Getting the Right Words Across Presented on: September 20, 2017 Presenter: Teoti Anderson A Dog’s Best Friend

Today We’ll Cover Common mistakes pet professionals make in their written communications. Tips for making your communications showcase your expertise.

A Little Background …

Perception Matters Poor communications create poor impressions

Why It Matters

Why It Matters Credibility

Common Mistakes Spelling errors Grammatical errors Punctuation errors Lack of clarity

Er … Maybe Not From a profile on Rover.com: “Reliable caregiver for dogs and grew up with animals. Animal lover belonging to me or anyone else. I believe animals are never at fault and should not be repremanded as a human being. My family is anti cruelty to animals. I have a teenager who is also an animal lover animals are in my teenager's heart and soul she will also be watching and walking the dogs.”

Oops

Huh? From a dog training company website: “Our methods have been documented by veterinarians and animal activist across the country, making our dog training the next best thing to your dog actually speaking to you.”

Back to Some Basics

Their, There, They’re Their: possessive. Belongs to them. There: place They’re = they are

Their, There, They’re Their dogs were crazy. Put the crazy dogs over there. They’re not crazy!

You’re vs. Your Your is possessive. Belongs to you. You’re = you are Your problem is that you’re not paying attention.

Its vs. It’s Its = possessive pronoun. Belongs to it. It’s = It is. My vacuum cleaner broke. Its engine was full of dog hair. It’s = It is. It is a really expensive engine. It’s a really expensive engine.

Farther vs. Further Farther = physical distance Further = figurative They traveled farther than they had ever gone, in order to further their education. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Commonly Misspelled Words Then vs. than Then is used for time. The puppy ate his dinner, and then he went for a walk. Than is used for comparison. He would rather play with his toys than eat.

Commonly Mispelled Words Shih Tzu Chihuahua Doberman Pinscher Labrador Retriever Weimaraner Schnauzer Papillon Dachshund Dalmatian

Noun The name of something Person, place or thing

Pronouns A word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. Teoti has written several books. She has written several books.

Pronoun Agreement Singular subject = singular pronoun A Dog’s Best Friend is hiring an office administrator to run its office. Not “their office.” One company. Singular. Plural subject = plural pronoun The puppies all got their shots.

Apostrophes Apostrophes can show possession. Teoti’s workshop Apostrophes can substitute for words or numbers This does not mean I am judging you. This doesn’t mean I’m judging you.

Apostrophes When singular, add ‘s The dog’s house When plural or if word ends in S, add ‘ at end The dogs’ house Mr. Perkins’ house

Apostrophe Catastrophe

Apostrophe Catastrophe

Apostrophe Catastrophe

Apostrophe Catastrophe http://www.apostrophecatastrophes.com/

Commas Let’s eat, Grandma! vs. Let’s eat Grandma!

Semicolons Just avoid

Semicolons To separate two independent clauses (two separate sentences) that are closely related. Often before “however” or “therefore.” To separate detailed items in a series

Modifier A modifier is a word, phrase or clause that adds description He is a good dog The dog wearing a red collar Modifiers go next to the thing they are modifying.

Modifier The man adopted puppies wearing a hat.

Writing for Clarity Don’t make your reader go, “Huh?!”

Writing for Clarity Design White space Don’t use a rainbow of colors Don’t use ALL THE FONTS!

Pop Quiz! What’s wrong with this sentence? The dog bit the man lunging at the end of his leash.

Pop Quiz! What’s wrong with this sentence? Did you see there ad for pet sitting? They’re business is the furthest from the clients house.

Pop Quiz! What’s wrong with this sentence? Today I visited a client with a Dalmation and a Rockwiler.

Pop Quiz! What’s wrong with this sentence? Its plain to see that his dogs lifestyle is an exepensive one.

The Goal?

Recommended Resources Grammar Girl http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl Dictionary.com Schoolhouse Rock

Questions? Teoti Anderson A Dog’s Best Friend www.teotianderson.com