If only something had indeed crashed into Mr. Matthews back in 1996, we could have been spared more than fifteen years of aural desecration. Well, you know what they say about wishing in one hand and…uh, making brown in the other: one hand will surely fill up faster. Nevertheless, ol’ Dave did inadvertently touch upon an important grammatical issue, the all-too-common confounding of into with in to.
If you were born before 1990, you probably remember this cringe-inducing slogan. You might even recall the awful jingle by the Homeless Man’s Rod Stewart. If not, you’re probably too young—and since you have yet to feel the fetid breath of the Reaper on your neck, you can just sit back and blissfully enjoy your peanut butter of choice.
If you’ve received an email invite from CrowdSource to set up a Worker Profile and are wondering what it is all about, this blog is for you. The benefits of creating a profile offer a more enriched writing-for-CS experience. What exactly does the profile show you? How can you use it for a better experience or to improve your writing? The answers are best shown through what makes the CS Worker Profile helpful in the eyes of other Turkers like you.
Faulty parallelism or a false series messes with the syntax of your sentences. Parallelism is often misused in lists, but many types of phrases and clauses are also affected by this error that creates jilted and sometimes awkward prose. Think of the following quote by Benjamin Franklin:
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” – Ben Franklin
Commas are insidious. They sneak into some writers work with little thought. Some writers pepper commas throughout sentences in some random pattern known only to them. What they don’t realize is that commas are a bad thing when too many are used. Overusing commas creates a slow, painful death to the coherent thought and readability of any written piece.
Interjections are vital parts of developing dialogue that is realistic, interesting and emotionally charged. They find a home in both fiction writing and nonfiction writing because they are used in everyday speaking. Think of how many times you’ve used them just today. Wait, you’re not sure what an interjection is?
You have started writing for CrowdSource, and your love for grammar grows with each article you create. While you love cranking out article after article on the number of interesting topics listed, you long to use your grammar and punctuation skills in a new and interesting way. Lucky for you – CrowdSource offers editing tasks that give you all of the benefits of writing (without the painful “writer’s block” that plague so many). You may ask yourself, is it that much better to be an editor? What are the incentives? Read below to see for yourself.
The little punctuation mark known as the apostrophe creates a big stir when it’s misused. Throughout history, writers, grammarians and others have debated over the necessity of the apostrophe. Its misuse and abuse is rampant in writing.
Imagine you are a waiting in the dentist’s office glancing at the random wall postings around the receptionist’s area to pass the time. You see a sign that reads, “To assure your appointment goes smoothly, please arrive 15 minutes early.”
The semicolon has gained popularity with the use of it increasing more recently. Many American writers and grammar gurus have historically held this punctuation mark in disdain, and its use has a storied history of fueling an emotional debate. In fact, two Paris law professors even dueled with swords over its use.