6 Pre-Internet Writing and Grammar Rules That Need to Die

The internet is changing our language, both written and oral. Bloggers around the world are creating content at max speed and with each blog publication, old school grammar rules are quickly being wiped off the page.

So, what's an educated writer to do?

Let go of those grammar rules that earned you an A in 7th grade english. Adapt to the evolution of online communication. The internet has pronounced the following grammar rules as dead.

Let's acknowledge each with a proper send off.

6 Pre-Internet Writing and Grammar Rules That Need to Die

Use Personal Pronouns

The goal of your blog is to connect quickly and personally to the reader. Your content needs to reach out and grab the reader's attention. Compare these two sentences:

Easy Storage provides fast and affordable storage units to our clients.

VS.

You need fast and affordable storage. We've got it.

The use of personal pronouns reflect the way we actually speak.

Pronouns like, "us", "we" and "you" are peppered throughout daily conversation and allow you to grab the reader's attention directly. The first version is stuffy and old fashioned, while the second addresses youdirectly and quickly offers a solution.

Paragraph Structure be Damned

In the blogosphere, there is nothing worse than a wall of text.

People simply don't have the time or attention to get through all those wordy words. Readers don't want to be challenged, they are simply here to learn about the topic you're offering up to them - and fast.

Don't lose your reader's attention.

Accepted paragraph structure is Topic Sentence, Supporting Sentences, Closing Sentence. Do you remember practicing that over and over? Now we tell you:

Go ahead and break it up. Use Headers and Sub-headers to call out the main topics. This will allow your reader to skim and absorb your content at the same time.

Remember, the use of bold and italics will reinforce important information.

Speak like Your Audience

Your blog should mimic the tone of voice and conversation structure of your reader. Remember, you want to write in a conversational tone which means you should use slang and contractions, just as if you were having a chat with your subscribers.

In fact, many of the most recent words added to the Oxford English Dictionary, including Selfie, Unlike and Photobomb, were originally internet slang. It it's good enough for the OED, it's good enough for your blog.

How often do you hear someone say, "It is going be a beautiful day" or "What we are going to do today is..." If your reader would say, "It's", then feel free to use it in the article.

Lose the Whom

To Whom it may concern; here's your refresher on Whom Versus Who. Now that you know, go ahead and add it to your useless trivia library. Who is ever going to bother you about it?

Unless your blog is about English Literature, the word "Whom" is probably not going to have a purpose in your writing. Whom comes across as overly pretentious and stuffy, which doesn't bode well for trying to make a personal connection.

"And" is ok

Pretty much, you can start your sentence however you choose. Traditionally, "And", "But", "This" and "So" were not acceptable. But times have changed. And so has your writing. So use them. This is ok.

10, 9, 8, 7...

Using digits in blogs is more than acceptable, it's recommended. Readers LOVE lists, facts, numbers and stats. And they stand out much better in digit form compared to written word.

But Typos are still unacceptable.

One Rule that will never die. Typos are not ok. We are writers after all, not 2nd graders.

Go ahead and release yourself from the constraints of formal grammar via your High School English Teacher. We've given you the hall pass, now run with it.