Our Favorite Grammar and Style Resources
Every writer who hopes to convey a clear message and a professional image needs to have access to a good grammar reference and an appropriate style guide. There are many different styles of writing, and most style guides currently in print in the United States are focused more on the needs of academic writers needs than those of business writers.
This annotated resource list provides links to the most helpful grammar and style pages for business writers that are currently available online.
the best of the best:
common errors: the website of professor paul brians
Professor Brians was a member of the Washington State University English department for 40 years before he retired in 2008. This routinely updated index of grammar and style rules has become so popular over the years that it has now been published as a book. The benefit of this website, though, is that it is still being updated regularly.
The best thing about Prof. Brians’ tips here are that while they are simple enough to use immediately, they also include the grammatical or linguistic basis for the recommendation. Check out the link: click on the first letter of the grammar, style, or word usage question you have and see what he has to say. If you don’t know where to start, we recommend you look at his entry for who/whom. Not only will you learn a little bit about subjective and objective pronouns (if you wish), but Brians will give you the quickest trick in the book for figuring out which word to use when.
Michelle Poley, our Lead Business Writing Trainer, has a favorite page on the site: Non-errors. Being a bit of a grammar and style curmudgeon herself, Michelle appreciates Professor Brians’ explanations for why he sees a better way in the case of 36 old grammar rules, style points, and word usage issues. Hey, you don’t have to agree with all of them! But he is a certified curmudgeon.
also great:
guide to grammar and style, by jack lynch
This website also comes from a professor, this time the head of the English department at Rutgers. Much like Professor Brians’ site, you can easily navigate to the topic you’re looking for by clicking on the letter of the alphabet it begins with.
Professor Lynch’s entries are not quite as thorough as Professor Brians’, though. Once again, check out the who/whom entry if you’d like to compare for yourself. Lynch gives you the same simple tip for quickly determining which one to use in your sentence. But he doesn’t provide the grammatical explanation of subjective and objective pronouns that Brians does. From our perspective, we would rather you have all that information. Sure, you will probably use the simple trick from now on, but maybe you’ll also remember a little bit about subjects and objects, too — and that will only help you become a more skilled writer.
free online english usage rules
This site is loaded with ads (so squint when you go there), but the information is good. The index is simple. Available rules and tips are divided into three categories: Grammar, Punctuation, and Other. There are also free grammar quizzes you can test yourself with.
Ultimately, the rules and tips provided here are even less detailed than on Lynch’s site linked above. But the quizzes are fun if you’re into that sort of thing.
the two you’ve heard of:
Grammarly
If you’ve spent any time at all on social media, you have probably seen ads for this site. And to be honest, it’s not so much a grammar site as it is a grammar app. Even the handbook material that you will find at the link above is secondary to this site’s intent to sell you on installing their extension on your browser.
Here’s the problem: NO computer, NO software, and NO artificial intelligence will ever be able to read your writing to understand it. And the goal of writing — business writing, especially — is to write so clearly that your reader can make no mistake about your meaning. You know how your spellchecker is, right? Often helpful, but occasionally embarrassingly wrong. Well, electronic grammar checkers aren’t even often helpful.
The handbook you find at this Grammarly link is helpful, but limited. It also disguises ads for its service as “grammar tips.” We just wanted you to know.
grammar girl
This is also a site often seen on social media. Mignon Fogarty is the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips network and the creator of Grammar Girl, which started as a podcast about grammar.
The site is engaging, but not organized in any particular way that would allow you to find the quick answer to a picky question you have. The podcasts themselves are also engaging, and they are accompanied by articles that spell out the most important points covered. But the site itself is much more geared toward scanning through the various episodes (lessons) until you find one (or more) you are interested in.
Here is her page about who/whom. As you can see, it is more media-rich than any other resource on this page. It also goes into even more detail than Professor Brians’ page (our favorite to use as a quick reference). We include this, though, in case you’d like to engage with her lessons.
helpful indexes:
We provide these two links so you can explore your own interests in the world of writing.
150 writing resources from the open education database
This extensive index of links about writing is helpfully organized into 16 topics. Two of those topics pertain directly to grammar and style, but we thought some of you might be interested in seeing the other topics as well.
free online grammar resources
Yes, there are some interesting resources here. But is it hard for you to trust a site about grammar that contains grammar or spelling errors? We try to be forgiving here at Denali because we have made some embarrassing mistakes ourselves. But as though to help us make the point that proper grammar (and spelling) is vital to your professional image, take a look at the blatant grammar/spelling error on this page devoted to grammar resources! If you can get past that error, though, there are some helpful resources listed here. (See? Grammar Girl is shown in this screenshot.)