Last week I sent an email to a co-worker with a typo in the subject line, and she gleefully let me know about it the next time we spoke on the phone:

Co-worker: “I love it when you make typos.”

Me: “What?! Why?”

Co-worker: “Because, you’re an editor and you make typos. It makes me feel better about my own typos.”

My co-worker was just poking fun at me, but she raised a really good point: try as they might, editors make typos and grammatical errors too. Just like other skills, I believe that hard writing skills—grammar, punctuation and spelling—need to be practiced to be maintained.

On Tuesday night I had a chance to immerse myself in grammar at the Editors’ Association of Canada’s (EAC) Great Big Grammar Fest at Mount Royal University in Calgary. What the heck is a grammar fest, you ask? Here’s a description from the EAC’s website:

“CBC’s Donna McElligott will host Grammar Gals (and EAC members) Virginia Durksen and Karen Virag in a live version of their popular noon-hour radio program. The night promises to be full of vigorous fun as the gals discuss grammar and take questions from the audience.”

And vigorous grammar fun there was! Donna, Virginia and Karen held a rousing discussion (really!) about grammar, including a debate about whether or not LOL (laugh out loud) should be edited out of documents (answer: it depends on the document) and a chat about our biggest writing and grammar pet peeves.

One of the highlights of the evening for me was when the Grammar Gals shared a few of their favourite grammar resources. After the Great Big Grammar Fest and the phone call with my co-worker, I’ve decided that it couldn’t hurt to make learning more about grammar a regular part of my week. Below I’ve listed a few of the resources the Grammar Gals recommended, as well as two websites recommended by my friend and fellow editor, Rachel Small.

5 Grammar Resources to Keep Your Skills Top-Notch:

Grammar Girl – Perhaps one of the best-known grammar resources online today, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips website is a great place to find advice for your toughest grammar conundrums. I’ve subscribed to Grammar Girl’s emails so that I’ll receive tips each week without having to remember to read the site. Mignon Fogarty, the gal behind Grammar Girl, has written several books on the subject. One of her books, The Grammar Devotional, was recommended as a must-have resource at the Great Big Grammar Fest.

Fowler’s Modern English Usage: Whenever the Grammar Gals were stumped by a question from the audience during the Great Big Grammar Fest, they turned to Fowler’s Modern English Usage. This style guide contains the answers to almost any grammar or usage question you could imagine, and is regarded as one of the core texts of the editing world.

The following two sites were recommend by Rachel (thanks Rachel!):

Grammar Underground with June Casagrande: On Grammar Underground, June dishes out grammar advice and breaks down our snobbish grammar beliefs with her ‘Snobservations‘ – a question and answer section of the site where she sets people straight on their incorrect grammar judgements.

The Subversive Copy Editor: Carol Saller, a senior manuscript editor at the University of Chicago Press, hosts a feisty blog about life as an editor that includes lots of advice on really tough grammar woes. She also wrote a book that I’ve heard great things about: The Subversive Copy Editor.

And finally,

The University of Ottawa Writing Centre: This resource wasn’t recommended by the Grammar Gals or by Rachel, but it’s one that I have returned to time and time again. The resource centre is actually based on an online grammar course that is offered at the U of O, but they have been kind enough to open the resource up to the general public.

Do you have a great grammar resource to share? I’d love to hear about it!

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