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.

Into

Into is a preposition with multiple definitions, but most of them indicate either a) direction and/or movement, b) something of interest, or c) change and/or the result of an action. Here is an example of each meaning:

a) The Secret Service agent let the nice Colombian lady into his hotel room.

b) As this archival video evidence attests, Paula Abdul is a little too into animals.

c) Kanye and Kim each hope to turn the other into more money.

In to

On the other hand, when using the phrase in to, “in” acts as an adverb to modify the verb, and “to” functions as a preposition. “In” can also be part of a verb, as with “jump in” or “hand in.” consider this example:

Example: Jessica Simpson should turn herself in to the Fashion Police.

In this sentence, “turn in” is the verbal phrase and “to” is the preposition indicating the indirect object, the Fashion Police. Notice that the sentence does not say that Mrs. Lachey should transform herself into a member of fashion law enforcement; she should surrender to the authorities and hope she evades capital punishment for her sartorial crimes.

A Tip to Tell the Difference

The difference between into and in to is as distinct as that between Ashley and Mary Kate…well, maybe a little more so. When deciding between into and in to, use this strategy to determine which you should use: refer to the three definitions of into above, and take a moment to consider if “in” and “to” are functioning together as a preposition—or if they are working separately with other words in the sentence.

Stick with this plan, and the writing you turn in to Write.com will turn into success.

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.

Of course the topic for today is not being choosy about peanut butter, but it is about choice—or to be more precise, specificity. When talking about specifying things in the English language, one can start with articles.

What are articles?

Articles are adjectives that combine with nouns or noun phrases to indicate specificity. This may sound complex, like explaining why this zookeeper still has a job, but it’s not hard to understand. In English, we have three articles at our disposal—the, a, and an—and you use them every day.

The is our definite article, and as the term implies, it specifies something particular. For example, the sentence, “Let’s see the movie,” indicates that you have a specific film in mind, probably the latest direct-to-DVD gem from Steven Seagal.

If you say, however, “Let’s see a movie,” then you’re not indicating a particular movie. You could go for Sarah Palin’s The Undefeated or maybe even Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star. It doesn’t matter to you. A and an are indefinite articles: they refer to things, objects or people that are a specified part of a group.

A vs. An

Deciding when to use a or an is easy: use a before words starting with a consonant sound, and use an before words beginning with a vowel sound. Don’t pay too much attention to whether a vowel or consonant begins the word coming after the indefinite article, although that will point you in the right direction—just think about how it sounds if you were to speak it aloud. It’s that simple. Here are some examples:

• Magic Mike will be at the sorority party in an hour.
• He will likely bring an exotic outfit, perhaps a firefighter uniform.
• He dances like a steroid-infused angel.
• He probably did not attend an institution of higher education like a university.
• Nonetheless, this party will be a historic event.

See? Now you can be definitely confident when using indefinite articles.

“I love the feedback section because it’s easier than hunting through the Mturk dashboard.”

On your CS profile, you can view all of your past work. When feedback is left by Mturk editors or the internal moderation team at CS, you can view it in one condensed location. This option is a much better way to see feedback than on your Mturk dashboard, where the feedback often does not make it clear to which HIT it applies.

“I like the feedback section because I can easily find all my feedback in one…I also find it very useful to click on a button and see all the feedback without having to go through pages and pages on my Mturk dashboard.”

In the feedback on your CS Worker Profile, you have the option to view only feedback left on certain types of hits or to view all feedback at once through the “Past Work” tab. The feedback is also viewed in several ways. It is shown at the top of your submitted work on an individual basis when feedback is left, and it is also shown when you select to view all feedback. When you view feedback collectively, the option to dismiss and mark feedback as read lets you easily check which feedback you have reviewed and which you have not.

“I like being able to see any changes made by editors.”

While viewing feedback is helpful, one of the best features on the Worker Profile is the ability to view changes made by editors. This allows you to see how any errors you struggle with are corrected, giving you a learning tool that improves your writing over time. You can view both your original submission and the same submission post editing. Changes made by editors often show you trouble spots in your writing that you may not have received feedback for, or they might allow you to find something that was erroneously corrected – which can in turn help editors learn as well when they receive feedback from the internal CS staff.

“I love seeing where I rank in total edits/hits approved. It’s fun to try and move up the rankings. I’m up five spots since I’ve tried getting up the ladder, although I have no idea how far I have to go to get to the next ranking. It gives me motivation to do more HITs, even though the rankings don’t have [any] greater meaning.”

The main “Profile” tab on your Worker Profile lets you see how you rank compared to other Mturk workers. An overall rank of all CS workers is provided for two categories: total earnings and total number of hits. You can also view your rank for the current month, the current year or the total length of time you’ve worked for CS if that time covers multiple years. If you are the competitive type, you can easily track your ranking climb, and use the determination to reach a higher rank to keep your motivated.

In addition, you can also view an earnings summary of your total CS earnings in both total dollar amount and broken up by task type. Graphs depicting your performance by different time periods are available as well.

“The stats allow me to compare my performance quarter over quarter and year over year (like I can see I’ve already passed my income from last year) and how my performance over time is on a daily basis.”

The compiled data on your worker performance allows you to compare and track your work volume and earnings over time. The graphs already mentioned show your performance compared to work by other CS workers. In addition, pie charts show you a breakdown of the type of tasks you have completed and what others are completing. The same is true for your earnings compared to others.

“I like the fact that the style guide is integrated into it, and that I can easily use ctrl-f to look for specific sections.”

The CS style guide has its own tab right in the profile. This allows you to keep the style guide handy for referencing it while working on writing and editing HITS. If you did not already know this, you can search for a specific topic using Ctrl F on your keyboard, giving you fast and easy access that saves you time while you work.

“I think the “Find Work” tab is somewhat useful. I love the fact that I can hit the “writing” and “editing” buttons and I can filter out the other stuff.”

On the “Find Work” tab, you can see all the HITS currently available on Mturk from CrowdSource. The best part of this feature is the ability to filter the available tasks. If you only want to edit on any given day for example, you can just search for editing work. This allows you quick and easy access to the type of work you enjoy the most, including the ability to click on a specific HIT and go directly to Mturk to start working. The first time you use this feature, make sure to enter your total number of HITS completed and your approval rate from your Mturk stats, so you only view work for which you are qualified.

“It’s convenient to see the list of my qualifications on my profile.”

Knowing which qualifications you have is easy with your Worker Profile. On the bottom right of the “Profile” tab, you see a list of all CS qualifications you currently have. Any qualifications you possess for which there is current work available is underlined and in blue. Clicking on this hyperlink takes you to the “Find Work” tab.

Getting started

If you are not already accessing your Worker Profile, today is a great time to start! If you are new to working for CrowdSource, you should receive an email invite to create a profile after completing 20 tasks. The tools, aggregated and sortable work performance data, ratings, qualification listings, built-in style guide, viewable feedback and editing changes are all in place to enhance your experience as a CS worker and to provide tools to help you improve.
A giant thank you to all CS workers who shared their thoughts on Turker Nation on what they liked the most about Worker Profiles; your feedback helps the internal staff at CS improve your experience on an ongoing basis. Not a member of Turker Nation? Find out more about this Turker Forum, or sign up with Turker Nation to get started.

The benefits of Turner Nation combined with your profile make your experience working for CS a better one. In case you are not a member of TN, check out the first edition of the CS Workforce Newsletter that keeps you up to speed on what work is currently available and upcoming work.

The man’s brilliance obviously extended beyond his endeavors as a diplomat, inventor, physicist and politician. His syntax is also what made him an excellent writer. Parallelism is evident in two ways in this quote. First, the beginning of the quote starts with matching phrasing (early to bed, early to rise), but the list at the end is also parallel by using adjectives (healthy, wealthy, wise).

What if the quote looked differently?

“Early to bed and waking up early makes a man healthy, wealthy and a leader.”

Now, there are two instances of faulty parallelism. Had the original quote looked like this, it’s unlikely it would appear in this discussion. For the sake of continuing though, assume the quote appeared with the jilted construction. It’s not as smooth. It causes you to adjust your thinking – even if you don’t realize it. Instead of the words rolling through your brain as you process them, they stop, stutter and lose their effect (notice the three verbs used in this list).

Parallelism creates consistency, consistency your readers expect. When you start with a particular construction or part of speech, readers expect that you’re going to finish in the same manner. When you fail to do so with a false series, you’ve let your readers down in a seemingly small way, yet it undermines your credibility as the brilliant writer you are.

To maintain parallelism, you must use the same parts of speech when using lists, phrases or clauses. Think of it as a balancing act, one that when properly maintained makes your writing more clear and easier to read. You wouldn’t write “a, b and 10” for example and think it sounded okay. The same principle applies when parallelism is used in your writing.

Incorrect: Kim Kardashian expressing she wants to run for mayor at some point in the future should make the residents of Glendale run, duck and hiding to dodge her future campaign.

Run, duck and hiding is not parallel. Parallel construction would require “run, duck and hide” or “running, ducking and hiding.”

Correct: Bath time for babies is undoubtedly more fun with floating toys, bursting bubbles and barking puppies trying to steal the toys .

Sentences with parallel construction are smoother, more balanced. They keep the minds of your readers on the track you want readers to travel, so make sure your lists maintain parallel structure in everything you write. Doing so may not make you healthy or wealthy, but it does make you wise.

Many writers mistakenly believe that anywhere a pause is used when something is spoken out loud requires the use of a comma. However, this often results in far too many commas. Readers of the material are likely to grow frustrated, think a writer has some seriously poor writing skills or find themselves lost in the jilted, interrupted and unclear phrases. These over-users of commas even have a special name reserved for their comma insanity – “Comma Crazies” or “Comma Sprinklers.”

There is a key difference in comma usage: commas indicate a pause, but they should not tell readers they must take a breath and pause.

A pause creates a break in thought, a shift. Sometimes a shift is necessary to create clarity. In many cases where these Comma Crazies feel obligated to drop one (or five) commas haphazardly into sentences, the thought is so broken that not even the most intuitive reader can make sense of it.

Proper and coherent comma use:

The Saturday Night Live Chippendale skit, featuring Patrick Swayze, and Chris Farley, is hilariously, funny.

Same sentence after an attack of the Comma Crazies:

The Saturday Night Live, Chippendale skit, featuring Patrick Swayze, and Chris Farley, is hilariously, funny.

Isn’t a slow, amusing death from laughter more fun than the slow, painful death of the hacked-up second sentence?

To give these overzealous writers a little credit, comma rules are often a bit confusing. For example, introductory elements usually require an offsetting comma, but sometimes they do not (huh?). In fact, some grammar guides say something like “there are six basic rules for commas,” but then the last rule is a catchall category with 30 different rules.

This makes it clear that correct comma use might prove taxing to writers who are not well-versed in the rules. Is there a solution? Yes! These writers must learn to act as the comma police, to wear the badge proudly in order to eradicate the errant use of unnecessary commas.

As part of the grammar police, writers should understand when to use commas and when to squash them into nonexistence.

Commas are often required in when the following situations appear in writing:

1. Introductory elements
2. Independent sentences joined with a coordinating conjunction
3. Lists of three or more (serial comma)
4. Nonessential elements
5. Coordinate adjectives
6. Free modifiers
7. Pauses or shifts
8. Contrasted coordinate elements
9. Direct addresses
10. Locations, dates and titles

In addition, commas are used to create clarity when none of the above rules apply. Yep, it’s still a little confusing, but writers who learn the rules that give them the most trouble can end the premature and unnecessary death of their prose caused by misplaced commas.

Well, (interjection #1) an interjection is generally a word or a short phrase that is not grammatically connected to a sentence. Make sense so far, eh? (interjection #2)

Yeah! (interjections #3) Now you have an idea (hopefully). Yes. (interjection #4) The counting is over now.

Many interjections stand alone as a sentence even though they do not take the same form as a sentence by the rules of traditional grammar. The main goal of the most commonly used interjections is to add a human element to your written dialogue. Many interjections are followed by an exclamation point to show excitement. Without interjections, dialogue often sounds stilted, unrealistic or lifeless. Pretend you are telling a friend about something you recently saw on TV that was extremely funny. Inside, you are bursting with excitement about sharing it, and you say the following:

“Did you see Anderson Cooper giggling like a girl on AC360? It was so funny.”

Hmm, really? You don’t seem very enthusiastic. Try again.

“Oh my gosh! Did you see Anderson Cooper giggling like a girl on AC360? So funny!”

Now that sounds like you mean it.

Pretend again for a moment. You are writing a short fictional story about a nerdy kid who works up the courage to ask his dream girl on a date.

Does this, “Um, say…do you..um..think you would, like, um….ah, want to ah..go out with, um. me, like, sometime, or something?”

The use of interjections here shows pauses and displays nervousness. Compare it with this, “Want to go out with me?”

This shows more confidence, and the sense of nervousness is completely lost. If you are trying to generate sympathy for the poor fellow, the first example with multiple interjections does the trick. The bottom line is that dialogue with the human element of interjections allows you to define and create personalities for your characters through their speech.

As with anything, it is important to consider your audience and the type of writing when using interjections. While there are limited applications in most instances of professional writing, there are times when interjections are useful. Understanding the mostly informal nature of them and when it is appropriate and useful to incorporate interjections can strengthen your writing. In any instance, interjections should only appear sparingly in your writing of any type to avoid having their effects minimized.

On the same note, not understanding can hurt you. For example, writing the following sentence on a letter of application that is submitted with your resume is a sure-fire way to get your resume dropped into the trash can instead of the “must-call” pile.

“Dudes! I’m your best choice because, um, I work hard. I don’t do weekends or, ah, work late though. Capice?”

You’re likely to have prospective employers thinking, “Seriously! Who would hire this guy?”

Using quotations in formal pieces is encouraged in many cases. If you include a quote from the forever word-bumbling former President George W. Bush in a formal piece for example, including a quote with interjections used as pauses is completely appropriate.

“People say, well, do you ever hear any other voices other than, like, a few people? Of course I do.” – George W. Bush

“Fool me once, shame on, uh, shame on you. Fool me twice, uh…you can’t get fooled again.” George W. Bush.

And with those words of wisdom, this post is complete!

An Additional Way to Make Money

Are all of the writing tasks taken? Are you a little tired of writing 250 words over and over again? With the editing qualification, you can switch over to editing with the click of a button. You can give your creative mind a rest while still making money.

Faster Work = Higher Pay-Per-Hour Averages

Because editing typically is a faster task than writing an article, many of CrowdSource’s current editors have higher pay-per-hour averages than writers. The more experience you have with the content, the faster you are able to edit.

Giving Feedback to Other Writers

Editing is not just about correcting someone’s writing. When you write an article, you appreciate any feedback about your writing to become better each and every time. As an editor, you can provide beginner (and not-so-beginner) writers with positive feedback, helpful criticism and beneficial tips to make their job (and yours) easier and more rewarding.

Improve Your Own Writing Techniques

Every writer – no matter how experienced – is bound to make a mistake. As a qualified editor, you can see first-hand the most common and the most crucial mistakes in writing. As you see and correct these mistakes, you can apply your knowledge to your writing as well.

Keep up With Grammar and the Style Guide

On top of finding mistakes that you did not know of before, editing for CrowdSource can keep you up-to-date on those unknown grammar rules that appear in others’ writing. Editing also keeps you in-the-know of the changes and additions made to the style guide – the lifeline of all CrowdSource writing and editing tasks.

While the benefits are plenty, becoming an editor is no easy feat. Just like the writing assessment, each one of CrowdSource’s editors has studied the style guide thoroughly and has passed an editing assessment that put their knowledge to the test. See for yourself just how rewarding and rousing it is to be a part of the CrowdSource editing team! Visit Mechanical Turk to take the editing test today!

George Bernard Shaw, a twentieth century literary giant, despised the possessive apostrophe and used it as sparingly as possible. His disdain for this little punctuation mark further fueled a debate that already had a place in history and that still rages today. On one side of the debate are those who think the apostrophe should sulk its way to the history books because it annoys people who do not know how to use it while confusing those who do not. The other side believes in preserving it and teaching the proper usage.

The seriousness with which some view the apostrophe is obvious by the loose organizations or websites that are either for or against it. In the US, there is the American Apostrophe Association, and England boasts the Apostrophe Protection Society and the Association for the Annihilation of the Aberrant Apostrophe. There is also a website called Kill the Apostrophe.

Indeed, many writers seemingly throw random apostrophes into their writing that makes little sense. It’s almost as if they are flinging random drops of paint with a brush. Misplaced or unnecessary apostrophes drive those who know how to use them correctly slightly crazy. Sad but true, the misuse and abuse shows up everywhere. From business names to news stories and signs of all types, aberrant apostrophes run wild across the world, creating a pandemic of poor grammar that threatens to undermine clarity in the written word.

There are three common misuses and abuses of the apostrophe.

1. Adding apostrophes to the plural versions of words when one is not needed. The important thing here is to make sure a word is actually possessive.

Incorrect: The new chicken snack wrap’s from Burger King got more publicity from pulling the Mary J. Blige commercial with the R&B star singing about the treat than the exposure from the actual commercial. (wraps is correct)

2. Adding apostrophes to plural abbreviations. Ironically, this use was historically correct, but modern grammar conventions deem it as incorrect.

Incorrect: While Levi Johnston might not rush out to buy the latest DVD’s on fatherhood, he certainly appears eager for a second chance after his lackluster fatherly effort with Bristol Palin. (DVDs is correct)

Sometimes an apostrophe is added for clarification even when it is not required. An example is when referring to letters or a word that is plural (do’s and don’t’s or dotting i’s and crossing t’s). This is never mandatory; it’s simply a judgment call to provide clarity.

3. Adding apostrophes to note decades. No apostrophe is needed; there is no possession.

Incorrect: The flying car of the 1980’s much loved “Back to the Future” films is no longer something in the far-off future with the development of the world’s first flying car. (1980s is correct)

Avoiding these common misuses can stop the pandemic abuse that runs free in the writings of many. Regardless of a writer’s position on the debate over the use of the apostrophe, incorrect use is sure to elicit some frowns, disdain and a lack of confidence in writing ability.

While the sign may appear harmless, what it’s just done is reduce your faith in the dentist’s prowess in working on your pearly whites. If the dentist cannot choose the correct word for such a simple sign, you might start to question whether he can select the correct tool to clean your teeth. Perhaps instead of cleaning your teeth, he might accidentally pull one for example.

Consider another scenario. You submit a resume and are called in for an interview (which based on the following is probably unlikely). Your prospective employer points to a spot on your resume where you have listed the following:

“Consistently insures quality work in a timely manner.”

At this point, you’re thinking, “Yep, that’s me. I stand behind that statement.”

Meanwhile, your interviewer is thinking, “Really? Are the premiums reasonable? Does this dope actually think I’d hire him when he cannot even write properly?”
These examples might seem extreme, but in reality, they have merit. When you choose the wrong word, regardless of whether it is because you don’t know the difference or because you simply didn’t realize the words are spelled differently, your credibility is called into question. With it, everything you write beyond that point is consciously or subconsciously questioned by readers who know the difference.

“Ensure” and “insure” are homonyms and are often confused, which in some cases is probably just attributed to a spelling error. “Assure” is also lumped in with these words. All three are guilty of having somewhat similar meanings. Like many words in the English language though, these three words have nuances in meaning that make all the difference. Here’s a brief definition for each:

Assure: to encourage or promise that something is going to happen

Ensure: something you do to make sure a particular outcome occurs; your actions guarantee it

Insure: includes a financial obligation, usually in the form of premiums; to indemnify

To help you remember the difference, keep the following in mind:

You assure someone else.

Think of it as what 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney has failed to do for many conservatives with his constant flip-flopping on issues.

You ensure something is going to happen.

If you are claiming “Justin Bieber made me do it,” as Ashton Kutcher says is the reason for his recent multi-million dollar mansion purchase, you ensure that you receive some fanfare in the media for an otherwise uneventful purchase.

You insure your car.

Unless you’re J-Lo or one of 19 other celebs who value your body parts enough to take out insurance on them.

Learn the difference, and who knows, that knowledge might save your teeth or land you a job in some roundabout way in the future. One thing it does for certain is allow your readers to maintain confidence in what you have to say.

Edgar Allen Poe helped the semicolon fall out of fashion in the 1850s, and the popularity of the telegraph, where punctuation cost just as much as letters and words, made the use of this punctuation even more obsolete. The use of the written word on the internet has brought lovers of the semicolon together, which has increased its popularity.

If you are like most writers, you probably either love or hate using the semicolon. If you fall into the category of haters, how much of your disdain is because of the punctuation itself, and how much is because you view it as some form of secret handshake to which you are not privy?
The secret to using the semicolon is in understanding how and when to use it. Instead of the hard stop of a period, the semicolon is more like a rolling stop at a stop sign. It is more subtle, and it allows for a smooth transition between thoughts and ideas. It shows a connection, builds a bridge. You can use a semicolon in one of three ways:

1. Joining two independent clauses without a conjunction

Try a giant gummy worm to satisfy your sweet tooth; it is the perfect 4,000 calorie, 26-inch long sugary snack. (Yes, it exists.)

2. Joining two independent clauses with a conjunctive adverb (moreover, nonetheless, however, indeed, etc.).

Taunting your pup with words describing mouthwatering meats can prove amusing; indeed, the ultimate dog tease proves it.

3. Separating complex items in a series

To get the squirrels in your yard drunk, you can leave out rotting, fermented pumpkins; whip up a batch of nut-flavored, homemade brew; or, since they probably like milk, set out a bowl of vodka, coffee-flavored liqueur and milk.

Using the semicolon is a beautiful thing when you use it properly and sparingly. Much like using too much toilet paper clogs your toilet, using too many semicolons does the same to your writing.