An Apology (and a Tribute) to All the English Teachers Out There

Sorry, Mr. Walker

Mr. Walker. Mrs. Murphy. Jamey. Mom. Dad. 

Each of these teachers (along with many dedicated friend correspondents) played a big role in paving my path toward a writing career. And each of these people would be facepalming hard if they read many any of my posts. Thankfully, my mom is probably the only one reading this. Hi, Mom!

A “Thank You” speech

If this post were a speech, I’d probably be starting out by thanking those who deserve a bit of credit. I guess that still feels appropriate here. But it’s hard to know who gets the most credit for my love of writing. 

Was it Mom, who relentlessly corrected my spoken grammar until every adverb and dangling preposition was put in its place? 

Or maybe it was Dad, the teacher, who insisted for many years that I keep a journal. (So far my husband is thankfully the only one who’s had the privilege of perusing the musings of 11-year-old me.) 

Could it have been Mr. Walker, who demanded the highest standard of essay reports and covered innumerable 20-page drafts in red ink? (That’s not an exaggeration. It happened many times in his various college prep classes.)

Perhaps it was Mrs. Murphy, who coaxed our writing out of the “box” and even assigned an entire composition prohibiting the use of even a single “be” verb. (...be, being, been, am, are, was, were...you try writing an entire essay without any of those words!)

Probably the countless family and friends who have kept up a snail mail correspondence with me through the years deserve some credit. 

Likely my former teaching partner, Jamey, deserves a huge shout out for her diligent and enthusiastic modeling when teaching our 3rd graders (ahem, and mostly me) how to be writers.

Most recently, we can definitely attribute this reignited passion for words to the startup Montessori School, Academy of the Winds. Through this venture, I have had the honor of learning from many entrepreneur friends what it takes to start a business, much of which is strategic marketing and writing.

An apology 

And now for an apology. Each of these people guided, led, taught, and encouraged me on my path to being a writer. 

But the writing I do now would make most of them cringe. Especially Mr. Walker - he’d probably throw one of his famous aluminum foil balls at me. 

You see, sometimes it looks like I’ve never had an ounce of proper English instruction. My “yeah”s and “you betcha”s and “ahem”s hardly sound like the words of an educated adult. And would someone who’s making her career as a writer really publish this many incomplete sentences?! And how often was I told that contractions don’t belong in formal writing? And did I really just start three sentences in a row with conjunctions?!

To all of my past writing instructors: I’m sorry. 

Writing for marketing

Grammar is not dead. 

BUT. The rules can be bent a little. OK, a lot.

It’s like this. If I write one way for my business, and then I hop on the phone with a client sounding totally different, I’ve just confused my client and my brand.

With everyone and every business having the ability to publish to a worldwide audience now, we’re no longer writing to the most elite or for the sole purpose of higher education. 

Writing has to be much more conversational than it’s ever been before. It has to flow the same way speech does. It has to match the times and the culture. It has to be relatable, attainable, flexible, and friendly. 

The best rule to follow when writing for marketing’s purpose is to write like you talk. Contractions. Slang. Incomplete sentences. Dangling prepositions. It’s all fair game if it matches the way you’d talk to a client. 

Strike the right balance

Now, I can’t give you permission to completely ignore all the rules of grammar. It wouldn’t do our English teachers any justice. Those rules often still apply. And you don’t want to sound incompetent and unreliable. 

Have some dignity. Please.

I’m simply saying that we’re not going for a perfectly polished formal report here, and we’re not writing for the queen. 

I break a lot of the writing rules I worked so hard to learn, but it’s with purpose and intentionality. If it weren’t for those who worked so hard to make me sound educated, you’d never be reading these words...even if they do make my teachers cringe a bit. 

Regardless of who deserves the most thanks (and who’s cringing the most at my writing), here I am. I’m a writer. I am a glutton for words. And I’m here to share that with you.