Train your brain with these 4 spelling tips and tricks

Amateur Something or someone that is amateur is non-professional. If you remember that amateur ends in a fancy French suffix (-eur), you’ll be able to spell this word correctly in both professional and non-professional situations.

Conscientious Conscientious means thorough, careful, or vigilant. If you have a strong conscience, you will be conscientious. You can remember the conscience by breaking it into “con” and “science.” Then the similarities between conscience and conscientious will help you remember the spelling for the latter.

The Basics on Subject and Object Pronouns: Answers

Answers:

1) Martha and Jim are in the office. Correct. 2) She is telling him a joke. Correct. 3) Jim made a copy of the report for Lucy and I. Incorrect. Jim made a copy of the report for Lucy and me. 4) I have to go. Mark is calling for Lucy and me. Correct. 5) Our co-workers love Martha’s cookies. Correct. 6) Jim and me are planning a surprise for Sue’s birthday. Incorrect. Jim and I are planning a surprise for Sue’s birthday.

Rewriting 101: How to Add Clarity to Your Sentences

Have you ever finished writing a sentence only to reread it and be completely baffled at its structure? Sure, the sentence might be technically grammatically correct, but it sounds incredibly awkward. In situations like these, it’s best to step back and try to find a way to rewrite the sentence. For example: When you see your new friend, tell him or her that I said hello.

Although using ‘him or her’ to indicate a person of whose gender you aren’t aware is technically correct, the sentence above sounds formal and would likely come across as awkward in casual conversation.

5 Pieces of Fiction to Inspire Productivity

With 2017 beginning in earnest and resolutions being made, you may be looking for a way to make your leisure time a little more productive and guilt-free. To that end, there are some excellent pieces of fiction that provide more than just entertainment; they also inspire productivity. These are just a few titles that can motivate and energize you as you set new objectives for the year ahead.

Humanity’s Best Eggcorn Examples

When singers use backing tracks to sing less (or not at all) during a performance, they have to do what is called “lip singing”—mouthing the words without actually making sound. Old-timer’s disease is a terrible illness that affects people’s ability to think, remember, and control their behavior. A mute point is an issue that could be argued, but could also have very little consequence.

Navigating Email Etiquette at Work

Even though email takes up well over a quarter of the average working person’s day, many people still don’t have a knack for email etiquette. Often, the issue lies in separating personal email preferences from professional communication policies. Follow these tips for maintaining email etiquette at work, and you’ll develop a more effective communication strategy in no time.

Use a Clear Subject Line

Mistake of the Month: Missing Commas

There are two types of writers in this world: those who use too many commas and those who use too few. While unnecessary commas can turn straightforward sentences into twisting labyrinths of syntactical confusion, missing a critical comma can change the entire meaning of your sentence.

Consider the headline from the now-infamous Rachael Ray cover of Tails magazine: “Rachael Ray finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog.” While the line breaks of the original cover make it apparent what the editors meant to say, the lack of commas between the three items in the list—“cooking,” “family,” and “her dog”—caused Tails to accidentally portray Ray as a cannibal who gleefully cooks her family and dog.