Grammar Girl: It's Easy to Write Well

DON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE between farther and further? Use commas like they're going out of style? Don't worry: You're not alone. And the fact that so many people get tripped up by word choice, punctuation and other grammar rules inspired Mignon Fogarty, a former technical writer and editor, to whip out her dictionaries and dig deep into the dos and don'ts of the English language. Since 2006, she's shared what she's learned in weekly podcasts starring "Grammar Girl," which have been downloaded more than 13.5 million times. The word maven has now put her knowledge on the page in "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing" (Holt Paperbacks; $14). Here's how to avoid common missteps and why doing so just might help you land that big client or promotion.

» EXPRESS: Why do people have such trouble with grammar and usage?
» FOGARTY: It's very unfair, because people are just expected to know it, yet teachers don't have a lot of time in class to spend on grammar and, especially, usage. I'm Grammar Girl, but a lot of what I talk about is actually usage, word choice and things like that.

» EXPRESS: Are there any grammar mistakes that really get on your nerves?
» FOGARTY: Things used to get on my nerves a lot more than they do now. You would think since I'm spending so much more time on grammar I would become more annoyed with everything. But with every topic I research, I realize the rules often aren't hard and fast. Many things people think are rules are style issues or something that's changed in the last 200 years. I've become much more tolerant. It used to bother me when people used "while" to mean "although," but there's not a hard and fast rule. It used to really bother me when people capitalized nouns unnecessarily, but it's actually that way in our Constitution. Back then, it was the way people wrote.

» EXPRESS: Forget George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." What are some of the dirtiest words in the English language?
» FOGARTY: "It's" and "its." Not only because a lot of people don't know [the difference], but also because it's a very common typo. We're used to putting in an apostrophe when we're making things possessive. It's one of my common typos; my copy editors know to look out for it.

» EXPRESS: In today's business world, why is it important to be a good writer? How does the way you communicate reflect on you as a businessperson?
» FOGARTY: In the past, people would often pick up the phone and call each other. Today, we're all e-mailing each other. You're very likely e-mailing business colleagues you'll never meet. I think of writing as the equivalent of how you dress. The writing you send is the impression you're making on people these days. In the past, the suit you wore or how you looked was part of that first impression. So, people really form an opinion about you, whether you're serious or playful or responsible or detail-oriented, based on your writing much more than they used to, I think.

» EXPRESS: What are some things that you should never do when writing a business e-mail?
» FOGARTY: I would say avoid using text message abbreviations. But I wouldn't call that a hard and fast rule; it depends on the relationship [you have with the recipient]. Always use capital letters properly. If you use all capitals, it's like you're shouting. If you don't capitalize the first letter of a sentence and names and other things that should be capitalized, it makes your writing look very lazy and sloppy, as if you don't care enough about the person you're writing to to hit the shift key. Nobody is too busy to hit the shift key.

» EXPRESS: Why do you want to help others improve their grammar?
» FOGARTY: It's kind of funny, because I've always wanted to make a difference in the world. I've done a lot of different things to try and do that. I was in a Ph.D. program at Stanford doing genetic cancer research for a while. I used to visit people in nursing homes. Sometimes my husband will tease me that I'm helping people with grammar, and is that significant enough for me, because I've always had these lofty goals. I feel like this is the opportunity that was given to me to make a difference, so I'm going to do the best job at it I can. This was my hobby; I never expected to reach hundreds of thousands of people with grammar tips.

» EXPRESS Do you look anything like the picture on the cover of your book?
» FOGARTY: Not so much. It's an artist's rendition of what people would expect Grammar Girl to look like. I don't look a lot like Grammar Girl, but I do wear glasses sometimes.

Written by Express contributor Beth Luberecki
Image courtesy Holt Paperbacks