Resolve to put an end to these common grammar mistakes

Bianca Gordon

With less than 30 days of the New Year under our belts, everyone is still going strong when it comes to keeping their New Year’s resolutions. Gyms are more crowded, grocery carts are filled with more fruits and vegetables and fewer chips and cookies, and that extra “splurge” money is being put into a rainy day fund somewhere. Once the New Year doesn’t seem so new anymore, it never fails that other things take priority over the resolutions we make and vow that “this year I’m going to follow through.”

Nothing drives me more crazy than reading something and suddenly finding that I can’t understand it because the words the writer used convey a different meaning than he or she intended. Take a look at the following common grammar mistakes, and let’s resolve to say goodbye to them when we say goodbye to 2014.

1. Your vs. You’re

I can honestly say that this may be my biggest grammar pet peeve. It’s also probably the one that’s most frequently misused. To avoid error with this one, keep the following in mind: 

“Your” is a possessive pronoun, as in “your car” or “your dog.” 

“You’re” is a contraction for “you are,” as in “you’re confusing your readers using your when you really mean you are.”

2. It’s vs. Its

This is another common grammar mistake. You can follow the same rule of thumb previously mentioned and ask yourself if you intend to use a contraction or possessive. Here’s an example:

“It’s” is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” “Its” is a possessive pronoun, as in “The juice lost its flavor.” 

3. There vs. Their

While I don’t see this one as much, unless it’s a typo, people still get tripped up occasionally. 

“There” is used many ways, including as a reference to a place (“let’s go there”) or as a pronoun (“there is no hope”). “Their” is a plural possessive pronoun, as in “their bags” or “their opinions.” Here’s a rule of thumb: Ask yourself if you are talking about more than one person and something that they possess? If so, “their” will get you there. 

4. Affect vs. Effect

This one is likely the most difficult on this list. When I’m writing, I sometimes pause and think about this one to make sure I use the correct word. 

“Affect” is a verb, as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect the outcome of your message.” “Effect” is a noun, as in “The effect of a bad diet and no exercise can be dangerous to your health.” 

Which of these do you struggle with in your writing? Are there any I left out that fall under your grammar pet peeves? Comment below, I’d love to hear from you. Oh, and don’t forget to share your New Year’s resolution and how well you are doing with it so far!

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

Bianca Gordon

As public relations professionals, a great deal of our success is based on securing media hits for our clients. In turn, much of our frustration can also come when we don’t achieve media hits for a client or story we know is newsworthy. So where does it all start? I’d say with the perfect media pitch.

The perfect media pitch is a lot like the perfect cupcake. If your cupcake eating starts with the icing, there’s nothing worse than delicious icing and dry, tasteless cake. If the cake happens to be your favorite, then what’s worse than moist, delicious cake with horrible icing? Just like the cupcake has two critical components to make it just right, so does the perfect media pitch.

The media pitch is the toughest (and most important) task to master when dealing with the media relations aspect of a PR professional’s job. It’s your initial contact with the reporter, a.k.a. the gatekeeper to the door that will get your client featured. Let’s be clear – we aren’t aiming for “good” pitches. While a good pitch may certainly get you a response and is better than the ignored “bad” pitch, it’s the “perfect” pitch that gets your client in the door and seals the deal for their media coverage.

Courtesy of Flickr

So, how do you accomplish both the perfect cake and delectable icing of the media-pitching cupcake? It starts with the subject line. In an age where all pitches are delivered via email, what your reader sees in the subject line can determine whether you get that double click to open or your pitch is headed straight to the trash. At all costs, avoid “press release” or “breaking news” with a slew of exclamation points to follow. This is a sure-fire way to guarantee your pitch a one-way ticket to the trash. Keep your subject lines targeted and short. 

Now, to achieve that perfect icing on your media-pitching cupcake, you will want to understand who you are pitching to and personalize it to that reporter. Know reporters’ preferences, their work and their beats, and also be familiar with the audience they are trying to reach. Nothing comes across more haphazardly than pitching a hard news story to an entertainment or sports reporter. You wouldn’t substitute salt for the sugar in your perfect cupcake recipe, so don’t ruin your perfect pitch by being careless.

Lastly, be sure to tell the reporter why your story will interest him or her. You know your client is the greatest thing since sliced bread; now is your time to prove it.

Sit up Straight!

Bianca Gordon

On a recent visit to a client’s office, I walked in and was blown away by – wait for it – their chairs! Yes, I said chairs. Every single desk is equipped with a stability ball chair. I tried to hide my giddy expression when I realized that I, too, would get to sit in one because their conference room was also outfitted in 12 of these things. The client informed me that they have these chairs to help their employees improve posture and reduce tension on their back. Immediately, thoughts of my horrible posture crept in. Countless times during the workday, I find that my back hurts long before 5 p.m. because I’m slouching.

The chair was actually quite interesting, and at first, I told myself “there’s no way this is comfortable, nor stable.” Imagine my surprise when I sat down, and, after the hour-long meeting concluded, I felt like I had a pretty decent core workout and noticed myself standing taller (which, for me, is a perk since I’m 5’4” and still hoping that, with improved posture, someday I’ll reach 5’7”).

Being a strong believer in the efficacy of Post-it Notes as reminders, I decided to place one with “sit up straight” written on it in the top right-hand corner of my computer screen to remind myself to practice the perfect posture that I strive for. I was fondly reminded of a conversation from our Obsidian retreat that was on this very same topic. It made me wonder: Is my posture something that I personally want to improve because I’ve noticed myself slouching as of late, or is it something that can enhance me physically as well as improve my productivity at work. Does posture really equal productivity? “Light bulb!” (in my best Steve Carell voice from “Despicable Me.”) 

A survey from Staples Advantage reports that half of U.S. workers say they’d be more productive in a more comfortable and ergonomic workspace. The same survey reports that more than one in three workers would be more pleasant to work with, and 35 percent say they would feel less stressed at work. According to the Cleveland Clinic, correct posture at a desk helps keep your spine and joints in proper alignment, decreases stress on ligaments, prevents fatigue, strain, backache and pain, and reduces the risk of arthritis. 

If ordering a stock of ergonomic equipment isn’t in your office budget at the time, no worries; you aren’t cursed with bad posture for the rest of your working days. In a Livestrong.com article I recently read, they offered the following FREE tips on how you can improve posture (thus, increasing productivity), by positioning your body properly while working at your desk:

Courtesy of Weldon Kennedy

1. Sit facing forward. Yes, it may take concentration and a few laughs from co-workers, but this is worth the practice. Your buttocks should press against the back of the chair, and your back shouldn’t be slouched or hunched.

2. Keep a towel at work. No, it’s not for those coffee spills where you have to try and salvage every paper on your desk. When rolled up, the towel can be placed in the natural curves of your back to increase lumbar support and reduce the temptation to push your back flat against the chair. 

3. Keep it even. When sitting at your desk, your weight should be distributed evenly across both hips – don’t favor one side over the other.

4. No leg crossing. This is probably particularly difficult for all the ladies out there who have been told for years that “a lady should cross her legs when seated.” Throw your etiquette classes out of the window at the office! Sit with your knees bent at right angles, slightly higher than or even with your hips. The CDC recommends lowering your chair slightly or resting your feet on a low stool if necessary to obtain the correct height.

5. Sit close. Adjust the height of your desk and chair so that you are sitting close to the writing or typing surface and your work is tilted slightly up toward your face.

6. Use those armrests. If your chair has armrests, lay your elbows on them and extend your lower arms toward your writing surface or keyboard. Your lower arms should be positioned at an angle from your elbows, not extended straight out away from your body. If your chair doesn’t have armrests, move your keyboard back so that your lower arms can rest on the desk.

7. Keep your head forward. Look straight ahead when sitting and working, and do not place documents or your computer monitor off to one side. You should not need to move your head to read your screen, and you should not look up or down repeatedly between the computer and your documents. 

8. Get off the phone. If the phone is a big part of your job, invest in a headrest or headset to use while sitting at your desk. Most importantly, do not hold the phone between your ear and shoulder. Doing so can cause muscle strain, fatigue and pain, according to the CDC.

While I do think it would be really cool to have a bunch of stability chairs “rolling” around the office (pun intended), it’s good to know the fate of my good posture doesn’t lie in the investment of one. 

Does your office have one of these cool chairs? If so, comment below to let me know if they’re really worth the hype. I’d also love to know how my fellow office-dwellers prevent the 5 p.m. back pain.