Remember the other day? When I told you about Liz‘s “Blog-to-Show”? It was so wildly successful, she’s already planning for the next one.

Anyway, the list is a great one–a fantastic mix of different kinds of blogs. I admit that I’ve only been to about 60 of them so far, but, well … there are a lot of them. Worth the visit and a little link love, don’t you think?

Table of Contents Listing the Bloggers … and Their Blogs

1. Kris Rowlands … Fresh Focus
2. Elaine B. … House of Luxe
3-4. John Carson … Make Johnny Cash and Fine Print
5. Geoffrey Philip … Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot Blog
6. Ari Herzog … Ari Herzog
7. Debra … Contextures Blog
8-9. Karin H … Kiss2 – The Kiss Business too (2) and 1 plus 1 makes 3
10. Mike Vizdos …Implementing Scrum
11. Keith Brooks … Lotus Evangelist
12. Susan Cartier Liebel … Building ‘Solo Practice University’
13. Delaney Kirk … Ask-Dr-Kirk
14. Romana Mirza … Find creativity in the world.
15-16. Jessica Fritsche … paper graffiti and Daily Tech Diva
17. Rick Grant … New Media Observer
18. Tim King … J. Timothy King’s Blog
19. Beth Robinson … Inventing Elephants
20. Jonathan Fields … Jonathan Fields | Awake @ The Wheel
21. Robert Schilt … Robert@PNG
22. Tammy Lenski … Conflict Zen
23. Michael Sync … Michael Sync – Sharing our knowledge
24. Scot Herrick … Cube Rules
25. cindy lou who … CityStreams
26. C. G. Rosberg … You Ruined My Childhood
27. Julie Roads … Blogging Roads / Writing Roads
28. Andre Ward … Andre Ward’s Blog
29. Mike Kennedy … Facing Up to Your Worst Case Scenario!
30. Michelle … DivinePurposeUnleashed
31. Ann Kingman … Books on the Nightstand
32. Todd Jordan … The Broad Brush
33-34. Michael Martin … Google Android Phones Latest News + gPhone Information and MTV Real World Road Rules News
35. Lauren Krause … Creative Curio
36. Mother Earth … Best of Mother Earth
37. JoLynn Braley … The Fit Shack
38. Alex Ramon … The Bicycle Tutor
39. isabella mori … Change Therapy
40. DB Ferguson … No Fact Zone
41-42. youlki22 … A Learner’s diary and Reviews and ramblings around the blogsphere!
43. Lillie Ammann … A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye
44. Butterfly Media … Butterfly Media Romania Blog
45. Richard … bizRichard
46. Mayank Gupta … StudioWordpress – Best WordPress Themes
47. Benjamin Ellis … WOWNDADI
48. Thomas MacEntee … Destination: Austin Family
49. Cody McKibben … Thrilling Heroics
50. David M. Scott … Web Ink Now by David Meerman Scott
51. Melinda Seckington … Miss Geeky
52. Skip Lombardi … Almost Italian
53. CMcBrown … Branding & Marketing
54. Carla Chadwick … Vintage Holiday Crafts
55. uncle wilco … Shedblog.co.uk
56. Karl Staib … Work Happy Now
57. Mark Avey … FlightSimX
58. c.a. Marks … Alabama Improper
59. Lucy Nixon … Corporate Eye
60. Karl Edwards … Working Matters
61. William Thornton … HILL COUNTRY OF MONROE COUNTRY MISSISSIPPI
62. Aneesa … Love the Game, Don’t Like Puck Bunnies
63. Genie … The Inadvertent Gardener
64. durk kooistra … Fant00m
65. AEB Lemon … lemonologie
66. Amy Boyte … Amy’s Web Log
67. Jeremy Young … ProgressiveHistorians
68. Schelly Talalay Dardashti … Tracing the Tribe – The Jewish Genealogy Blog
69. Jon Peltier … PTS Blog
70. PAMIR KICIMAN … Reiki Help Blog
71. Chuck Frey … The Mind Mapping Software Blog
72. Mad Dog … Doggy Style
73. Chris Osborne … Sapid Existence
74. Brian … “Truth is Freedom”
75. Rose-Dewy Knickers … Flash Your Knickers Here
76. Jim McGee … McGee’s Musings
77. me.allen … Home Biz Notes
78. Becky McCray … Small Biz Survival
79. Katie Konrath … Get Fresh Minds
80-81. Rachel Smith … Bitten by Books and The Pink Ribbon Review
82. Karen Lynch … The Pink Ribbon Review
83. Abhijeet Mukherjee … Jeet Blog
84. Pelf Nyok … pelf-ism is contagious
85. Scott McArthur … McArthur’s Rant
86. Josh Klein … Josh Klein Web Strategy
87. Tim Brownson … A Daring Adventure
88. wess stewart … [ ! ] The Sugarbuzz Project
89. Allen Lam … Fun And Educational
90. Lionel Valdellon … Acid42 is the Soft Asian Enemy
91. Miranda Marquit … Yielding Wealth
92. Derek Halpern … Prevential
93. Paul Singh … Results Junkies
94. Todd Eastman … Todd’s World In 3D
95. Keith Dsouza … Techie Buzz
96. Rick Wolff … Rick Wolff
97. C Wilkerson … iPentimento
98. SpaceAgeSage … SpaceAgeSage
99. Jon Gatrell … Spatially Relevant
100. Avani-Mehta … Avani-Mehta
101. Erica Ross-Krieger … WellnessCoach.com
102. Trisha … Ideas For Women
103. Simple Sara … On Simplicity
104. Steven Grossman … Why I Failed
105. Drew McLellan … Drew’s Marketing Minute
106. Maricris G … ZenVentures
107. Ma. Merdekah Ybanez-Delid … CustServ
108. Nancy Hudgins … Civil Negotiation and Mediation
109. Sunny Schlenger … SunCoach
110. Linda Abbit … Tender Loving Eldercare
111. Zan Nordlund … NoMoWally’sintheBag
112. Vered DeLeeuw … MomGrind
113. Sarah Parker … Going Bananas Blog
114. George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster … Bigg Success
115. Jon Burg … Future Visions
116. Claire Tompkins … Your Organizing Coach
117. Martin Wildam … One-Two-Solved
118. Muhammad Siyab … PuttingBlogsFirst
119. Luc Debaisieux … MINDBLOB
120. Hunter Nuttall … Hunter Nuttall . com
121. Scott White … The Branding Blog by Brand Identity Guru
122. Meg Guiseppi, MRW … Executive Resume Branding Blog
123. Wayne Hurlbert … Blog Business World
124. Michael Miles … Effortless Abundance
125. Thomas Clifford … Bringing Brands to Life!
126. Barbara Ling … Barbara Ling, Personal Edge Insights
127. John Richardson … Success Begins Today
128. Terry Dagrosa … Seduction Meals
129. Gerrit Eicker … Wir sprechen Online.
130. deafmom … A Deaf Mom Shares Her World
131. Liz Scherer … Flashfree
132. John Hoff … eVentureBiz
133. Evelyn Lim … Attraction Mind Map
134. connie ragen green … Ebook Writing and Marketing Secrets
135. Dan Schawbel … Personal Branding Blog
136. Matthew Stublefield … SilverPen Publishing
137. jerry, age 70 … drannaks dribbles
138. Dex … MetaMakeMoneyOnline.com
139. Todd Ramsey … The Todd Blog
140. Mark Yokoyama … Everybody Loves Free Stuff
141. Andrew Dlugan … Six Minutes Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog
142. Alexander Becker … WOW: Making You Look Even Better
143. Darla F … Ultra Beauty Boutique
144. James Chartrand … Men with Pens
145. Glenda Watson Hyatt … Do It Myself Blog
146. aschmittylife … It’s A Schmitty Life
147. Dave Weinberg … Jewneric
148. Deanna. … Soul Like a Spider
149. Kelly … SHE-POWER
150. lala … Coastal Commentaries
151. Thursday Bram … ThursdayBram.com
152. Ron Stainforth … Black Dogs
153. Amy L … Earnest Parenting
154. Jeremy Biser … Discovering Dad
155. Suzie Cheel … Law of Attraction in Action
156. Mike Templeton … Payment Industry Insider
157. Robin Dearing … The Hell?
158. Jacqueline Zenn … SEOGroup Blog
159. Rhett Soveran … Epiblogger
160. Marcus Taylor … Invisible Green Photography
161-162. Robert Neville … Stage3 Consulting and RobNeville.net
163. (removed at blog-owner’s request)
164. Laural … Mamasphere
165. Heather Rast … Insights and Ingenuity
166. Melody Platz … The Happy Wanderer
167. Tomas Custer … HispanicTips
168. Sharon Gibson … Conflict to Peace in Relationships
169. Kathryn Boyle … knittsings | Machine Knitting, Passap, DesignaKnit Blog
170. Jane Deere … Type-TalkTherapy.com
171. Douglas Bell … Webmacster87.info
172-173. Mark David Gerson … The Voice of Your Muse and Mark David Gerson’s New Earth Chronicles
174. Jeff De Cagna … Principled Innovation Blog
175. Francie Stirling … LivingLeadership
176. Jay Heyman … All you need is a good idea!
177. Anne Glamore … Tales From My Tiny Kingdom
178. AgentSully … Life Learning Today
179. Miriam Robbins Midkiff … AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors
180. Brett Trout … BlawgIT
181. Michael Snell … New Gay Travel Guide
182. Randy Willis … Willis Wired
183. Bamboo Forest … Pun Intended
184. Mona Weathers … HerProBlog.COM
185. Angela Maiers … Angela Maiers Educational Services
186. Ricardo Bueno … Ribeezie
187-188. Derrick Sorles … Business Blogging Tips & Web 2.0 Strategies and Life By Design
189. Linda Sherman … It’s Different For Girls
190. Jenny Stinson … Running 4 Your Life
191. Jamie … Wishcasting
192. Amber Naslund … The BrandBox
193. Marianne Thomas … Writer-Mommy
194. Jasia … Creative Gene
195. Jeanne May … Goals and Aspirations
(Yep, here’s me on the list!) 196. Deb Boyken … Punctuality Rules!
197. Charlene Farber … Confessions of a Barista
198. David Murray … True Education
199. David Reynolds … Book Hotels Cheaper
200. Emily … Genealem’s Genetic Genealogy
201. L. Lee Lowe … Mortal Ghost
202. Victoria Pires … Glowstars
203. Karen Townsend … Pondering Penguin
204-205. Victoria Pugh … Help Your Child Become A Phonics Reading Pro and I Am Free America
206. Josh Mings … SolidSmack
207. Jacqueline Hernandez … Tiny Décor
208-209. Yvonne DiVita … Lip-Sticking and Scratchings and Sniffings
210. Sandra Renshaw … Purple Wren
211. Mary, mom to 10 … Owlhaven
212. Robin … PENSIEVE
213. Wyliekat … Still Life With Wyliekat
214. Scott Fox … Scott Fox’s E-Commerce Success Blog
215. Dave Lucas … Dave Lucas’ Notes
216-217. Kirsten … Exemplify and Taste Buds
218. Angie … BlogCoach.org
219. Margaret Andrews … Nanny Goats In Panties
220. Dr.N.Venkatakrishna … Stock market guide
221. Megan … FriedOkra
222. Laurin Evans … Laurin and Kelly Talk
223. Theresa Zagnoli … Visual, Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
224. Renee … Cutie Booty Cakes
225. Marelisa Fabrega … Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online
226. Barbara … Blogging Without A Blog
227. Amy Lillard … Quiet Rebel Writer
228. PsychMamma … PsychMamma
229. Rosemary Davies-Janes … Miboso Training
230. Carol Solomon … Hypnosis And Diet
231. Davina Haisell … Loving Pulse
232. Ellie Mirman … HubSpot Internet Marketing Blog
233. Dee Langdon … BloggerNewbie
234. Jonathan Harada… Up-Starts..Buenos Aires, Argentina
235. David Wetzel … Freelance Writing: Word Solutions
236. Lawrence Chiu … We Lose Weight This Way….
237. Allison Worthington … Mrs. Fusspants Guide to Life
238. Old School Tim … Kickin’ it Old School
239. Rob … THE WEEKLY SONGCAST
240. Roxanne Darling … Bare Feet Blog
241. Princess Pointful … … and hijinks ensued
242. Jane … What About Mom
243. AL … 7P Productions
244. Bob Hill … Two Texans Down Under
245. Adrian Diaconescu … Rubiqube
246. Ulla Hennig … Ulla Hennig’s Weblog
247. Amber Stults … Amber Stults – Book Reviewer and Author
248. Terry Starbucker … Terry Starbucker – Ramblings From A Glass Half Full
249. Alessio Sbrana … Drink a Drink
250. Steve Sherlock … Franklin Matters
251. Sondra Santos LaBrie … HAPPY HEALTHY HIP PARENTING
252. Anne Wayman … The Golden Pencil
253. Heather Kitty Mak … Packaging Probe
254. Barbara Rozgonyi … Wired PR Works by Barbara Rozgonyi
255-256. Cathryn Hrudicka … What’s Innovation Got to Do with It? – the Creative Sage blog and PR, Social Media and Marketing Mentor – the Cathryn Hrudicka & Associates blog
257. Crystal Unrau … Moms In A Blog
258. Nivas … Key Life Skills that make the most of your life |Personal Development through NLP
259. Kathy Hendershot-Hurd … Virtual Impax
260. Akemi Gaines … Yes to Me

Suppose that you’re writing to convince people of something.

Suppose that you’re making your living writing sales copy.

Suppose that you have the best product ever and you want to spread the word to as many people as possible.

GET PEOPLE TO STOP

What do you do? How do you make them stop and read the copy? How do you get them to even pause? People are busy, people have short attention spans, people have hundreds of demands on their time–and none of them are going to stop to read an article unless you make them.

Good point, you’re saying, but how?

START WITH A GREAT TITLE

First, you need a great title. Something that will catch them and grab them and make them stop turning pages or clicking web pages. Something fabulous. (For more on headlines, Copyblogger always has great information.)

• How I Discovered the Miracle Muscadine
• 10 Ways the Muscadine Grape Can Make You Healthy
• How the Muscadine Grape Changed my Life, (or even better…)
• How the Muscadine Grape Can Change Your Life

USE EQUALLY GREAT SUB-TITLES.

Next, you need good subtitles, so people who may have paused at the title, can get an idea what your article is about. They might not stop to read the copy (yet), but it will give them an idea of why they should.

• Why is the Muscadine Grape Special?
• What Can the Muscadine Grape Do?
• How it Made My Life Better
• How Can it Improve Your Life?

USE TEXT THAT EDUCATES RATHER THAN “SELLS”

Then, the copy itself. The best way to convince people of anything is to make them WANT it. It’s one of the first rules of Sales–you’re going to sell more if the buyer comes to you than if you go chasing after him.

Your best Sales Copy is text that doesn’t sound like a “sale” at all. Mention the benefits. Describe your personal experience. Educate your reader about how the product could help them.

Doctors have been telling us for years about the importance of Antioxidants in fighting free radicals. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is the measurement of antioxidants in foods, and some of the foods with high ORAC scores are fruits and vegetables such as blueberries, broccoli, carrots … and grapes. Especially Muscadine Grapes.

SHOW YOUR PROSPECT HOW IT CAN HELP THEM

It’s not about the Product. It’s about the Buyer. People buy things because they need them, or because they think the product can help them.

Muscadine Grapes are helpful in the fight against free radicals, and drinking juice–not to mention the seeds and the skin (known as pomace)–from this grape can help your body fight inflammatory conditions such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, allergies, atherosclerosis, colitis, and many other conditions. It benefits your blood vessels by reducing inflammation and atheriosclerotic plaque. It can even inhibit LDL cholesterol and help reduce blood pressure. It’s even been proven to help fight cancer.

TELL THEM WHAT TO DO

Once you’ve educated your reader, and you’ve explained how your product can help them–all without any sales pressure, you understand–You Make it Possible for them to Act.

If you don’t tell them where to click, or who to call, your best writing efforts are pointless.

There are a number of sources out there, but one of the very best is the Heartland Select health drink, which is carefully formulated to combine the juice, seeds, and skin of the Muscadine grape. Just two ounces has 4000 ORAC units–2 to 4 times more per serving than its nearest competitor. Click here to learn more, or visit my website at InhaleNow.com.

BE HONEST

The most important “trick” to remember, though, is to be sincere, honest, forthright. If you sound like you’re “pitching” you’re not going to convince anyone of anything. Most adults have heard thousands of sales pitches in their lives, and they have a highly sensitive “skepticism radar” working overtime. You’re not going to convince them of anything they don’t already want to believe.

By sounding like you’re just sharing information, though, you’re being helpful. You’re not trying to talk them into anything, you just have something too good, too valuable, to keep to yourself.

DON’T MAKE CLAIMS YOU CAN’T BACK UP

And, that’s the last point–You will always be more convincing if you believe what you are saying. Can you write sales copy for a product you don’t believe in? Yes. People do it all the time. BUT your copy will have that ring of truth if you believe what you’re saying. Somehow, sincerity always shines through.

What other tips do you have for being convincing?

(Muscadine text borrowed from my father’s Squidoo Page. Honestly, it’s good stuff and has done wonders for my asthma–go take a look!)

Let’s take a quick look at verb tenses, shall we? In their simplest form, they’re quite, well, simple.

• Present Tense: This is the easy one. If it’s happening right now, taking place in the present, the verb is in present tense. Repeat after me: “I am reading Deb’s blog.” See? It’s happening right now.
• Past Tense: If the sentence is describing something from the past, you need past tense. “Deb wrote many excellent posts last month.” It doesn’t matter how far in the past the event of the sentence occurred.
• Future Tense: If it’s going to happen in the future, you need a future tense. “I will come back tomorrow to see what else she has to say.” Future-tense verbs always need to be expressed with a verb phrase, since no verb has a built-in future tense format. Will and Shall are the auxiliaries you will need to use to express a future tense.

Once you get past the simple versions, though, things get interesting.

Perfect Verbs:

The Perfect tense of a verb are “completed” (perfected), and have fixed ending points. They use have or has along with the past participle.

• Present Perfect: I have written many posts. (A statement about the present.)
• Past Perfect: I had written many posts. (I wrote them in the past but am not writing them now.)
• Future Perfect: I will have written many posts. (By the time we get to the future, I will have written even more posts.)

Progressive Verbs:

Progressive verbs describe an action that is ongoing. They use a form of the verb to be plus the verb’s present participle (ending with -ing).

• Present Progressive: I am writing. (Really, I’m doing it right now.)
• Past Progressive: I was writing. (Yes, I’ve been doing this a while now.)
• Future Progressive: I will be writing. (Forever and ever and ever!)

Perfect-Progressive:

It’s even possible to combine the progressive and the perfect forms, though I admit it sounds counterintuitive. It describes an action that will be completed at some specific point in time, and uses both “have” and “be” to determine its tense (present, past, or future).

• Present Perfect Progressive: I have been writing for an hour. (…And I still am.)
  
• Past Perfect Progressive: I had been writing for an hour. (At the time I stopped.)
  
• Future Perfect Progressive: I will have been writing for an hour. (If I keep going and stop after 60 minutes have elapsed.)

Confusing? Clear? Questions? Thoughts? Did I answer all your questions, or are you suddenly thinking of examples that you’re not sure of? (Is “I will have you know that I think you’re a wonderful person,” a future perfect-progressive verb, or future progressive?) Did I just enlighten you or completely confuse you?

I just saw this at Lillie‘s last night. Liz Strauss over at the Successful Blog is having a show-and-tell weekend, called Blog-to-Show, where bloggers like myself who don’t have a huge readership can have an open house, sponsored by Liz herself.

So, if you found your way here from Liz, welcome! And even if you haven’t here are some posts that you might have missed:

• How Punctuality Rules! got its name.
• An affirmation that we are all travelling the road of life together.
• 7 Gas-Saving Tips to Help Your Writing.
• A tongue-in-cheek look at confusing Travel terminology.
• A look at how to start your day’s writing routine, and how to finish it.

Well, you get the idea!

Well, you blink, and suddenly a week has gone by!

So, continuing in the line started by my series of “linguist vs. grammarian,” let me pose this question:

Why do so many so-called grammar books actually focus more on punctuation than on actual grammar?

They tell you the correct way to use commas, where the period should go in a quotation (inside the quotes in the U.S., outside in Britain). When to use an apostrophe. The proper use of an exclamation point. All things that are good, worthy, and useful. No complaints at all. In fact, I’ve talked about all of these things myself at some point or another.

The thing is, though, that these things aren’t actually grammar.

When I think of “grammar,” I think of things like nouns and verbs being in agreement with each other (plural-plural or single-single). I think of the distinction between adverbs and adjectives. Clauses, both dependent and independent. Prepositional phrases. The nuances of various verb tenses. The cogs and wheels that make a sentence a sentence and not just a jumble of words.

I’m not saying that these elements are never touched on by the assorted grammar “experts” who are out there, but as a rule, they get left out in the cold while we explore the complicated lives of hyphens and dashes.

Who else remembers diagramming sentences in school? Anyone?

Looks pretty complicated, doesn’t it? (Image borrowed from here.)

That’s the point–this grammar thing gets tricky!

It’s too complicated for us normal people (i.e., not linguists), and it’s a lot to expect a person who just wants to sound reasonably intelligent to be able to interpret. How often do you hear someone say something like “Between you and I” because they think it sounds “right”? And, while you might be able to explain to them why it’s not, well, it gets complicated. You have to go into the whole Subject/Object thing, and explain prepositions … who has the time?

At least half the books I find shelved under “Grammar” at the local bookstore are really usage guides rather than grammar books.  But, if you’re going to write a book to help people write more clearly, shouldn’t you be addressing the foundations as well as the window dressing? Because, as helpful as punctuation is, it’s not as vital as the actual words–it just helps to keep them well-behaved.

Why do you think so many “Writing” books skip past the Grammar issue?

Laziness? An attempt to simply help people to write more better without worrying about the reasons why? (And yes, “more better” was on purpose.) Lack of space?

Or maybe it’s because the writers of these books are as shaky on the difference between a past present participle and an adjectival preposition as the rest of us?

What do you think?

We said last time that we should examine some of the more far-fetched traditions of hidebound grammatical rules and march bravely into the future. But, there is one more thing about ignoring traditional grammar rules you need to be aware of before you go striding off into the unfettered future.

You have to be prepared for fallout.

If you decide, using linguistic history as your guide, that some of these rules are obsolete, you need to expect to hear protests from the people who insist that they are anaethema.

Which, to be fair, is understandable. If you’ve lived your whole life believing that split infinitives are evil, you’re not going to just casually shrug it off when some young whippersnapper starts splitting them left and right. It’s reasonable for you to rail at the younger generation for carelessly ignoring the grammatical values you’ve devoted your life to upholding.

Case in point: My first job out of college, when the ink on my Bachelor of the Arts degree was still damp, was working in the advertising/sales department of a local map publisher. I was walking down the castle hallway … (No, really, the company really was housed in what had been a mansion built to look like a medieval castle. Gothic doorways, stained glass, armor on the walls. They even had a secret passageway, but it was a publishing company. You can’t make this stuff up.) … Anyway, I was walking down the hallway and I heard the Sales Manager complaining to my boss about the draft of a letter I’d written for him.

“Look at this,” I remember him saying, “She ended this sentence with a preposition. Even I know better than that. I thought she was supposed to know how to write?“

I wasn’t in the habit of eavesdropping, so I didn’t lurk in the hallway to hear what my boss told him, but it wouldn’t have mattered. The Sales Manager had been in the business for decades and, even though he hadn’t gone to college himself, was able to put together a good sales letter. But he was self-taught on The Rules, and believed that when they said not to put a preposition at the end of a sentence, by God, that meant you never put one at the end!

I could have brought in leftover books from writing classes in college to show him evidence to the contrary. “See? Not necessary anymore.” But there’s no way I would have been able to convince him that he was wrong and that that rule was flexible.

So, keep that in mind. You and I might know that certain of these rules are optional these days, but other people may NOT. Some of these people might be of the old-fogey variety that you can kindly pat on the arm with a “There, there” while going about your business. But some of these people might be the people who pay your bills. The people who hire you. The people you are trying to impress. If they think that you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s going to reflect badly on you.

To go back to that clothing analogy–not everyone is going to understand the latest fashion trends. If you’re hanging out with friends and family, be as trendy as you like, but if you’re going on a job interview, or visiting your grandparents, remember that there are certain standards they are going to expect. You can choose to ignore them (“Grandma, you can wear jeans anywhere these days.”), but that doesn’t mean they are going to be happy about it. So, be warned!

In the comments to last week’s Mangled Monday about the structure of a letter, Melissa asked: “What do you think about emails that don’t have a salutation? I always try to start mine with a greeting unless I get into a really fast-paced conversation with short emails flying back and forth at a rapid rate. Then it’s more like an IM discussion. I notice many people forgo salutations on emails, especially after the first pass.”

So, let’s explore that.

As I mentioned last week, letters have dates, addresses, salutations, bodies, and closings.

Memos, on the other hand, are much simpler, and laid out in a very different format. They have:

To:
From:
Date:
Subject:
…followed by the text of the memo.

Call me crazy, but that pretty much looks like every email I’ve ever sent. Different programs have different options, of course, but there’s almost always a field to put your To address, and one for a Subject, and there’s always a Date and a From (which may or may not be determined by the person sending the email).

That said, emails seems to be right at the cusp between “letter” and “memo.” There’s no defined, formal format to them (that I’m aware of), and so people kind of feel their way. I have sent and received emails that have salutations and signatures and that basically felt like a letter, but I’ve also gotten emails that were exactly like a memo–short, direct, to the point.

So, let’s open this one up to discussion. What do you folks think? Do you put a salutation at the top of your emails? Do you sign them? Always? Never? Some of the time? Do you treat personal emails differently than business emails?

As we said last time, many of the The Rules that we (supposedly) live by, grammatically speaking, were arbitrarily created by literary men of the past who were trying to organize the English language. Then, as time passed, the rules became venerated. Never use a preposition at the end of a sentence! Never split an infinitive! Never begin a sentence with a conjunction!

I’ve passed some of these  rules on to you in the past, because they’re not bad rules to know, but … why? It’s an intriguing question. If The Rules are arbitrary, why should you follow them?

Well, again, some really are required–just like knowing how to steer and stop your car, you need to know what to do with your nouns and verbs. I think we can all agree that knowing how verb tenses work is pretty important, but that naming the difference between a “past participle” and “present past perfect” is less important. But some rules are more or less arbitrary, like that split infinitive rule.

The thing is–if you are NOT a linguist (and certainly I am not), how can you tell the difference? And why should you care?

This is why The Rules are helpful. Because, even if you really can end a sentence with a preposition, avoiding it is not not going to do you any harm. You can’t actually go wrong by following all those lovely grammatical rules. You might end up sounding formal or stilted, if you take them to extremes, but you’re going to be correct–just as if you wore a suit and tie to a picnic. You might be a little uncomfortable, but you’re not hurting anyone.

And, the other reason to follow The Rules? It’s tradition. There are lots of antiquated traditions that we still follow. Shaking hands stems from the medieval habit of showing that you were not holding your sword, but even though swords have been out of style for quite some time, we still shake hands. We salute as if raising imaginary visors on our imaginary helmets. We bless each others’ souls when we sneeze, even though we don’t really believe the soul is escaping the body. These are traditions, and people like traditions.

It doesn’t hurt to keep the traditions even though they’re obsolete, but neither does it hurt to examine some of the more far-fetched ones. I don’t expect every man I see to open doors for me, though I appreciate it when my hands are full.  I believe that children can, in fact, have things to contribute to conversations with adults. I’m just as glad I don’t need to curtsey when I meet a new person. (“Curtsey,” a word which comes from “courtesy,” but who is that courteous here in the 21st century?)

Then, when you expand the analogy further into “non-traditional” gender/race/religion roles, well, there are definitely times when you shake tradition from your shoes and march bravely into the future.

Another post inspired by that excellent book of David Crystal‘s, where he mentions that–in an ideal world–we would raise our children to be linguists rather than grammarians–so that they would know the reasons the language works, not just the rules.

Personally, I think that’s a wonderful idea. I’ve always been a fan of knowing the reasons behind things, rather than being told “Do this.” (Really, ask my mother. I was a stubborn little girl, but if she said something like, “Carry an umbrella so that you can keep your books dry,” I was a lot more likely to bring it along than if she just said, “Bring an umbrella.” I can be reasoned with, but hate being told what to do. But I digress.)

The problem is that most people don’t have the time or inclination to study the history of the language, learning when this structure came into being or that rule started being enforced. Nor do they strictly need it. A 4-year old can get his point across without being able to define exactly what a verb does. What those pesky, somewhat arbitrary grammar rules do is work as short-cuts.

To give you an analogy–you can drive a car without knowing how the engine works. There are things you need to know (gas, brakes, steering), and things you really should know (turn signals, speed limits), and things which are relatively unimportant (the inner workings of an ignition-engine).

That doesn’t mean you don’t need a good mechanic who DOES know how the engine works and who can keep everything tuned up and working properly. You need someone you can go to when you have potential problems, so that when you hear a weird clunking sound, you get it looked at by an expert. But you don’t need to be an expert to tool around town.

Which brings us back to language. I like linguists keeping an eye on things and alerting me to problems. I LIKE knowing the way the word “its” is supposed to work and understanding why our first inclination for a possessive-”its” is to put that apostrophe-S in there. (Because, of course, we all grew up being drilled with “apostrophe-s shows possession.”) It would be nice if some of my English teachers in school had taught me some of the history in addition to The Rules.

Because, of course, the point is that many of the The Rules are not, in fact, set in stone. They were arbitrarily created by well-meaning literary men of the past who were trying to make the English language tidy (good luck). And as generation passed to generation, the rules became venerated, as if Moses had brought them down off Mt. Sinai. Never use a preposition at the end of a sentence! Never split an infinitive! Never begin a sentence with a conjunction!

I’ve passed some of these on to you in the past, and really, they’re not bad rules to know, but … why, if they’re not absolute, do we still follow them? The answer to that is coming in up the next post.

People don’t write letters as often as they used to–emails, yes; text messages, yes; the occasional hand-written note, even, yes … but actual letters? Not so much. Especially outside of normal business hours.

So, let’s review the essential elements of a basic letter, shall we?

• Return Address: On both personal and business letters, the very top of the page should be the address of the letter’s sender. It can be on the left or the right margin, it just needs to be at the top. Naturally, if you’re using some kind of letterhead paper, this is already covered (even if it’s just a logo at the top, with the address in the footer).
• Recipient’s Address: This is more for business letters, but in formal letters, it’s usually a good idea to put the address of where the letter is going, as well. This is particularly important if you’re using a window-envelope to mail it in (grin), but also helpful for future reference. You can skim through your old letters and see exactly where they went, without consulting your address book.
• Date: The date of the letter–definitely important. My personal feeling is that this is essential, even on personal notes where I might skip the addresses at the top. The bare minimum for the header, is the date.
• Salutation: “Dear _____,” This is where the real action of the letter starts–addressing the recipient by name. The word “Dear” is almost always included, but for personal notes, can be left out and just the name be used (“Dave,”). I honestly can’t think of a substitute for “Dear,” although there certainly might be one, but it IS the standard. As to the punctuation, personal letters usually end the salutation with a comma; business letters with a colon. At least, that’s the traditional format, though those rules have gotten “squishy” and these days it seems like either is acceptible.
• Body: The actual text of the letter.
• Closing: This is your chance to say, “Sincerely,” “With love,” “Cordially,” “Yours truly,” “Waiting with bells on,” or any other phrase you choose, but the one thing to remember is that only the first word of the Closing should be capitalized. Never write “With Love,” it should always be “With love,”. And, of course, the closing’s closing punctuation is the comma.
• Signature: In a handwritten letter, this literally is just your signature, but in a formal, or typed letter, there is space left (traditionally 3 carriage returns) for the actual signature, followed by the written name, and titles if any. (“John Smith, Lead Adventurer”)

That’s essentially it. Granted, there can be other pieces–things like “cc” annotations for carbon copies, or whatever–but this is just about everything you need.

Again, a personal note to a friend isn’t going to be as formal as a business letter, and so might not need all these pieces. You can scrawl a note with just three pieces: “Dave, Got your note. Looking forward to seeing you on the 12th. John.” It certainly gets the job done, but then, it’s a note, not an actual letter. What’s the difference? Length, maybe? Structure, perhaps? Something like that (grin).

Incidentally, I did this post out of my memory of “Writing Classes Past”–did I miss anything??

So, we talked last time about the idea of casual and formal writing, as filtered through a wardrobe analogy. (A good image that I can only say I wish I’d thought of myself.) I want people’s writing style to be neat and clean, not all tattered and ragged around the edges. I’m happy with people wearing the verbal equivalent of blue jeans, as long as they’re neat blue jeans. I’m not going about my day wearing gowns and white gloves–nor do I speak as if I were–but I still want to present myself as a person who cares about the impression she makes.

So–assuming that you want your daily verbal skills to be of the neat, presentable, blue jeans variety–how do you figure out which grammar rules you need to follow? The ones that will keep your wardrobe in neat shape?

• Reading. As always, one of the very best ways to learn the correct usage of words, and how they are best strung together, is to READ. Unless you spend your free time doing historical re-enactments, you probably don’t want to speak like a character out of Charles Dickens on a regular basis, but the man knew how to put a sentence together. Read as much, and as widely, as you possibly can. Just like seeing a girl walk by in a tacky outfit, you will quickly come to appreciate the good writing from the bad.
• Television/Media. Hearing how your peers speak is also important–and by “peers,” I mean “other people on the planet.” Clearly there’s a huge variety of different speech patterns all over television and radio–but the more you listen to the variety out there, the more your ear will pick up the flexibility of the language. You know, just like when you were absorbing all the basic rules when you were a toddler listening to the grown-ups talk.
• Speeches. Clearly a politician delivering a speech is going to speak differently than a clergyman delivering sermon–or the kid delivering your pizza–but listening to words formally put together is like watching Fred Astaire dance in a tuxedo. It might not be something you’re ever called on to do yourself, but, well, you have to have something to aspire to. (And who wouldn’t like to be able to dance like Fred Astaire?
• Conversation. The real crux of language–basic communication at its best. Or, at least, its most common. Our high-speed era doesn’t allow the care with conversation as earlier centuries did, but being able to explain what you are thinking to another person is really the whole point of a language, and yet it allows for more flexibility than any more formal form. Teenage girls giggling over a cute boy, teenage boys grunting over a video game, doting mothers raving over their children, excited men going over the latest game scores … straight, one-on-one verbal communication is where the action is, if you’re looking for variety.
• Email and Letters. Written personal communication is almost a hybrid between conversation and published matter–it’s not as immediate as talking face-to-face, but it allows for more casual usage of the rules than writing for the general public. This is one of the reasons reading other peoples’ letters can be so much fun–not only do they talk about things they wouldn’t mention in public, but there isn’t the same pressure to write to exacting standards, either.

Ultimately, the best way to learn to use any language is to USE it. Studying grammar books and usage guides might help, but they can only teach the language if you want to sound like a text book. If you want to be able to speak to people in anything other than a 3-piece suit kind of way, you need to be comfortable with all the variations. Or at least, acknowledge that they’re there. I’m certainly not spending any of my time trying to learn whatever jargon teenagers are using these days, but at least I’m aware that they’re stretching the ways English is used–just like they’re stretching the limits of basic wardrobe pieces.

And, um, no, I don’t really want to dress like them, either (grin).