The Real Subject Of Your Sentence

I took a writing course about four years ago. By the end of the second session, I was thinking, "Sheeze! I could teach this course." I learned only one thing. During the second month, I learned the name of a very important concept I had been using unconsciously for years, thereby increasing my ability to write and edit purposefully.

Grammatical versus Rhetorical Subject

I learned that sentences can have two types of subjects: Grammatical and Rhetorical. We are all familiar with the first type. Parse this sentence and find the subject:

"The proofreader looked askance at the period after the quotation mark, wondering if the writer is British."

The subject is "proofreader," right? It is the subject of the main verb "looked," which mean it has the grammatical function of subject. We call "proofreader" the grammatical subject. Ok, we're not breaking any new ground here. But now look at this sentence and find the subject:

"The veterinarian said the dog has fleas."

Using my psychic powers, I'm going to guess that you said "veterinarian" is the subject. Ahem...the grammatical subject. Now let's talk about the ONE thing I learned in the writing course: rhetorical subjects. Look at that sentence again and answer this question: "Who or what is this sentence about?"

This sentence is NOT about the veterinarian or what the veterinarian said. This sentence is about the dog. Thus, the dog, not the veterinarian, is the real focus of this sentence, which means it is the rhetorical subject.

Don't believe me? Ok, let's approach this differently. To find the grammatical subject, we identify the main verb. To find the rhetorical subject, we identify the main action. What is the main action described by this sentence? Although the main verb is "said," the main action being described is having fleas. And who or what performs this action? The dog. Thus, the dog is the rhetorical subject.

Using the Rhetorical Subject as the Grammatical Subject

"Gee, that's swell. And that's useful how?" I'm glad you asked. As a careful, effective, and purposeful writer, you want the grammatical subject to be the same word as the rhetorical subject.When we use the rhetorical subject as the grammatical subject, we get this revision:

"According to the veterinarian, the dog has fleas."

Now what's the grammatical subject? Dog. And what's the rhetorical subject? Dog. In this revision, the grammatical and rhetorical subjects are the same. This improves the sentence in four ways:

1. The sentence clearly states its main idea.
2. The sentence focuses the readers' attention on the right subject.
3. The sentence emphasizes the main action.
4. The sentence is economical.

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The base sentence of the revised version is now "the dog has fleas," and "according to the veterinarian" has been pushed into a descriptive phrase where it belongs.

Another Example of Rhetorical and Grammatical Subjects

Let's try another sentence in which the rhetorical and grammatical subjects differ.

"There is a good reason for this mess."

When we parse this sentence, we find the following elements.

Grammatical subject: "there" ["There" and all other expletives make crummy subjects.]
Main verb: "is" ["Is" and all other state-of-being verbs weaken sentences.]
Main action: having a good reason for this mess
Rhetorical subject: I, we, you, she, etc. [This sentence doesn't provide the person or thing who does the main action. In cases such as this, we have to figure it out from the context. Here, we'll assume that I am the person who has the reason.]

This sentence is weak. It doesn't use the rhetorical subject for the grammatical subject—it doesn't even tell the reader who or what the rhetorical subject is! We'll apply the same strategy as before to improve it and use the rhetorical subject "I" as the grammatical subject. This gives us the following revision.

"I have a good reason for doing this."

What are the grammatical and rhetorical subjects now? In this revised sentence, "I" serves both functions. As a result, this sentence clearly states its main idea, focuses the readers' attention on the doer of the main action, emphasizes the main action, and provides the idea economically. This sentence has another benefit: it demonstrates confidence.

Summary of Everything Above

1. The grammatical subject is the subject of the main verb.
2. The rhetorical subject is the subject of the main action described by the sentence.
3. Clear, direct, economical sentences use the rhetorical subject as the grammatical subject.
4. If your grammatical subject and rhetorical subject are not the same, revise.

Try These on Your Own

"It appears that I was right."
"The hospital was where John recovered."
"Although John loved Mary, she preferred Tom."
"There was a book I read about the Civil War."
"Here is where the CEO got fired."
[One of these is a trick question.]
in Copywriting

How Do Affiliate Programs Work?

If you have been trying to find a way to make money online for a while, you probably have heard of affiliate programs once or twice. Affiliate programs also known as "associate programs" or "publisher programs" are a big part of any online business. Most successful online retailers owe a part of their huge success to their affiliate programs and affiliate marketers registered under those programs. You can also use affiliate programs to make money online. To do that, you have to understand it. Here is a simple explanation of how affiliate programs work:



You decide to build a website for your own business, or to promote different products and services. You find products and services you want to promote, and sign up with their affiliate programs. You will be given a special link or banner that you can place on your website. Then you start to promote your website in order to drive traffic to it. Visitors start coming to your site. A visitors who has been looking for more information about the product you are promoting, decides to click on that link or banner and buys the product. He clicks through to the product manufacturer's website and makes a purchase. That purchase will earn you a commission.


That's the whole idea behind affiliate programs. It helps retailers and manufactures increase theirs sales, and it allows you as an affiliate to make money every time someone purchase something using links or banner on your website.



Today, almost all online retailers and companies have affiliate programs. Affiliate programs cater to all kind of businesses. As an affiliate marketer, you may earn as much as over $1 million per year or as less as $2 a month. The amount of money you make is directly linked to your hard work and efforts in promoting your website and driving targeted traffic to it. Obviously, the more you promote your website, the more visitors will come to your website. And more visitors means more buyers, which ultimately means more money for you.



In a nutshell, affiliate marketers are the middle man of online business. As an affiliate marketer you direct potential costumers to the merchants website in exchange for a commission. And that is a great way for making money online.
in Affiliate Programs

Tips In Getting Your Area Of Interest - How You Can Conquer Your Area Of Interest

If you may need to discover ideas in getting your specialized niche for an on the internet enterprise, then read this article. It will teach you how to conquer your area of interest to let you attain accomplishment in enterprise.

Until these days, you will find still a lot of new businessmen who are unable to accomplish success simply because they engage into a company venture that are not ideal for them. By saying this, it can be crucial that you very first discover the business area of interest that is ideal for your. Do not just begin a enterprise just since an individual is telling you to do so.

It can be really simple to attain accomplishment in marketing your product or service when it's in line with the niche that you are ideal in. Searching for the ideal niche has been the dilemma of many businessmen. Most of the new businessmen nowadays lack the required skills in determining the proper area of interest for their goods and services. So, here are some tips which can assist you in finding your area of interest.

So that you can accomplish success in company, you may need to evaluate yourself about what things do you love to do. Before you engage in a certain company venture, you'll need to initial ask yourself if you might be interested on the goods or services that you're giving your industry. It would be easy for your to convince your potential buyers whenever you know a lot about the items or service that you're offering them


It would also be excellent should you know your marketplace which you are going to be dealing with so that you simply can effectively conquer your specialized niche. Prior to you commence your business, you may need to find out the getting behavior of your target customers. The importance of knowing and understanding the buying behavior and also the purchasing power of the buyers is imperative to the profitability of your enterprise. When you know your customers or your marketplace, it would be effortless for you to device a marketing plan that will surely give you more profits and sales.

You ought to also have enough knowledge concerning the products and providers you are planning to sell in your specialized niche. This doesn't mean that you may need to be an expert but it can be essential that you simply make an impression to your clients that you're an expert. When you do this, you are going to be able to gain their trust. As a result, you may have the convenience of simple persuasion for that buyers to avail of what you are providing. You ought to bear this in mind when getting your area of interest in the industry.
in Social Marketing

Tool Talk: All About Internet Marketing Tools

Who doesn't want inexpensive internet marketing tools? In this day and age when advertising your business online is the way to go, it's a must that you avail of internet marketing tools at the lowest cost possible. How can you avail of them? How can you make the most out of these low cost internet marketing tools?

These low cost internet marketing tools aim to better your website and promote them thoroughly. Read on to know more about them:

1. Software

There is software specializing in internet marketing. These programs are affordable internet marketing tools. They attract traffic, communicate your site to anyone online, harness and trim down your keywords, track your site visitors and create links to other sites. Of course, the phrase "low cost" emphasizes that you must not spend exorbitantly. Watch out for internet marketing tools that do nothing but suck your budget.

2. Website packages

Take note of low cost internet marketing tools that do the following: hosting and designing your site, getting your domain, offering technical help, configure and upload your files, campaigning for your traffic. These are available in website packages that you can avail of anytime. Choose a package caters to your site's needs.

3. Mailing lists


Notice that when you visit the Bulk Mail folder of your email, you read nothing but website promotions. That's email marketing? It boosts your business like no other. Don't worry about spamming. There's such a thing as "safe lists" that make your mails spam-free. This is so easy to obtain. Look for mailing lists for sale and let the fun of emailing begin.

4. Data Submitters

This is a money-saving internet marketing tool that works like magic. Have a data submitter of your own and amass tremendously huge hits!

5. E-books

Integrate an e-book in your site for people to download. At such a cheap price, you keep people clamoring for more and visiting your site in the process. That's one affordable internet marketing tool for you.

6. SEO tools

Internet marketing is not complete without the standard SEO tools. Search engines remain as the major powerhouse in marketing so never leave this part out. Generate traffic through this effective low cost internet marketing tool!

Here's a reminder: when you see the low cost internet marketing tool banners online, never get persuaded easily. Study the package deals; analyze the contents and benefits before deciding if you want one.
in Internet Marketing

5 Best Ways To Get Backlinks - Learn The Golden Link Rule

One of the main ways Google used to define pagerank is by the number of backlinks to your website. But it's not all about quantity either. Quality has a lot to do with it as well. The other thing they look at is how many relevant backlinks you have. Even a PR3 one way backlink from a website in your niche is much more powerful than a PR3 website that is not related to your niche. But remember the Golden Link Rule, any link from any website has more value than no link.

Here are some of the best sources for One-Way Incoming Links.

1.) Article Directories - There are hundreds of them out there, but the Article Directories you should concern yourself with are the top 10 directories. Writing Articles is very important, and we make a full time living and it is 90% of our incoming link strategy. This is one technique you do not want to dismiss.

2.) Directory Submissions - Use a good Directory Submission Service just one time. This will cause hundreds of Unique IP's to point to your site.

3.) Create a Video - Create at least one Video to your website. It could be a screen capture video using some software like Camtasia, or a real video. Always include your URL at the bottom of the video. Most importantly, include the URL of your website in the front of your description before you submit your video. This way visitors can easily click through to your website. It will also show the search engines your site is important. Submit these to about 30 of the top video submission sites.<


4.) Press Releases - Write up a Press Release and use your primary keyword in your Anchor Text. This will create another entirely new set of IP Addresses to link back to you. We've used PR Web for our retail stores. Every time we've submitted a Press Release we've made back what we spent in direct sales, which made the Press Release free.

5.) Post On Relevant Blogs - Participate in the comments section on relevant blogs related to your Niche. Do a Google Search on "your niche" + Blogs. You'll find lots of them popup. These days many more webmasters love to receive comments that are well thought out and unique. Try to make them at least 4 sentences.

The other rule when it comes to backlinks is to make sure you get them from a variety of different sources. Don't get them all from one place. This makes Google think your website is very important, and this is what you're striving for. Just about any business will benefit greatly from these strategies. But don't forget your on-site SEO as well. Make sure your website is optimized for the keywords you want to rank for.

There are many other techniques we know of to get more backlinks to your website. Just let us know if you want us to discuss these with you for free.
in SEO

Realtor Blogs: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

As a realtor, your blog can be a valuable tool to help attract people to your website and express yourself in a more casual way than you can on your professional website; or, your blog can be a boring collection of graphs and pasted articles from other sources that say nothing about you or your area of expertise. Unfortunately, many blogs seem to fall into this latter category because many realtors think that their blog needs to be only about real estate and many of them seem to think that clients would rather read real estate news written by an "authority" than hear what their realtor has to say.

Your blog can be looked at as an extension of your personality; it can be an ideal way to let your clients (or potential clients) get an idea about who you are as a person. Don't just blog about boring old stats, let people know what's going on in your area! The average person doesn't want to read a pile of graphs about housing statistics; they'd rather have you tell them in your own words.

Blogging can also establish you as an expert in some kind of niche properties. Do you know all about restoring Victorian-era homes? Are you an expert in horse ranches? You can use your blog to showcase some of your knowledge about things that you have expansive background or training in. The big benefit here is that search engines will recognize that your blog is full of expert information


Search engines also don't like copy/pasted articles, because they are not unique content. So, you will need to actually write your own posts or have someone write them for you. You can write about current events going on nationally or in your area, but summarize what the issue is and add a link to the article about it and incorporate your opinion or original perspective on it. No one is going to come to your blog to read about articles that are all over the news sites. Blogs that are updated frequently are looked upon more favourably by search engines; however, it is better to only make an original post once a week than it is to post regurgitated information three times a week.

So, don't be scared of sharing your voice through your blog posts; write the way you speak and let your personality shine through. Don't be afraid to be funny, though keep your humour appropriate. Your blog can help you connect with clients and show them that you're a person with an opinion, not just a pretty face.
in Blogging

Tips About Finding A Market Niche - Choosing Niche Market

If you want to know some tips about finding a market niche, then this is the perfect article for your. This will give you some useful ideas about choosing niche market that will allow you to earn more money than you can ever expect. Engaging in an online business is can be a tough job. But, there are still a lot of entrepreneurs who are doing business over the Internet because of the great possibilities for earning the best profits. This is because when you are doing business online, you will have the chance to have a bigger scope of customers. It has been proven that this is the best way to expand your target market in the global arena.

There are a lot of things that you need to think about when finding your rightful niche over the Internet. These things should not be neglected because these are the basic concepts that will very successful in your business venture. Sticking to a particular market niche is very important because it will give you the chance to concentrate on a specific product or service. By doing this, you will be able to formulate the best marketing strategies that will help you dominate a particular industry for better income and profits.

In finding a market niche, it is important that you identify which products or services that you are so passionate about. Most of the successful entrepreneurs are those who are selling the products that they are so passionate about. This is because when you like the products that you are selling, you can devote more time or effect to it. You will do everything in your power to achieve success and get better profits. When you are passionate about what you are selling, you will also be able to build a substantial website that can motivate the buyers to patronize the products


In choosing niche market, it would also be wise to choose the products which you are knowledgeable about. Choose a product or service that fits best to your skills or hobbies. When you have enough knowledge about the products or services that you are offering to your customers, then it would be easy for you to persuade them in availing whatever you are offering. In the event that you don't have enough knowledge about your niche, it would be wise to do some research on how to promote and how to dominate that particular niche.

Of course, one of the most important consideration in every business is the demand for the products and services. It is pointless to engage in a business that has no demand for it. It would be like throwing all your investments away for nothing. You can conduct a research to verify if the niche that you want has a great demand from the market. Observe people's buying behavior.

When the niche is already identified, do not invest all your money to it immediately. Give yourself a trial period for about 6 months to 1 year and determine if, in deed, you are profitable in that particular business venture. During this period, you should also study what marketing strategies and measures you should take so that when you go full force, your business will enjoy so much financial success. These are all the basic considerations to make when finding a market niche that will let you earn more income from sales and profits.
in Social Marketing