Exclamations

If you use exclamation marks frequently in your communications with others, you may wonder how it affects your readers' perceptions of you. Do gender or age matter? We conducted an experiment with 400 people to find out. 

"I" Sentences

Starting each sentence with the word "I" is conventionally discouraged. Some think it can make you look self-centered, cold, or unoriginal. But in a randomized experiment with 1,200 email readers and social media post viewers, we find different results.

Non-Native Speakers - Grammar Perceptions

Learning English is hard. Even native speakers make grammatical mistakes. But are non-native speakers judged more or less harshly for such errors, particularly in the workplace? The results of an experiment with 1,200 people suggest that gender matters.

Parentheses - Nuance or Nuisance

Parentheses provide supplemental details that (while potentially helpful) are not essential. Does including those details (and the parentheses enclosing them) boost informativeness? Or are they just annoying? We have the data in this 1,200-person experiment.

Semicolon Perceptions

Semicolons are rarely used. They're optional, and using them correctly requires specific grammatical knowledge. However, perhaps that makes users seem smarter; or perhaps it just signals arrogance. We put it to the test in an experiment with over 1,000 people. 

Slang

New-age acronyms and made-up meanings underpin the informal, yet exclusive lexicon of slang. It can provide meaning and identity to those who use it. But not all the world's a fan, fam. Our experiment reveals how the use of slang affects your image.

There, Their, They're

One of the most common grammatical mistakes is mixing up there, their, and they're. Does it make you seem less smart in the eyes of your peers? To find out, we conducted an experiment with 1,200 people in the contexts of social media and work.

Typos

We all make mistakes, especially when writing or typing. But making it a habit may affect your image. According to our workplace research study, typos in emails significantly affect how smart, likable, and trustworthy you seem.