Comments on: 5 Grammar rules it’s OK to break

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:42:32 +0000

hope helps me in my 1st copywriter stint….

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Good points! I just wish there was a more general adherence to good grammar. How often do you see plurals with apostrophes these days? How about the very common confusion of its and it’s? There are at least a dozen or so others that you can run into daily.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:37:11 +0000

My former wife says an ellipsis is never over 3 dots…it drives her crazy to see this rule broken.

By: Sinead O Donovan

Sinead O Donovan — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:42:47 +0000

Especially for the internet, I think it’s better to write for the reader and if it needs to be really informal, then that’s that. I love breaking grammer rules though! Very satisfying for a weird reason

By: Jim Talbott

Jim Talbott — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:57:49 +0000

Thanks, I also enjoyed this article. I believe that it is important to convey messages to readers in the way that we generally speak. So being overly concerned about proper grammar seems excessive. Most of us don’t speak like that anyway.

By: Sinead

Sinead — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:23:15 +0000

Oooop – Maybe I should have checked my own grammer before pressing the submit button…for shame!!

By: Sinead

Sinead — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:22:24 +0000

I used to work for Yahoo as an editor. I spent 1 year correcting other peoples’ bad grammer. Not it drives me crazy when I see grammer mistakes online. What have they done to me

By: Rosethethird

Rosethethird — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:24:38 +0000

Sometimes an article that is totally grammatically correct can seem laboured if it is intended for an informal setting. I often use shortenings, phrases, slang or whacky punctuation – but I use them deliberately. (As I just did there!)

I think a reader can tell the difference between something that is just poorly written and something that has been deliberately written in an “easy” style.

By: carolgibson

carolgibson — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:33:45 +0000

I enjoyed this article, too.

By: Origin Design + Communications

Origin Design + Communications — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:36:02 +0000

I agree with you but am still cautious in using lazy punctuation and grammar. While a sprinkle of ellipsis here and slang there can help with the casual tone of your writing, it’s important to remember you are an authority and your writing should reflect it. Great topic to discuss!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:02:05 +0000

Great tips. Writing in too formal of a tone can turn off as many readers as say writing entirely in slang.

I have a tendency to over punctuate, as a way to excuse my run on sentences I suppose. I’m working hard to refine my writing skills. (Even though I’m told my run on sentences are endearing.)

By: Miguel Alvarez

Miguel Alvarez — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:48:53 +0000

Great minds do think alike John… But you’re right, it is a freakish coincidence and it actually looks as if I had swiped your post! (I didn’t of course)

By: John Forde

John Forde — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:10:19 +0000

Hi Miguel, Nice post... just by coincidence, I happened to revive an old article of my own on the same topic. I posted it on my blog about a week ago. Since it shares some of these same insights, I thought maybe you and your readers might enjoy seeing my notes on this too. As always, you've got some great stuff going over here!

By: Katie McDonald

Katie McDonald — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:45:32 +0000

I like this article. Sometimes as a writer it’s easy to get caught up in “this is right” and this is “wrong” – TECHNICALLY. But really, these days, it’s all about “what’s effective??”

Forget right and wrong (within reason of course) and go for what grabs attention and keeps your readers from leaving the page!