Business Writing

When Your COB Is My EOD

The other day in a business writing class, I read an abbreviation that perplexed me. Here is the sentence: We need your contributions by the COB on December 14. The writer, Linda, was asking for contributions for an adopt-a-family holiday program. Do you recognize COB? I strained my brain to... Read more →

Served or Serviced--Which Do You Prefer?

My friend Margaret sent me an amusing sentence from an email she had received from a car rental company. Here is the sentence, from which I have eliminated the company's name to maintain its good reputation: Our car rental company values you as a customer, and we look forward to... Read more →

A Question of Timing

Today I sent out my monthly e-newsletter to 3426 people. As is typical on a Friday afternoon, I received many automatic out-of-office email replies. This is my favorite, from a man named Dave: I am currently out of the office. I will return to the office on Thursday, August 2,... Read more →

Sign Language

I recently led a Better Business Writing class for a well-respected company in one of its large training rooms. The room had two doors, one at either end. Each door had a sign next to it. I believe the signs were saying the same thing, but I am not certain.... Read more →

Entitled or Titled?

On Monday I led seminars for the communications group of a huge company. When I asked this sophisticated audience to find errors in sentences, they identified an error I did not intend. Here is the sentence: She was quoting from a white paper entitled "Avoiding Antitrust Violations". In the United... Read more →

Sending the "Wrong" Message With Quote Marks

Yesterday an art director wrote with a request for validation that she is correct. Copywriters who submit their work to her have been using quotation marks to emphasize words. But she believes that the marks have the opposite effect--that they, in fact, undermine the message. Is she correct? Yes. Here... Read more →

First Person Pronouns (I and We) in Reports

Elizabeth, who works for a nonprofit agency, phoned the other day for help on a report. She was writing the report to explain how her program had used a financial grant to partner with another agency to provide services. Elizabeth was stumbling over we in the document. The pronoun seemed... Read more →

Great Resources on FAQ

If you write frequently asked questions (FAQ), check out these excellent resources from E-WRITE: Frequently Asked Questions Style Guide E-WRITE wrote this style guide for the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Government. Even if you don't write FAQs, it is a good example of a style guide. Here are... Read more →

What's Up With Email Slogans and Sayings?

Yesterday in a writing seminar I asked the group of 10 participants how many of them liked philosophical sayings or quotations at the end of an email. Here is the result: Percentage who like sayings and quotations in email: 0% It was a friendly group at a progressive company, and... Read more →

Verb Tenses for Meeting Minutes

Peter wrote recently to ask about the appropriate verb tenses to use in meeting minutes. Read these sentence pairs he asked about and decide which sentences sound better for meeting notes and minutes. A. John said the next meeting will be on October 1. B. John said the next meeting... Read more →