Reading an e-newsletter a minute ago, I came across an error I see often. Can you find it in the sentence below?The New Hampshire-based organization surveyed 117 senior executives and mangers around the globe for the survey, whose results were distributed April 26.Yes. It's those mangers again. And we...
If I said I never send out documents with errors, I would be lying. Just today I realized that the notebooks for two classes I taught recently had an error in one of the page titles. What should have said "Use Active Verbs Primarily" said "Use Passive Verbs Primarily"!...
Julie, a marketing and communications manager from Atlanta, Georgia, asked me about the formatting I used for commands, menus, and other items in my post Make Microsoft Find Passives. Many of us use technical terms in our writing--especially procedure writing--and I'm glad to provide tips.
Tip 1: If you write...
In a Better Business Writing class last week, I noticed places in attendees' writing where they implied something they did not intend. Here's a sentence from one letter denying a request:"At this time I cannot accommodate the schedule you have requested." Reading that sentence closely, anyone might reasonably ask,...
UPDATED 04 OCTOBER 2021:
This week I received a proof for a booklet I am printing. Because the print run is 2000 copies, I wanted to be sure everything was perfect. That is why I double-checked how to render our business phone number in print. Coincidentally, Jennifer from Bozeman, Montana,...
I recently read an auto-response from a client, which announced that he would return to work on Tuesday, the 80th. Of course, this was a typing error. Unfortunately, though, it was impossible to tell when he would actually return. Did he mean Tuesday, the 28th of November? Thursday, the...
Across the United States, people are celebrating Thanksgiving Day. Inspired by the day and having a moment before I get ready for the festivities of eating, drinking, and enjoying good company, I want to write about capitalizing the word day in holidays.
Around individual holidays celebrated in the U.S.,...
A friend emailed me a follow-up message a sales representative had sent her. I have typed it below. What is your impression of the writer?thank you for the rapid response I am grateful for the follow up. as far as information, I sending you an up coming schedule of...
In a recent business writing class, we swapped stories of errors that had made us grin. I like this one, which the writer had rendered in bold type:
Let me reirritate!
Of course, the writer intended "Let me reiterate." But the person who received the message thought reirritate fit just fine....
I have been writing a lot about apostrophes and possessive forms lately, so it was fun to read Raymond Ward's post that brought me to Nicole Stockdale's October 18 post on a recent US Supreme Court ruling.
For all who worry about using s's and s' inconsistently, not even the...
