This post is a reprint of a guest post I wrote for social media expert and strategist, Frances Caballo. Enjoy and share. . .
“It’s just a Tweet—fewer than 140 characters. Too short to even think about grammar.”
“It’s just Facebook—they’re my friends [all 2749 of them]. They’ll understand what I mean.”
Did you know that the top two things that disqualify a potential date are bad teeth and—yup— bad grammar? And when questioned, people say they would be very reluctant to do business with a company whose website contains typos and incorrect grammar.
How you write and speak are two of the important ways you present yourself to the world. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. And once you make an impression online, it doesn’t get thrown in the trash or shredded. The Internet has a way of being forever.
Do you need to be a grammar pro to use social media? Of course not. But there are several things you should be careful about getting right. They are common mistakes that will stick out like a sore thumb in your social media posts. I mentioned Twitter and Facebook, but if you use LinkedIn, correct writing counts even more, as it is a professional site. And many people, including authors, use all social media for business, even if it crosses over into the personal. Even your personal Facebook page reflects you as a writer or any other type of professional you might be.
Here are some things you really need to get right:
- Proofread your posts, no matter how short they are. If your best proofreading is done after you hit Send or Post (like me), you will have to learn to do it a little sooner. We all make silly typing mistakes. I know that proofing your own writing is boring, believe me. I don’t like doing it, but then when I, writing about grammar, send out a post with mistakes in it, imagine how embarrassed I am! It doesn’t take long, so just get in the habit of proofing whatever you Tweet or post.
- Don’t confuse its and it’s, whether you have made a grammatical error or a typing one. It’s is a contraction meaning it is. ALL contractions have apostrophes, and it’s is no exception. Its is possessive. No possessive pronouns have apostrophes (hers, ours, yours, theirs).
- Ditto your and you’re. Use you’re when you mean you are. It is a contraction, and all contractions have apostrophes. Your is possessive.
- Be careful with your past participles. These are the verb forms you use with has or have. We have all seen or heard people use have went, have took, have wrote. These are incorrect. It is have gone, have taken, and have written. Also note have brought (not brung) and have swum, rung, and drunk—not have swam, have rang, or have drank. And there are many more of these irregular verbs, so look them up if you are unsure.
- If you have two sentences, please put a period between them. If you like semicolons and your sentences are closely related, use a semicolon. If you are using a conjunction like and or but, you can use a comma. What I am telling you is don’t use a comma alone to separate sentences. Here is an example:
- Check out this article, I think you will like it. WRONG
- Check out this article. I think you will like it. RIGHT
- Check out this article; I think you will like it. RIGHT
- Check out this article, because I think you will like it. RIGHT
- Please don’t use apostrophes in your plain old plural words. You didn’t post photo’s. You posted photos. Apostrophes are for possessives and contractions, not plurals. The only time you need an apostrophe in a plural is when not using one would be confusing: I got all A‘s on my report card (without the apostrophe, the word looks like as).
- Be careful with I versus me, him versus her, and who versus whom (which is tricky). I, he, she, who, we, and they are used for sentence subjects. Me, him, her, whom, us, and them are used for objects, which are generally after the verb or after a preposition like between, to, for, or with. And if there are two people and you are one of them, put yourself last. Here are some examples:
- Me and him went out. WRONG
- He and I went out. RIGHT
- He gave it to him and I. WRONG
- He gave it to him and me. (Hint: Take one of the people out and say the sentence: He gave it to him. He gave it to me. ) RIGHT
- Between you and I. WRONG
- Between you and me. RIGHT
- Who are you going with? WRONG
- Whom are you going with. RIGHT
Okay, who and whom are tricky. Here are a couple of hints: (1) Answer the question in that last example. Use him or he. If you would use him, you need to use whom: I am going with him. (2) Find the verbs in the sentence. Find the subject of each verb. If your who or whom is not the subject of any of the verbs, use whom. If it is a subject, use who. Or you can refer to a blog post I wrote about who and whom.
If you pay attention to those seven guidelines, will your posts be grammatically perfect? Maybe, maybe not. But you will be avoiding the most common mistakes that I see online and the ones that will get you noticed—and not in a good way.
So happy posting! The great impression you give through your writing will pay off. And don’t forget to make your website grammatically pleasing too!
Grammar Diva News and Notes:
This past month I spoke at the Cloverdale Rotary, and next month I will be speaking at the Sausalito Rotary. Seems the Rotarians like my talk! They even told me I could be a stand-up comedian, so I will be working on a grammar comedy routine (maybe).
The Best Grammar Workbook Ever! has been selling well, likely because school has just started. Thank you to all who have purchased the book. In addition to print copies and PDF copies (which are available on this site), the book is now available on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords, etc.
The next book I will be releasing is 50 Shades of Grammar, hopefully by the end of 2015.
Arlene, if I may be so brave as to point out two grammatical mistakes of yours:
In this example,” Check out this article, because I think you will like it. RIGHT”
You have set off an adverbial clause with a comma for which there is no need. If it was used an introductory adverbial clause, it would be followed by a comma, i.e. “Because I think you will like it, check out this article.”.
In this example, “Whom are you going with. RIGHT”
You are ending the sentence with a hanging proposition. The correct placement of this preposition should be before its object, i.e. “With whom are you going?”
Thanks for the common….I am not sure about that first one. I know that the adverbial clause has a comma after it when it begins a sentence and not when it ends one, usually. But sometimes it does, and there is a fine line. I am sure I thought about it when I was writing it. It seemed OK here because the end of the sentence is sort of a afterthought as is not really needed. It is different from something like “Check this out because you will be tested on it.” You wouldn’t pause here, but you might pause in the sentence I used. I am not saying to put commas according to pauses, but it can be an indication of essential versus nonessential information. The second one? It is now OK to end a sentence in a preposition, although I wouldn’t do it in formal writing, but most people would. All prepositions at the end of a sentence are hanging since the preposition always begins the phrase.
Love this post. In my brief, disheartening forays into online dating, I wrote a thoughtful profile that talked about my career as an editor, my love of words, my other interests, and the qualities I was seeking in a companion. As usual, I proofed it several times before I posted it. Nonetheless, most of the invitations I received came from knuckle-draggers who couldn’t write a coherent sentence or spot basic errors in their own messages. We might have had a few interests in common, but I did find their poor English skills as much of a turnoff as bad (or missing) teeth. Looking forward to your book on the subject, Arlene.
Thank you so much for the comment! I can relate!!! I am excited about writing the book, but it’s going to take some research and I have a few other books to write first. I had better get busy! And yes, online dating is a place you can really separate the boys from the grammar men!
I appreciate, Grammar is ornament of any language.
if I want to make any body understand correctly I must have to use grammar effectively. And
Perfect English with the combination of correct grammar always impresses more. Simply, if I want to impress someone, at the first approach I would have to use the perfect language with proper use of it’s grammar.
Hope you will forgive me, if, there is, any mistake in my part.
Thank you,
Thank you for the comment!
Great stuff, Arlene, and so true. I get the same type of stuff in blog comments all the time, and these are from writers! Also, love that graphic. I bet bad grammar has ruined lots of relationships because some of us just can’t ignore it!
Thanks so much Joel. I need to get scheduled to write a post for you! And yes, I bet that bad grammar has halted a lot of relationships from even starting! I am writing a book called “People Don’t Date People with Bad Grammar,” but it will be a while before it is a reality (the book, that is).
Loved the article and your informal style ..will look at the workbook you referred to.
Thank you! I have other books too. Just check the site or Amazon.
One of my favorite people on Twitter is Piers Morgan. He frequently skewers his detractors by simply pointing out their mistaken use of your instead of you’re, or some such. In the process, he completely ignores their original insults and they look like “idiots.” It’s hilarious.Thanks Arlene, for keeping us in the know!
I will have to follow Piers ifI don’t already.He is a quirky one!Thanks for the comments!
Oh, and Arlene, as I told you recently, I saw a professional doctor’s LinkedIn page on which she said she had graduated from Rutger’s University. Well…gee whiz….gosh…golly…I don’t think so…unless the founder’s name was Robert Rutger.
So, as I am also a grammar fanatic (takes one to know one), I sent her an email, and sure enough,the next day, she deleted the offending apostrophe, so that her alma mater is now Rutgers University. Made my day! Linda Jay
Linda, you are a fine typo hunter!