The Great Indentation Debate

Writers have a lot on their plates. They have to fend off writer’s block, perform meticulous research, and ensure the content they produce captivates their target audiences. They must pay close attention to catch grammatical errors, misspellings, punctuation mistakes, and typos. Formatting often takes a backseat on a writer’s priority list–especially when it involves something so seemingly trivial as indentation.

“Make Yourself At Home” with Good Grammar

Believe it or not, the quality of your writing significantly influences some of the most important milestones in your life.

In school, good grammar helps students to achieve higher grades. On the job, professionals with fewer grammar errors tend to achieve higher positions; their writing is demonstrative of the credibility, professionalism, and accuracy observable in their work. And in your personal life, better spelling and grammar can even earn you a date!

#GrammoWriMo FAQ

What is #GrammoWriMo?

In November 2013, in honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Grammarly has organized the largest group of authors to collaborate on a single novel—we’re calling the project #GrammoWriMo.

How many people are participating?

More than 750 people have signed up to participate in #GrammoWriMo. We’ve divided the novel into 30 chapters—between 25 and 26 writers have been assigned to contribute to each chapter.

Presume vs. Assume

• Presume is a verb that means to suppose, to take for granted, or to dare.
• Assume is a verb that means to suppose, to take for granted, to take upon, to don, or to undertake.
• In the shared meaning of “to suppose,” presume is usually used when you suppose based on probability, while assume is used when you suppose without any evidence.

What’s the difference between “assume” and “presume”?

6 Email Etiquette Tips that May Surprise You

Email correspondence makes it simple, easy, and convenient to quickly contact coworkers and family members across the world. However, it isn’t all roses with email. If you don’t follow proper etiquette, you can end up annoying your recipients. You’ve probably already heard about basic email etiquette tips, like using a specific subject line and replying as quickly as you can, but there is more you can do to ensure that your emails resonate with the people you send them to.

Vaccum, Vacuum, or Vacume—Which Is Right?

• Vacuum (spelled like so), means a complete lack of matter, or a device used for sucking up dirt or particles, or to use that device for cleaning.
• Vaccum and vacume are misspellings of vacuum.

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Physicists often talk about vacuums, but the rest of us also use this word when talking about cleaning devices. Spelling the word can be a bit tricky because of the two consecutive u’s, which aren’t often seen in English.

Is vs. Are

• Use is with singular subjects and are with plural subjects.
• Collective nouns usually take is, but you can use are if you need to emphasize the individuals who belong to the group.
• Phrases like a number of… usually take a plural verb.

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When deciding whether to use is or are, look at whether the noun is plural or singular. If the noun is singular, use is. If it is plural or there is more than one noun, use are.

Grammar Basics: What is Subjunctive?

Isn’t the imagination a wonderful thing? In English, the subjunctive mood expresses hypothetical and conditional expressions. Let’s explore.

How to Recognize the Subjunctive

Most of the time, the subjunctive mood of a verb looks exactly like the indicative form. The only way to know the difference between the two is by the context of the sentence. However, you can recognize third person singular verbs in the subjunctive mood because there is no S on the end of the them.

5 Authors Who You May Not Know Were Women

Let’s say you’ve written your very first novel, and you’re shopping it around to various publishers. And they generally like it, or at least one of them does, but they have a weird request—you need to change your name before they’ll publish the book. Not legally, of course. That would be silly. Just, you know, assume a pen name or use your initials instead of your full name because it might help you reach certain segments of the market.

Would you text your boss?

What do you think about the state of writing in the workplace? Share your thoughts in our weekly poll!

Can You Pass This Difficult Spelling Quiz?

Quiz written by FutureTVWriter (link: https://www.playbuzz.com/futuretvwriter10)

The Basics on Subject and Object Pronouns

Odds are good that the words “subjective and objective cases” mean nothing to you. “Case” is grammarian and linguistic jargon for categories of nouns based on the function of the noun in relation to the verbs and prepositions in a sentence.

It is even more confusing in English language because many cases have disappeared. Modern Ukrainian language has seven cases. Finnish has fifteen cases.

Five Golden Gags to Use at Your Holiday Party

We’ve hit the fifth day of LitMas, and we’re still going strong! If you’ve missed any of our previous LitMas gifts, here’s a quick summary:

On the fifth day of LitMas, Grammarly gave to (you) . . . Five golden gags, Four reading tips. Three French phrases, Two Christmas stories, And a poem that is wintery.

For our fifth installment, here are five games, jokes, and memes you can use at your office holiday party.

Need a Pick-Me-Up? 5 Best Short Stories of All Time

Short stories often go underappreciated, but they represent an art form few authors truly master. For readers, the short story is the perfect literary snack, a choice morsel that fills a spare hour, refreshes the brain, and gives a moment of escape from daily routines. When you need something to nibble and lack the time for a novel, feast your eyes on these tiny tomes with outsized impact.

Typos on Resumes: Should You Hire a Job Applicant Anyway?

Most hiring managers say they’d rule out a candidate for resume typos, but is that a good practice for your business? There are a few reasons it might not be.

Job applicants are urged to review their resumes more than a few times to ensure there are no misspellings or grammatical errors. To be safe, they should even have a friend or associate review it.

OMG, LOL!: 5 Communication Faux Pas You’re Making at Work

Is it okay to text in the office bathroom? Should you use emoticons in your cover letter? In this age of enhanced communication, it’s hard to avoid the occasional faux pas. Consider these five unfortunate souls whose poor communication etiquette undermined their professional authority.

Tia the Texter

Tia is a twenty-something working in a firm of baby boomers. She waltzes through life with her smartphone glued to her hand.