Do you enjoy team sports? Some team positions carry special responsibilities. In hockey, the goalie’s job is to block the other team from scoring. In American football, the place holder steadies the football for the field goal kicker. If you imagine language as a team sport, you can think of grammatical cases as team positions. They tell you the special roles of pronouns. Only three cases are common in modern English—subjective, objective, and possessive.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Not-So-Sweet 16: Email Autonotification Hell vs. Should’ve Messaged
The Not-So-Sweet 16 rages on with this set of obnoxious inbox-stuffers. Which bothers you more, autonotification emails, or emails from coworkers who should have messaged you elsewhere? Honestly, we don’t love either.
Ready to vote to determine the next round of March MADness? We know we are!
Autonotification Email Hell
Autonotifications are sent automatically when someone updates a task, project, or chat.
Monday, April 22, 2013
How to Consistently Write Better and Faster
In this article, here’s what you’ll discover:
- why distractions are more debilitating than you think (and what to do about them)
- a simple four-step formula to dramatically improve your writing
- how to crank out high-quality content in half the time by optimizing every step of the writing process from first draft to formatting
So let’s get started, shall we?
Why distractions are more debilitating than you think (and what to do about it)
Just how bad are distractions for your productivity?
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Offence vs. Offense—What Is the Difference?
- Offence and offense are both correct.
- Offence is the spelling more commonly used outside of the United States.
- Offense is the spelling more commonly used in the United States.
Offense is spelled differently based on where you, or your audience, are. But neither offense nor offence are wrong.
Offence vs. Offense—Which Is Correct?
In one sense, offense means an attack. But it also means an affront or insult.
This Is Why It’s Important to Track Your Writing Stats
Writing is like going to the gym—you’re excited for the end results, but it takes a lot of hard work to get there! You know daydreaming won’t get you the perfect beach bod or the next New York Times bestseller, so how do you reach your goals?
Just as tracking your fitness progress is a healthy way to stay focused and motivated to work out, tracking your writing stats is a fantastic way to take your writing to the next level!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Limericks: The Lowest Form of Poetry?
There is a well-known line, often attributed to Samuel Johnson, but preceded and followed by myriad others, that the pun is the lowest form of humor. If so, the limerick, a form of verse that depends on clever assonance and double entendre, is certainly the lowest form of poetry. In this post, we will shine a spotlight on the limerick, and see if the cockroaches scurry.
To the best of anyone’s knowledge, the limerick originated in England sometime before the fifteenth century.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Congradulations or Congratulations—Which Is Right?
- Congratulations is correct.
- Congradulations is a common misspelling.
When something important and meaningful happens to someone, it’s nice to acknowledge it. But before we do, we need to double-check our spelling.
Congradulations vs. Congratulations—Which Is Correct?
There’s just one way to spell it, and that’s congratulations, with a T. This word came into English from Latin, where it was formed by combining the prefix com-, meaning “with,” to the root gratulari, meaning “give thanks” or “show joy.”