September 2016 - Word Counter Blog

10 Reasons to Write a Hand Written Letter to Someone Today

Say what? Isn’t this the computer age? Can’t I just send an email? Well, you can if you want to, but there’s something special about handwritten letters. Let’s try and pin down the reasons why a stamped, addressed, handwritten letter means so much to a recipient.

It Shows You Care

Which would you rather receive, a love letter, or a love email? I’m betting the letter gets your vote. Why? Because someone took the time to write it with a pen on paper instead of just hammering away at their keyboard. A handwritten letter says, “I love you enough to take the time to send my message the hard way.”

You Can Enclose Fun Items or Get Creative in the Margins

I love writing to my niece, and she loves getting my letters. Why? Because I draw funny stick men in the margins and enclose little tokens like a piece of pretty ribbon or a pressed flower. I haven’t ever managed to do that with email.

You Take More Time Over It

Write, write, write, hit “send,” add three PS notes because there were things you forgot to mention. Spot three typos you really should have noticed earlier. Does that sound familiar? You just wouldn’t do that with a handwritten letter. You’d draft it first, then finalize it. It’s carefully thought through, and if you need a PS at all, it’s only going to be the one.

It Makes You Happy

No kidding. I’ve often felt the satisfaction of dropping an envelope into a postbox. It feels good. research also says people feel that way about sending a handwritten letter. I should have guessed that, shouldn’t I?

It Makes Other People Happy

What’s in your mailbox? Mine consists of bills, bills and more bills, a few junk mail items, and the occasional magazine I’ve subscribed to. When I see an envelope that’s been addressed by hand, I get excited! And if it’s a letter from a friend (rather than my insurance broker who is notoriously anti-tech), I’m smiling from ear to ear.

It Lets You Practice Your Handwriting

Just about all the written work we do these days involves a computer of some kind. Desktops, laptops, tablets, clickety click and the job is done. Have you ever picked up a pen and felt clumsy? It’s as if we don’t get enough practice writing with pen and paper and find ourselves confounded when confronted with the need to write by hand. So write a letter to a friend; you’ll be glad you did.

It’s the Best Way to Tell Granny You Love Her

So your granny knows how to text, and boy, she loves it! Even so, she’ll love a handwritten letter so much more than your hasty WhatsApp message. It takes her back to the days when that’s how family members stayed in touch. It brings back memories of letters written and letters received.

It’s More Personal

Do you have a signature font? What’s the bet that thousands upon thousands of people use the exact same font? But your handwriting is like a fingerprint. It’s absolutely unique and completely personal. Just make sure it’s legible!

It Boosts Your Literary Reputation

There are entire anthologies composed of the letters that famous people have written. Some of them wrote thousands of letter over their lifetime. Even if you have no ambitions towards fame, writing an old-fashioned letter is a fine tradition that will make others sit up and take note.

You Get Letters in Return

Don’t you love getting proper letters? Give and you will receive! It’s almost unheard-of to respond to a letter with an email! And if your friend or loved one does that, you’re fully entitled to inform them that a proper letter will be welcomed.

I can think of an 11th reason to write a letter. Letters can’t be deleted. True, they can be trashed, but think of this: I have a letter dating back from the Second World War. It was written by my great uncle and it was addressed to my grandmother. How I treasure that letter, even though both of these people are long dead. If that had been an email, guess what would have happened to it? Yes, letters are far more likely to be valued, kept and treasured, even when it’s been nearly 100 years since they were written. So write a letter today, it may act as a connection with the future as well as the past.

Never Rely Solely on Spell Check

Isn’t spell check convenient? If it doesn’t like the word you used, it points it out to you, and in a couple of clicks, it’s all fixed up. But just how much can we trust spell checkers? Speaking from experience, not very much! Sure, it’s handy when you’ve just made a little typo, but it has fatal drawbacks that can see you submitting work with confidence only for it to be ripped apart by your reader or teacher. Here are 10 reasons why careful proofreading is the only solution if you want to submit correct work.

It Won’t Identify Homophones

There are pairs of words that mean different things and are spelled differently, but don’t mean the same thing. Here are a few examples:

There and their: A lot of people struggle with this one!
They’re and there: Brits are particularly prone to confuse these two!
Air and heir: Well, they sound the same, don’t they?
Die and dye: I saw a hair salon in Sweden called “Curl up and Dye,” cute as a play on words, but not as an error.
Effect and affect: Confusing these words is one of the most common errors among English speakers. Get it right!

It Won’t Identify Misspelled Words That Are Real Words

I have a lot of fun collecting these words. They can be hilarious or simply embarrassing. For example:

Pubic and public: Are you ready for pubic humiliation?
From and form: Oops! Your fingers were too hasty there! Spell check thinks its fine, though.
Best and beast: The beast doctor in town… Could it be a veterinarian? Or is it something more sinister?
Retards and regards: I had this one from a friend of mine. It’s probably not the best way to sign off a business letter.
Human resources and inhuman resources: There was meant to be a space in the second example.
Singing and sinning. Of course, you could possibly sing while you sin, but it would be unusual.

Your Grammar Could Be Awful

Although spell check will occasionally pick up grammatical errors, it generally doesn’t, and some of the things it thinks are wrong are actually right. For example, Microsoft Word doesn’t like “your” in the sentence to follow. It suggests “you’re, but it is mistaken:

“You’re incomplete or tangled sentences get the green light from spell check, but later on, they make you cringe with embarrassment. If only you’d done a more careful proofread instead of trusting spell check!”

“You’re,” oh dear! That’s a blooper from spell check right there!

Editing Helps You Learn Your Errors

I so often type “form” instead of “from,” that I know I need to check my work carefully when this word is involved. It’s all too easy for one’s eyes to slide right over that error. After all, the letters are all there, they’re just not in the right place. Now that I know I often tangle my fingers over the word, I know I have to check it carefully.

You Begin to Depend on It

Right clicking for spelling suggestions when you’re stumped as to why the word keeps coming up as being misspelled makes you super-lazy. Always try to correct words without spell check’s help to begin with, and if you still can’t get it right, see what spell check suggests. I keep a list of words I struggle to spell so that I can learn from it. It really has helped me to improve my spelling!

You Won’t Be Able to Write Quickly When You Need To

Pictures this: you’re in a skype interview with someone you hope to impress. You can’t wander off to check your spelling every few seconds as you quickly type. Bam! Bam! Bam! The person on the other end wants a quick response. Make too many spelling errors, and you end up looking like a hopeless incompetent. Impressive? Hardly!

It Doesn’t Know Your Terminology

Terminology lurks in every field, and accepted spellings don’t always agree with spell check. For example, most people these days refer to “startups” but Microsoft’s spell checker has only recently caught on to the term. A few months ago, it suggested “start-ups” as the right spelling. Medical terminology and other scientific jargon often doesn’t feature, and pitfalls lurk behind every terminology-laden sentence.

It Has No Idea What You Really Mean

Writing conveys meaning, but spell check has no notion of meaning. You can say “infection” instead of “affection” and have your writing end up looking kind of scary. Or you can emulate my friend and sign off your covering letter with a cheery “Kind retards.” Only you can know what you actually meant, so don’t trust your software too much.

It Doesn’t Always Spot Words Accidentally Split With a Space

As long as both words are real words on their own, spell check acts dumb. Why? Because it’s rather dumb! Check these words out:

All ways versus always
Some times versus sometimes
In stead versus instead
Never the less instead of nevertheless
Sun day versus Sunday

You’re Smarter Than Spell Check!

No software can ever replace the human mind. I’ve tried grammar checkers, spell checkers, and style checkers, and they are all only tools that can be used wisely in the hands of an informed human being. Just as no machine can write properly for you, spell checkers and grammar checkers will always be less intelligent than your own proofreading.

Is “Couth” a Word?

Language is dynamic, and today’s slang becomes tomorrow’s accepted dictionary word. To answer the question, “Is ‘couth’ is a word?” we’ll have to go on a journey through time and the English language. Buckle your safety belt; it’s going to be an interesting ride. For those looking for a general answer, “couth” is becoming recognized as a real word as it appears in more and more dictionaries, but it isn’t universally accepted as a word at this time.

Couth in the Beginning

Long, long ago, the word “couth” was used to describe a person or group of people who was familiar. The opposite of that word, “uncouth” was used to describe a foreign or unknown person, usually with habits that were unfamiliar to the couth. Now, most of us aren’t comfortable with foreign habits and mores, and the meaning of the word “uncouth” began to morph into a term for those with bad manners. Meanwhile “couth” gradually fell out of common usage, became archaic, and was forgotten altogether.

Uncouth and a Joke

By the time people got around to writing full English dictionaries, only one word remained, “uncouth.” Now usually, a word featuring an “un” is attached to another word, and the prefix makes it mean the opposite thing, but “uncouth” was a peculiar anomaly because “couth” wasn’t an accepted word at all, at least, not in modern parlance.

It seems most likely that introducing “couth” as a word describing someone with good manners, initially started out as a joke. “Haven’t you got no couth?” someone would ask before dissolving into gales of laughter at their own wit. It could even be that people looking for an impressive-sounding word for “good manners” decided that “couth” was the logical opposite of “uncouth.” If they did, people would have laughed at their ignorance because they were all too palpably wrong.

Couth Becomes More Real

Here’s the funny thing. Whether as a joke or not, the word “couth” began to be used more and more in its new context. It still wasn’t completely accepted, but it was a word people used, and words people use become part of the language. It’s the natural order of things. The average English speaker from a few hundred years ago probably wouldn’t understand half of what we say, while we would certainly struggle to understand him. That’s because words and word usages keep changing all the time.

Not all that long ago, you wouldn’t have found the word “couth” in any dictionary, but today, you’ll find it in quite a few. Some will note it has a “humorous” origin, while others appear to take it perfectly seriously. But there are still dictionaries that don’t contain the word at all and don’t accept it as a proper English word. Who is right?

So, Is Couth a Real Word?

“Couth” is becoming more accepted as an English word, but it isn’t universally accepted at this time. It is by no means the only English word to be formed from a mistaken assumption. A source I looked at pointed out that “burgle” was only coined in the 19th century on the assumption that “burgling” is what a burglar does. Today, it’s 100% acceptable as a word, but I think we need to be a bit cautious with our couth. It’s still a little bit on the new side of acceptable.

Will Couth Become a Real Word?

We don’t know. It may fall into disuse and join its predecessor form of “couth” in the archives of little known and seldom remembered language, or it might stick, and become a perfectly serious word that is much quicker and easier to type or say than “well-mannered.” Who will decide? The popular vote of course. How do we vote for a word? By using it when we speak and write. For now, I would recommend using “couth” in its humorous context only and not including it in any formal essays or reports, at least for the present. After all, you wouldn’t want to end up in a heated argument with a teacher who subscribes to the idea that “couth” just doesn’t cut it as a word, and that it was uncouth, or at least ignorant, of you to include it in your essay.

If You Want to Be a Writer: Stephen King

What do you have to do if you want to be a writer? Stephen King answers with a simple formula: read and write a lot. He has no patience for those people who say they want to be writers but also complain they don’t have enough time to read. Voracious reading is a must if you want to be a good writer.

Then if you read enough, a really magic moment will always occur to those who want to become a writer. At some point, you’ll be reading a book, you’ll put it down, and you’ll say to yourself, “This really sucks. I can do better than this. And this guy got published.”

See for yourself and enjoy:

Here are ten additional writing tips from Stephen King

Write a Great Opening Line

The very first sentence your story begins with should intrigue your reader. Stephen King says it should make your reader think, “I want to know more about this!” I couldn’t agree more. I’ve read books that you have to persevere through before they really grab your interest, but the best ones have been page-turners from that opening paragraph.

Write for Yourself First, Then Think About Your Audience

What would you love to read? If you can write something that would please you, then your story will attract people with similar tastes, and even those with different tastes who would like to experience something different. By writing something you’d love, you’re more genuine and more engaged, and that appeals to the reader far more than something written without passion.

Don’t Obsess About Perfect Grammar

Tell the story first, then redraft it, polishing up the grammar as you go. If you’re going to sit there pondering the “right” way to say something before the idea is fully formed, you may end up saying nothing at all.

Be Unafraid

Stephen is convinced that timidity is the writer’s greatest enemy. Don’t worry about what your reader will think. Don’t worry because you’re doing something different from the norm. Get out there and tell your story fearlessly.

Never Stop Reading

As mentioned at the top of this article, he believes if you don’t read, you can’t be a writer. The more you read, the more you become inspired. You won’t copy other authors. Instead, you’ll use your own voice. Stephen doesn’t mince his words. According to him, those who don’t have time to read, don’t have time to write either.

Quit Watching TV

Stephen maintains that the TV is a writer’s greatest enemy. Although it’s pretty obvious that having the TV on while you’re actually writing is a bad idea, he says it saps your powers even if you watch TV at other times. Perhaps it’s because watching TV is a passive activity that leads little to the imagination. What do you think?

Three Months Should Be Enough Time to Produce a Decent Book

Although some authors sweat over their novels for years at a stretch, Stephen King says a season should be long enough to get a book written. What he’s saying is, “Don’t overthink this or it isn’t going to happen.”

Shut Out Distractions

Don’t answer your phone when you are writing. Don’t have your social media notifications on. Ask your family to leave you alone except if a matter of life or death were to arise. Concentrate on what you are doing to the exclusion of everything else. Create yourself a quiet writing space. Even the radio playing in the background will distract you from your work.

Write as You

No matter how much you admire the style of other writers, trying to use their style is a recipe for disaster. Develop your own style and be unique. Copy someone else, and be nothing but a shadowy imitation of something that is truly good.

Take a Rest and Reread

Stephen says that a six-week rest followed by a reread of your book will prove enlightening. Distance yourself from your work, and then read it impartially. Your final edits will fall into place naturally.

Learning from other people’s experience is hard to do, but when someone as successful as King offers you the benefit of his knowledge, ignoring it is just plain silly. It makes sense to take Stephen King’s writing advice to heart.

(Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lawton)

Tens of Thousands

Vague numbers like tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and tens of millions are not scientific. They can be used as a sheer exaggeration, or they could reflect a vague number that’s based on fact. Of course, you could always ask people to clarify what they really mean, or look up the real facts for yourself, but here are a few guidelines when you do use or come across numbers like this.

Exaggeration

When it comes to exaggeration, anything goes as long as the number is far from representing any reality. It’s usually fairly obvious when someone is doing this because what they are saying is frankly impossible, or at least, unlikely. What they really mean is “a lot.” Although “thousands” and “millions” are more frequently used in exaggeration than “tens of thousands” or “hundreds of thousands,” there’s nothing to stop people from getting creative when indulging in the art of exaggeration!

Vague Real Numbers

Look carefully at the phrase “tens of thousands.” The word “tens” is pluralized, so just 10,000 would be too few. You need several sets of ten to make up “tens.” We have now successfully eliminated all numbers from 10,000 to 19,999. As soon as we hit the 20,000 mark, we now have more than one set of ten, so we can use the plural form. This holds true all the way up to 99,999, although, by the time you get to the upper limit “almost a hundred thousand,” though still vague, gives a better indication of just how big the numbers are.

Vague Hundreds of Thousands

Now that we’ve looked at “tens of thousands,” you could probably write this paragraph for me, but in case I lost you first time round, let’s take it from the top. “Hundreds” means more than one set of a hundred, so you can’t speak of hundreds of thousands of anything without exaggerating until you get to the two hundred thousand level. You can carry on talking about hundreds of thousands until the number under discussion reaches one million, but most people would point out that anything over 900,000 is getting close to a million.

Why Be Vague About Numbers?

There are actually several reasons to be unclear about numbers:

You don’t know what the number is, and you’re guessing.
You have some idea of the number, but there could be more or less than that.
You’re using these expressions for effect and know you may be exaggerating.
You aren’t exaggerating, but you either don’t have, or couldn’t be bothered with, exact numbers.
The exact numbers aren’t really important.

How About Some Examples?

People have been making fires using this method for hundreds of thousands of years.

Modern humans are said to have evolved about 200,000 years ago, so it’s not incorrect to use “hundreds of thousands.” Besides, the exact number here isn’t really important. What you are saying is that people have used a certain method to make fires for a very, very long time.

If you do my writing challenge, you’ll write tens of thousands of words this year.

Again, the exact number really isn’t an issue in this statement. I just want people to know that they can write a lot of words using a simple challenge. If the person is interested in knowing more after reading this statement, they can look to see the exact number is 66,795 words.

There must be hundreds of thousands of bacteria living on that decaying food!

Here’s a statement that’s sheer guesswork. You have absolutely no idea how many bacteria are living on the food, but by the look of it, there must be plenty.

Judging from the poll, there are tens of thousands of people who agree with me.

There was a number. It was big. You can’t really remember it, and you can’t be bothered to get the exact figure. Was it 30,000, or was it 50,000? You’re not really sure.

With how many tens of thousands of grains of salt should you take vague number statements?

To put it differently, can you take people seriously when they use vague numbers? I think the best bet is to believe that they mean “a lot” and judging by the context, you should be able to get some idea of whether their “tens” or “hundreds” of thousands really do fall into the numerical range suggested by the phrases.

All the same, you can’t take numbers like that too seriously. They’re just too broad, and they can too easily be used to make exaggerated claims. When in doubt, find out. That’s what Google is for.

(Photo courtesy of James Cridland)

What Are Proverbs?

Proverbs are commonly used expressions that illustrate a specific point. They differ from idioms because idioms don’t always make literal sense, but if you have a context, you can usually work out what a proverb means. Here are a few examples of idioms:

I passed the exam by the skin of my teeth.
I’m fed up with waiting for him!
He always rubs me up the wrong way.

If we were to look at these literally, they’re just nonsensical. Since they are often used, however, most people will know what they mean even though they don’t have any skin on their teeth, haven’t been fed lately, and didn’t get a massage from a clumsy person.

Proverbs, on the other hand, do make a weird sort of sense, especially when you have the context of the situation.

My mom was always against beatings, but my father would say: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”
You really made a fool of yourself, but there’s no use crying over spilled milk.
Don’t just invest in that business because it sounds nice. Check out their financials; you need to look before you leap.
I searched and searched through my overstuffed closet, but finding my best tie was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
After he was rude to me, I wanted to hit him, but two wrongs don’t make a right.

In our first example, the fictional father is taking words straight out of the book of Proverbs in the bible. You can see that the discussion is about beatings or corporeal punishment. You might use a rod to beat someone, and if a child is spoiled through lack of discipline, he or she will always insist on getting their own way. Whether you agree with beating naughty kids or not, you can see what the proverb means.

Our other examples are non-biblical, but they are so old, and so well used, that finding their origins would be difficult.

“Crying over spilled milk” means regretting something that has already happened and can’t be undone. “Looking before you leap” means getting all the facts before you commit yourself. And although the guy who can’t find his best tie isn’t literally “looking for a needle in a haystack,” we can see that he thinks the task is as difficult. The last little bit of wisdom, “two wrongs don’t make a right,” is really easy to understand. If I were to hit someone because they were rude to me, I might have a reason for my action, but it still wouldn’t be right.

You can get whole dictionaries full of proverbs, but some are more commonly used than others. Here are a few examples with their meanings:

I wasn’t sure how to behave in the high-class gathering, so I thought: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” and just followed their example.

This proverb means behaving as everybody else does, and some people even abbreviate it to “When in Rome…” because it’s so commonly used.

I was going to argue with the shop manager after he treated me so badly, but the pen is mightier than the sword, so I wrote a bad review on Yelp instead.

Written arguments are often stronger than spoken ones, or even using violence.

You really ought to ask for help from others. After all, no man is an island.

An island is all alone, surrounded by water, but people are surrounded by other people, and we can influence or help each other.

How can you call others lazy when you are so lazy yourself? People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Don’t always point out your own faults in others. You have the same faults, and if someone were to mention them, you would have no defense.

I’ve been waiting for this letter for weeks! Still, better late than never!

Something that should have happened earlier took a long time, but at least it happened eventually.

You and I have a lot in common. Let’s be friends! Birds of a feather flock together.

People who are similar to each other often get along very well. They hang out with each other in the same way that birds of the same species often like to congregate.

I could write a book about my holiday, but instead, I think this photo explains it all. A picture paints a thousand words.

Sometimes, pictures are even more expressive than any words that could be said. You can get the whole idea just by looking at it, instead of having to read a lot of text.

When they released the new PlayStation, I was waiting outside the shop before it opened. The early bird catches the worm.

If you’re quick to go in search of what you want, your chances of success are greater. But was the worm also early? Perhaps he was just coming back from last night’s party.

Proverbs can be very cliched because they are used a lot, but they do come in handy at times when you’re looking for a good way to say something and want a phrase that everyone will identify with because it reflects accepted wisdom.

(Photo courtesy of James Lumb)

How to Identify Passive Voice

Before we show how to identify passive voice, let’s dispel a few myths that make yours truly turn into a hairy, clawed monster every time they’re repeated. I’m willing to sacrifice the monster coming out so you can rid yourself of these passive voice falsehoods.

Passive Voice Is Incorrect

This is the worst one, and the thought that many believe this is already turning me into a werewolf. No, no, no, and absolutely no! Using passive voice is not wrong. There are even times when it’s absolutely necessary.

When You See a Form Of “To Be,” It’s Passive Voice

Not necessarily – “to be” is sometimes, but not always, passive voice.

Grammar Checkers Find Passive Voice

No, they can’t. Grammar checkers are dicey. They can help, but they can also be a real pain in parts of the anatomy I will not mention here. The fact is, they’re quite capable of missing passive voice, and they’re quite capable of missing real grammatical errors, or identifying correct sentences as being incorrect. There are no short cuts. It’s important to actually learn your grammar.

What’s Passive Voice?

Passive reverses the position of the subject (the doer) and the object (the thing that is acted on). Confused? An example makes it clearer.

“The paper was passed by the professor.” That’s passive voice.
“The professor passed the paper.” That’s active voice.

In the second sentence, you have a normal structure of a subject (professor) doing something active (passing) to an object (paper). The first sentence makes the paper into the subject and does not emphasize the verb or who committed the act.

How do we know which is which? In passive voice, the doer comes after the thing that was done. Also, you can look for forms of “to be” followed by a past participle. In our example, “was” is a form of “to be” and the past participle is “passed.”

Forms of “to be” are: was, is, am, are, have been, has, will be, being, and will have been.

Am I contradicting my statement that “to be” (and its forms) does not always indicate passive voice? No. the past participle is the key. Look at this. “I know how it feels to be a werewolf.”

That’s active voice. There is no past participle. The subject, “I,” comes first. “I know how it feels to be confused,” is also active voice because the subject “I” comes before the thing that happened. Further, “confused” is an adjective that describes a feeling or state.

Is There an Easy Way to Identify Passive Voice?

Yes, and it’s really simple. To identify passive voice, look at what happened and look at who was responsible for doing it. If the person or thing responsible for doing the actions is either omitted or occurs in the sentence AFTER the thing that happened, AND if you see a past participle straight after the form of “to be,” it’s passive voice.

“Poland was invaded.” Passive voice – the doer is absent.
“Poland was invaded by Germany.” That’s passive voice. The doer comes after the thing that was done.
“Germany invaded Poland.” That’s active voice. The doer comes first.

Why Do People Believe Passive Voice Is Bad?

Although the passive voice is perfectly correct and sometimes even preferable, it may be a trifle vague – especially when doers are omitted. So looking at our World War 2 example, Poland was invaded. Who did it? The second passive voice example gives all the facts, but the third example is the most lucid and concise. It uses three words whereas the second passive voice version needs five. Active voice sentences are often shorter, clearer and easier to understand.

When Is the Passive Voice the Best Way to Say Things?

Passive voice is preferable when:

Nobody knows who was responsible: “A fire was started.”
Nobody cares who was responsible: “Shrubs were planted.”
You don’t know, you don’t care, but you know it happened, so you’re being deliberately vague: “The law was passed in 1935.”
What you’re saying is always true regardless of who or what does it: “Rules were made to be broken.”
The thing that was acted on is more important than what caused it to happen: “The road was built in 100 AD.”
You are writing in a genre that generally requires the passive voice. This often applies to scientific papers, usually in the “materials and methods” section: “100 plants were subjected to CO2 enrichment.”

When you use the passive voice, be sure that it’s the best way to say what you want to say. Beware of omitting important facts since passive voice allows you to do so without a grammatical error. Also, beware of turning an easy statement into an awkward one by making it longer and more complicated than it needs to be.

Is It Better to Write or Type a Letter?

As you may have noticed, I love “it depends” questions because then we can look at a question from every possible angle. Quite a lot of what’s about to follow is personal opinion, so feel free to join the debate if you don’t agree. After all, it just makes it all the more interesting for everyone. The choice between writing a letter and typing a letter is influenced by the reason for writing, so we’ll look at business letters and friendly letters and argue the pros and cons of writing or typing under these categories.

Write or Type Business Letters

If you want to be taken seriously in this day and age, you would certainly choose to type rather than write when sending a business letter. The only part of a business letter you should write by hand is the signature. Here are some of the reasons it’s appropriate to type rather than write a business letter.

Your handwriting may not be all that easy to read.
You can’t as easily make changes to a handwritten business letter, so even if you draft it several times, you may not express yourself as well when you write by hand.
A typed letter looks neater and more professional, no matter how neat your handwriting is.
If your keyboard skills are up to scratch, typing is a lot faster than writing.
Spell check can save you from embarrassment. Yes! I spelled “embarrassment” correctly the first time! Can you?

In the business world, handwritten letters are extremely rare, but there is one place other than the signature where I feel handwriting offers a special touch. If you’re thanking someone with a brief note, the kind that gets written on ‘compliments slips’ or greeting cards, then I think writing by hand is more personal.

Write or Type Personal Letters

There’s still something lovely about getting a letter via “snail mail.” Should you write it or type it? I doubt whether anyone would be offended by a typed letter, and it has the advantages of being easier to write, easier to edit, and easier to read.

Still, a handwritten letter is a labor of love and provided it’s legible and well thought out. I think most people would acknowledge that you went to extra effort on their behalf with a handwritten personal letter. What’s more, any errors that sneak in will be forgiven because you’re presumably writing to someone who is close to you. They like you, even love you, and it’s probably not for your skill at spelling.

Before you decide to give a personal letter a special touch by writing it with old-fashioned pen and paper, know what you’re letting yourself in for.

You need to plan ahead by creating a rough framework so that your thoughts flow logically.
You’ll have to write at least two versions and possibly more.
You need to be able to write neatly so that it’s easily readable.
You need the right equipment.

Choose attractive note paper, and if you struggle to keep your lines straight on paper without lines, choose paper with ruled lines. Another option is to use slightly transparent paper that will let you see a sheet with ruled lines when you place it beneath the page you are working with. Choose a pen with ink that won’t easily smudge, and pick a dark colored ink. Gold may look pretty, but it isn’t easy to read a full letter written in gold pen. Black ink is best.

Additional Advantages of Typed Personal Letters

One thing you should remember about handwritten letters is that you’ll get less text on each page. If you have a lot to say in your letter, typing is probably a better solution. You don’t want to end up trying to cram a ten-page missive into an envelope.

If you’re planning to write to several people, you can “cheat” just a little bit. It’s easy to adapt the introductory and closing paragraphs with personal messages for each recipient while the body text remains the same, or nearly the same, for all the letters you’re going to send.

Last but not least, if your letter gets lost in the post, you’ll have a copy saved on your computer and won’t have to rewrite your letter from scratch.

When’s the Last Time You Sent a Handwritten Letter?

Handwritten letters are quite rare these days. I think that their rarity makes them rather special. If I were to write a love letter, I believe I would choose a handwritten letter. What would you do?

(Photo courtesy of Annie Pilon)

Specially vs Especially: What Is the Difference?

That’s right, this specially compiled article is especially for those who struggle with the difference between the words “specially” and “especially.” But how did this confusion arise to begin with? I suspect the trouble started when people began to use “specially” as an abbreviated form of “especially.” Although some sources say the two words are interchangeable, the really reputable ones say they mean two completely different things and are only interchangeable in certain contexts.

What do these words have in common?

Both of them are adverbs (words that are used to describe a verb). Both of them can mean a thing was done for a particular purpose. For example, “I got this (e)specially for you!”

In this context, those who say either word means the same thing are spot on. However, I would venture to say “specially” would be the more common form in this context.

How do they differ?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines “especially” as meaning “particularly or “above all.” Let’s watch it in action:

“She adores flowers, especially roses.”
“He hates work, especially hard physical labor.”

If you were to replace “especially” with “specially” here, you would have sentences that people can understand, but your word choice would be considered colloquial at best.

Now let’s try the same exercise with “specially.” This word refers to a specific purpose for which something was done, and yes, it’s just like our very first example, where we demonstrated that “especially” and “specially” are interchangeable in certain contexts. Now you can play fast and loose and switch these two words around as you please. But remember, when the word you are looking for means “particularly” or “above all” ONLY “especially” will do.

“The furniture was (e)specially designed for my living room.”
“He bought the reddest rose (e)specially for her.”

Knowing which to use

Think of the word “particularly.” If you can replace the “special/especial” with “particularly,” then only “especially” is absolutely correct. Let’s look at one of our earlier examples:

“She loves flowers, especially roses.”
“She loves flowers, particularly roses.”

Does it work? Yes, it does! So “especially” is the right choice, while “specially” would be incorrect.

You’ll notice that trying to jam “particularly” into a “for a special purpose” meaning doesn’t sit quite as comfortably.

“He bought the reddest rose particularly for her.”

Does it work? Not particularly! Now we know we can use whichever of the two words we prefer. Don’t you love freedom? If you’re in doubt, stick with “especially” since it works in both contexts. You can’t go wrong!

How important is it?

“Not specially.”
“Not especially.”

Which of these is right: the first one, or the second one? If you guessed that the second version is correct, you really do know the difference between these two words already. Congratulations!

Can you be sure?

“Not particularly,” works well in this context, so you can be sure that you are 100% correct.

But returning to our question “How important is it?” what do you think the answer is? I’d say that if you’re using language simply to be understood, it isn’t especially important because people would probably understand you even if you used “specially” in the wrong place. However, in written English, we have to be especially (particularly) careful about word choices, and picking the wrong one would make your teacher, or an especially (particularly) well-informed reader, upset at the wording.

Plural Possessives: Why You Put an Apostrophe After the S

It’s common for people to wonder, “What does it mean to put an apostrophe after an S?” It can get a bit confusing. To get it right, you need to understand what a possessive is.

Possessives are used to show ownership; to show that something belongs to someone. “The president’s official airplane” is one example. The airplane belongs to the president, of course. But there is only one president; after all, you don’t have two presidents of the same country. So, this is a singular possessive made by adding an apostrophe and an “s.”

But with a phrase such as “the thieves’ jewels,” you have a plural noun: thieves. Most of the time, a plural noun will be formed by adding “s” to it. In this case, you also change the spelling but don’t worry about that now. The main issue is the final letter, which is “s.” Houses, cats, clouds, essays, rainbows: these are all plural nouns.

As you can see, the fact that the thieves (illegally) possess the jewels is shown simply by adding an apostrophe after the noun and after the letter “s.” They may not possess these valuables for long unless they’re clever and know how to escape the police, but they do for now. And that’s how you form a plural possessive.

To recap, usually if the noun is singular, the apostrophe will go before the s, but if the noun happens to be plural, the apostrophe will go after the s.

Plural Possessive Examples

The Simpsons’ spaceship (the spaceship belongs to the Simpson family; you make the family name plural to show that you’re referring to all of the family members)
The dogs’ tails (the tails belong to the dogs)
The lakes’ water (the water belongs to the lakes)

You have to be careful with the last example because if you only wish to talk about one lake, you must write: “the lake’s water.” In this case, that’s a singular possessive.

An even bigger problem these days is when people write sentences such as this: “None of the monkey’s looked happy in the zoo.” There is no reason to use an apostrophe to make a possessive here. The sentence is only talking about monkeys in the plural. They do not own anything! However, this is a commonly repeated mistake across the Internet.

Sometimes it’s hard to see how the possessive works. “You owe me three months’ pay immediately!” Oh, I do? Let me check my wallet. And my grammar guide. Why is there an apostrophe after “months?” Because the pay is equal to three months of work. In a sense, the pay belongs to those three months. It’s like saying “three months of pay.” If you can use the word “of” in the sentence, then you probably need an apostrophe.

Irregular Plural Possessives

Now that you think you’ve learned all the rules, you’re in for a surprise. There’s another type of plural possessive: the irregular plural possessive. The children’s work was so poorly done that the teacher fainted and had to go to the hospital. Okay, this might not really happen, but I used to be a teacher, and sometimes I felt like fainting!

The main point is this. “Children” is already plural. You cannot add “s” to the word itself to make it plural. So when you want to show possession, you put the apostrophe first, then the “s.” Here are some more examples.

The women’s babies (“women” is the plural form of “woman”)
The firemen’s trucks (“firemen” is the plural of “fireman”)
The dice’s roll (“dice” always means there is more than one)

These look like singular possessives, but they aren’t.

Compound Plural Possessives

You may have thought we had exhausted all of the plural possessives, but there’s one more rule you need to know. It deals with compound plural possessives. For example, “Sam and Dave” is a compound. There are two parts. So which of the following is correct?

Sam and Dave’s song was number one for six months.
Sam’s and Dave’s song was number one for six months.

The correct one is the first. Why? Because Sam and Dave made or performed the song together. It belongs to both of them. Only one possessive needs to be given. But you need to be careful.

Lucy’s and Gina’s cars are the fastest on my street.
Mick’s and Rod’s views on equal rights are impressive.

In these two examples, you need two possessives, one for each proper noun. Lucy and Gina both have different cars. Mick and Rod have separate views. However, what if Lucy and Gina were mother and daughter, and both of them had the same cars? Then you need to change the sentence to “Lucy and Gina’s cars are the fastest on my street.”

With compound plural possessives, it’s important to remember you have to think a little and decide whether you are talking about two separate people or things, or a single unit with two parts.