Introduction - The Grammar-Us Blog - Grammar-Us

Hello!
Welcome to the very first of what I hope will be many Grammar-Us blog posts. I’m very excited to begin this adventure, and I’m looking forward to taking you along with me! I’d like to dedicate this inaugural post to explaining exactly why I’m writing a grammar blog and how I hope you will find it helpful.

All of my life, I have been intrigued with words and their magic.  In fact, I have unashamedly called myself a “word nerd” and a “grammar geek” on more than one occasion, and I’m proud of it! To me, words are like jigsaw puzzle pieces.  Putting them together to create a picture for a reader or listener is fun and fascinating.

But, have you ever worked one of those jigsaw puzzles where all the pieces are shaped identically?  If you don’t have the box cover with the finished picture to use as a reference, it’s all too easy to snap the wrong pieces together, and the final product in no way resembles what it was intended to be.  So it is with writing or speaking.  You can string a bunch of words together, but if those words are not well chosen and do not “fit” with the other words in the sentence, your point is not going to get across in the way you intended.

None of us wants to get the picture wrong when we are trying to communicate with others. Unfortunately, though, sometimes our “box top” gets lost, and we no longer have a reference for what our picture should look like. In other words, we get our grammar or our punctuation wrong, or our words become jumbled, and the point we are trying to make gets lost.  This can result in anything from a misunderstanding between you and your audience, to a missed opportunity for a job promotion. Language is, like it or not, a part of the overall impression we make.   

That’s where this blog can help!  In each post, I plan to tackle a common grammar mistake, explain how it can be corrected, and give you some tips and tricks to help you remember the correct way to put all the puzzle pieces together.  The end result will be a reference that can help you be the best you can be when it comes to communicating effectively.  

Let me just add one disclaimer:  I am not perfect.  For example, I am a Texan, and we say quintessentially Texan or Southern – but not necessarily grammatical – things such as, “I’m fixin’ to…” or “Y’all.”  I sometimes end my sentences with prepositions (horrors!).  I’ve even been known to dangle a participle every now and then, and split my infinitives, too!  I can assure you, though, that I do have all of the puzzle pieces and the box top, and I’m ready, willing and able to help you puzzle out this complicated thing called the English language.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope you’ll enjoy what you see here over the coming weeks and months!