Appearing Professional Means Minding the S and G in Your Blog
“The English language sticks to its spelling rules, such as i before e except after c, about as strictly as we follow the no cell phones while driving rule,” jokes Jenny Baranick in the book Kiss My Asterisk. Society hasn’t exactly promoted healthy spelling, she says – we were raised with SpellCheck. However, we must learn how to do it; otherwise we will appear unprofessional, Baranick warns.
A few of us are old enough to remember the song lyrics, ”Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage” (OK, so I’m a grandmother..) However, there are certain words that simply should never join, Baranick states emphatically. (Well, certain ones can, she adds, but the meaning is totally different.)
Alright is never all right.
Altogether and all together are two different things. We are all together at the coffee shop, and we are altogether (completely) happy about that.
Every day and everyday are also two different things. Every day you may write a blog, and every day you may take a 30-minute power walk. But when blog writing and power walking begin to seem boring and everyday for you instead of exciting, that’s not a good thing.
When A and part are apart, they miss each other. Together, they are a part of a writer’s group. (“A part” means a piece of something that forms a whole.)
Of the two types of people who make up the English-speaking world, I find myself among the minority who believe proper grammar and spelling matter on business websites and in business blogs. After many discussions of the subject at networking meetings, I concluded that the mainstream mindset is that, in our digital world, nobody notices grammar and spelling errors, and if they did, they wouldn’t care that much. Maybe Baranick’s Kiss My Asterisk will change some minds.
As a blog content writer and trainer, my thought is this: you always want to be sure poor usage and misspelled words aren’t distracting any of your readers. Minding the S and G in your blog can mean keeping your readers’ minds focused on the message!
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