The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

Incorrect usage of ‘a’ and ‘an’ is one of the things that will mark you as a poor writer. Although some uses are obvious to most native English speakers, there are (as with so many other grammar rules) exceptions to the usual rules.

Most people know to use ‘a’ before a word beginning with a consonant and ‘an’ before a word beginning with a vowel:

The sandwich was served with a salad and an apple.

Simple, right? Most of the time. But here are some exceptions. …continue reading When to Use ‘A’ and When to Use ‘An’

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Perhaps because these words are spelled and pronounced similarly, they are often confused. However, “then” and “than” are different words with different meanings and it is important to understand how and when to use each of them. Here are some tips to help you.
…continue reading Using Then or Than

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Good narrative writing spells out the facts in a clear, concise way. However, “concise” does not mean using sentence fragments or only short sentences. To make your writing more readable, interesting and easy to follow, vary the lengths of your sentences.

When all of the sentences you use are very short, the narrative is choppy:

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. Mary greeted me. She told me about the sale. I found three blouses. Mary asked if I wanted to try them on. She led me to the fitting room. Mary unlocked the door. She hung the blouses in the room.

You also should not use only long sentences, especially run-on sentences:

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. and Mary greeted me and she told me about the sale. I found three blouses, and Mary asked if I wanted to try them on then led me to the fitting room and unlocked the door and hung the blouses in the room.

…continue reading Simple Sentences and Compound Sentences

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What is wrong with this sentence from a mystery shopper report?

The service could of been faster.

There are a couple of problems. Not only does it express an opinion rather than an objective fact, it does so badly.

There is never a case where “could of” is a grammatically correct phrase.

The same is true of would of, should of and must of. And, even worse, coulda, woulda, shoulda, and musta. Never even think about using them in your reports.

The correct phrases are could have, would have, should have and must have.

So why do so many people use “of” instead of “have”?

Probably because when people use a phrase such as “could have” in a sentence, they tend to shorten it to “could’ve.” People who are accustomed to hearing the spoken phrase hear it as “could of” and therefore write it that way.

The grammatically correct version of the above sentence would be:

The service could have been faster.

Of course, it is still opinion and thus probably does not belong in a mystery shopper report. However, there may be times when the use of “could have” is appropriate in your reports. Just make sure that when you use it, you spell it correctly.

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One of my pet peeves is the incorrect use of apostrophes. People leave them out when they should use them, then sprinkle them willy-nilly where they have no business being.

Every time I see a big sign that says “BOOK’S” I cringe.

Although apostrophe errors are common, improper use of apostrophes will mark you as an inexperienced and  uninformed writer to those who understand proper usage—such as editors at mystery shopping companies. The proper use of apostrophes will help you get better scores on your mystery shopper reports.

Here are some simple tips that will help you remember how to use apostrophes in your writing—and how not to use them. …continue reading Apostrophe Catastrophe

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Are there words that you can never seem to remember how to spell? Most of us struggle with at least a few words. Spell check may catch them for you, but you can not always rely on spell check. Sometimes your spelling is so far off that even spell check can not figure it out.

I keep a list of the words I can never remember how to spell (such as “occurred”–is it one ‘r’ or two?) near my computer so I can refer to it when needed. I have expanded the list here to create a reference tool with some of the most commonly misspelled words.

Keeping this list near your computer, and referring to it often, will save you time and reduce your spelling errors when writing mystery shopping reports.

Get a handy printable version (PDF) of Spelling Tips for Mystery Shop Reports here.

Note that this list is based on American spelling. There may be variations in the way some of these terms are spelled in other countries. …continue reading Spelling Tips for Mystery Shoppers

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Secret shop reports use a lot of numbers. When you need to put a number into a sentence should you use the numerals, or spell it out?

There is no clear-cut answer to this one. It is largely a matter of style. If the mystery shopping company has a style guide they ask shoppers to use when writing reports, that will determine how you use numbers. However, in the absence of specific style guidelines, here are some suggestions for when to use the numerals and when to spell out numbers. …continue reading Writing Numbers in Mystery Shopper Reports

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In an earlier post, I showed you how to identify and correct sentence fragments. Run-on sentences are the flip side of fragments. Where a fragment is not a complete sentence, a run-on sentence is two or more complete thoughts that are run together without punctuation. For example, this is a run-on sentence:

Ken asked if I wanted to schedule delivery of the desk he said delivery could be on Tuesday or Thursday.

There are two complete thoughts there. To eliminate the run-on sentence, you could write: …continue reading Run-on Sentences

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A common writing error is the improper use of double negatives. Examples of double negatives include:

“I haven’t got no money.”

“He is not going nowhere.”

And, courtesy of Pink Floyd:

“We don’t need no education.”

Here is what you need to know about double negatives and why you shouldn’t never . . . uh, shouldn’t ever use them. …continue reading Don’t Use No Double Negatives

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