Thrusting Your Grammar Capsule Down Someone Else's Throat
Well, let not the title of this post scare you. For some time now I have been receiving some grammar spam in my e-mail. Let me explain. I am receiving weekly doses of grammar on topics that are not relevant to my work. Unlike other spam mail, I don't have the option to unsubscribe. That's what set me thinking on the business of writing palatable grammar tips. It is not too tough, and writing good tips comes with years of experience, effort, observations, and understanding of what ails your writing team, of understanding their pain points, and tailoring your tips to their specific needs. Sadly, many tip writers and guardians of grammar resort to just ordering the latest book on grammar from Amazon or Flipkart, and chopping it into bite-sized morsels to serve the daily tips. How relevant is that, I wonder?
In one of my earlier jobs, I used to write an "Editorial Tip of the Day." And it would be worthwhile to share the process of how I went about it.
Consideration 1:
An important tool I had in my arsenal was, of course, experience. After having worked as an editor and dealing with slips all the time, I had gathered a fair amount of judgment about what ails the average writer?
Consideration 2:
The other tool was quality reference material. An editor or senior writer who tries to bring in writing reforms must always stick to the house style guide and no other book for dishing out these tips, and that's what I did.
Consideration 3:
And last but not the least, my guiding principle throughout remained the context of my writer's work. I have found that I myself and all of us learn the best when the learning models are suitably adapted to the context of our work.
Consideration 4:
And last but not the least, don't do an anti-brevity with the grammar dose. Keep it short, crisp, relevant, and tight!
Example:
Here's and example where I wanted to advocate the use of start instead of launch in keeping with the house style.
So the tip read something like this:
Today’s Topic: Launch
Do not use to mean start, as in "launch a program" or "launch a form."
Use start instead.
Examples:
Correct:
Incorrect:
Bonus Tip:
It works well to correct the incorrect examples from in-house documentation to drive home the impact better!
Hope this helps!
Happy tips writing....
Enough for today!
Well, let not the title of this post scare you. For some time now I have been receiving some grammar spam in my e-mail. Let me explain. I am receiving weekly doses of grammar on topics that are not relevant to my work. Unlike other spam mail, I don't have the option to unsubscribe. That's what set me thinking on the business of writing palatable grammar tips. It is not too tough, and writing good tips comes with years of experience, effort, observations, and understanding of what ails your writing team, of understanding their pain points, and tailoring your tips to their specific needs. Sadly, many tip writers and guardians of grammar resort to just ordering the latest book on grammar from Amazon or Flipkart, and chopping it into bite-sized morsels to serve the daily tips. How relevant is that, I wonder?
In one of my earlier jobs, I used to write an "Editorial Tip of the Day." And it would be worthwhile to share the process of how I went about it.
Consideration 1:
An important tool I had in my arsenal was, of course, experience. After having worked as an editor and dealing with slips all the time, I had gathered a fair amount of judgment about what ails the average writer?
Consideration 2:
The other tool was quality reference material. An editor or senior writer who tries to bring in writing reforms must always stick to the house style guide and no other book for dishing out these tips, and that's what I did.
Consideration 3:
And last but not the least, my guiding principle throughout remained the context of my writer's work. I have found that I myself and all of us learn the best when the learning models are suitably adapted to the context of our work.
Consideration 4:
And last but not the least, don't do an anti-brevity with the grammar dose. Keep it short, crisp, relevant, and tight!
Example:
Here's and example where I wanted to advocate the use of start instead of launch in keeping with the house style.
So the tip read something like this:
Today’s Topic: Launch
Do not use to mean start, as in "launch a program" or "launch a form."
Use start instead.
Examples:
Correct:
- In some cases it appears automatically when you first start the feature. (source: in-house document).
- Once you start Value Lists, click the name of a list that you want to edit. (source: in-house document).
- Once you start Windows Explorer, choose Tools > Folder Options. (source: general).
Incorrect:
- <Product name> can be launched/started by opening the RFx export file and selecting the <product name> Analytics category from the Excel menu bar. (source: in-house document).
- User Portal: Launch/starting point for the users in the buyer organizations on logging into <product name>. (source: in-house document).
Bonus Tip:
It works well to correct the incorrect examples from in-house documentation to drive home the impact better!
Hope this helps!
Happy tips writing....
Enough for today!
