A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories.

After an hour, the manager asked them to disperse.

"But why?" they asked, as they moved off.

"Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

 

about UpWORDly Mobile

Let’s not kid ourselves. Most of us can move happily through life without ever fine-tuning our use of who and whom. We can say, “Millicent gave Francoise and I all the credit for the success of the dinner” and think we’ve spoken eloquently. We can even say irregardless or mix up affect and effect without perceived consequence. Email and text messaging have twisted the language beyond recognition for many of us, but others seem to understand it just fine. So why be concerned?

Well, what if your word choice or usage, punctuation, capitalization, sentence structure, even spelling for your . . .

  • real-estate marketing flyer,
  • letter to the band parents of Midvale High,
  • memo to your boss – or bosses,
  • presentation to a potential client or
  • note to your future in-laws

embarrasses you with errors your spelling or grammar checker didn't catch? Would this bother you?

UpWORDly Mobile is an easily accessible reference for people who’d like to sharpen their language skills. Grammar, usage, spelling, vocabulary, sentence structure and general clarity (getting to the point and being understood) are all included on the UpWORDly Mobile site and e-mail communications.

We’re not trying to get everyone on the same page. That would be arrogant and unrealistic, since . . .

  • reputable grammar books and other sources differ on a number of points;
  • correctness in grammar, usage and even spelling is often a matter of accepted style, which varies from institution to institution and even from person to person;
  • the language is constantly changing;
  • UpWORDly Mobile is susceptible to error, same as you, so we’re staying off the pedestal.

What is our goal? To help you employ the English language to best advantage in the context of your own needs, comfortably and without pretense.

Let us know if you think we might be able to do it better: editor@upwordlymobile.com

 

Who’s behind UpWORDly Mobile? I am. I’m George Pearson.

I’ve worked in secondary and higher education as a teacher, publications adviser and administrator; in business;  and in journalism as a community newspaper editor as well as editor and publisher of a major Canadian trade publication. Born in Minnesota, I have pursued my several occupations there, in Chicago and Toronto and now Stratford, Ontario, where I live with my wife, a freelance writer and editor and longtime reporter for a Canadian daily newspaper.

I’ve always been fascinated with grammar (get a life, George!), possibly because my mother had been an English teacher before marrying my dad and starting our family. Slang and double negatives were banned from the Pearson household, but song, silliness (puns lurking everywhere) and reading were not. Language was an enabler, not a straitjacket.

In each of my various pursuits, I learned something more about the importance of language skills. Many of my college students have been hampered by gaps in their writing ability, even though many of them already had university degrees. As an editor and publisher of a human resources biweekly tabloid, I was often appalled by the cover letters and resumes of candidates for reporting and editorial positions.

In many instances, a little guidance might have gone a long way to help some of those people get a better grip on the English language. That’s all I want to do with UpWORDly Mobile. This is not a crusade. It’s more an outstretched hand from someone who has picked up a lot of useful language skills but who is still a learner himself.