Don’t Eat Grandma: Common Grammatical Issues in Technical Writing"

Let’s eat, Grandma! Let’s eat Grandma!

This cannibalistic joke is a favorite among copy editors and writers but gets right to the core of proper punctuation and comma usage. As a copy editor working in tech, I see many of the same flaws in writing over and over again. One common mistake I’ll be discussing (and a frequent point of contention between my developer husband and I) is the proper capitalization of the abbreviated form of identification. Like many developers whose work I’ve edited, he tends to write “id” as you would in your code. Id, however, is a psychoanalytical term referring to a specific portion of the psyche; whereas ID is the abbreviated form of identification.

Being a developer isn’t only about writing code. Devs must be able to communicate via verbal and written means properly. Sometimes, it’s something as simple as writing an email or message in Slack to a coworker, or contributing to the much-dreaded documentation. For some, it’s sharing your knowledge via authoring blog posts, articles, or books. Even conference speakers spend hours writing text for their slides.

In this talk, I’ll point out some of the most common and most frustrating grammatical issues such as double spacing after punctuation, how and when to use a comma, and how grammar can help you assert your expertise on the topic of your choice!

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