What’s all the fuss about Grammar Day?

What’s all this fuss about national gamma rays?

Um, Emily, it’s Grammar Day. Not gamma ray. National Grammar Day.

National Grammar Day?

Yes.

Oh, that’s very different. Grammar Day is important. Never mind.

Emily gets it: Grammar Day is important. Every March fourth (the date that, when pronounced, forms a complete sentence) lovers of our language march forth — celebrating that language and showing others how to enjoy it.

If it sounds like an occasion for professors, editors, and ink-stained scribblers to feel smug, you’re missing the point. It’s an occasion to spread the good word about good writing, and to have some fun doing it.

The “Be explicit” mug I won for composing the winning #GrammarDay haiku in 2012

Why good writing? You write in order to connect with other people. If your writing is clear — your usage precise, your words meaning exactly what they’re supposed to mean — you’ll make that connection. But if your writing is unclear, communication suffers — like it did for Emily — and the connection is weakened. Sometimes it’s completely broken.

So celebrate with me. Come see what’s happening at the National Grammar Day website. Be on hand when the winning #GrammarDay haiku is unveiled. And, who knows? You might pick up some writing tips that will help you connect with people.

(1 March 2017: Updated link to #GrammarDay haiku)