We All Need Words point out that “That’s not what I was taught at school” are words we hear a lot. They post five unrules:
5. Write short or ‘fragmented’ sentences.
4. Split infinitives.
3. Use contractions (eg that’s instead of that is).
2. Don’t sign off letters with ‘Yours Sincerely if you know the person you’re writing to or ‘Yours Faithfully’ if you don’t.
1. And you can start a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’.
And a bonus rule from Kurt Vonnegut:
Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.
Ignore Microsoft Word’s green squiggly line. Dare I say, ignore Word altogether. There. Just in time for school.
