Business Writing

Book Review: Better Business Writing

At last! A book I can recommend to executives and to the human resource managers whose responsibility it is to develop executives: HBR Guide to Better Business Writing, by Bryan A. Garner. Garner is one of my favorite experts on usage, writing style, and legal writing. So I was delighted... Read more →

Anxiously or Eagerly? It Depends.

The other day I was among a group saying goodbye to our friend Carol, who is traveling to several countries in the Middle East, places where we fear a bit for her safety. One friend, Elizabeth, told Carol, "We will anxiously await your return." Carol replied, "Don't wait anxiously." "Well,... Read more →

Copyeditors Killed in Style Conflict

Reader Jennifer Schmidt of the Detroit area tipped me off to this import article in today's Onion, "4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence." Because of the comments readers post here, I know passions run strong on topics of grammar, usage, and punctuation, but this... Read more →

Email Subjects: Specific vs. Vague

What type of email subject gets your attention? This week I deleted 1226 messages from my email inbox. Viewing their subject lines, I was reminded of what typically makes me read a message: specificity--something specific in the subject. These are specific email subjects from my inbox: How to transition to... Read more →