I use Grammarly for online proofreading because it provides the best first-line defense against the manic side of my creativity. When the ideas start flowing, my fingers are just trying to keep up while my mind races ahead. My characters talk, and I take dictation. I have only a limited capacity to make sure they’re always using their “there”s correctly. While no computer can teach you to write, Grammarly is a great way to skim quickly through a document for technical errors such as these. —Erik Wecks
Content Sponsored by Grammarly.com
Grammar Horror Stories Contest
Word Cops and Grammar Nazis unite! You are the denizens of communication, the swamis of punctuation, and the defenders of the oxford comma. You protect us from the scourge of misplaced homophones, and the tidal waves of unintelligible punctuation. In the face of the social media spawned grammar apocalypse, you endure ridicule and scorn, pressing on toward the goal of clean, readable text.
Thank you! From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You make me sound so much better than I would elsewise.
To honor your dogged persistence, I have a created a contest with you in mind. At stake is a $50 dollar gift card to Amazon.com. (Grammarly offered me the card for the blurb above. I figured you deserved it more than me.)
I want you to tell me about the worst example of poor grammar you have ever encountered, and by worst, I mean, not simply the funniest—although humor is appreciated—or the most pedantic, but rather the most egregious and damaging breach in clear communication. Tell us about something that had real consequences behind it, which could have been easily solved with punctuation or correct usage.
To enter the contest, you must:
1. Sign up for my mailing list.
2. Leave your story below in the comments.
You can get extra entries by:
1. Looking me up on Facebook and sharing a link to this blog post from my timeline. (I have to have you share it from my timeline or my own post to verify your entry.)
2. By commenting on my post on Facebook. (Only one extra entry may be earned this way.)
3. Tweeting this blog post and reference me. (@erikwecks)
The winner will be chosen at random from all the qualifying entries received by 6PM Pacific on October 4th.