At the wate r cooler...

Hey, man. what's up?

Pete

Eddy

Pete the Programmer and Eddy the Editor often chit-chat at the water cooler in the afternoon to see if anything new and exciting has happened.

Eddy the Editor was about to ask Pete the Programmer what happened to his friend Anna the Assistant. She recently applied for an Administrative Assistant position at the Noun Company where they both work. Pete beat Eddy to the punch and started complaining about the new system memo.

Noun Company Employees;

If the vice president doesn't take the time to look at his memo, why should i?

Implementation of the new HR system will be depleated January 7th. DO NOT USE PRIOR SYSTEM AFTER JAN. 6th. Be sure to take online training prior to accessing the new system into our learning management system. The Red Word system will increase efficiency, taking processes further, and communication. You're pleasant cooperation is grately.

Michael Manager, VP

as an editor, i know how you feel, pete. plus, He should not have used a semicolon (;) in the greeting of the memo. You always use a colon (:) at the beginning of a business letter.

Eddy's Notes

used i ncorrec t prepos (Michae ition l Manag er shou written ld have via o u r learnin manage g ment sy stem in "into") stead of

failed to use p arallel which c structu auses c re, onfusio n used t he word Your in "You're stead of ," which is a con of you a traction re

missp el

led deple ted

a n d grea tly

he shouldn't have used all caps in that one sentence that tells us not to use the old system after january 6th. it makes me feel like he is yelling at me! i wonder if the VP knew how people would react to his poorly written memo.

ce r audien how you out . Think ab message ive your e ling, will perc with sty d e words z and avoi Emphasi nd bold, italic a rs. such as ital lette g all cap usin

Emphasis

it goes without saying that you should always use spell check in your email or word processing software...

In the "For PC" example below, grammar check has marked an error with a squiggle underline. grammar check says the phrase is a sentence fragment although it is actually a complete sentence. So, why did grammar check get it wrong?

...but you have to be extra smart when using grammar check!!

grammar check thinks the subject is missing!

You Understood/Universal You

Sentences that tell you to do something, such as "Press Enter on your keyboard," are commands. Command sentences are also known as imperative sentences. They give instructions or requests. When you are telling someone to press the Enter key, you do not have to say "You press Enter on your keyboard" because the listener or reader already understands that you are speaking to him or her. This is also known as the Universal You because it could refer to anyone who is currently reading the sentence. With You Understood or Universal You, there is not a third person involved in the conversation or writing.

SUBJECT

PREDICATE

{Eddy} {likes to wear ties.}

the subject is the person or thing that the sentence is about.

the predicate is the rest of the sentence that describes what the subject does or is.

The Vice President also had a major parallel structure issue. It is difficult to understand what the following sentence means: The Red Word system will increase efficiency, taking processes further, and communication. It is best to use the same verb forms when listing actions. For example, Juan likes swimming, running, and skiing. The sentence has parallel structure. This can + not = sentence does not: Juan likes to swim, running, and can't. remember to ski. This sentence is awkward because it does the not have parallel structure. We could also apostrophe! rewrite it as Juan likes to swim, run, and ski. If we were correcting the VP's memo, we could write The Red Word system will increase efficiency, extend processes, and facilitate Contractions r. ethe communication. ushed tog o words p are tw acts ns ontr exes or c Contractio r athlete fl hen an keep all ight close It's like w heavy we ga items in a bring es to brin l e can his musc list in the e actions, w ith contr shorter. W same form to to him. W ake them m that ether and avoid hen show words tog her and t et awkwardness words tog rting an inse push two and issing by ers are m VP wrote confusion. some lett emo, the m nce e. In his the sente apostroph you are in s idn't ich mean tely. He d You're, wh tion is gra era to asant coop e meant You're ple action. H tr un use a con ive prono mean to a possess someone. which is ite Your, elongs to wr ing b t someth owing tha sh

what else could we fix?

Parallel Structure

WOULD + HAVE = WOULD'VE

someday i'll have muscles.

Prepositions

Picking the correct preposition is not always easy, and sometimes more than one choice is appropriate. Here is a definition of preposition from dictionary.com: any member of a class of words found in many languages that are used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and that typically express a spatial, temporal, or other relationship, as in, on, by, to, since.

What would we do without prepositions? We wouldn't know whether to go through or around or to or beneath!

Water flows under bridges.

they don't call me eddy the editor for nothing!

In the VP's memo, he could have chosen a better preposition for his sentence about taking online training. Which preposition would you use instead of into? Be sure to take online training prior to accessing the new system into our learning management system. Would through, by, in, or since be the best preposition?

Be sure to take online training prior to accessing the new system through our learning management system.

pete, are you feeling any better now? I don't think the vp meant to make you feel like he was yelling.

i'll be okay.

so what ever happened to anna?

when anna applied for the job, her written communication was so riddled with errors that the ceo said he didn't want to talk to her!

Assistant Anna the

Anna the As sistan great j t appli ob at t ed for he Nou where a n Com Eddy a pany nd Pet would e work ha . Sh she ha v e b e e n a g o d been od can e didate more c gramm if ar ar, usa ge, and e f u l a b o u t t h her res e p ume a n d c o v unctuation hiring in er lett manag er. If t er had distrac he n't bee ted by n errors interv , he w iewed ould h her. ave

that's terrible!

i know. i feel bad. i guess it made a bad impression.

what can we do to help?

write tips on your eddy the editor blog, and I will point anna to it. great idea!

i'll tell her about subject-verb agreement...

...and misplaced modifiers.

you misplaced what?

if you are writing about a single object, you must use a singular verb.

misplaced modifiers cause confusion. they describe the wrong thing when they are not in the right spot in a sentence.

for example, the red tulip grows. grows is the singular form of the verb.

let's get into more detail about subject-verb agreement and misplaced modifiers.

if you are talking about multiple objects, you need the plural form of the verb. for example, the white tulips grow. grow is the plural form of the verb.

when you use the conjunction or or nor, singular subjects remain singular. for example, neither the red tulip nor the pink grow.

it also helps to know which pronouns are singular. each, everyone, somebody, anyone, and anybody are a few examples of singular pronouns. don't be fooled by what comes after the pronoun. For example, each of the girls picks flowers. the singular form of the verb is needed because it belongs to the pronoun each, which is singular.

now, what do we do when the modifiers get lost?

we must place them properly so their meaning is clear.

When an adj ective in the or mod wrong ifier is spot, i senten t can m ce sou ake a nd ver is an e y funn xampl y! Her e: Mar pink d e ia foun og's co da llar. T makes his sen it soun tence d like pink d there i og run sa ning a its col round lar. If withou we rep modifi t osition er/adj the ective tell th , then at the we can collar the do is pink g. Mar , not ia fou pink c nd a d ollar. og's

Misp laced Mod ifier

how cute!

odifier Dangling M

A dangling modifier is a phrase or clause that is not clearly and logically related to the word or words it modifies (i.e., is placed next to). Unlike a misplaced modifier, a dangling modifier cannot be corrected by simply moving it to a different place in a sentence. Usually the dangling modifier appears at the beginning of the sentence, although it can also come at the end. Here is an example sentence: Yawning from exhaustion, the grapes dangled from her hand. It seems like the grapes are very tired, but we know that grapes don't yawn, so who is yawning? Yawning from exhaustion, Laura let the grapes dangle from her hand.

it's difficult to tell who is doing what with a dangling modifier.

great! i think this will really help anna. AWESOME. DO YOU THINK I SHOULD TELL THE VP TOO?

SURE, AS LONG AS I'M NOT THERE!

LOOKS LIKE WE DRANK ALL THE WATER!!! BACK TO WORK!