Quick and Dirty Tips

A good editing site I have found online when I need a little extra help is www.quickanddirtytips.com, which features “The Grammar Girl.” I like to reference this site for help because it not only explains the rule for each question that I have but “The Grammar Girl” also provides the background and context for each rule as well. While it is helpful to understand the rule in its simplest form, it is even better to understand the rule and the context both, so you can apply the rule to other forms or formats that may not necessarily be similar to the examples provided.

I have also been trying to find reminders to go along with the new grammar rules I am learning. For example, with the “who vs. whom rule”, you can replace “he” for “who” and “him for “whom” in a sentence to discover which word to use.  I have found some of these reminders on some of the helpful editing sites I have found, including “Quick and Dirty Tips.”

Editing Mistake

Correct grammar and structure in emails is important, especially relating to professional emails sent by a company or organization. I found this error in an email my wife and I received from our veterinarian’s office this week:

“We are sending this friendly reminder because our records indicate that ELSA is due for the following services.”

There are two problems with this sentence the way I see it. First, capitalizing our dog’s name makes it seem as if they are angry with us and does not flow well with the rest of the sentence. Second, they should have put a colon after “the following services” to introduce the list of services due for our pet.