• “Discreet” vs “discrete”

    Discrete is just an alternate spelling of discreet, you might think. And it’s understandable, what with all the Canadian, British and American spelling differences where an E is moved here, or a U inserted there.

    However, in this case, discrete and discreet are two entirely different words. Here’s the difference between them:

    Discrete means distinct or separate. (The organization is broken up into five discrete divisions.)

    Discreet means prudent, tactful, or unobtrusive. (She discreetly informed her friend he had broccoli in his teeth.)

    So, how do you tell the difference between discreet and discrete? One method that helps me to remember is: the Es in discrete are separate from each other, and the word discrete refers to things that are separated. Kind of silly, but it helps!

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar.

    Freelancers can’t afford to be lazy emailers

    Those of you who know what a spelling nerd I am won’t be suprirsed when I say: using proper spelling and grammar in your business emails is just as important as the client work you do.

    Yes, I may be biased, but I believe that if you don’t consider your spelling and grammar in emails, you could seriously hinder the rest of your project. There’s one simple reason for that.

    You will appear unprofessional and careless if your spelling is bad

    I don’t mean the occasional mistake here and there (“Occasional” is one word I personally always mess up on the first go). I mean emails littered with spelling errors and grammatical mixups. Imagine you are the client and you email your freelancer a question about the project you’re working on. The email you get back is full of so many spelling mistakes and poorly-constructed sentences that you have to read it twice to understand. How would your opinion of the freelancer change? How much time will both of you waste trying to understand what’s going on?

    To put it another way, which looks more professional to you?

    A) Thanks for sending the ad specs. I’ll have the ad ready for you by 5pm tomorrow. What format do you prefer I send it in?
    B) Thx for  add specs. It’ll be ready by 5 tomorro. Best way to send?

    Freelance writers aren’t immune to this phenomenon, either. You may consider email to be on a different level than the professional writing you do for your clients. However, in my opinion, your email “voice” should reflect your level of professionalism and attention to detail.

    Take your time with every email

    Emails and instant messages are immediate forms of communication, but take a couple of minutes to review every message before you hit Send. It’s been my experience that most poorly-constructed emails and letters are a result of the writer rushing through it. Read over your email or message and make sure that all the client’s questions are answered and your relevant points have been made. Read it out loud to make sure it flows well. Look for obvious errors, but also watch out for spelling mistakes that spell checker programs might not catch because, technically, they’re not spelled wrong. These include they’re/their/there and you’re/your mixups – and my personal favourite: it’s/its. Someone I know reads each word backwards – she says that it helps misspellings jump out at her.

    Nobody’s expecting perfection

    Everyone makes spelling and grammar mistakes, and your client will understand that. The important thing is to just take care with the things you write. It’s one of the most important things you can do to improve your reputation and put forth an image that is just as professional as your work.

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar.

    “Weary” vs “wary”

    This word confusion is commonly seen, but it’s also one with a very simple explanation.

    Weary = tired, exhausted

    Wary = unsure, cautious

    So, saying “I was weary of attending the party” is correct only if you’re tired of attending the party, but not if you’re having second thoughts or hesitation about attending the party.

    One way you could remember the correct one is that wary rhymes with scary, and you’re probably going to be wary of a scary situation.

    Finding the difference between these words is also made easier if you say them aloud. I’m not familiar with all the different permutations of accents, but I’m fairly certain that they do sound different at least most of the time.

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar.

    Why saying “I could care less” is wrong

    I’ll be honest – this one gets up my nose a bit every time I hear/read it. You’ve probably heard people say they “couldn’t care less” about something, but you’ve probably also heard them say they “could care less” about something. So which one is right?

    The correct way to say it is “I couldn’t care less.”

    Saying you could care less implies you have a little bit of caring left in you. Saying you couldn’t care less means you’ve hit the bottom – there is absolutely no more room for you to care about the situation in question.

    A good way to remember it is to use different word in place of “care.” Think of saying, “I could drive less” or “I could work less.” In these examples, there is still some driving or working to do before the speaker is done. If I said, “I couldn’t work less,” that implies it’s impossible for me to do any less work.

    I hope that clears up the difference between “could care less” and “couldn’t care less!”

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar, Language.

     

    The difference between “you and I” and “you and me”

    If you’re like me, you grew up hearing your parents say something like, “It’s ‘Mark and I’, dear.”

    Well I’m here to tell you that even in adulthood, it still feels good to learn that your parents don’t know everything.

    The proper usage of “you and I”

    Your parents weren’t entirely wrong. Using “and I” is still correct – just not all of the time. For an easy way to tell which usage is correct, simply remove the other subject from the sentence. For example:

    Mark and I went to the store.

    becomes

    I went to the store.

    In this example, the sentence still makes sense. Using “and I” here is correct.

    Here’s another example.

    The store was too expensive for Mark and I.

    becomes

    The store was too expensive for I.

    Yikes. Sounds ridiculous, right?

    In this case, using “and me” is correct. Then, the sentence with the other subject removed would be: The store was too expensive for me. This sounds nice and normal.

    So, there you go! It’s easy to tell when to use “and I” and when to use “and me.” The trick, of course, is convincing your parents.

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar, Language.

    Anyway/any way and everyday/every day

    The four words “anyway,” “any way,” “everyday” and “every day” illustrate for me just how precise and seemingly random the English language can be. It’s not always easy to tell which usage is correct. Specifically, getting “everyday” and “every day” mixed up is so common, I bet many people don’t even realize they mean two entirely different things.

    So, how can you tell which one to use?

    When to use anyway and when to use any way

    The word “anyway” has a few meanings. They are: to redirect a conversation, to show that something is bound to happen, or to confirm something that’s previously been said. Here are examples of each.

    • “So, anyway, what do you want for lunch?”
    • “If I make a turkey sandwich, you’re just going to ask for ham anyway.”
    • “Lunch will be turkey anyway; I don’t know why you’re asking.”

    By contrast, “any way” has one very specific meaning: one or many methods of reaching a certain goal.

    “Is there any way we could have lunch earlier?”

    When to use everyday and when to use every day

    As I mentioned earlier, mixing up these two is very common; probably more common than the anyway/any way mixup. But fear not – it’s easy to remember the difference between “everyday” and “every day.”

    The adjective “everyday” refers to things that are routine, that are faced daily. For example, if you take the same bus to work daily, that’s your everyday route. It can also refer to things that are commonplace – “This isn’t my everyday pair of shoes.”

    The adverb “every day” means, specifically, each day.

    So, to say, “I eat cereal every day” is correct, because you’re explaining that you eat cereal each day – whereas “I eat cereal everyday” is incorrect. However, saying, “This is my everyday cereal” is the correct usage of “everyday.”

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar, Language.

    “Should/could have” vs “should/could of”

    One thing that fascinates me, though the result often frustrates me, is how many of our spelling errors arise from the spoken word. The phrases “should of” and “could of” are perfect examples of this.

    Why “should of” and “could of” are incorrect

    “Should of” and “could of”, if you break them out into their two separate words, don’t actually make any sense together. You can say “a pint of beer” or “three hours of sleep”, but “should of studied” doesn’t fit.

    In this case, people say “should of” and “could of” because of the contraction that’s created from the word “have.” Really, it’s “should’ve” and “could’ve” – in other words, “should have” and “could have.” This contraction sounds very similar to “of” when spoken aloud, but “of” in this case is meaningless and incorrect.

    Hope that helps!

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar, Language.