and we’re pleased to announce that Miranda Fichter is our lucky winner. Miranda will be using her $1000 scholarship to further her studies to become a Medical Laboratory Technician. Congratulations, Miranda!

To all of the participants in our scholarship giveaway: Thank you!

The Grammarly team is impressed with the number of students who were interested in this scholarship giveaway. Here at Grammarly we are excited to see so many people passionate about investing in their education, and we want to continue helping to support your dreams! Keep your eyes peeled for more scholarship opportunities from Grammarly in the future.

Do You Understand the True Bard or the False? Some Shakespeare Etymologies

Guest post by Annie Martirosyan

There are a number of words in Shakespeare’s plays and poems which are deceptive to modern ears. They may seem familiar words but, in fact, camouflage a quite different meaning lost to modern English. In Linguistics, these words are called False Friends. A False Friend is a word which has kept its form but has strayed from its original sense (or was a completely different word) so that the modern English word is false when compared to the original sense or word. Shakespeare likes to extend the wordplay further by often deliberately using words in their older senses. Here are some False Friends to keep an eye on:

Bootless Now: without large shoes Shakespeare’s use/meaning: useless, making no better Historically, there were boot (1) and boot (2). Boot (1) as shoes dates back to the 13th century. Boots (2) is an older usage that first occurs in Beowulf in the sense of remedy, improvement, advantage. In Shakespeare, we encounter boots (2). So, when in Sonnet 29, the poet troubles ‘deaf heaven with [his] bootless cries’ or the Fairy tells us how Puck ‘bootless make[s] the breathless housewife churn (Midsummer Night’s Dream, II.i.37), we should read bootless as useless, in vain.

Doubt Now: hesitate Shakespeare’s use/meaning: not only hesitate, but also be afraid of, dread Usage of doubt in the sense that is predominant in Shakespeare’s works can be traced back to as early as 1200s. However, the meaning of hesitate was there in the ultimate Latin source dubitāre and related to dubious, hence the influence on the English loan word. In some Shakespearean contexts, these two close senses can be interpreted as contrary to each other. For example, when Bastard says, ‘Conduct me to the King; I doubt he will be dead or ere I come” (King John, V.vi.43-4), he fears the King will be dead before he arrives.

Excrement Now: waste matter discharged from the body Shakespeare’s use/meaning: broadly applying to any substances pushed from the body Now, that’s a naughty one! The word excrement is registered from 1533 in the sense we know today. But Shakespeare, the king of filthy puns, uses it in a completely new sense. Before you give vent to your imagination, when Armado brags regarding the King’s liking to ‘with his royal finger thus dally with my excrement’ (Love’s Labour’s Lost, V.i.98), he is referring to his growth of hair. Sounds filthier? Armado himself clarifies it in his next line, ‘my mustachio’ (V.i.99).

Happily Now: joyously, gaily Shakespeare’s use/meaning: primarily, perhaps Happy is first recorded in Chaucer’s House of Fame in the sense of fortunate, lucky, from the English hap — chance, fortune. The modern sense, again, derives from Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales). In most of Shakespearean contexts, we need to be aware of the sense of “hap” in happily, as Shakespeare uses it synonymously with “haply”. When Queen Margaret says to York that had he been the Regent in France, instead of Somerset, York’s fortune ‘might happily have proved far worse than his’ (Henry VI, Part 2, III.i.306), she is not being mean. Not yet.

Lover Now: someone you are in a sexual relationship with, usually illicitly Shakespeare’s use/meaning: friend Lover as friend precedes the modern meaning by a little over 100 years, with both dating back to the Middle English period. Shakespeare, however, punster that he is, uses lover almost exclusively in the old sense. If you do not know what he means, some Shakespearean situations can sound pretty awkward, to say the least. Lorenzo, for example, fervently puts a plug in for Antonio to Portia as ‘a lover of my lord your husband’ (The Merchant of Venice, III.iv.7). He means friend, whatever you make of Antonio. . .

Friend Now: a person you know well, love and regard Shakespeare’s use/meaning: primarily, lover Friend is an Old English word which appears in texts as early as Beowulf; it derives from the Proto-Germanic frijōjanan and is cognate with the verb to free. It started with the sense we know today, with a slightly extended application to someone we hold in regard or a relative. This generalized sense, too, is encountered in Shakespeare and creates a pun or two… Now that you know what Shakespeare has in mind, you are clued in when Lady Capulet tells Juliet to stop crying, ‘So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend / Which you weep for’, and Juliet replies that she is weeping for her beloved — not the relative, ‘Feeling so the loss, I cannot choose but ever weep the friend’ (Romeo & Juliet, III.v.74-7).

Merely Now: only Shakespeare’s use/meaning: primarily, completely, utterly Mere appears in English in late 1300s and ultimately derives from Latin merus — pure, clear. Shakespeare uses mere(ly) largely in its now obsolete sense of entire(ly) (1443) which a little over a century later was overtaken by the modern sense. The two senses can be quite conflicting in Shakespeare, unless you take into account the context. It is the old sense we should read in Rosalind’s famous ‘Love is merely madness’ (As You Like It, III.ii.383) or in Portia’s firm ‘He [Shylock] shall have merely justice and his bond’ (The Merchant of Venice, IV.i.336).

Sad Now: unhappy, upset Shakespeare’s use/meaning: serious; indifferent; sorrowful Sad dates back to the early Middle Ages in the sense of sated or tired and developed the more intense sense of sorrowful shortly afterwards. It was a short step from here to the sense of serious, through semantic associations. These senses are lost to modern English. What we should keep in mind is that sad in Shakespeare’s plays and poems has a more emphatic meaning than we assume. It is not for want of a better word that Richard II calls his jailer a ‘sad dog’ (V.v.70), i.e. indifferent, blank-faced. The sense of seriousness lies in the expression ‘in good sadness’, as in Baptista’s ‘Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio / I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all’ (The Taming of the Shrew, V.ii.63-4). And for the sense of intense upset, look out for Queen Margaret’s sharp tongue: ‘Farewell, York’s wife, and Queen of sad mischance! / These English woes shall make me smile in France’ (Richard III, Iv.iv.114-5).

Wink Now: briefly close the eyes to signal a meaning Shakespeare’s use/meaning: primarily, close the eyes Wink in the sense of close one’s eyes appears in around 1200s. Interestingly, the modern meaning — which is absent in Shakespeare — is first recorded about 1100. Shakespeare uses wink mainly to mean close eyes or sleep, the latter surviving in the modern idiom ‘to take forty winks.’ It is not difficult to guess what the enamored Goddess means: ‘Art thou ashamed to kiss? then wink again, / And I will wink; so shall the day seem night’ (Venus & Adonis, 121-2).

Learn Now: gain knowledge, information Shakespeare’s use/meaning: teach, inform This is one of the oldest English words of Germanic origin and was initially used in the sense we understand today. Learn is a fascinating example of a conflicting semantic development. The modern meaning is absent from the canon but the syntax of the sentence is usually a good cue for the reverse meaning of learn in Shakespearean contexts, as when Claudio thanks Don Pedro: ‘Sweet Prince, you learn me noble thankfulness’ (Much Ado about Nothing, Iv.i.28). And, unlike the spirit of this article, here is Caliban venting at Prospero: ‘[…] The red plague rid you / For learning me your language!’ (The Tempest, I.ii.364-5.1).

The list is not, of course, exhaustive. There are some hundred or so False Friends in Shakespeare. Reading Shakespeare with any medium size etymological dictionary (e.g., Chambers) or a good Shakespeare glossary (e.g., Shakespeare’s Words) at hand, would be no bootless task but befriend you with Shakespearean False Friends, merely!

Looking for more Shakespearean fun? Celebrate the Bard’s birthday with us by checking out our Shakespearean English quiz!

 

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About the Author Annie Martirosyan is a linguist and Shakespeare researcher, with a PhD in Philology. She has taught English language at university level and is a freelance translator, editor and reviewer. Annie has passion galore for Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, languages, words, words, words, literature, English churches and cathedrals, philosophy, etymology, folklore, British history and every single book of David Crystal who is her lifelong inspiration. She still reads fairy tales before bed.

Epistolary Novels, Finding Your Theme, and the Science of Good Writing

Can letter writing teach you how to write a novel? Can your socks help you identify a theme? What do neuroscientists have to say about writing? Find the answers by checking out these links to our favorite stories from around the web this week. Have something you’d like to see us cover here? Let us know in the comment section!

Our Favorite Stories:

1. Why Writing a Book Through Letters Is Beautiful and Wild (The Guardian)
2. Theme and the Power of Socks (The Writer)
3. 6 Scientific Tips to Improve Your Writing (Futurity)

Staff Book Picks of the Week:

The Marvels (Fiction) Brian Selznick

“Filled with mystery, vibrant characters, surprise twists, and heartrending beauty, and featuring Selznick’s most arresting art to date, The Marvels is a moving tribute to the power of story.”

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (Nonfiction) Elizabeth Gilbert

“Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work,  embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.”

Author & Illustrator Birthdays

George R. R. Martin — September 20, 1948

Stephen King — September 21, 1947

F. Scott Fitzgerald — September 24, 1896

Shel Silverstein — September 25, 1930

Andrea Davis Pinkney — September 25, 1963

 

5 Reasons to Have Someone Else Proof Your Resume

Guest Post from Brie Weiler Reynolds

It’s tempting, especially for those in writing professions, to assume you can proofread your own resume just as well as anyone else. After all, you know your work history, the message you’re trying to convey to employers, and how you want to convey yourself, right? There are, however, some very good reasons to have someone else proof your resume.

5) You may be too industry-centric. If your job is technical or includes lots of jargon, your resume may not make sense to general recruiters or human resource professionals who are often first-in-line to screen resumes before hiring managers will see them. Ask someone outside of your profession to read your resume and point out anything that they don’t understand. This may include abbreviations, certifications, or industry-speak.

4) You’re burying the lead. As the amazing professional you are, you probably think everything on your resume is very important, but few employers will see it this way. They expect the most important information to be at the top, just like in a news article. A Summary of Qualifications is where you should be writing your resume as an answer to the job description. Another set of eyes can help you pinpoint what’s important in that top area, and what can be shifted downward or removed.

3) Form is just as important as function. You may have a very well-written resume, but if it doesn’t look nice, you’ll lose valuable points with employers. Ask your more organized friends to help you clean up your resume. Remove unnecessary formatting, reorder information so it flows better, leave lots of white space, and wow employers with your easy-to-read, impressively simple document.

2) You just don’t know what else to cut. You may have a hard time keeping your resume to one page, and two pages can be acceptable provided all of the information is highly-relevant to the specific job for which you’re applying. But if you need to cut your resume to one page, yet you can’t choose anything to get rid of, a friend with a critical eye will help you separate the wheat from the chaff, concentrating the best parts of your resume onto one page.

1) You’ll never catch everything. It never fails–you’ve read your resume hundreds of times, but there’s always that one tiny, or sometimes not-so-tiny, mistake that falls into your blind spot. Other proofreaders will catch that one mistake you’re overlooking, saving you from countless employment rejections.

Having someone else (or many someones) proofread your resume is a valuable exercise for any professional. Make a list of your friends, family, and colleagues who can be counted on to be honest with you, and who have an excellent eye for detail and design. As with most parts of the job search, this important step is all about who you know.

Grammarly customers can save 30 percent on FlexJobs.com by using special offer code (GRAMMARLY) at check out!

Brie Weiler Reynolds is the Director of Online Content at FlexJobs, the award-winning site for telecommuting and flexible job listings. FlexJobs lists thousands of pre-screened, legitimate, and professional-level work-from-home jobs and other types of flexibility like part-time positions, freelancing, and flexible schedules. Brie provides career and job search advice through the FlexJobs Blog and social media. Learn more at www.FlexJobs.com.

Meet the Dictionary’s New Words

From Merriam-Webster’s Peter Sokolowski, here’s the full list of words

(we added a few notations about why certain words were added, via the m-w.com press release):

aha moment n (1939) : a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension [Oprah Winfrey’s signature phrase]

brain cramp n (1982) : an instance of temporary mental confusion resulting in an error or lapse of judgment

bucket list n (2006) : a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying [popularized by the movie title]

cloud computing n (2006) : the practice of storing regularly used computer data on multiple servers that can be accessed through the Internet [technology]

copernicium n (2009) : a short-lived artificially produced radioactive element that has 112 protons

craft beer n (1986) : a specialty beer produced in limited quantities : microbrew

earworm n (1802) 1 : corn earworm 2 : a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind [“this summer’s example being the inescapable Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.”]

energy drink n (1904) : a usually carbonated beverage that typically contains caffeine and other ingredients (as taurine and ginseng) intended to increase the drinker’s energy

e-reader n (1999) : a handheld electronic device designed to be used for reading e-books and similar material

f-bomb n (1988) : the word fuck — used metaphorically as a euphemism

flexitarian n (1998) : one whose normally meatless diet occasionally includes meat or fish

game changer n (1993) : a newly introduced element or factor that changes an existing situation or activity in a significant way

gassed adj (1919) … 2 slang : drained of energy : spent, exhausted

gastropub n (1996) : a pub, bar, or tavern that also offers meals of high quality

geocaching n (2000) : a game in which players are given the geographical coordinates of a cache of items which they search for with a GPS device

life coach n (1986) :  an advisor who helps people make decisions, set and reach goals, or deal with problems

man cave n (1992) : a room or space (as in a basement) designed according to the taste of the man of the house to be used as his personal area for hobbies and leisure activities

mash-up n (1859) : something created by combining elements from two or more sources: as a : a piece of music created by digitally overlaying an instrumental track with a vocal track from a different recording  b : a movie or video having characters or situations from other sources  c : a Web service or application that integrates data and functionalities from various online sources [“Whether it’s a politician contradicting him or herself with excerpts from different speeches shown in quick succession or Danger Mouse’s Grey Album, mixing Jay-Z with the Beatles, we’ve come to expect combined and rearranged elements that bring new perspectives and new creativity to our culture with mash-ups,” says editor Sokolowski. “It’s a recent phenomenon, made possible with digital editing, and it has a fun and descriptive name.”]

obesogenic adj (1986) :  promoting excessive weight gain :  producing obesity

sexting n (2007) : the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone

shovel-ready adj (1998) of a construction project or site : ready for the start of work

systemic risk n (1982) : the risk that the failure of one financial institution (as a bank) could cause other interconnected institutions to fail and harm the economy as a whole [the global financial crisis]

tipping point n (1959) : the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place

¹toxic adj  (1664) … 4 : relating to or being an asset that has lost so much value that it cannot be sold on the market

underwater adj (1672) … 3 : having, relating to, or being a mortgage loan for which more is owed than the property securing the loan is worth

Read more: Meet the Dictionary’s New Words

5 More Endangered Words

New words come into use, old words slowly fade away. It’s a natural, all-too-familiar cycle. We’ve already covered words that may be headed toward extinction. Here are five more words in various stages of endangerment. But, who knows? Maybe some of them can still be saved—but should we save all of them?

Tag isn’t a word that’ll disappear anytime soon, as long as things still cost money and come with price tags. But in the United States, and in the state of Virginia especially, tag is a slang term for a pine needle. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, this meaning of tag might soon disappear, and it’s one of the fifty regional slang words they’ve included in their endangered words list. If more people using a word means the word is less likely to die out, tag and other dialectical words might need to go mainstream in order to survive.

While we’re on the subject of dialects, when whole dialects die out, they take plenty of words and expressions with them. Young people in the United Kingdom are not particularly interested in Cockney rhyming slang, so it’s foreseeable that in the future, phrases like apples and pears, meaning “stairs,” or china plate, meaning “mate,” might not be heard, except in old TV shows.

Often enough, we see a word disappear because the thing it was used for no longer exists. That’s what happened with drysalter. Drysalters were people who sold chemicals, and things like glue and paint. This profession existed up to the early twentieth century, but in 2011, Collins Dictionary decided that the word is so far gone it should be removed from their dictionaries.

Marvellous is having a hard time in the UK. According to a study performed by Lancaster University and Cambridge University Press, the word appeared in spoken English 155 times per million words just twenty years ago. Now, it’s down to two appearances per million words. The culprit seems to be the Brits’ willingness to adopt synonyms commonly used in American English. In this case, it’s awesome that’s taking the place of marvellous.

Some words fade from everyday language because of changing societal attitudes. Macalester College’s More Than Words Campaign aims to eradicate the use of certain words in an offensive context, including spaz. In the US, this word is fairly benign—it simply means “klutz.” But in the UK, it is a deeply offensive insult toward people with disabilities. So, maybe this is one that we should let go of.

What do you think? Should we keep marvelous, tag, and drysalter alive?