As children up and down the country head back to school this week, we thought it timely to look at our ABCs and give some of those grammar rules a little scrutiny! We’re more talking those office rules in the way we communicate in writing, as opposed to our formal transcription process, but you’ll soon get the gist!
Grammar isn’t just about writing in a way that’s right or wrong according to a set of rules (for which there always seem to be multiple exceptions, certainly in English!) It’s about being able to understand what’s being said because the message is clear in terms of its structure and precision. There are certainly some rules that are more important in formal writing (and we’re not talking about those here), but in blogs and more conversational writing, doing so in a way that flows, makes sense and mirrors the style of the person “talking” is important.
So here are some of the commonly accepted rules – and our thoughts on them. How many of these do you do? And how many of them do you agree with?
Never begin a sentence with “but” or “and”.
This is one we do tend to avoid with our formal documents, but when it comes to less formal ones there’s a case to be made for conjunctions such as “but” or “and” being used when beginning a sentence. This is especially true for blogs and conversational style pieces where the way in which the words flow matches the spoken word more closely. When we talk to people, we do begin sentences with “but” or “and”, so if we’re writing in a conversational manner, it’s much more acceptable than in a formal or academic setting.
I vs me.
We’ve all heard how you need to use “I” when referring to yourself and someone else eg “David and I were discussing the news”. I distinctly remember being told that at school “I” should always be used. But this isn’t necessarily the case – and one where we need to tell those grammar police to take a step back! Consider this sentence “After you’re finished with the salt and pepper, can you pass them to Rachel and I?” In this instance, the appropriate word is actually “me”. This is because “I” should not be used when referring to objects. Test it for yourself – remove “Rachel and” and you’ll see the sentence would naturally end in “me”.
Do’s and Don’ts vs Dos and Don’ts.
When you consider the rules of apostrophes, “Do’s and Don’ts” is grammatically incorrect. “Do’s” is not a shortening of “do is”, it’s plurals of “do”… but “Dos and Don’ts” just looks a little odd! So it’s become a more widely accepted, if grammatically incorrect, way of writing the phrase, and is used within the AP stylebook, English grammar style and usage guide created by American journalists working for or connected with the Associated Press. You could always make an executive decision to go with the correct grammar for all your communications – just make sure that this house style is adopted across the board and used consistently in all your communications.
Using “alot”.
We’ve definitely seen this one a number of times and it’s certainly on the more liberal end of the informal vs formal scale, but the simple fact is, “alot” isn’t a real word! So when you’re writing “Alot of us feel that”, you really should be saying “A lot of us feel that”.
Using “of” vs “have”.
Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve. Those words are all shortened versions of “should have”, “would have”, “could have” – not “should of”, “would of”, “could of. The clue is in the “ve” at the end!
And in the immortal words of Forrest Gump, that’s all we have to say about that…!