My 11th Secret
My 11th secret to writing is to understand and adapt to the platform you are writing for. Writing is one of the most common tools of communication. We communicate through social media posts, text messages, emails, magazine articles, newspaper articles, books, research papers, legal documents, and more. Each time you write for a different matter, the way you present your thoughts should slightly change. For example, when you send a text message to a friend it is very informal and appropriate to use slang such as "lol" and "haha." A legal document is formal and professional; it should not use any slang or humor. When writing some newspaper articles it is appropriate to use humor, but for other newspaper articles, it may be offensive to use humor. Understanding your audience, the medium of your writing, and the content of your writing is necessary to be a good writer.
Whenever I text my grandma she replies using perfect grammar. She doesn't understand when I say "u" instead of "you" or "cuz" instead of "because." I tell her that my generation's texting language is similar to shorthand in her day in age. Moral of the story: Even when you're texting your grandma, it's important to realize that you need to adapt your writing style to suit her needs.
Three Mistakes:
I received an email from my boss saying, "Will you upload Cheylynn's profile picture please? and thank you!" It should have been written, "Will you upload Cheylynn's profile picture, please? Thank you."
I received an email from Fabletics with the subject line, "the high-waisted leggings you need now!" You'd think the person in charge of writing the subject for an email going out to thousands of people would at least capitalize "the" or say, "You need these high-waisted leggings now!"
The other day I donated some money online. After submitting it, a page came up saying, "Your donation of $77.00 have been recorded to your donations record." The subject/verb agreement is wrong. It needs to be, "Your donation of $77.00 has been recorded to your donations record."
Those were excellent common mistakes--ones that I've frequently seen as well. It is interesting how lax companies can be about grammar. Seriously, shouldn't someone be proofreading mass emails before they go out! It was super interesting to see these examples of common faux pas! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAudience is such an important consideration in writing. My grandmother is much like yours. She will spend ten minutes crafting a grammatically correct text. Her sister, on the other hand, communicates primarily through emojis. It could come across as rude if I texted my great aunt a formal text, but I could be perceived as inconsiderate if I only sent my grandmother a couple emojis in response to her text novels.
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