3 ways to write conversationally and follow grammar rules at the same time
It’s a slippery slope.
You split the infinitive, because not doing so is an “outdated rule,” yet you use periods, because you don’t want run-on sentences.
You dangle the modifier, because that’s “how people talk,” yet you force awkward sentences, because you don’t want to end them with prepositions.
What I mean is that you — we — follow some grammar rules yet ignore others.
You — we — write conversationally while also wearing the badge of resident grammar Nazi.
Hypocritical? Yes. Wrong? Not so sure.
Whatever it is, here’s how to manage it and how to become a better writer because of it.
1. Know what it actually means to write “conversationally.”
To write “conversationally” doesn’t mean to write exactly how you talk.
That would be mayhem. Have you ever seen a full interview transcript? It’s the Wild West in writing.
So given that writing “conversationally” can’t possibly mean writing “how you talk,” it has to be something different.
And as Henneke Duistermaat has pointed out, it is.
Writing lacks the benefit of hand gestures and facial expressions, so it demands more structure and clarity to get your message across.
This means that writing conversationally isn’t writing how you talk as much as it is how you want to talk, how you would ideally communicate with words.
And ideally, you’d communicate with your audience as simply and clearly as possible.
If this means using sentence fragments or ending a sentence with a preposition, so be it.
That’s because doing this helps you accomplish the next point.
2. Connect with your audience.
All writing should have a goal.
Take copywriting for example. The goal is to sell.
But it can’t sell anything unless it connects with the reader.
And to connect, it has to be accessible. It has to be the plate in the cabinet that the reader can actually reach, so to speak.
This means that you have to make it accessible. You have to actually put (uh oh, split infinitive!) the plate within reach.
For example, if you work in tourism and want a casual tone in your email about vacationing to Hawaii, use a sentence fragment in the subject line.
Ahh, to stand on warm island sand.
Get your attention? Yes. Make you want to open the email? Also yes.
Grammatical? No. Likely to pass a high-school English test? Also no.
And that’s okay, because the goal isn’t to pass a high-school English test.
The goal is to trigger a positive emotion that connects with the casual reader, makes them open the email, and gets them to book a vacation to Hawaii.
3. Simplify your thoughts.
When you keep things simple, you make fewer mistakes.
This means that the more complicated you write, the more work — or grammar rules — you give yourself to manage.
So to simplify your writing, simplify your thoughts first.
Whereas longer, more elaborate sentences usually require more grammatical structure to help them make sense, simple sentences usually make their own sense.
Look at this example:
Although I like 60s music, 50s music gives off the vibe that there’s artists who we all know do it for the music and not for feeling like 60s artists do.
Wordiness aside, it has FOUR grammar mistakes: (1) dangling modifier (“I” is the subject at first, then the subject changes after the first comma), (2) no subject-verb agreement (“there’s artists” instead of “there are artists”), (3) who instead of whom, and (4) “like” instead of “as.”
That’s a lot to keep up with for one sentence.
Yet it’s also conversational, right? I mean, it’s not not conversational.
So how can we keep it conversational while also relying on fewer grammar rules for life support?
Simplify it.
I like 60s music, but 50s music feels more unique. It feels as if the artists care more about the music and less about being free spirited.
It’s saying the same thing. It’s just simpler, because I simplified the thought.
And when I simplified the thought, I didn’t need to worry so much about grammar.
It let me be conversational and grammatically correct.
And worry free.
Whoops. Another sentence fragment.
It’s your turn.
When you write, really think through what you’re saying, and write it as simply and clearly as possible.
It’ll be easier on you, because you’ll have fewer grammar rules to keep up with.
It’ll also be easier on your reader, because there’s something about simplicity and clarity that we all crave and want to connect to.
You just have to make it possible in the first place.
