Grammar Tips

This page will serve as your one-stop-shop for grammar rules and tips. As professional website writers, it is imperative that we know these basic rules. We hope to have answered any questions you might have in the content below. You are welcome to copy these documents for your personal use. If there is something you don’t understand, please contact the customer support manager or the lead copywriter for help.

Using Active Voice

Create dynamic and powerful writing by using active rather than passive verbs. When a sentence is written in the active voice, the subject performs the action. When a sentence is written in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon. Please be certain you understand the difference, as we use the active voice in our websites.

For additional help in understanding how to change passive voice to active voice, check out the information below that digs a little deeper.

• Passive Voice be Damned Video
• Passive Voice be Damned PDF

Subject/Verb Agreement and Pronouns

Every complete sentence has a subject and a verb. If the subject is singular (I), the verb must also be singular (am). If the subject is plural (we) the verb must also be plural (are). Likewise, nouns and pronouns must agree. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Then why do we hear things like, “Everybody picked up their pencil to begin the test”?

Take a look a some of these tips about Subject/Verb Agreement and Pronouns.

Punctuation

Correct punctuation in writing is essential to a good website. Here are some of the most common punctuation marks and tips for using them correctly:

• Apostrophes
• Colons
• Commas
• Em Dashes
• Hyphens
• Parentheses
• Quotation Marks
• Semicolons

Spelling

A professional website loses credibility if words are misspelled or if they’re used incorrectly. We hope the information below will help you when you find yourself a little confused by this crazy English language.

• Frequently Misused Words
• 150 Commonly Misspelled Words

Capitalization

So many rules to remember! For example:

• Welcome to the website of Bluebird School District. Please feel free to visit our district whenever you’re in the Southwest. Superintendent Mike Wilson will be happy to introduce you to the principal of the high school.

Read our helpful tips for correct capitalization.

Numbers: Figures or Words?

Basic Rule:

• Numbers from one to nine are expressed as words (one, two, three).
• Numbers 10 and above are expressed as figures (22, 55, 330).

But of course, there are special considerations.