"Everyday"

Think spelling is a concern of the past? Think again.

Despite what you may have heard about spelling not really mattering in the texting/Tweeting world, accuracy in spelling and grammar still affect how your stakeholders see you. 

The occasional error is one thing (though you want to avoid even that, if you can help it), but chronic and high-profile spelling and grammatical errors can lead people to think you (or your employer or client) don't have your act together. 

Forbes even recently published a piece looking at the relationship between spelling errors and market success among major brands.

Clients rely on their professional communicators to ensure their written materials are letter-perfect before those messages go out the door. We have to be vigilant proofreaders, which requires us to be excellent with spelling and grammar. 

If you're looking forward to a professional career in communications and your spelling and grammar need work, now's the time. Become a compulsive proofreader... it'll help!

This week's error: "everyday"

"Everyday" is an adjective, which means it's used to modify or describe a noun (for example, my "everyday dress" as opposed to my "formal dress").

In the case of "every day," "every" is the adjective describing the noun "day;" the two words don't work together to describe a separate thing.

Grammarist.com offers a great trick to help you:

When you’re not sure which one to use, try replacing everyday/every day with each day. If each day would make sense in its place, then you want the two-word form. Everyday, meanwhile, is synonymous with daily or ordinary, depending on its sense.