Grammar and Parts of Speech
Simple grammar tends to be easy to read and understand, like a conversation. Please refer to The Chicago Manual of Style’s Glossary of Problematic Words and Phrases chapter. You can access the manual via https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/ch05/ch05_toc.html.
In the present tense, the action is happening now. The present tense is often easier to read and understand than the past or future tense. It’s the best choice for most content.
Examples
The GOJO Lippman Campus Manufacturing Center produces GOJO® and PURELL® soaps and sanitizers. The GOJO Distribution Centers ship the products to distributor partners around the world.
Voice is either active or passive. Keep it active whenever you can.
In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action – or it “acts” upon the verb.
In passive voice, the subject is the receiver of the action.
| Voice | Uses | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Most GOJO content | Uncompromising integrity is a core value of our Purpose-driven Family Enterprise, and we apply this principle to everything we do. |
| Passive | Avoiding awkward constructions Emphasizing the receiver of the action |
GOJO® products are used by people around the world. |
Verbs have singular and plural forms. Use the verb form that agrees with the subject of the sentence in number.
| When the subject is | The verb is | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Collective nouns, such as team, committee, family | Singular | A team is collaborating to develop new products. |
| Two or more singular nouns connected by and | Plural | GOJO® and PURELL® products are available from GOJO.com. |
| Two or more singular nouns connected by or | Singular | Your tablet or phone is all you need to access Office 365 on the go. |
| A singular noun and a plural noun connected by or | Singular or plural, to match the closest subject | PURELL® Hand Sanitizer and other PURELL® products are available from GOJO.com. PURELL® products or PURELL® Hand Sanitizer is available from GOJO.com. |
In grammar, person refers to the point of view represented by a statement and determines which pronoun to use.
In second person, you write as though you're speaking to the reader. Second person often uses the personal pronoun you, but sometimes the word you is implied. It supports a friendly, human tone and helps avoid passive voice by focusing the discussion on the reader.
Example
If you identify an area of development, have a conversation with your supervisor and establish a plan to support your growth in that area.
Use first person (usually I or me) only when you need to write from the point of view of the individual.
Example
I am deeply appreciative of the outstanding work of our GOJO team members. I’m excited to advance our GOJO Purpose and to deliver outstanding results together.
Proper nouns are one of a kind – unique people, places, and things. Capitalize proper nouns wherever they occur.
Proper nouns include:
Names and titles of individuals
Unique, named places, organizations, events, shows, and corporate and philanthropic programs
Products and services
Trademarks
Titles of books, songs, and other published works
If there's more than one of something, it’s a common noun. For example, there are lots of venues, so venue is a common noun. There’s only one GOJO Enterprise Alignment Venue, so that’s a proper noun.
Don’t capitalize common nouns unless they begin a sentence, or the situation calls for title-style capitalization.
Capitalize any part of a hyphenated compound word that would be capitalized if there were no hyphen. For example, capitalize the first word if it's the first word of a sentence or heading.
Example
Customer-friendly content is brief, accurate, and to the point.
Capitalize the final part of a hyphenated compound word if it's the last word in a context that requires title capitalization, such as a book or song title.
Example
Bisson, Guillermo. The App E-Book. Redmond, WA: Lucerne Publishing, 2015.
Some nouns can be challenging to use in the plural form. The simple rules that follow will help.
| Noun | Plural form | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Common and proper nouns ending in s | If the noun ends in s, add es. If the noun ends in a letter other than s, add s. | the Johnsons the Joneses biases |
| Plural abbreviation | If an abbreviation already represents a plural, don’t add an s. | PVV (Purpose, Vision, and Values) |
| Single letter | Add an apostrophe and an s. The letter itself (but not the apostrophe or the ending s) is italic. | x's |
| Numbers | Add an s. Do not include an apostrophe. | the 1950s |
| Variable | Don’t add s to a word to indicate that it could be either singular or plural unless you have no other choice. Use the plural form instead. | Wait for x minutes. |
Don’t use he and his in references to a person whose gender is unknown. Instead, rewrite to use the second person (you). Or refer to a person’s role (reader, employee, or client, for example), or simply use person or individual.
If you can’t write around the problem, it’s OK to occasionally:
Use the plural pronouns they or their to refer to a single person
Use he or she
Don’t alternate between masculine and feminine pronouns to refer to the same individual, and don’t use he/she or s/he.
Use a singular pronoun when the noun is singular and a plural pronoun when the noun is plural. Collective nouns like company take a singular pronoun. Don’t use a plural pronoun (like they).
Example
GOJO has upgraded its bottle blowing solution.
Exception: If the emphasis is on the individuals in a group, it’s OK to use a plural pronoun with a singular noun.
Examples
The team members at GOJO Wooster Campus manage the bottle-blowing operations.
The GOJO Wooster Campus team manages the bottle-blowing operations.
A word ending in –ing can be a verb, a noun, or an adjective. Use –ing words with care. The sentence should make it clear which role the word plays.
For example, we don’t know whether the heading, Meeting requirements, will be a discussion of how to meet requirements or the requirements for a meeting. These examples are clearer:
The meeting requirements
Meeting the requirements
The requirements for the meeting
How to meet the requirements
A prepositional phrase is a combination of a preposition and a noun that modifies or describes some part of a sentence.
Example
GOJO is introducing a complete solution, with hand soap and surface sanitizer.
Avoid joining more than two prepositional phrases. Long chains of prepositional phrases are hard to read and easy to misinterpret.
Incorrect
Removal of existing dispenser and staging of removed material in designated areas.
Correct
Removing the dispenser and staging removed material in designated areas.
Modifiers are single words or phrases that modify other words or phrases. Position a modifier to make it clear what it modifies.
If you keep sentences short and simple and use active voice, you probably won’t run into dangling or misplaced modifiers.
A dangling modifier doesn’t modify anything in the sentence.
A misplaced modifier is too far from the thing it modifies or too near to something else that it could modify.
Correct
Only the expire products are discarded.
Incorrect
The expired product only is discarded.
In the correct example, nothing other than the expired products are discarded. In the incorrect usage, only could modify “is discarded” or “product”.
Correct
There are files that can’t be removed in the folder.
Incorrect
There are files in the folder that can’t be removed.
In the correct example, the sentence clearly explains that the files can’t be removed, and they are in the folder. In the incorrect usage, the phrase that can’t be removed probably modifies the “folder”, but the writer may have intended it to modify “files”.
Be consistent in your use of numbers.
Numerals vs. words
In body text, spell out whole numbers from zero through nine, and use numerals for 10 or greater.
Spell out zero through nine and use numerals for 10 or greater for days, weeks, and other units of time.
Examples
seven years
28 days
12 hrs.
If one item requires a numeral, use numerals for all the other items of that type.
Example
One article has 16 pages, one has 7 pages, and the third has only 5 pages.
When two numbers that refer to different things must appear together, use a numeral for one and spell out the other.
Example
fifteen 20-page articles
Don't start a sentence with a numeral. Add a modifier before the number or spell the number out if you can't rewrite the sentence. It's OK to start list items with numerals – use your judgment.
Examples
Over 200 people engaged in the survey.
Eleven people received the award.
| Use numerals for | Examples |
|---|---|
| Measurements of distance, temperature, volume, size, weight, pixels, points, and so on – even if the number is less than 10. | 3 feet, 5 inches 1.76 lb. 80 × 80 pixels 0.75 grams 3 centimeters 3 cm |
| A number a person is directed to enter. | Enter 5. |
| A round number of 1 million or more. | 7 million |
| Dimensions. Spell out by, except for tile sizes, screen resolutions, and paper sizes. For those, use the multiplication sign (×). Use a space before and after the multiplication sign. | 10-foot cable 4 × 4 tile 8.5" × 11" paper 1280 × 1024 |
| Time of day. Include AM or PM. Exception: Don't use numerals for 12:00. Use noon or midnight instead. Include the time zone if you're discussing an event, and customers beyond the local time zone may see it. | 10:45 AM 6:30 PM The meeting is at noon. The event starts at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. The date changes at midnight. |
| Percentages, no matter how small. Use a numeral plus percent to specify a percentage. Use percentage when you don't specify a quantity.
Exception: When it is impractical to write out percent in communications materials, such as ad copy, digital marketing or infographics, especially 99.99%. | At least 50 percent of your resources should be available. Only 1 percent of the group was unable to complete the task. A large percentage of resources should be available. |
| Coordinates of tables or worksheets and numbered sections of documents. | row 3, column 4 Volume 2 Chapter 10 Part 5 step 1 |
Use commas in numbers that have four or more digits.
Examples
$1,024
1,093 MB
Exception: When designating years, use commas only when the number has five or more digits.
Examples
2500 B.C.
10,000 B.C.
Don't use commas in page numbers, addresses, or after the decimal point in decimal fractions.
Examples
page 1091
15601 NE 40th Street
1.06377 units
Don't use ordinal numbers, such as June first or October twenty-eighth, for dates. Use a numeral instead: June 1, October 28.
Global tip: To avoid confusion, always spell out the name of the month.
Form a negative number with an en dash, not a hyphen:
Example
–79
Compound numbers
Hyphenate compound numbers when they're spelled out.
Examples
twenty-five fonts
the twenty-first day
Express fractions in words, as symbols, or as decimals, whichever is most appropriate.
In tables, align decimals on the decimal point.
Add a zero before the decimal point for decimal fractions less than one.
Examples
0.5 cm
enter .75"
Don't use numerals separated by a slash to express fractions.
Exception: When an equation occurs in text, it's OK to use a slash between the numerator and the denominator. If you are writing in Microsoft Word, you can go to the Insert tab, and select Equation to format the equation automatically.
Example
½ + ½ = 1
Hyphenate spelled-out fractions. Connect the numerator and denominator with a hyphen unless either already contains a hyphen.
Examples
one-third of the page
two-thirds completed
three sixty-fourths
In measurements where the unit of measure is spelled out, use the plural form when the quantity is a decimal fraction. Use the singular form only when the quantity is 1.
Examples
0.5 inches
0 inches
1 inch
5 inches
Always spell out ordinal numbers, except for street addresses.
Examples
the first row
the twenty-first anniversary
Don't use ordinal numbers, such as June first, for dates.
Don't add -ly to an ordinal number, as in firstly or secondly.
In most cases, use from and through to describe a range of numbers.
Examples
from 9 through 17
Exception: Use an en dash in a range of pages or where space is an issue. For example, 2016–2020 and pages 112–120.
Use to in a range of times. For example, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Don't use from before a range indicated by an en dash, such as 10–15.