Comma Splice

• When you join two independent clauses with a comma and no conjunction, it’s called a comma splice. Some people consider this a type of run-on sentence, while other people think of it as a punctuation error.
• Here’s an example of a comma splice: Koala bears are not actually bears, they are marsupials.
• There are three ways to fix a comma splice. You can add a conjunction, change the comma to a semicolon, or make each independent clause its own sentence.

10 Autocorrect Text Fails You Need to See Right Now

Does your phone’s autocorrect drive you crazy?

Maybe it’s never caught on that you’re “doing well”. . . not “doing we’ll.” No matter how many times you type “gave” it still insists you meant to say “have.” Or it may even think that swapping words like “baked” and “naked,” or “stapler” and “stalker,” is a good idea. (It’s not.)

That feeling when autocorrect does the wrong ‘its’ in a reply to someone with a huge following… pic.twitter.com/gWy8m1zbGl

Baseball Fans Come Out Swinging in 2016 MLB Grammar Power Rankings

The Boys of Summer are in their glory! Last year, we ranked all thirty Major League Baseball teams by how well their fans write when they’re talking them up or just playing armchair coach online. Our ranking was such a hit that we decided to make it an annual event.

We gathered 3,000 fan comments (of fifteen words or more) posted to each MLB team’s SB Nation blog between June 1 and June 14, 2016.

29 Hilarious Halloween Memes and GIFs You’ll Want To Share

Do you live for Halloween?

Whether you’re a fan of kitsch, horror, fabulous style, or coffin-loads of candy, this mischievous and creative holiday has got a spell for you.

In celebration of this hallowed season, we’ve cracked open the crypt and unleashed twenty-nine of the best Halloween memes and GIFs for you to haunt the Internet with your bone-tingling obsession.

Celebrate Social Media Day with These 5 Tips

Happy World Social Media Day!

It’s no secret that we love social media. And as Grammarly’s Social Media Manager, I’ve devoted most of my professional life to figuring out what the cool kids are doing online. And today, I’m here to help you do the same. Let’s dive into all the things you should (and shouldn’t) be doing on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.

via GIPHY

11 Delectable Holiday Words to Celebrate LitMas Eve

Merry LitMas Eve!

If you recall, LitMas is our made-up bookish holiday to celebrate all things nerdy and word-related before the holidays. So far, we’ve given you everything from winter quotes to Christmas grammar fails, and we’ve loved every minute of it. Although we’re sad to see this nerdy holiday season come to a close, our penultimate gift will be sweet. Literally.

What Are the Best Ways to Show Skills on Your Resume?

“All you need to land an interview is a good set of skills.”

If only that were true! Besides possessing skills, you have to present them in a way that gets noticed and shows that you are right for the job. Which skills should you showcase? What are the best ways to show skills on your resume? Let’s find out now.

What Skills to Put on a Resume

Would you say that you should list all your capabilities on your resume?

6 Tips for Writing Well on Social Media

There are 1 million links shared, 2 million friends requested, and 3 million messages sent on Facebook every 20 minutes. Twitter users send 9,100 tweets every second. More than 60 percent of all Americans have at least one social media profile — and many use this profile daily. Whether you love it or hate it, communication on social media is a fact of life.

Unfortunately, the nuances of communicating on social media escape many people.

Quiz: Do You Know How to Network?

Networking can be a challenge.

There’s more to it than just researching events, identifying contacts, and following up. You also have to balance talking about your goals and interests against getting to know others. Effective networking is as much an art as a science.

This quiz will guide you through some key aspects of effective networking and help you understand how good a networker you are.

Prepositions

• Prepositions indicate relationships between other words in a sentence.
• Many prepositions tell you where something is or when something happened.
• Most prepositions have several definitions, so the meaning changes quite a bit in different contexts.
• Ending a sentence with a preposition is not a grammatical error.

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What Is a Preposition?

“Vampires! Zombies! Werewolves!” “Where?!” “Behind you!”

This Is How to Be More Productive at Everything You Do

There are days when it all comes together for you, but this might not happen to be one of them.

Some days you’re able to just crank through one task after another. Your “sent” folder brims with solid work before noon, your contribution to the afternoon meeting is well received, and you even manage to wrap up with enough time and energy to hit the gym before dinner. If only someone could bottle up days like this, you muse.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole (hi-PER-buh-lee) is language that is obviously exaggerated and not meant to be taken literally. Writers often use hyperbole for emphasis or to be funny.

Hyperbole: The Best Thing Ever

You can find hyperbole in plenty of English idioms: She’s asked a million questions. You could have knocked me over with a feather. He’s as quiet as a mouse. Now I’ve seen everything.

Grammarly Is Now on iOS and Android

Hey Android users! Since launching the Grammarly Keyboard for iOS, we’ve heard from lots of you wondering when the app would be available on Android. Well, first, we want to thank you for your patience. And second, we’re pleased to tell you that today’s the day! The Grammarly Keyboard is now available on both iOS and Android.

Life happens on the go. By 2018, 50 percent of workplace communication and collaboration will happen through mobile apps.

7 Homophone Mistakes to Avoid

When you’re speaking out loud, homophones sound alike, but when you’re writing them out, it’s a different story. Though they have the same pronunciation, homophones may have slightly different spellings and totally different definitions. Since using the wrong one can completely change the meaning of your statement, it’s important to make sure you have the right word in mind.

Improve Your Email Writing with These 9 Helpful Posts

Looking for email writing tips?

You’ve come to the right place.

Grammarly’s blog has featured several recent posts on all things email writing. Our aim is to provide readers with valuable insights on how to craft the perfect email for any occasion. We’ve talked about proper email etiquette. We’ve covered ways to maximize your productivity. And we’ve shown you how to step out of office for vacation and avoid a flood of emails upon your return.

11 Words and Phrases to Use in Salary Negotiations if You Want to Succeed

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a magic word you could say in order to get people to agree with you? If, for example, a simple utterance of “abracadabra” could instantly convince your employer to see things your way, salary negotiations would be a whole lot easier.

Unfortunately, we live in the real world, and those magic words that guarantee instant success don’t quite exist — but the good news is, we’ve got the next best thing.

Semicolon

What Is a Semicolon?

Semicolons (;) are as basic as a period stacked on top of a comma. Does that mean you can use it like either one? Don’t get your hopes up. But don’t let this punctuation mark get you down, either. After all, that sly emoticon winky eye can’t be all bad. 😉

How to Use a Semicolon Correctly

The most common use of the semicolon is to join two independent clauses without using a conjunction like and.

How British English and American English are Different

Many Americans who love tea would turn up their noses at the idea of adding milk to it. Brits, on the other hand, are known for lacing their strong tea with milk. With or without milk, tea is tea. It’s served one way in Britain and another way in the United States, but everyone can recognize it for what it is. The language that Americans and Brits share is a bit like that—spoken differently in the two locations, but understandable by both groups of speakers.

These 6 Writing Apps Will Make You a Better Writer

We’ve come a long way, writers. Once, improving our writing skills meant writing (and later typing) our drafts, doing our best to revise and proofread, and then subjecting them to an editor’s red pen. Today, we have tools to not only help us create content, but also to organize, proofread, and polish it.

These apps and online tools will help any writer perfect her craft.