Marketing masterclass: To comma or not to comma, now that’s the question…

In this article, Jo asks “To comma or not to comma, now that’s the question…” They say the English language is the hardest to learn, they’re not wrong!

The English language is widely regarded as one of the most difficult to master, because of its unpredictable spelling and how challenging it is to learn the grammar. So with that in mind is there any wonder why we, as native English speakers can still struggle with the nuances and sensibilities of the language? Like when should you inject a comma into your sentence? The use of the passive tense? And don’t even get me started on apostrophes!

Ever wondered how to spell logorrhea? Nope? Us neither… But here‘s the thing, school and those spelling bees might now be a distant memory, but you still need to make sure what you write is spelt correctly. Especially if you are writing for business use (of course your pen pal will appreciate the accuracy too!)

Whatever the nature of your content, be that for the purpose of report writing, pitch creation, a blog or just an email to your colleague, you want to ensure that what you write is both spelt correctly and grammatically correct.

Yes, Microsoft Word offers a spelling checker (if you’ve switched it on), but it can’t help you with your grammar. Well, not to the degree that this nifty tool we are about to introduce you to, can.

The Grammarly App offers a free tool to help you ace your written accuracy. It makes sure everything you type not only upholds accurate spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but is also clear, compelling, and easy to read. Their suggestions help identify and replace complicated sentences with more efficient ones, refresh repetitive language, and strengthen your writing to say what you really mean.

While the paid service offers much more features including usage, wordiness, style, tone, and even plagiarism, the free tool is still very useful for those that need to write for work.

It highlights your spelling, grammar and punctuation too.

Show me Grammarly in action…

Detailed below are screenshots of Grammarly in action, demonstrating how your copy can be improved in a variety of ways.

Grammarly will look at the clarity of your content and even offer ways to improve the sentence structure. This sentence is pretty complex and could be difficult for the reader to interpret. Grammarly offers you often a far better suggestion to expressing content in a far more legible way, that is easier to interpret.

Here’s another example of Grammarly helping to improve the clarity of your copy. Instead of using the word ‘huge’, Grammarly has suggested the word ‘massive’. It states that the word ‘huge’ of overused and that you should use a more specific synonym to improve the sharpness of your writing.

The tool will also look at the tense and identify if you have written something in the wrong tense; suggesting the correct tense in its pop-up box.

Sometimes, if you write a lot of content it can be difficult to spot when you might have added in more than one space between two words. Grammarly is your added set of eyes to highlight instances where you’ve used two spaces rather than one.

Who knew commas were so important? Commas aren’t just there to act as the separator of sentences, they’re there to indicate pause and are used after introductory clauses too. They’re also used immediately after coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.

In the above instance, the writer has used a comma incorrectly. Grammarly has identified that the writer appears to have two independent clauses which are incorrectly joined with a comma. It then offers three choices. The use of a semicolon, the inclusion of ‘and’ before you. Or the recommendation to start a new sentence with the word ‘You’.

Good copywriters should avoid the passive tense, as for the most part, the passive voice makes your writing vaguer. It removes the punch and power of your words, which makes your writing less convincing. Grammarly will highlight instances where you have used the passive voice and encourage you to amend your copy to the active voice.

What Is the Passive Voice?

In English, most sentences follow the subject + verb + object formula.

Here’s what a typical sentence might look like using the above formula:

• Delilah (S) ate (V) the sandwich (O).
• The dog (S) chases (V) the cat (O).

Sentences that follow the SVO structure are written in the ‘active voice.’ It makes a sentence snappier, clearer, and easier to read.

Now, let’s look at the same sentences written in the ‘passive voice.’

This is when the person or thing being acted on actually comes before the verb. It becomes the subject, the focus of the sentence. If you write in the passive voice, sentences become vaguer, and often, longer.

• The sandwich was eaten by Delilah.
• The cat was chased by the dog.

So with all the above taken into consideration, thanks to this free tool, spelling and grammatical errors should be avoided. What’s more, your copy will appear a lot clearer and easier to read and digest.

This is a sponsored article.