Grammar Rules That You Should Forget

Posted on 5th January 20195th January 2019 by sticklerproofreading

Grammar rules are drilled into our heads from a very young age. As we grow older, we learn how to memorize these rules and incorporate them into our academic and everyday writing. As with most things in life, times change—and so have grammar rules as we know them. With the advent of social media and digital writing, traditional grammar rules have started to be bent, broken, and rewritten. Some grammar rules are just antiquated and others inhibit writers from making creative and beautiful work. Below is a list of four grammar rules that, no matter what your school teacher told you, you should forget. Unlearning these rules will open up a world of freedom and exploration in your future writing projects.

Ending Your Sentences With a Preposition

This antiquated rule stemmed from writers in the 19th century who were obsessed with the way the Latin language structures its sentences. While it’s true that that the English language can find its roots in Latin, they are not one and the same. People who work hard to follow this rule often end up switching their sentences around so they sound unnatural and awkward. See the example below:

Ending with a preposition—“Where did it come from?”

Ending without a preposition (following the rule)—“From where did it come?”

You can see how differently the two sentences sound from one another just by switching the placement of the preposition. As English has modernized, the latter sentence sounds unnatural and out of the ordinary. So feel free to forget this 19^th-century grammar rule in exchange for writing that sounds like it’s from the 21st century.

Adverbs Ending with “-ly”

Many grammar students have been taught that an adverb is only an adverb if it ends in “-ly.” This is just not true. There are a number of adverbs that do not have this ending and are just as grammatically correct when used in a sentence. These adverbs that do not end with “-ly” are often referred to as flat adverbs. Some examples of these are “safe,” “fast,” “soon,” and “bright.” Below is an example of a pair of sentences that are both grammatically correct even though one has an adverb with an “-ly” and one doesn’t.

Adverb with an “-ly”—“Drive safely!”

Adverb without an “-ly”—“Drive safe!”

Starting a Sentence with “And” or “But”

Beginning a sentence with a conjunction was once considered a big “no-no” in the grammar rule world. But we’re here to tell you that it’s perfectly okay to start a sentence with “and” or “but.” Children are often taught this rule by grammar teachers so that they don’t fall into the trap of starting every sentence with “and.” As long as you aren’t overdoing it, starting a sentence with a conjunction can add much needed emphasis and clarity to your writing. See the examples below:

Starting without a conjunction—“Mary killed the man who had been chasing her. Additionally, she killed his accomplice.”

Starting with a conjunction—“Mary killed the man who had been chasing her. And she killed his accomplice too.”

Splitting Infinitives

It is a common grammar rule that a writer should never split an infinitive in a sentence. In other words, you shouldn’t place a word in between “to” and its subsequent verb. Splitting an infinitive doesn’t work all the time, but it shouldn’t be a hard and fast rule to avoid it because sometimes splitting an infinitive just feels right. Splitting infinitives can change the mood or tone of a sentence and add emphasis on particular words. Here’s an example a split infinitive that made the sentence better—“To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

The rules of grammar are important for giving structure and stability to writers, especially those who are just learning the English language. But as you become a master of the writing craft, you should rethink how steadfastly you stick to those rules. Breaking some grammar rules can give your writing emphasis, clarity, and a unique voice.

To “s” or not to “s”: Common Statistical Terms, their Abbreviations, and how to Pluralize Them

Posted on 24th July 201828th November 2018 by sticklerproofreading

Ever get confused when using statistical terms? You’re not alone. In writing for the social sciences in particular, the worlds of mathematics and grammar collide. Academic authors not only have to run statistical tests, but discuss the results in a clear and cohesive way—and since you can lose marks or have a paper rejected from a journal for poor use of English, getting these terms grammatically correct is key. Below are a few common statistical abbreviations, and how they should appear in singular versus plural form.

Written-out Form		Abbreviation/Symbol
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Cohen’s d	Cohen’s ds	d	ds
degree of freedom	degrees of freedom	df	dfs
F statistic or F value	F statistics or F values	F	Fs
mean	means	M	Ms
sample size (subsample)	sample sizes (subsample)	n	ns
sample size (full sample)	sample sizes (full sample)	N	Ns
p value	p values	p	ps
r value	r values	r	rs
R² value	R² values	R²	R²s
standard deviation	standard deviations	SD	SDs
standard error	standard errors	SE	SEs
t value	t values	t	ts
z score	z scores	z	zs
Cronbach’s alpha	Cronbach’s alphas	Cronbach’s α	Cronbach’s αs
beta	betas	β	βs
chi-square	chi-squares	χ²	χ²s
delta	deltas	Δ	Δs

Source: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/statistics/

Although the above information is based on APA preferences, for some plural abbreviated forms many publishers and institutions would prefer that you write, for example, “Cronbach’s α values” rather than “Cronbach’s αs,” as the latter version could lead to confusion. If you’re not sure which to use, that’s definitely something we can help with.

When deciding between using the singular or plural form of a statistical abbreviation, it’s important to refer to the syntax of your sentence (again, we can help make sure your plurals are perfect!). When using plural abbreviated forms, add a lowercase “s” to the end of the abbreviation, but don’t add an apostrophe before or after the “s” (it’s not “Cronbach’s α’s,” for example) and don’t italicize or capitalize the “s” either—just a simple “s” will do.

Understanding how and when to correctly use statistical terms in your paper, thesis, or dissertation can be headache-inducing, so a professional academic editing service can be invaluable. At Stickler, we have over a decade of experience editing statistical analyses, and we understand the conventions expected by journals and research institutions. Contact us today and let us help you sort your ps from your SEs!

8 Very Public Writing Mistakes and What You Can Learn from Them

Posted on 12th June 201712th June 2017 by sticklerproofreading

When you edit other people’s writing for a living, you start to see grammar and spelling mistakes everywhere you go. If it’s on Buzzfeed it’s funny, but if a mistake pops up in your thesis, essay, or website, that’s another thing.

Here are some common mistakes we love to hate!

Using apostrophes to show possession vs. plural -s

(photo credit: EmmaB/GuardianWitness)

One use of the apostrophe is to show possession. For a singular noun, add an apostrophe plus the letter s (e.g. “The dog’s coat”). For plural nouns, you can just add an apostrophe (e.g. “The dogs’ coats”).

Plural nouns are usually formed just by adding -s or -es (e.g., “legs,” “churches”), or by changing the final -y to -ies (as in “piggy” to “piggies”). Ninety-nine percent of the time, no apostrophe is needed, provided you are not indicating possession. You can read about the exceptions here.

In the image above, it should be “ATMs” and “Retail, Food & Drinks.”

Of vs. off

(photo credit: Via Buzzfeed)

“Of” is a preposition that relates two words. Usually, it shows possession or a relationship, or what material something is made from. For example, when you say, “Bill is a friend of Mary’s,” you’re using “of” to describe the relationship between Bill and Mary. When you say, “That cup is made of porcelain,” you’re describing materials.

In the photo above, the tagger meant to talk about the connection between “you” and “everything good.”

“Off” is usually used as an adverb, but sometimes it acts as a preposition. In any case, it most often creates the idea of separation or moving away. For example, “The plane took off at 4:00 PM.”

Every day vs. everyday

(Photo credit: 8002575540/GuardianWitness)

It’s amazing how much difference a space makes.

“Every day” means the same as “each day.” For this sign, “Amazing Value Every Day” would be correct.

If used as one word, “everyday” is an adjective that means “daily or commonplace.” On the above sign, you could retain “everyday” but still make the grammar correct by switching the order to “Amazing Everyday Value.” Note: “Everyday” can also be used as a noun, as in, “The challenges of the everyday can be exciting.”

Strange quotation marks

(Photo credit: 1emsmom/CNN)

Let’s just forget about the comma placement (and lack of space thereafter) in the above, which is also debatable. There are several ways to use quotation marks, whether you’re including someone else’s words in your own work, or talking about the title of a poem, or denoting speech.

The above example is none of those, and the only use that’s left is to convey sarcasm or a euphemism. You’ll see people do this when they’re talking and they create quotation marks in the air with their fingers.

We think the makers of the sign actually meant that baseball is for kids, rather than so-called kids.

You’re vs. your

(photo credit: Huffington Post)

This is one we at Stickler see every day.

“You’re” stands for “you are” (e.g., “you’re going to love this”). “Your” shows possession (as in, “mind your manners”).

In the image above, it should be “You’re the best teacher ever.” While the gift is very cute, we hope these students weren’t trying to honor their English teacher!

They’re vs. their

Like the you’re vs. your problem, the confusion between “their” and “they’re” has a similar solution.

“They’re” stands for “they are” (e.g. “they’re heading out to sea”) while “their” is used to show possession (e.g. “they forgot their boat”). So, what the sign means to say is “They won’t even know they’re learning.”

We won’t get into the irony of this being a display for educational software…

Commas and direct address

(Photo credit: Lifebuzz)

You might not know what the grammatical term is for the above issue, but you definitely know that there is a comma missing between “eat” and “people.”

Whenever a sentence talks to the reader it’s called direct address, and it requires a comma. Another example would be, “Andrew, I said that we needed four pairs of socks, not four socks.” The first comma makes it clear that Andrew is not actually part of the sentence.

Not running a spell check

(Photo credit: Capital Bay)

Individuals aren’t the only ones who are prone to grammar and spelling mistakes. Clothing giant H&M found itself the butt of many jokes when it debuted this t-shirt in 2015 (it should be “genius”). It’s just one more example of why checking all of your writing for grammar and spelling mistakes is so important.

Not sure if you’re breaking one of these rules in your writing? Get in touch!

10 Editing Tasks all Academics Should Complete before Submitting their Work

Posted on 17th April 201717th April 2017 by sticklerproofreading

You’ve done the hard work—researching, putting down your thoughts, and formatting your essay or paper. Now, it’s time to edit.

“But I thought you guys were in charge of editing?” you might ask. That is of course true, but your paper will be much stronger if you edit your content yourself, to the best of your ability, before passing it on to us. You might not catch every mistake, but even thinking “This doesn’t seem right to me” about a sentence shows that you know more than you think.

Here are 10 major editing tasks you should aim to complete before submitting your work to a professional copy editor.

Create an outline of the paragraphs you actually have.

Many teachers will tell you to create an outline before you start writing. However, formulating an outline of what you have actually written makes sense, too. You’ll see what you’ve already got, what’s missing, and what would be the optimal order for your paragraphs and sections.

Read just for flow and logic.

Here’s one way to think about it: if a sentence raises questions, the next sentence—or, at the very latest, the next section—should answer those questions. Otherwise, you’re sure to confuse your reader.

Find all clichés and re-write them.

Your initial drafts might have a lot of clichés because you weren’t writing for quality; however, clichéd writing is bloated and, worse, unexciting. Writers at The Washington Post have compiled an excellent list of clichés to eliminate in your own writing.

Read your paper out loud.

This is a real favorite of writers everywhere. When you read aloud, you proceed more slowly and can hear the rhythm of your writing. As a very simple rule of thumb, if you have run out of breath before get to the end of a sentence, that sentence may be too long. If a sentence seems too complex, your reader will probably get lost reading it.

Bonus: Although we recommend looking for grammar errors once your content and logic is sound, you will also catch a lot of grammatical errors through reading aloud.

Once you have gotten your content the way you like it, you can look for grammatical errors. The following big errors can sink a paper.

Check for too much passive voice.

Some people think passive voice (where the subject is acted upon—there’s passive voice right there) is never good. We think it’s needed in some contexts, but make sure active voice is used wherever possible, as it makes your paper more dynamic and keeps wordiness to a minimum.

Ensure your antecedents are clear.

Antecedents are the words that pronouns refer to. For example, consider the following:

“This finding is significant, but it does not explain the anomaly cited above.”

“it” is the pronoun that refers to the “finding.” Now imagine a similar sentence:

“This finding does not explain the anomaly cited above; however, it is significant.”

Does “it” here refer to the finding or the anomoly? Sense suggests the former is most likely, but this is unclear from a grammatical perspective. At the very least, the reader might have to go over the sentence a second time to ensure they have understood you, which is far from ideal.

It’s easy to confuse your reader with “unanchored” pronouns in this manner, so make sure your antecedents and pronouns can be easily matched.

Check for shifting verb tenses.

Be sure that your verb tenses do not shift unnecessarily. For example,

“These authors suggested a new theorem. They find that…

would read much better as

“These authors suggested a new theorem. They found that…”

“These authors suggest a new theorem. They find that…”

Make sure you apply parallelism.

Parallelism, or parallel construction, involves using similar clause or phrase structures in order to create balanced sentences. For example, take the following, poorly constructed, sentence:

“We conducted our study during May–June 2016, and this involved disseminating a questionnaire, to conduct interviews, and completed observations.”

In the list of things that the authors did, “disseminating,” “to conduct,” and “completed” are all grammatically different. The sentence would be improved if it were as follows:

“We conducted our study during May–June 2016. This involved disseminating a questionnaire, conducting interviews, and completing observations.”

Here, “disseminating,” “conducting,” and “completing” are grammatically consistent.

Fix comma splices and run-on sentences.

Occasionally, instead of using a period to end one sentence and begin another, some people use a comma instead. These comma splices are easily fixed by using a period to separate sentences or by using an appropriate conjunction, such as “and” or “but.” For example,

“We conducted our study in Israel, our sample involved an equal number of male and female participants.”

is better as

“We conducted our study in Israel, and our sample involved an equal number of male and female participants.”

or,

“We conducted our study in Israel. Our sample involved an equal number of male and female participants.”

A run-on sentence is similar, with no punctuation defining the end of sentences. The sentence appears to “run away” without end.

“We conducted our study in Israel our sample involved an equal number of male and female participants.”

There are two full clauses or sentences in the above example. Thus, run-on sentences can be fixed in a similar way to comma splice errors.

Always, always run a spell check!

We know how tedious this can be in a lengthy paper full of citations, but it is extremely important as a final step. Running a spell check will enable you to locate the most egregious errors and avoid embarrassing typos. However, you’ll have to look for subtler mistakes (two vs. too, for example) by hand—or have us do it for you!

A Quick Primer on 5 Misunderstood Punctuation Marks

Posted on 20th November 201620th November 2016 by sticklerproofreading

Punctuation marks are part of a writer’s toolbox. They are meant to help readers understand what you’re trying to convey. But did you know that when people began putting their thoughts into writing, they were able to get by without punctuation as we know it for thousands of years? Only when literacy increased and writing became the main form of conveying information did the idea of punctuation really take hold.

Most people understand what punctuation marks mean, but many are in the dark about how to actually deploy them. Here are five of the most-used punctuation marks and some basic points to keep in mind.

The period, a.k.a. the full stop

You might think that these are easy to use, but you’d be surprised at how many people overcomplicate them, particularly when writing quotations or dialogue. Here are some key tips to remember:

If the sentence ends with a question mark or exclamation point, you don’t need an additional period.

Correct: What a surprise!

Incorrect: What a surprise!.

American English includes the period inside quotations marks.

Somerset Maugham once said, “The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.”

British English places unquoted periods outside the quotation marks, unless the quote comprises a full sentence.

Somerset Maugham once said, that the ability to quote “is a serviceable substitute for wit”.

Commas

Many people dread commas because they have so many uses, and sometimes multiple rules of usage conflict and compete with one another. How do you know which rule to use?

A simple rule of thumb is to read your sentences out loud and use a comma whenever you take a breath or pause. Most people also know that commas should be used to separate items in a list. Unfortunately, though, commas are everywhere and these two rules just don’t cut it.

Honestly, we can’t do the comma justice in just part of a blog post. There are several conventions about the use of commas that are easy to forget, and there are also structural rules for commas that can get a little hairy. You’ll be better off bookmarking a great site like this one for future reference. (Of course, our great team of Stickler editors can also relieve you of your comma stress!)

Apostrophes

These subtle marks are often used incorrectly. They serve two main purposes:

They show possession.
Steve’s car, the dog’s bone, the bee’s knees

They form contractions.
You’re (meaning “you are,”) and I’m (for “I am.”)

Thinking about the above can be helpful for remembering the difference between your, which denotes possession, and you’re, which means “You are.”

One thing that apostrophes never do is create plurals. There is only one exception that you’ll need to know, and that’s in the case of “do’s”—as in, several things that you should or must do (such as “here’s a list of do’s and don’ts”). The reason for this is simple: without the apostrophe, “do’s” would look like “dos,” which would be very confusing.

Colons

More than a body part, colons are often either ignored or overused.

They can denote the start of a list.
I want you to pick up three things: bananas, chips, and Diet Coke.

They’re often used when the second part of the sentence serves as an explanation of the first part.

Harold had three hobbies in his life: ballroom dance on the weekends, basketball with his colleagues during the week, and golf once or twice a month.

Semicolons

These punctuation marks are useful when neither a comma nor a period seem right. They’re often used to connect two sentences that have related ideas.

My mother works from home; however, she needs to make time to socialize and be less isolated.

You could use but or so in place of “; however”—or the sentence could be separated into two with a period.

Note that both colons and semicolons should be used sparingly. They can exhaust your reader and turn paragraphs into walls of text that are not enjoyable to read. Often, two separate sentences are preferable to a lengthy sentence with several parts.

Still confused?

Don’t worry. Using punctuation carefully and correctly takes serious study and years of practice. We here at Stickler can help. Unlike most people, we enjoy debating the validity of Oxford commas and the word tricolon doesn’t scare us. Contact us today, so we can make sure that your academic papers or business texts are punctuated correctly. It always helps to have a second set of eyes checking every period, comma, and semicolon.

Five “Bendable” Grammar Rules to Reconsider

Posted on 8th July 20165th October 2016 by sticklerproofreading

It’s our job to offer academic editing services at Stickler, and we love it. We know how hard it is to proofread your own work, and how difficult it is to remember all those grammar rules you learned at school.

But did you know that some of those rules your dreaded 8th grade English teacher taught you aren’t so cut and dry?

Here are five “bendable” rules that you shouldn’t sweat.

1. “You should never split infinitives.”

Before you break into a cold sweat, just remember that an infinitive is a verb with “to” at the beginning: “to go,” for example. Many teachers say that you should never separate the “to” and the verb. So how did the writers of Star Trek get away with saying “to boldly go where no man has gone before”?

Apparently, this rule is the result of Classics teachers who loved Latin so much, they decided to impose certain Latin grammar rules onto English language. In Latin, an infinitive is a single word that can’t be split. Clearly, this isn’t the case in English, where the one-word infinitive (such as “go”) is simply accompanied by “to.”

2. “You should use ‘who’ as a pronoun when talking about a person, not ‘that.’”

Is it “Arya Stark is a girl who has no name” or “Arya Stark is a girl that has no name”?

Apparently, it can be both. Grammar Girl has done the dirty work of checking the major style guides, such as Fowler’s Modern English Usage and The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage. These style guides agree that, for the most part, both “who” and “that” are acceptable, and this is more a matter of style.

3. “It’s ‘slowly’ and ‘quickly,’ not ‘slow’ and ‘quick.’”

Words like “slow” and “quick” are what are known as flat adverbs. “He walks slow” and “He walks slowly” mean the same thing. They function like adverbs without -ly on the end.

They used to be much more common than they are now, and the list of common flat adverbs includes flat, sharp, close, and clean. A word of caution, though: while some flat adverbs are interchangeable, others are not. “He works hard” and “He hardly works” definitely don’t mean the same thing.

4. “Never end a sentence with a preposition.”

Those pesky Latinists strike again. In Latin, sentences cannot end with a preposition, but it’s quite normal in a Germanic language like English. Sticking to this rule can cause you to write horribly convoluted, Yoda-like sentences. Ending sentences with prepositions isn’t something you should be particularly worried about. (Or would you rather I said, “Ending sentences with prepositions isn’t something about which you should be particularly worried”?)

5. “You cannot use ‘and’ or ‘but’ at the beginning of a sentence.”

Apparently, no one’s ever been able to find the ancient text to support this rule. But as we all heard (gleefully, I could say) in Finding Forrester, teachers continue to drill this rule into their students’ brains. And then those students correct others for doing so. Or they become teachers who teach this rule to their students. And so on.

As the above paragraph demonstrates, using “and” or “but” or any other conjunction to begin a sentence is fine.

So, stop wasting your time going through your writing with a fine-tooth comb editing out these types of mistakes, especially if you’ll have to write longer, awkwardly constructed sentences to “correct” them!