In July I wrote an article about phrasal verbs in response to a card in my hotel room that referred to an option to “workout” (one word – improper) instead of “work out” (2 words – proper) in the comfort of your own room.

Since then I have discovered that the Hilton Garden Inn is not the only hotel to make this error.  While considering a possible stay at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore, I found this sentence:

“For those who choose to workout in the privacy of their spacious guestroom, we offer YogaAway^TM.”

The Hyatt’s advertising team made the exact same error as the Hilton’s.  Coincidence?

Hotel Helter Skelter

Here’s a strange thing:  Just for fun, I Googled “Hyatt workout” and discovered that the Hyatt is not consistent across its websites.  The Sarasota Hyatt Regency offers:

“If you choose to work out in the privacy of your own hotel room or suite at Hyatt Regency Sarasota, we offer YogaAway™.”

Sarasota got it right!

I wonder who is responsible for this mismatched spelling?  Why is Hyatt messaging not consistent between Baltimore and Sarasota?  I’ve always thought the draw of a hotel chain is the reassurance that you will get the same consistent service no matter where in the world you go.  The discrepancies on the Hyatt’s websites make me think perhaps their other amenities are not consistent either.

More then [sic] words…

In the meantime, I have ventured on to yet another institution of hospitality:  a Marriott resort in Palm Desert, California.  Marriott evidently cares about energy conservation and therefore put out the following request:

“In an effort to conserve water and energy, would you please consider using your towel more then once.”

I don’t know about you, but my grammar checker even caught this one!  The correct statement would have been:

“In an effort to conserve water and energy, would you please consider using your towel more than once.”

There are some other grammatical issues with this sentence, but I’ll let them be for now.  Do you see the other issue here?  If you do, please share in the comments.

I recall seeing a similar message in another hotel … I’m not sure which one, but I believe the word “than” was properly used or I probably would have blogged about it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if hotels could all get their grammar as straight and smooth as their bed sheets?

Judging a book by its blunders?

And by the way, even though this Marriott is a resort-level establishment, a level “6” which is pretty high in the Marriott pecking order, the round piece on the top of my bathroom sink drain was detached when I got to the room, and there was a stray peanut hiding under my very expensive flat screen TV.  Maybe grammar blunders really are an indication of deeper quality and performance issues?

What do you think?  Have you found a hotel grammar blunder of late?  What would you suggest to these institutions that would keep them consistent and grammatically correct?  And how much do you judge a service provider based on the consistency and correctness of its message?

Your Resume:  Humans vs. Computers

When I give webinars on writing resumes, one of the topics I cover is how to make your resume visually appealing.  I often get this question:

Why would I want to spend so much time and money making my resume pretty if it’s just going to confuse the computers?

My answer is that yes, the computers are important, and that you ALSO need to have a resume that’s designed to be read by human beings.  We all know that you are most likely to find your job through networking or the “hidden job market.” When you send materials to someone in your network or to a decision-maker in the hidden job market, you want to include a professional-looking resume.  And when it’s time for an interview, it’s also advisable to have a nicely formatted resume to hand across the table.

For those of you who are hoping to get those interviews by applying online, the question still remains: How can I write a resume that makes it past the computers?  In other words:  How can I raise my odds above 2%?

Keep reading.

There are two issues with submitting online resumes.  One is the format of the resume; the second is the keywords it contains.

Formatting for Robots:

ATS (Applicant Tracking System) software is not the smartest software in the world.  It gets confused by bullets, non-traditional headings, graphs, tables, and text boxes.  So you need to have a version of your resume that is stripped down and organized just for the computers. We call this your “text-based” resume.

Your text-based resume should follow these guidelines:

1. Create it in (or copy it into) a text editor such as Notepad, SimpleText or TextEdit.
2. Use easily understandable headings like “Summary of Qualifications,” “Professional Experience” and “Education.”
3. Don’t get fancy or creative with your headings, and don’t put two categories together in one section.  Do NOT, for instance, use the heading “Education & Certifications” or “Skills & Interests.”
4. Use dashes or asterisks instead of bullets.
5. List your address in standard “tombstone” style, one line on top of the next.
6. Put spaces between sections.

Here’s what your text-based resume might look like (beautiful, isn’t it?):

Robots Beat Robots

Now, you’ve done your best to create a resume the computers will understand.  But how will you know if it really worked?

The best way to find out what a computer understands and what it doesn’t is to use a computer program that tells you.  Thankfully, there is a service where you can put your resume into a box on your computer screen, and the program will tell you what information is recognized and not recognized by the ATS software.

Here’s where you can find out about it:

How will you know what keywords to use in your resume?

Just because the computers can read your resume doesn’t mean you will have the right keywords to make it past their screening systems. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the keywords that truly make a difference with computer scanners are the ones you have on your resume that not everyone else includes.  Preptel’s service (called “Resumeter™”) will tell you what those unique words are so that you can add them to your resume.  All you have to do is paste a job description onto the page, and you will get a list of the keywords you MUST include in your resume for it to be viable.

Example:  One of my clients was applying for a job with INTUIT.  When I put his resume and job description into the Resumeter™, the resume was rated as “Weak.” I discovered that he needed to have certain keywords in his resume, including the phrase “QuickBooks, Quicken.”  We added a line about how eager he was to market QuickBooks, Quicken and other INTUIT software through compelling graphic design.  His Resumeter™ grade changed from “Weak” to “Strong.”

Without using Preptel, this client wouldn’t have stood a chance.  As you know, the online job search market is highly competitive and statistics are not encouraging.  You can change your odds of making it past the ATS systems with just a few clicks and adjustments.

Please do yourself a favor and try out this service, Preptel’s Resumeter™, for 7 days for free.  It is normally $25/month after that but with the link provided here it is only $19.99/month.

I have no doubt that you have great experience that qualifies you for many positions. If the computer can’t understand and rank it properly, it won’t help you a bit. Please check out Preptel and let me know what difference it makes!

The New York Times has been rife this season with articles about the college application essay.  The Common Application’s newly reinstated 500-word guideline is the topic of much conversation, as are general themes and strategies for the personal statement.

It is now early November.  Some early application deadlines have come and gone, and November 15 deadlines are around the corner.  Is your high school senior still stuck or struggling with his or her personal statement?

Many people, not just college applicants, have a hard time writing about themselves.  Yet that’s exactly what you need to do when writing a personal statement.  No matter how much you might not like it, your personal statement is about you.  There’s really no way around it.

Today I will provide some assistance and resources to help any college applicant to get those 500 words written.

1.  Relax!  Have fun!

“It’s all about loosening up,”  says a California college professor in Crafting an Application Essay That ‘Pops’, a New York Times article which reported on the recommendations of 5,000 admissions officers and counselors who gathered at the latest NACAC conference.  I couldn’t agree more.

To help students have fun with their personal statements, Stanford University has come up with an interesting twist:  They ask applicants to write a letter to their future freshman roommates.

Here are some samples, quoted in the article, of how students approached the essay:

“If you want to borrow my music, just ask. If you want to borrow my underwear, just take them.”

“I eat ice cream with a fork, and I drink orange juice right after I brush my teeth just for the sour taste.”

“If you have anything other than a Dodgers poster on the wall, I will tear it down.”

Note that all these lines are written in the first person – unfortunately to some, a required element of writing about yourself.  And note that all the lines are unique.  It’s unlikely that two applicants would have written the same thing.

Here’s the key to writing a great essay:  Write something no one else could have written.

If that sounds like a daunting task, loosen up!  Take a cue from Stanford’s essay question, no matter what topic you choose to write about.  All you have to do is tell stories about yourself.

2. How NOT to Start your College Application Essay

One common pitfall students fall into is trying to write an essay about their reasons for applying to school, instead of simply telling a story.  One of my recent clients started her essay to graduate school with, “I am applying to the XX school for several reasons.”  I coached her to simply start telling her story.  This approach made the project a lot easier, and made her essay a lot more interesting!

Here’s the start of an essay that meets this requirement:

When I went to Fall Out Boy’s Chicago radio show, there was the comment from the drummer, “The girl from New York is here.”  When I fought my way to the front of the crowd in Florida, there was the bassist’s point of his finger at me as he mouthed one of my favorite lyrics: “I still hate you.”

This opening line works because it tells a story no one else could tell.  It brings us into a world unique to the applicant.  And it sets us up to think something interesting is going to happen in this essay.  The reader is compelled to read the next line.

Contrast this to an alternate version of the essay that might have read, “Music is one of my passions, and because of that I attend a lot of rock concerts.  My favorite band is Fall Out Boy.”

You might laugh, but version two is the way many college essays read.  Or, to avoid boring the committee, applicants swing the other way:  “Raindrops heated by the flashing lights above, falling abundantly and without end, singeing my hair, my skin, my eyes…”

Here’s a tip:  If you are not a brilliant creative writer, just stick to the facts.  They will set you free.

3. Doing it in 500 Words

The Common Application now suggests a 500-word limit for a college application essay.  The more you stick to a story – a story that is directly linked to the point you want to make in your essay – the easier it will be to stay within that limit.  Note that it’s okay to spill over by a couple of words – but think of how impressed an admissions committee will be if you can knock their socks off in 500 or under?

The New York Times’ “The Choice” blog provides spot-on advice for how to stay succinct in Advice on Whittling Your Admissions Essay.  Read this article immediately if you are over the limit and unsure of how to cut your writing down to size!

You might also gain some breathing room from Matt Flegenheimer’s October 28, 2011 article, College Application Essay as Haiku?  For Some, 500 Words Aren’t Enough.

Need Help with your Personal Statement for College?

If you’re still stuck, panicked, or unsure, consider getting some help.  The Essay Expert’s Ivy-educated consultants are skilled in working with students to craft essays that say more than you might even imagine can be said in 500 words.  Just try us!

This weekend I went to Massachusetts for the wedding of a dear friend of mine.  It was the only wedding ceremony I’ve ever been to where I laughed until I cried for part of it, and simply cried for the rest.  I was deeply moved by the love between this couple, and by the sentiments of their close friends and family who were given an opportunity to share during the ceremony.

Between traveling and spending time with friends, I did not have much of an opportunity to craft a blog article.  I did, however, write something very important:  a rhyming wedding toast/roast.  I thought I would share it with you, if nothing else as an example of how to tell a story in a short space.  As you read, pay attention to what details are shared, what is left to the imagination, and how connections are drawn between earlier and later couplets.

I acknowledge my father, who is no longer with us in body, but who inspired me by his example to write poems such as these.  Here’s the toast/roast, a bit about what transpired from sharing it, and a few things you might learn from my experience.

Wedding Toast/Roast – September 25, 2011

At DNE Camp, a story began

Of Leslie (our bride) and Gary (our man).

They met at a table across from each other,

(Leslie freed up from her duties as mother)

And gazed, and gazed, and gazed some more.

Then brought their flirtations onTO the dance floor.

They danced, and they talked…  for hours they flirted…

This bond that they had just could not be averted.

But no matter how well she and Gary were matched,

Leslie preferred to stay unattached.

This line gave the couple a fairly fine start:

“You CAN have my body but NEVER my heart.”

But Gary was sure there was still more to gain.

They rendezvoused once on a Turnpike in Maine

And yes, since that meeting 15 years ago,

A lot has transpired…  as many here know.

There were moves, there were moods, there were protests and OH

There were bondings with dogs – the world’s cutest, you know.

A year’s separation, and a new job for Gary,

All served to bring forth the real chance they would marry.

An engagement took shape, and a life more entwined.

It seems that for union this pair was designed.

And I hear Bucket’s heart shouting “Never say never!”

‘Cause Gary’s sure got it…  forever.

[Note:  "Bucket" is Gary's nickname for Leslie; capitalized letters indicate emphasis]

Unexpected Results

I read this poem to a crowd of 125 wedding guests, and had a lot of people ask me about what I do for a living.  One long-time acquaintance asked me if I wrote the poem myself, surprised to find out that I was a writer!  I had the opportunity to share about my resume writing, jokingly telling one of the wedding guests that I write rhyming resumes.

I let people know about my more creative resumes, including one that was nominated for a TORI Award in the Best Creative Resume Category.  One wedding guest asked for my card, telling me she was interested in hiring me to help both her and her husband with their resumes.  Another guest has a daughter applying to college, and was thrilled to meet an “Essay Expert” who offers help with personal statements for college!

The Gift of Creative Expression

I wrote this wedding poem because I love my friend Gary and had a TON of fun writing and reading it.  Not once did it cross my mind that the poem would lead to business.  Yet that’s exactly what it did.  The experience reminds me that by being yourself, by giving, and by sharing who you are with others, you can obtain unexpected results.

Whether you are a business person or a job seeker, keep putting yourself out there and giving your gifts.  If you have a story to tell, tell it.  You never know who might be listening.

–

I invite you to share any wedding toasts or roasts you have written you are particularly proud of…  or to share an experience of getting an unexpected result just by being/sharing yourself.

Grammar Geeks

I belong to a LinkedIn group called Grammar Geeks, where one of the most popular discussions right now, with 269 comments, is “What Makes You Shudder?”  Each of these 269 entries contains someone’s comment (or more often complaint) about a grammar gaffe.

At first I was interested in some of the conversations…  but quickly, the conversation itself was the thing making me shudder.  In fact, I began to shudder each time another member of the group posted a complaint.  Even the word “shudder” began to make me shudder!

from toonpool.com

My shuddering at the shuddering forced me to look at my own way of being around grammatical errors.  Do people shudder when I let them know I am shuddering?

A Turning Point for The Essay Expert

At Unleash the Power Within, the Tony Robbins seminar I attended recently, I discovered multiple errors in the handouts we were given.  Believing I could make a contribution, I brought some of these errors to the attention of one of the staff.  This man pointed out, quite correctly, that the errors certainly did not prevent people from signing up for programs – in particular the ones that cost $10,000.

“Why do you care so much about this?” he asked.  “Why is your focus on finding things that are wrong?” And “What would like be like if you started finding things right?”

I took his comment seriously, and perhaps it was the corresponding self-reflection that had me shuddering at the relentless list of grammar complaints populating the Grammar Geeks conversation.

A Shudder-Free Life?  Finding my Commitment

Have I stopped shuddering at the things that have traditionally made me shudder?  Well, no.  But I am putting more attention on my commitment to effective expression in the world.

I am also considering that there are bigger problems in the world to shudder about if I want to shudder – like the way we treat our environment, and the failures of our mental health system, and the hunger that still exists in the world side by side with opulence.

And I still care deeply about clarity in writing and other verbal expression.  My job is to help people and companies say what they want to say, powerfully and precisely.  When I write, or when I edit someone else’s writing, I care that the final result is moving, compelling, and result-producing.

Often grammatical correctness is required to produce an intended result.  An error in a resume, cover letter, or college application can be the difference between acceptance or rejection, an interview or no interview.  It can change someone’s life – maybe someone who is destined to find a cure for cancer, or discover new treatments for mental illness, or advocate for environmental issues (I have worked with people doing all of these things).

As for the shudderers, I believe there is something to be gained from acceptance.  Not everyone will write or speak perfectly all the time, and I can accept them for who they are rather than putting distance between us with a shudder.  I think I’ll listen for the meaning of their words instead.  Because even with a grammatical error or two, I can hear what people are saying loud and clear.

This weekend, I had the pleasure of staying in the Hilton Garden Inn in Schaumburg, Illinois.  On the bedside table was a pamphlet entitled, “In-Room Comfort Guide.” I happily read about the superlatively comfy bed and pillow I was to sleep on and the ergonomic chair I would sit in while working on my laptop.  Then I turned to the back page of the pamphlet, where it said:

Workout in the comfort of your own room.

“Do they mean for ‘workout’ to be a noun or a verb?” I asked myself.  “Do they mean, ‘Get a workout in the comfort of your own room’ or does the Hilton have editors who do not know that workout is a noun, not a verb?”

As I read on, I came to the conclusion that the Hilton’s editors have a few things to learn about grammar.  The first sentence of the paragraph under the headline says:

Workout in the comfort of your own guestroom when you check-out our complimentary Stay Fit Kit ® from the front desk.

Oh my!  Not only did the editors miss the fact that the verb to “work out” is TWO words (known as a PHRASAL VERB), but they also did not realize that “check out” should be TWO words!  You would think that editors working for a HOTEL would know that check-out is the noun for what you do when you check out (verb) of a hotel.

Gearing Up with More Phrasal Verbs!

“Work out” and “check out” are just two examples of phrasal verbs that many people get mixed up.  One of my pet peeves is a phrase you might see often on websites, “Signup Here” or “Sign-Up Here.”  “Sign up” (TWO words) is a PHRASAL VERB like “work out” and “check out.”  “Sign-up” or “Signup” is the noun for the act of signing up.  E.g., “The sign-up table is down the hall to your right.”

Other examples of PHRASAL VERBS are:

Break out (noun:  breakout)

Stand out (adjective:  standout)

Take off (noun:  takeoff or take-off)

Make up (noun:  make-up)

Count down (noun:  countdown)

Break down (noun:  breakdown)

Group on (noun:  Groupon) – Just Kidding!!!

Foul up (noun:  foul-up) – Get where I’m going here?

Dear readers, here’s the point:  Just because there is a word in existence that glues the two parts of a phrasal verb together does NOT mean that you can glue those two words together and have the result still be a verb!  If you want to use a verb plus a preposition (up, down, on, off, etc.) as a verb, keep a space between the two parts of the verb.  Do NOT stick them together or you will end up with a noun or possibly an adjective.  You can do better than those Hilton editors, can’t you?

If you have questions or more examples of phrasal verbs that people tend to get confused with their corresponding adjective or noun phrase, please share below!

I have been thinking for some time that I would like to write a blog on the subjunctive.  One of my blog followers, an astute man named Gabe, was kind enough to give me fodder for bringing this topic to the top of my list.

For the second time in The Essay Expert’s blogging history, I turn to President Obama’s grammar bloopers.  The first was his incorrect use of “tenant” when he meant “tenet” in his speech following the Tucson shootings (The President Makes Grammatical Errors Too!). This week I’m pointing to Obama’s statement about the texting transgressions of Congressman Weiner.

Obama’s Grammatical Error

Said the President, according to many news sources, “If it was me, I’d resign.”

I won’t spend a lot of time explaining that a more proper structure of this sentence would have been, “If it were me, I’d resign.”  Put simply, this is a conditional statement, speaking about an event that is not sure to happen and that did not definitively happen.  Any time you see the word “if” in a sentence, watch out for the subjunctive.  The correct verb form is most likely “were.” A good explanation of the subjunctive can be found on EnglishClub.com.

I also won’t spend a lot of time harping on the fact that the President used the incorrect form of the pronoun “me.” The truly correct phrasing would have been, “If it were I, I would resign.” Note that “I” is a subject pronoun.  But who really talks like that?

Meet The Press:  To Quote or Not to Quote?

What interests me most is the way the press handled the situation.  You might remember that when the President said “tenant” instead of “tenet” in his Tucson shooting speech, the transcription of his speech corrected his error.  In the Weiner situation the press went to bat for Obama again — but not universally.  I’ve created a snapshot of press coverage of the issue below.

[Challenge to reader:  How many double entendres can you find in the body of this article? If you find one, report it in the comments!]

The New York Times

Michael Barbaro of The New York Times covered up (or worked around) the President’s grammatical errors as follows in his article, Obama Suggests Weiner Should Resign:

President Obama told NBC News that if he were in Representative Anthony D. Weiner’s position, “I would resign,” according to a senior network executive.

Fox

In contrast, Fox quoted Obama word for word in their article, Obama Says He Would Resign in Weiner’s Position:

“I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign,” Obama told Ann Curry in an interview scheduled to air Tuesday on NBC’s “Today.”

How many times do you think that one got tweeted?

Youtube/Hollyscoop.com

Hollyscoop.com, in the midst of making references to porn star names, fixed the subjunctive issue on its youtube video report, but did not touch the improper pronoun:

Now the President is saying, “I can tell you that if it were me I’d resign…”

Maybe these folks need a grammar lesson too.

Pundit Press

Pundit Press left the error waving in the wind, both in the title and body of its article:

Title:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: “If it was me, I would resign.”

Body:

Obama did not call for the resignation of Anthony Weiner, but did say, ”I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign.”

CNN

Finally, CNN’s article by Ashley Killough maintains picture perfect grammatical integrity in its headline, Obama On Weiner:  ‘I Would Resign’, but exposes Obama’s actual wording in the text:

(CNN) — President Barack Obama told NBC’s Ann Curry in an interview to air on Tuesday’s “Today,” that if he were in Rep. Anthony Weiner’s shoes, he would leave Congress.

“I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign,” Obama said.

Grammatically correct or not, Obama’s opinion surely had an impact.  Weiner has stepped down, probably due to the uncovering of his lies more than anything else.

If you were a reporter, how would you have handled Obama’s grammatical error?  And why did Clinton survive his sex scandal, whereas Weiner was trampled?  The Christian Science Monitor has shed some light on this question in its article, Why Democrats turned on Anthony Weiner, but not Bill Clinton.

I suppose we can all be comforted that no one (even The Essay Expert) will push for politicians to step down due to grammatical transgressions.

Ever get a document back from an editor that has tons of red or blue lines (maybe even some green ones), and have no idea how to get rid of them all, or view the document the way it’s supposed to look?  This article is for you!

[Thanks to Larry Sochrin, MBA Admissions Consultant at The Essay Expert, for contributing instructions for Mac users.]

Don't Submit a Document that Looks Like This!

Why I Love Track Changes

Microsoft Word has a very useful feature called “Track Changes” that keeps track of changes that an editor makes to a document, and allows subsequent readers to see what changes were made.  When the “Track Changes” feature is turned on, anyone who opens the document can see every change made to the original document, whether to fonts, page formats, margins, and text.

Track Changes also has a “Comments” feature that allows explanations and suggestions to be entered in the margins of your document.

The value of Track Changes to me as an editor is that my clients can see what I’ve changed, and I can see the changes they make.  I do not then have to go through their resume word by word to see what alterations have occurred.  It’s also easy to accept or reject changes, without having to change individual fonts or colors.  Gone are the days of manually inserting a strikethrough to indicate a deletion!

The Dangers of Track Changes

Track Changes can be troublesome too. You don’t want to send a document with lots of red lines and bubbles all over it to an employer or a school (many people have embarrassing stories of doing this)! The recipient then sees all the suggestions, changes, and possibly the original language and mistakes that needed changing.

As part of proofreading and preparing the final draft of a resume, cover letter, or essay, take the following steps to ensure that you do not inadvertently send a marked up copy to an employer:

Directions for MS Word 2007/2010

Review Tab

1)  Check to see if there are any comments or tracked changes in the document:

• Go to the “Review” tab and click on the window that says “Final Showing Markup.”  Go to the “Show Markup” menu and make sure there are check marks in all the boxes (otherwise you might not see the comments or formatting changes when you look at “Final Showing Markup”)
• NOTE:  If the window says “Final” and you do not see any redlines, this does not mean they are gone!  Make sure you are viewing the markups before determining that your document is clean.

2)  If you do not see any changes or comments and you do not make any other changes to the document, you’re good to go.

3)  However, if you do see comments and tracked changes, you can do one of two things:

1. Change “Final: Show Markup” to “Final” and save the final document as a PDF. This solution works if the place you’re submitting your resume accepts .pdf files.
2. Accept all the tracked changes and delete all edits and comments (unless you only want to accept some of them, in which case see step 4).  NOTE:  You need to delete edits SEPARATELY from comments!

• Under the “Review” tab, go to “Accept” icon and accept all changes.

• Under the “Review” tab, go to the icon that says “Delete” (next to the “New Comment” icon, and click “Delete All Comments in Document.”

4)  If you want to accept some changes and delete others, you can accept or reject changes and comments one at a time by right clicking on them individually. You will get a drop-down menu with choices of what to do.

5)  Repeat Step 1.

Directions for MS Word 2008 for Mac

1)  Check to see if there are any comments or tracked changes in the document:

Go to the “View” menu and Select “Toolbars,” and within it select “Reviewing.”  Go to the “Show” drop-down menu and make sure there are check marks next to the first three items shown  (otherwise you might not see the comments or formatting changes when you look at “Final Showing Markup.”)

2)  If you do not see any changes or comments and you do not make any other changes to the document, you’re good to go.

3)  However, if you do see comments and tracked changes, you can do one of two things:

1. Change “Final: Show Markup” to “Final” and save the final document as a PDF. This solution works if the place you’re submitting your resume accepts .pdf files.

2. Accept all the tracked changes and delete all edits and comments (unless you only want to accept some of them, in which case see step 4).  NOTE:  You need to delete edits SEPARATELY from comments!

Go to the drop-down menu with the green checkmark, and select “Accept All Changes in Document.”

Go to the drop-down menu with the red X, and select “Delete All Comments in Document.”

4)  If you want to accept some changes and delete others, you can accept or reject changes and comments one at a time by clicking on the icons with the left arrow or right arrow to move to the previous or next change and then click on the drop-down menus with the green checkmark or red X to  accept or reject each individually.

5)  Repeat Step 1.

Directions for MS Word 2003

1)  Check to see if there are any comments or tracked changes in the document.

• Go to the “View” Menu and click on the “Markup” option. This feature can be switched on or off.  On the Reviewing toolbar, click Show, and then make sure that a check mark appears next to each of the following items. If a check mark does not appear next to an item, click the item to select it.

1. Comments
2. Ink Annotations (Word 2003 only)
3. Insertions and Deletions
4. Formatting
5. Reviewers (Point to Reviewers and make sure that All Reviewers is selected.)

• When on, you will see all the comments and changes. When off, you will see the document in its final form. Note:  the default setting may be set to off. Therefore, never assume your final Word document does not contain any hidden comments or changes!!!

2)  Get rid of all the redlines and comments (you must delete edits and comments separately).  Do this on one of two ways:

1. Turn off the View Markup option and convert the final form of the document into a PDF.  You can use a program such as Primo PDF (http://www.primopdf.com/).
2. In the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Reviewing.

• On the Reviewing toolbar, click Next to advance from one revision or comment to the next. Click Accept Change or Reject Change/Delete Comment for each revision or comment. Repeat until all the revisions in the document have been accepted or rejected and all the comments have been deleted.

OR

• To accept all the changes, click the arrow next to Accept Change, and then click Accept All Changes in Document. If you know that you want to reject all the changes, click the arrow next to Reject Change/Delete Comment, and then click Reject All Changes in Document.

• THEN, to remove ALL comments, click the arrow next to Reject Change/Delete Comment, and then click Delete All Comments in Document.

• If you want to accept SOME changes and delete others, you can accept or reject changes and comments one at a time by right clicking on them individually. You will get a drop-down menu with choices of what to do.

3)  Repeat Step 1.

Important notes for all versions of Word:

1. If you accept all changes before reviewing the document and there is a comment in the middle of your document like “(dates?)” then that change will be accepted and become a part of your document! Make sure you respond to all questions and make any revisions needed inside your document before accepting all changes.
2. *ALWAYS* proofread your final document at least 3 times!  As much as The Essay Expert and other editors attempt to ensure that your documents are perfect, final approval is ultimately your responsibility.
3. If you don’t want all your future edits to show up as marked on your document, turn Track Changes off by clicking on it.  It’s a toggled function.  Click it on, click it off.
4. Finally, when you receive an edited document, whenever possible accept or reject the changes before making your own edits!  This practice will make it much easier to look at the NEW edits you have made to the document.

Have Track Changes questions?  Embarrassing Track Changes stories?  Please share in the Comments below!

On May 12, 2011, not one, but TWO of my friends and colleagues pointed me toward an article in Slate Magazine entitled, “The Rise of Logical Punctuation”. In the article, author Ben Yagoda explores the nuances of where to place periods and commas within quotations (inside or outside the quotation marks?).  Not long ago, I wrote an article touching upon much the same topic:  The Quandary of Quotation Marks (“ “).  My conclusion was that the British are much more logical than we are in the U.S., following the rule that punctuation goes inside the quotation marks only when it is part of the quotation.  How simple is that?  And yet I continue to follow the U.S. protocol.

Slate Magazine itself, as well as The New York Times and the Washington Post, follow AP guidelines and put periods and commas inside the quotation marks.  But Yagoda references a Twitter post by Conan O’Brien, a Wikipedia entry on Frank Sinatra, and the website Pitchfork, all of which follow the British way, with periods and commas lying outside the quotation marks.  He also relates that his students largely refuse to follow the traditional U.S. rules even when they know they will be penalized for doing so.  I highly recommend taking a look at his article for an interesting exploration of why we choose to punctuate the way we do.

Last week my blog explored the distinction between grammar purists and progressives in Steven Sawyer’s guest article, Top 10 Obsolete Grammar Rules.  It looks like we can add number 11.  According to Yagoda, despite the Chicago Manual of Style’s adherence to the traditional style, we may be fast on our way to an obsolete punctuation rule – another feast for progressives.  As Yagoda claims, “A punctuation paradigm is shifting.”  Note:  even under the “new” rules, or the “new normal,” the period belongs inside those quotation marks because it was indeed part of the original sentence in Yagoda’s article.  Crystal clear, right?

By the way, “new normal” was the phrase chosen as “Cliche of the Week” last week by Chris Pash in his blog.

Do you choose to follow the progressive “new normal” when it comes to quotation marks?  Or will you remain a purist?  So far I’m sticking with the old fashioned way, but I feel a possible change erupting.

Article by Steven Sawyer. Edited by Brenda Bernstein, The Essay Expert

Following The Essay Expert’s post about using the “singular they,” some writers in one of my LinkedIn groups were talking about breaking English grammar rules. Several of us spent a few hours discussing the merits, or de-merits, of using “they” as a singular pronoun. We were essentially divided into two camps:  purists, who would never break a time-honored English grammar rule, and progressives, who know all the rules – and delight in breaking them.  By the end of the heated discussion, purists were still purists and progressives remained progressive.

Purists love the predictability of our language and the grammar rules that govern it. They still remember how to diagram a sentence.  They can spot a dangling modifier at 50 yards and pick out a subject-verb agreement error faster than you can say “comma splice.” If you went to their houses you might find that they iron their underwear and alphabetize the canned foods in their pantry. (I know a couple of purists who do that.)

Progressives, on the other hand, believe that breaking rules connects writers with the masses, who stopped thinking about grammar rules decades ago. (If you don’t believe me just ask any passerby to locate the verb in a sentence.)

Just last year, a group of Ivy League English language purists lobbied to have “Thou shalt not break English grammar rules” added as the 11^th commandment. But language mavens, dictionary writers and even influential linguists are relaxing many writing standards. Some experts are equating this usage shift to the Great Vowel Shift that took place in England in the 15^th century.

So, my Purist grammar friends, what will you do? Will you suck it up and go with the changes in the language as they evolve?  Or are you determined to maintain pristine prose? It’s really okay if purists remain purists. I believe they’ll dwindle over time until they become an extinct species, but they do have their place in our culture today.

Purists, here’s what you’re going to have to swallow if you want to keep pace with our ever changing language.

Top 10 Obsolete Or Seldom Enforced Grammar Rules

1. Don’t split infinitives. Who would want to shamelessly do that anyway?
2. Active voice verbs are preferable to passive voice verbs. I will never part with this one. I have encrypted this rule in my memory’s hard drive. Passive voice will forever be stricken from my writing. That makes me a purist for this rule only.
3. Never start a sentence with “And” or “But.” And why not? It gets easier every time you do it. See 5^th paragraph, second sentence.
4. Never start a sentence with “There is” or “There are.” There are many occasions when starting a sentence with “There is” or “There are” is perfectly acceptable. Boring, perhaps, but acceptable. E.g., There is more Canadian bacon in the United States than in Canada. It would be difficult to change the wording in that sentence without starting with “There is”.
5. Never end a sentence with a preposition. Now that’s a rule we can all live without.
6. Always use “more than” instead of “over” with numbers. Okay. Whatever. Math’s not my gig. But truly, either one is acceptable use today. So, purists, get over it.
7. Data is plural, so the verb must always be plural. So data is what data does? Or data are what data do? If they say so. Talking about all this data stuff makes me want to sing Camtown Ladies.
8. Don’t start a sentence with “This.” The grammar gurus now say that you can start a sentence with “This.”  But (Ooops, there I go, breaking rule 3. See how easy that was?)  it is best when you use “This” to append “This” a proper antecedent that refers back to the “This” you used to start that sentence. That [practice] is okay and this [guideline] is perfectly acceptable.
9. Don’t use “free” as an adjective.  E.g., “Can I get that laptop free?”  Nay, nay, writing comrades. That’s purist speak. Feel free to use “for free.” E.g., “Can I get that laptop for free?”
10. Don’t use “fun” as an adjective.  You purists make me giddy.  You’ve always used “fun” as a noun.  E.g., “We had fun at the game today.” But we progressives like to use it as an adjective. “It was a fun weekend reunion with my family.”

English is an evolving language. A new word gets added to the language every 98 minutes, according to the Global Language Monitor. That’s 14.7 words per day.  As words get added, usage rules undergo changes as well. Will you adopt the new “rules” of grammar? Your answer determines which camp you’re in.

Steven Sawyer is a blogger, author, editor and online English teacher and writing consultant.  Read his blog at http://stevensawyer.wordpress.com/.