Today is #NationalGrammarDay and we must talk about those gruesome little Grammar Gotchas that are lurking around every corner just waiting to trip us up and leave us out for the Grammar Police to pounce on. As an author and speaker, I believe that language is something to be valued and 
celebrated and I enjoy finding the right word to express exactly what I am trying to say. People who articulate themselves well tend to be more confident than people who are concerned about their verbal skills. The way we speak says a lot about us, but the real Grammar Gotchas come out in the written word, which is where the Grammar Police show up in a posse to let you know about every misplaced apostrophe and incorrect word choice you’ve made since pre-school. Let’s shed a little light on where this #GrammarDay came from and figure out whether we will have a love or hate relationship with March 4th every year.
#NationalGrammarDay was established in 2008 by Martha Brockenbrough, the author of Things That Make Us [Sic]: The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar Takes on Madison Avenue, Hollywood, The White House and the World. If you want a good laugh and to see some serious literary fun, I highly recommend you purchase that book. It is hilarious and blends a bit of sarcasm with a dose of culture that will surely help you recognize your own grammatical challenges while chuckling at some of the mistakes written by others.
Brockenbrough was also the founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar (SPOGG), which she established to help her students avoid Grammar Gotchas in a fun and positive way. Their motto was “to speak well, write well, and help others do the same.” Here is a look at the SPOGG membership card, which you can print and use to irritate your friends, or to post as a meme when someone uses poor grammar by filling in their name and writing the word REVOKED in big red letters across the front! (Ha! Ha!) Just kidding, that would be the exact opposite of what you are supposed to do.
The goal when Brockenbrough created SPOGG was to help people and not hinder them. I have a heart for teaching and a need for keeping people from feeling like second class citizens when they get zapped by a Grammar Gotcha. That is why we add them to some of our weekly newsletters (usually around the third Thursday of the month). Our mission is to help people become the best version of themselves and that includes, kind, private correction when they make a mistake. The Grammar Police often make a public spectacle out of those bothersome little boo-boos and that provides a foothold for the Bullies of FEAR, Doubt, and Shame that try to prevent people from exploring their writing talents. It is my hope that this blog post and our weekly newsletters will continue to educate and inspire you to avoid those Grammar Gotchas.
#TrueConfession: Even as a talented author, I still stumble over Affect and Effect almost every time. Whenever I start to write either of those words, I consider changing the word just so I don’t have to rack my brain or embarrass myself by getting it wrong. The fact is that language is tricky and there is a menacing minefield of prose out there that you need to master.
My first piece of advice is to get Grammarly. It detects problems with punctuation as well as grammatical and spelling errors. If you upgrade from the free account it also flags problem areas and then gives suggestions on how you can improve on your content. In addition, it can provide insight on the readability of your work by taking note of things like sentence length, word usage, and even review it for preciseness and clarity. And, in case you accidentally forget to give credit to the author for a piece of content you share, Grammarly can help you avoid accidental plagiarism by comparing your work with other articles across the web.
My second piece of advice is to cut yourself some slack. If you spelled something incorrectly, work on getting it right the next time. Don’t allow the Bullies hanging out in your Headspace to derail your efforts. Do your best and if the Grammar Police show up on your blog post, article or letter, just laugh about it and remember that your grammar, although important, is no indication of your actual value as a person. The truth is, #YouAreEnough… just the way you are. Send them on over to my website, I’m sure they will have a field day! I may have even left some Grammar Gotcha landmines, just to keep ’em busy for ya!
When I make mistakes, some people are kind enough to message me privately, others do it in a public forum. Either way, I just smile, laugh at myself and make a note of it for the future… I put them to good use by making sure I share them with you so make sure you are getting my weekly newsletter. And just to keep the mood light, here’s a little video on Word Crimes by “Weird Al” Yankovic that is shore (Gotcha!) sure to get your feet tappin’ and your belly laughin’.
So now that “Weird Al” has humbled us into grammatical submission, do me a favor and either share the Grammar Gotcha that trips you up or share a graphic, meme or an infographic, to help others traverse the Grammar Gotcha Gauntlet. Be sure to use the hashtag #NationalGrammarDay and tag us in the post and we might send you a FREE Grammar Gotcha infographic to help you avoid those pesky obstacles.
Until Next time…