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Most Common Errors
They’re vs. Their vs. There
Your vs. You’re
Its vs. It’s
Who’s vs. Whose
Affect vs. Effect
Me vs. I
Peek vs. peak (and pique, but whatever)
Who vs. That vs. Which
Most Common Errors
Me vs. I
“I” is a subject pronoun, “me” is an object pronoun.
“Can you save a piece of corn for Nacho and I?”
Active Voice• I love those chicken wings.
• Subject – verb – object
Passive Voice• Those chicken wings are loved by me.
• Object – passive verb – subject
HemingwayApp
Identifying Passive Voice
“To be” is the most basic verb in the English language. It can also be
the most overused.
Forms of “Be”
• I am;
• You are; We are; They are;
• He/she/it is;
• I was;
• You were; We were; They were;
• He/she/it was;
• I have been; I am being;
Easily form passive sentences by relying on “be”
To Be or Not to Be
Easily form passive sentences by relying on
“be”
“The skull was made by Hamlet in arts and crafts.”
“Hamlet made that skull in arts and crafts.”
No matter what something is or might be, there
will almost certainly be a better action verb to
tell your story.
Easy ways to avoid:
• Stay away from “due to” or “because of”
• Get active
• Our groups are often split by our teacher.
• Our teacher often splits our groups.
• Get rid of padding in your sentences
To Be or Not to Be
Literary Devices
Metaphors – (Two things are the same)
He is just as sharp as a tack.
Analogies – (Like/as comparison) Mike’s
jokes land like a bag of rotting garbage.
Alliteration – Frank frantically followed.
Colloquial Language – Does a wild bear
crap in the woods?
Do Less
7th – 8th grade reading level
Short paragraphs
Use bullets
Don’t use a $10 word when a $5 word will suffice. Better yet, but that for a dollar.
Avoid jargon unless it’s required.
Get rid of adjectives
• Adjectives are messy and mean different things to different people
Keep It Simple
“Airtight privacy controls on your accounts can bean effective way to keep potential employees fromfinding personal information, but it’s not alwaysthe best protection for everyone.
“Making your accounts private builds an extrabarrier between you and employers, but it is not aperfect protection.”
Great content should be…
• „Customer‟ focused
• Authentic
• Compelling
• Entertaining
• Surprising
• Valuable
• Interesting
On Writing
Truth – Even if it’s not truth, it has to have truth within it. Even if you have no specific experience, you have experience that can relate to your content.
Relevance – Content has to matter.
Passion – Need to care about what you’re writing.
Human Element –Even if the post is more of a business article, you can relate content to what makes a manager tick. Find their hurt.
Originality – Not new, but bring a fresh perspective.
Surprise – Don’t stick to just the common place, bring an unexpected twist – and surprise can take many forms.
On Writing
Finding Your Voice
Voice
• How you write
• Research the field
• Fit your audience
• Empathy is crucial
• Don‟t write to limits
Finding Your Voice
Write What You Know
Personal filter is the most important thing
Write Basic Points or Subheadings- Dont Outline
Consumption experts
ANYTHING can be a story
• Start with a headline, then research
• Content Food Chain
• Not repurposing or cannibalizing
• Dig deep for new ideas
Thinking of Content
Research like crazy
Attribute
Experiment
Use cold hard stats and then write about them
Read it out loud
On Writing
On Writing
Relax
• Be natural• Tell a story• Lose the buzzwords (not the keywords)• Be informal, figurative• Grammar can be flexible
Be Original
• To a point• Originality is elusive, perspective is
inherent• Oakley Hall – “Steal wisely.”
On Writing
Be Confident and Back It Up
• Readers can sense BS• Have proof• Believe what you‟re writing
Two types of content:
• Help someone learn• Personal accounts
Get people to ask Questions
Write to Your Strengths