When we think about communication, we often focus on what we are trying to say to another person. But the act of producing language–whether writing or speaking–is only half of communication. Effective communication requires a reader or a listener. If you write something and no one ever reads it, the content is not communicated. If you say something but no one hears you, your message hasn’t been communicated. In other words, effective communication isn’t just what we produce, but also how well we listen.

As an expert in business writing, I focus mostly on how we use language to communicate ideas effectively. But communication is more than words.

Recently I got into a little text message exchange with my aunt. She wrote to me about sitting next to someone on the plane who had terrible grammar. They were talking and the other person kept saying things like “Me and my friend” instead of “My friend and I.” Which made my aunt a bit crazy. She texted me because, since I’m an English person, she thought I would understand her frustration.

And I do understand. But I don’t think speech has the same grammar rules as writing. And I definitely don’t think it’s appropriate to correct a stranger’s grammar on an airplane.

Subject lines are a critical part of email format. They’re the first thing people read. They can help a person decide whether to open the message or not. And they can help a person find an email in their messy inbox at a later date.

Email is a slow, written conversation. The greeting is how the conversation starts. It’s the first thing the reader hears in your voice (The subject line is technically first, but we don’t read it in the voice of the writer). And it has a big impact on how the reader interprets the rest of the message.

Is the grammar in your lists and bullets correct? Whenever you create a series, whether horizontal (sentences) or vertical (bullets) the items in those lists need to match!

Parallel structure not only maintains consistency in your lists (sentences and bullets) but it establishes clarity and credibility for your audience. How can you make sure that your sentences and bulleted lists are parallel? When thinking about parallel structure think 1, 2, 3, not 1, A, Blue.

You might be thinking, do commas or run-on sentences really matter that much? Or, I learned about commas back in grade school, but I don’t remember any of the rules. Don’t I just a throw a comma in before “and” or anytime I pause to take a breath?

The short answers: comma splices and run-on sentences do matter. Not only are they correctness issues, but they help with clarity, so you can clearly articulate what you want to say to your audiences. And, both correctness and clarity establish credibility with your audience.

And, there are pretty straightforward rules for when you should use commas in your sentences (not just when you see “and” or take a breath). Basically, the reason that commas exist is to help us sort the pieces of a sentence.

Recently I got into a little text message exchange with my aunt. She wrote to me about sitting next to someone on the plane who had terrible grammar. They were talking and the other person kept saying things like “Me and my friend” instead of “My friend and I.” Which made my aunt a bit crazy. She texted me because, since I’m an English person, she thought I would understand her frustration.

And I do understand. But I don’t think speech has the same grammar rules as writing. And I definitely don’t think it’s appropriate to correct a stranger’s grammar on an airplane.

Spelling in English is hard. There are languages where the idea of a spelling bee is ridiculous because everything is spelled just the way it sounds (looking at you, Spanish). Not English. That’s why we are so lucky the computer programmers have invented tools like spellcheck! For centuries, spelling was the most common error in writing. Enter spellcheck! Now the most common error isn’t misspelling; it’s using the wrong word—a word that sounds the same but is spelled differently. (your/you’re there/their/they’re, anyone?)