Good Manners and Good Grammar DO Count in real estate marketing
Do you want to lose a potential client because your blog posts show you have bad manners?
Do you want to lose a potential client because your blog posts show you don’t know the basic rules of grammar?
I didn’t think so.
I’m being picky again… Sorry, but I do think a potential client might cross an agent off their list for breaking these basic rules of etiquette and grammar.
Every now and then, in a real estate blog post, I see a “manners and grammar” mistake that sets my teeth on edge.
It goes like this: “Me and my clients” used as the subject of a sentence. It reminds me of high school when I used to hear “Me and John went to the movies Friday night.” It was usually spoken quickly, so it came out as “Mean John went to the movies.” People would look at me strangely when I’d ask “What makes John so mean?”
So… first the manners.
Aren’t we taught from pre-school years to always state the other person’s name first?
Yes – it’s just good manners. So in these examples it would be correct – and polite – to say “My clients and…”
But then… the word “Me.”
“Me” is an object word – never a subject word. Use it after words like for, with, to, before, or after.
When you yourself are the subject of the sentence, the word to use is “I.”
“My clients and I arrived early and found …”
Would you say “Me arrived early?”
Use the “leave them out” trick…
If you aren’t sure whether to use “me” or “I,” simply omit the other person. Then read it and listen to how it sounds. Just as you wouldn’t say “My client referred a friend to I,” you wouldn’t say “Me toured a beautiful home on Sunday.”
At least I hope not.
In the meantime… just remember: Never begin a sentence with the word “me” unless you’re talking about the word itself. For instance: “Me is an object word.”
Posted: May 12th, 2013 under grammar.
Tags: grammar in marketing, marketing copy, real estate marketing
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