Today's Quick Tip

A member of my writers' group asked a great question. Sheila is working on a series of articles and wants them to have a certain tone. She asked, "How do I keep it casual and conversational without sounding uneducated?"

My friend will have to walk a fine line here, because she needs to present her material in a way her readers will readily accept, but she doesn't want to offend anyone by writing at a level that belittles them. She'd also like a little humor thrown into the mix.

Sheila can accomplish her goal by following the advice of an old college professor of mine. He said it's ok to break the rules [of grammar] as long as you know the rules you're breaking. When you break a grammar rule intentionally, and consistently break the same rule throughout the piece, it makes sense. The writing, then, is not full of mistakes. Rather, it flows beautifully and is connected, because you know what you're doing.

Sheila will not appear uneducated by mixing it up a bit. On the contrary, if her writing is cohesive, she will be very effective.