Are you the type of person who likes to read, but cringes every time you see the words “to,” “too,” and “two” used interchangeably and incorrectly?  Or have you seen one instance to many in print of “their,” “there,” and “they’re” used in the same way?  Or every time “affect” and “effect” are transposed incorrectly, does it affect you to the point that the general effect deprives you of your sanity?

If so, then you are a person who is well learned in the fine art of grammar and the correct usage and spelling of words, and who cares enough to uphold grammatical standards (sometimes in the face of what seems like massive indifference).  And if you are that person, this month’s article is for you.  We’re going to present some of the common rules of grammar, spelling and usage for Internet terminology.  Since the words and phrases particular to the Internet have only recently come into wide use, the rules that apply to their usage have not always existed—and a presentation of those rules may be very helpful for writing and conversing about a topic that is becoming more widespread and pervasive every day.

So let’s take a look at some of these rules.  First of all,

1.  The correct usage of the word “e-mail” is with a hyphen separating the e and the mail, with the e in lower case unless it is the first word of a sentence, in which case it should be capitalized.

You may see quite a bit of variation on this one.  Some writers will spell it “email,” some will favor “Email,” and others may come up with something completely different.  But the correct way would be to use a hyphen, and capitalize the first letter only if it is the first word of a sentence (such as “E-mail appears to be the best way to reach our contact person.”).  Otherwise, use lower case (such as “I gave my friend your e-mail address and he should be in touch with you soon.”)

2.  When writing an e-mail address, use all lower case letters and break the address right before the punctuation in a sentence—rather than using a hyphen to break it.

So the correct usage would be “You can contact us by e-mail at techsupport@huntel.net.” rather than trying to capitalize the address or setting it off from the rest of the sentence by any method other than standard punctuation.

3.  The correct spelling and usage is “online.”

This is another one with several variations.  Some have tried to use “on-line” and others have tried “on line.”  However, the correct form is as above, or for example, “I went online to try to look up research information for my paper that’s due next week.”

4.  When typing a URL, use italics to set it off from the rest of your sentence.

First of all, a little bit of explanation.  The acronym URL stands for Uniform Resource Link and is used to refer to the Internet location/address of a document (www.huntel.net is an example of a URL).  This is a rule that you may not see practiced as much, for several reasons.  Many word processing/e-mail programs will automatically recognize typed URLs as Internet addresses and format them as hyperlinks within your document—thus eliminating the need to set them off with italicized text.  Also, if your mail/text program is only typing in plain text, it may not allow you to use italics.

However, these limitations aside, using italics would still be considered the grammatically correct way to make a URL stand out from other text on the page.  So whenever you can use them, they’re the preferred option.

5.  The World Wide Web (or as it’s sometimes referred to for short, the Web) is considered a proper noun and should be capitalized.

The actual definition of the World Wide Web is a system of computers linked to the Internet that contain information for people to access.  The phrase “World Wide Web” is the proper title for that group of computers, similarly to how the group of 32 teams playing professional football is collectively referred to as the National Football League.  Therefore, any use of either the full term or its shorthand substitute should be capitalized.  Examples:  “You should visit my Web site.  It’s really cool!” or, “I was surfing the Web the other day and found some really good information,” or, “We met online while using the World Wide Web.”

6.  URLs should be written in all lowercase letters and it is not necessary to include http:// when writing a URL as part of a text document.

HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol, which is a transfer method used to transmit copies of documents from one computer on the Internet to another.  When you are actually receiving copies of these documents in your browser, you usually will want to include http:// as part of the address, so that your browser knows what protocol to use to bring the document to you.  However, for writing purposes, it’s more extraneous material and can be omitted (correct:  “Visit our Web site at www.huntel.net,” incorrect:  “Visit our Web site at http://www.huntel.net.”)

And on a related topic, you may be interested in checking out this previous Info Bytes article for a discussion of good etiquette practices to use when sending e-mail messages.  A little common sense and respect for the person on the other computer screen are always good things for all of us to practice.

Good grammar and proper usage can even extend to the brave new world of the Internet—and hopefully these tips will allow you to navigate that new world using both of them.