Are You Mastering Grammar Yet?

By Beth Ann Erickson

http://filbertpublishing.com

Every now and again I receive an e-mail informing me that a number of the articles on the FilbertPublishing.com website are not grammatically correct.

As helpful as these e-mail writers are, I’m once again compelled to mention this: the writer’s job is to not write a grammatically correct sentence, the writer’s job is to communicate.

Let me explain: 

I memorized a good number of grammar rules while working on my communications degree at St. Cloud State.  Strunk and White and I became good buddies.

However, despite my marvelous education, after I graduated, I had a LOT of trouble landing copywriting assignments -- and when I did get them, the clients weren't particularly happy with the results.

So, I hired a personal copywriting coach -- a professional copywriter who's sold millions of dollars worth of products and services through the mail.  He also holds a PhD in English. He asked me to e-mail samples of my best writing so he could get a taste of my style.

After spending a good part of a week separating the “flawless” samples from the mere “excellent” ones, I whipped together an e-mail, attached the appropriate documents, then waited for his reply.

When it arrived, I wasn’t prepared for his response: “I can tell you’ll be an excellent writer because you write great e-mails. The rest of your writing sucks, but your e-mail text is perfect.”

Boy. Talk about a deflating experience.

He went on to say, "Forget everything you learned about grammar, language usage, and sentence structure.  Your writing doesn’t communicate.  It's too perfect.  You need to speak the language of your reader… just like you do in your e-mails.  If you don't speak directly to your reader -- and do it EVERY time you write -- you won't be an effective copywriter.  Period."

So I began my illustrious copywriting career pretending everything I wrote was going to be included in an e-mail.

After spending considerable time perfecting a conversational tone in everything I wrote, my writing career really took off. Articles started selling. I found a home for my novels. Copywriting assignments started flowing in.

Although it pained me to occasionally break grammar rules, I now find it liberating to know I have the freedom to effectively communicate a message without wondering if I’m allowing a participle to dangle.

So do I occasionally break grammar rules?  Yup.  Will I continue to break them?  Yup.

Walking the fine line between creating effective communication and grammatically correct word usage is always an interesting battle, with effective communication winning more often than not.

But don’t take my word for it.

This weekend, take a good listen to the conversations taking place around you.  Try to replicate -- in writing -- what you've heard. You’re about to transcribe some interesting phrases!

After you’ve done this, "capture their language" by writing something that would persuade those same people to do something you want them to do -- whether you're hoping to get them to read one of your articles, purchase something you're selling, or buy a product a client has hired you to promote.

It's an interesting exercise, one that hopefully illustrates the notion that writing that effectively communicates is almost always more powerful than grammatically correct, perfect sentences.  When you speak the language of your reader, you'll be able to capture and hold their interest.  When you capture and hold your reader's interest, that's when truly effective communication takes place.

And isn’t that the goal of almost every writer?

~~~

Beth Ann Erickson is Queen Bee of Filbert Publishing and the only writing ezine that'll make your writing sparkle, help you write killer queries, and get you on the road to publication fast. Better yet, you'll receive the e-booklet "Power Queries" when you sign up for your free subscription. Subscribe today at http://FilbertPublishing.com

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