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Refine your sentences
Here are some techniques to consider when examining your own sentences. 1. Grab attention and set the tone with your first sentence Too often, first sentences are throat-clearing sentences and tell us little about what’s to follow. In business writing we want to know what the document or email is about and why we should […]
Consistency matters in board papers
Be consistent at all levels of writing I’ve read a lot of board papers lately and been reminded of the need for consistency at every level of a paper. Consistent messaging provides clarity while inconsistent messaging leads to questioning and distrust. When your formatting, word choice and styles are consistent, no feature stands out to […]
Stop procrastinating and get writing
Manage your time and emotions I read a lot of poorly written business documents that make me wonder about people’s time-management skills. I wonder if they put off writing because they think they can’t write well. (Quite a few business writers tell me they don’t like writing.) Maybe they are pushed for time with endless […]
Can you write your own copy?
I was at a networking meeting recently, and someone said: ‘Once you’ve written an online course, you can’t write the copy for the website. You must engage a professional copywriter.’
The group murmured assent and I sat silent because I write my own copy for my online courses and wouldn’t have it any other way.
The power of writing to heal lives
Write for 20 minutes a day, three days in a row I challenge you to write about your life for 20 minutes a day, three days in a row. Don’t worry about grammar and punctuation. Just write. Then put the piece of writing aside or throw it away. It doesn’t matter if you never read […]
Top three grammar searches (status, staff and decision-making)
‘What is the plural of status?’ tops the list I have been writing about grammar for years and have answered hundreds of people’s grammar questions. The posts that receive the most hits on my Online Writing Training site surprise me. I would never have predicted that the most popular posts would be: The plural of […]
Choose the right greeting and sign-off
Greetings and sign-offs vary depending on the formality of the communication.
In a letter, the conventional greeting is:
Dear Sally (without a comma)
If you don’t know the person, some writers address the person as Mr/Ms or, alternatively, use their full name.
When to use the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘me’
Pronoun subject and objects Many people use I and me interchangeably in conversation and nobody minds. People care more in written communication so here are some rules. I = subject of a verb. I ‘do’ the action. I (subject) looked at him (object). He receives the action of my looking, so we use him. Me = […]
How to punctuate ‘however’
The punctuation of ‘however’ depends on its meaning The word however is overused in business writing and the punctuation that goes with it is often incorrect. Different meanings of however Part of the confusion occurs because of the different meanings of however. A couple of common meanings are ‘in spite of’ and ‘in whatever way’. […]
Common word pairs (e.g. horse and carriage)
Some word pairs are used so frequently together that they sound odd when reversed. They are called binomials and trinomials. On a plane trip, I was offered ‘cheese and biscuits’ and it jarred. I would’ve said ‘biscuits and cheese’.
I discovered that such pairs are called ‘binomials’ and when they sound odd reversed, they are ‘irreversible binomials’.
Grammar myth: And, But, Because, Hopefully
Myth: You can’t start sentences with And, But, Because, Hopefully But you can. And and But Many fine writers, including Shakespeare, Blake, Tennyson and Kipling, have used And or But at the beginning of sentences. Here’s an extract from Blake’s famous hymn, ‘Jerusalem’. And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of […]