How to avoid

misstake’s that kill,

your brand

Whether you’re speaking or writing,

errors in your grammar will undermine

your authority faster than you can say

OOPS!

undermine your brand

Mistakes with words

“If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me.

If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you.

If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building.”

Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit

can lose you a job or project

Mistakes with words

software company blog (we won’t name it…)

What is even more shocking is that 54% marketers consider customers not difficult to use which begs us to ask, “so why aren’t marketers taking customers insight into consideration in their content marketing efforts?”

Sloppy copy crushes credibility

kill authority

Silly mistakes

on your website, blog, collateral

press releases and on social pages.

Your words are all

you have

You are what you say

Helps you stand out from

competitors (especially in technology

markets)

Competence with words

shows your ignorance

The winning team made less errors

Australia have beaten the Brits again None of them were any good

If I had have known what I know now We ate too many pizza’s

Incompetence with words

We’d all feel better if we made fewer errors less often Australia (the team) has beaten the Brits again

I never want to eat that many pizzas again If I had only known what I know now …

None of them was any good

Fewer errors cause less distress

cause less distress

you need to know these differences

I’m at a loose end; I won’t lose sight of that. I choose my own clothes; I chose all of these. We have an effect on those around us, but may not be sure how it affects them. You can allude to my lack of finesse, but your allusion may elude me. You prosecute a legal action, you pursue a goal

Careless copy = careless writer

Ms Mr Mrs Dr

Who and whoever are for subjects Whom and whomever are for objects There’s no full stop after contractions >

People who are noisy … Things that go bump in the night … There’s no hyphen in no-one no one Avoid the obvious: I myself or I personally

Traps for the unwary

Commas are generally used to indicate a natural breathing space. More subtle than the full stop, which brings a sentence to a juddering halt, the comma is a subtle pause and, when properly used, greatly enhances readability and understanding. Melanie Silver, Words Etc.

Punctuation helps the reader

More than 2 commas in a sentence?

Try shorter sentences.

Shorter sentences create pace & urgency

> more likely reader will continue

Too many can be roadblocks

Missing words can be fatal

Pic taken before the meal?

or face the consequences

People who mix up their itses ‘deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave.’

Lynn Truss “Eats Roots Shoots and Leaves”

Watch your grammar

University of QLD Guide to Grammar and Punctuation http://www.emsah.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=168119 English for Everyone http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Punctuation.htm

Additional reading

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