I have been leading a lot of discussions and training courses lately where the focus has been on making a solid first impression. Making a good impression through your how you act and speak enhances your credibility with colleagues, friends and acquaintances. I admit to being a bit of a grammar snob, and to frequently basing my first impressions of […]
Read moreWriting is hard work. Whether you write a blog, a cover letter or an email, staring down a blank sheet of paper is like willing yourself to run an 8-miler the day after Thanksgiving. You know you really should do it – it would be good for you, too – but there are so many other things you would rather […]
Read moreHalloween is tomorrow! Sugar fiends rejoice! In the spirit of the holiday, I present you with this communication treat: Eliminate trick words in your writing that undermine your message. A few examples of trick words are: It. “It” is a pronoun, and a lesser caliber stand-in than he, she or they because it is too often used as a nondescript, vague filler word […]
Read moreOne day soon, my kids are going to stop letting me out of the house. They are going to refuse to be seen in public with me. I embarrass them, you see, because I am turning in to my grandmother, one grammar correction at a time. Grammie was an amazing and loving woman, who took language very seriously. Grammar, enunciation, […]
Read moreAs a lover of the English language, I have assembled a small library over the years of books about writing (yes, pretty geeky of me, I know). One of my favorite books is Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language, by Richard Lederer. Lederer is a former English teacher and writer about writing who collects language gaffes […]
Read moreOne of my favorite Saturday Night Live skits is Weekend Update where Seth Meyers interviews (or tries to, anyway) the Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party. In these skits, Seth interviews an opinionated young woman who has trouble explaining herself. Her grammar is not bad – she has been known to correct Seth, for that matter […]
Read moreI obsess over words and spend ridiculous amounts of time selecting the right words or phrase for what I am trying to say or write. As someone who often writes communications for others, I agonize over what the words I choose say to a reader or a listener and how they make a reader or listener feel about the speaker […]
Read more