Books Archives

British vs. US Spellings

Updated September 7, 2022 – I traveled (travelled?) around the Big Island of Hawaii the last two weeks and found that–even at Volcanoes National Park–I could not escape thinking about writing. This spelling grabbed my attention on the Sulphur Banks trail: Why deal with… continue reading

Test Your Error-Finding Skills

Each of the three short passages below has one error in the choice of a word. Can you find all three errors? Test your skills. Passage 1: Bishara’s most recent position was principal designer for Barton and Bloss. In the interviews we conducted, his interviewers… continue reading

A woman giving a thumbs up and the words "Positive Language"

Is Your Writing Too Abrupt?

You work against deadlines. Often you have to write quickly, even when the message is complex and somewhat delicate. It’s not surprising that you occasionally come across as abrupt when you thought you were being efficient. This problem is especially true in email. For the… continue reading

Do You Use “Who” or “That” to Refer to People?

When I talked about the rules of writing to a group of professional communicators, the first question they raised was this: Is it acceptable to use both who and that to refer to people, or is only who correct? Before I share my response, consider… continue reading

Great Book for Copyeditors and Others: The African Svelte

I love it when a book on language teaches me a lesson. The African Svelte: Ingenious Misspellings That Make Surprising Sense, a guide by Daniel Menaker filled with humorous, elegant word errors, taught me that I’d better slow down and think if I want to… continue reading

Review: An Excellent College Textbook

College instructors sometimes ask me to recommend a text to use in their business writing classes. Until now, I haven't had a satisfactory answer. But I am pleased to recommend Business Writing Scenarios: Writing From the Inside, by Jon R. Ramsey, published in February by Bedford/St. Martin's… continue reading

Book Review: Confessions of a Comma Queen

There is a lot to like in Mary Norris’s Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen. If you live and breathe the world of publishing, writing, or editing, you will enjoy Norris’s stories about the quirky way things are at The New Yorker,… continue reading

Stephen King on Writing

If you have never read a book by Stephen King, the bestselling author of horror, fantasy, and suspense fiction, we had that in common–until now. Over the past two days, while waiting as a potential juror at the King County Courthouse, I read Stephen King's… continue reading

Book Review: Everybody Needs This Book

Do you write on the job? If yes, you need Ann Handley's Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. It’s the best book on creative business communication I have read since Chip and Dan Heath's Made to Stick. As Handley writes, "If you… continue reading

Book Review: Fresh Thoughts on Clichés

Before you discount all clichés as weak, lazy writing, consider a few ideas from Orin Hargraves' new book, It's Been Said Before: A Guide to the Use and Abuse of Clichés (Oxford University Press, 229 pages, $24.95 in hardcover). I recommend the book for writers, editors,… continue reading