Why you Should Think Before You Type

One of my goals for the New Year is to improve upon my communication skills. I aim to be more direct, specific, and concise with my conversations. I’ll be mindful of the words I choose, and speak them with care. And I’ll implement the same practice among written communication in an effort to avoid any misunderstandings that lurk in the nuances of unspoken dialogues.

Communication in our world increasingly occurs online and in type, primarily text messages, emails, and social media status updates. Though most of us aren’t getting docked on email errors in red pen from an overly-strict English teacher, there are people out there catching your mistakes and likely judging you for them. Like me. So while you’re on that new juice cleanse, or mission to clear out your closets, I challenge you to simultaneously clean up your grammar.

As delighted as I was to receive dozens of thoughtful holiday cards this past season, I was equally appalled at rampant misuse of the apostrophe. Envelopes addressed to “The Fauset’s” peppered my mailbox. Expensive custom printed cards bore well wishes from “The Johnson’s.” People! Please! With the amount of money spent on these beautiful cards bearing your even more beautiful children, proofreading is imperative.

Here’s a quick refresher to what we learned in third grade: The addition of the “s” at the end of a person’s last name indicates plural, (more than one), whereas a name with an apostrophe before the “s” denotes its possessive nature. “The Johnsons” means it’s from more than one person in the Johnson family. (And likely the whole family, unless that sulky teenager of theirs refused to send such well wishes.) “The Johnson’s” implies there’s a missing noun, making it an incomplete phrase. “Happy Holidays from the Johnson’s”… What? The Johnson’s what? The Johnson’s dog? What belonging to the Johnsons’ is actually sending me these holiday wishes, I’d sure like to know.

Whether you think such a small punctuative mark makes a big impact or not, make an effort to be aware of what you’re typing. Taking time to proofread for punctuation and spelling errors goes a long way in this online-everything-gets-typed world. A command of your native language demands respect and will help you excel in this world. Your polished resume will catch the eye of prospective bosses, a colleague will take an email without errors more seriously, your ex won’t be able to ridicule your latest Facebook status update for not knowing simple third grade English.

I also often see misuse of synonyms, everyday, in fact. Facebook seems to be a breeding ground for this particular error. We grammar sticklers are always complaining about this, with “your” vs. “you’re” and “there” vs. “their” vs. “they’re” at the top of our pet-peeves list. While that too makes me cringe, the grievous error that makes me crazy is the misuse of the word, “awe.” It’s most often used as a comment on a photo of a ridiculously cute dog or child. But unless you, the viewer, are stunned by the cuteness of the particular creature and are experiencing a feeling of “reverential respect mind with fear and wonder,” what you really mean to comment is “aw,” (also spelled “aww”), which is a term used to exclaim “pleasure, delight or affection, especially in response to something regarded as sweet or endearing.” When I see comments on photos as such that read “awe,” I imagine the person sitting at their computer, wide-eyed, jaw agape, as if they can hardly comprehend the photo they’ve just seen, which is surely not the case at all.

So, after my long-winded rant, I hope you’ll join me in an effort to spiff up your grammar and communication. After all, we know that the pen (or keyboard) is mightier than the sword, so wield it with care. And please, what ever you do, don’t ever post online that you’re holding a “grudge sell,” going “yard sailing,” or that you’re “lactose and tolerant.” My brain might just explode.

This article was originally published on Move Lifestyle.