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I’ve often thought about what it would be like to have to learn English as a second language. Some of us who use it as a primary language still have a lot to learn. There are many tricky nuances to watch out for, and plenty of opportunities to botch a grammatical rule or two.
It seems to me that the language would be pretty difficult to master, especially when you consider that there are separate schools of thought on topics such as:
- Should you include a comma after the last item in a list?
- Should you include one space after a sentence, or two?
- Should punctuation be placed inside or outside of quotation marks?
I personally prefer to include a comma after the last item in a list. This is called a serial comma (or an Oxford comma) and it helps avoid ambiguity when typing a list of items. Consider the following sentence:
I enjoy eating popcorn, apples, mustard and spaghetti and meatballs.
“Spaghetti and meatballs” should be counted as one item in the list, so it makes sense to not type a comma after “spaghetti.” But if there’s no comma after “mustard,” it seems like it’s part of the spaghetti and meatballs combo. The result is quite obvious: people will think you’re a freak because you put mustard on your spaghetti and meatballs. And quite frankly, I’d agree with them.
But since nobody can agree on which is the “right” answer to the above grammar questions, you can do one or the other and still be grammatically correct. Some might critique it anyway if it’s not their preference, but the important thing is that you remain consistent with your style. If you’re going to type two spaces after a sentence, do it for every sentence in your document.
Microsoft Word’s grammar checking options can help you maintain consistency throughout your documents by highlighting errors in your grammar based on your preferences. For example, you can tell Word that you prefer to have one space after a sentence. Then, when you run the spelling and grammar check, Word will underline any instances where your sentences are followed by two spaces.
In addition to the grammar checking options, Word also has features to help out with spelling errors. You’re probably already familiar with the standard spell-check feature and you’ve no doubt seen those red squiggly lines beneath typos in your documents. But what about when those red squigglies are found under words that aren’t really typos, but words that just aren’t recognized by Word’s dictionary? In these cases, you have the ability to add words to the dictionary so they stop showing up as spelling errors.
This week’s tips will focus on the tools you need to find and use the best words, with the correct spelling and grammar, in your documents. The links can be found on the blog entry for this podcast, at www.productiveUpodcast.com.
- One Space or Two? It’s Up to You – Using Word’s grammar settings for punctuation
- What’s Another Word for Thesaurus? – Using Word’s thesaurus feature to find synonyms
- Banish the Red Squiggly Lines – Adding words to the custom dictionary in Word
- Write Your Own Dictionary – Editing the entries in the custom dictionary
- Back Up Your Word Words – How to back up the custom dictionary
- Words That Are Rarely OK – Creating a dictionary exclusion list
Armed with these new tools, you’re all set to head over to iTunes to write a raving review of our podcast, complete with impeccable grammar! Also, don’t forget that you can follow us on Twitter @productiveUcast.
That’s all for this week. Until next time, keep learning English as a first or second language, and don’t be afraid to let Word do some of the work for you.
Music courtesy of Clayton & Fulcrum
