Business

Writing Skills : A Take-charge

title:
Assistant Book
author: Dobrian, Joseph.
publisher: AMACOM Books
isbn10 | asin: 0814479731
print isbn13: 9780814479735
ebook isbn13: 9780585040219
language: English
subject Business writing.
publication date: 1998
lcc: HF5718.3.D62 1998eb
ddc: 808/.06665
subject: Business writing.
 Page i

Business Writing Skills

A Take-Charge Assistant Book
Joseph Dobrian

AMACOM
American Management Association
New York Atlanta Boston Chicago Kansas City San Francisco
Washington, D.C.
Brussels Mexico City Tokyo Toronto

 Page ii
This book is available at a special
discount when ordered in bulk quantities.
For information, contact Special Sales
Department, AMACOM, a divison of
American Management Association, 1601
Broadway, New York, NY 10019
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative
information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the
understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal,
accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other
expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional
person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dobrian, Joseph.
Business writing skills/by Joseph Dobrian.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8144-7973-1 (pbk.)
1. Business writing. I. Title.
HF5718.3.D62 1997
808' .06665--dc21 97-25274
CIP
© 1998 AMACOM, a division of
American Management Association, New York.
© 1995 AMA Periodicals Division.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of
American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY
10019.
Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

 Page iii

Contents
1 Getting Started 1
Why write? 1
The blank page (or scren) 3
Writing to your audience 6
Terminology 8
Types of Words 8
Putting words together 10
2 The Style Book 14
"Correct English" 14
What is a style book? 16
Punctuation 16
Capitalization, plurals, possessives, and abbreviations 27
How to write numbers 34
3 Getting to Work 39
Editing and proofreading 39
The Fog Index: A never-fail key to readability 42
Memos 47
Letters 51
Job descriptions 55
 Reports 59
Press releases 62
Newsletters 63
E-mail 67
4 Getting to Be an Expert 73
Do's and don'ts from the experts 73
Everyone's favorite mistakes 76
Frequently misused words and expressions 82
Commonly confused words 85
Spelling 101
Correcting your boss 104
Ghostwriting 108
Foreign words and phrases 110
5 Answers to Exercises 115
Index 123

 Page 1

1
Getting Started
Why Write?
Many people say, "I hate to write!" Writing good, readable English is
really not very hard, but many of us have convinced ourselves,
somehow, that it is. The cheerless way in which English is taught in
many schools probably has a lot to do with our attitude! Also, many
people believe that as our society becomes more casual, the need for
good writing skills will diminish. Good grammar and proper usage, to
some people, have become a stuffy formality that nobody cares about
these days.
If you take that attitude, though, you're not going to make it in the
business world, whether you're a manager or an administrative
assistant. Aside from actually behaving badly, hardly anything will
hurt your reputation more surely than a poorly written letter or memo.
Think of the letters, memos, and other communications you've
received that were badly written. I'll bet that each one of them caused
one of the following reactions:
"I wish I could figure out what this person is saying."
"I'm certainly not going to do business with anyone who hasn't
bothered to learn to write well."
"If she can't express herself any better than this on paper,
imagine how she must sound in person!"
"Don't they care enough to write decent letters?"
That last one is the cruncher. Writing in an interesting style, using
clear, standard English, will tell your reader that you care about the
reaction you're going to get. Not doing so implies that you don't care.

 Page 2
The One Big Rule of Good Writing
When you get right down to it, there's only one rule of good writing. The
other "rules" aren't really rules at all. They are guidelines that help you to
follow what I call the "One Big Rule," which is:
Brevity, precision, and clarityand the greatest of these is clarity.
We'll be coming back to the One Big Rule again and again in this book, as
we cover punctuation, grammar, the use of foreign terms, the Fog Index,
and the writing of effective letters, memos, and reports. Keep it in mind as
you go through the book, and keep it in mind, from now on, each time you
write anything.
Why Write Well?
Now that you know the One Big Rule of good writingwhich makes the
whole process a lot less scary, doesn't it?it's time to consider a few reasons
for good writing:
Good writing makes you look good. It gets you noticed, and it gets you
promoted. It also gets you published. If you can write well, you can write
articles in magazines, technical journals, and newslettersand having
published an article on a certain subject makes you, officially, an expert
on that subject.
Good writing makes your boss and your company look good. If every
communication that comes out of the office follows the One Big Rule,
your boss will look good, the company will look goodand you'll get the
credit.
It's an up-and-coming skillbelieve it or not! It seems that we have to
document whatever we do in the office nowadays, whether it involves
building a dossier on an employee so you can fire her later, charting your
relationship with a supplier, or expanding your training manual. Writing
of this sort really must be clear and precise! E-mail and other online
services are becoming more widespread, and in many cases they're taking
the place of phone conversations and face-to-face meetings. All in all,
you'll be writing more, not less, as time goes on. Finally, English has
become the international language of business. More and more people are
writing it all over the world. To communicate with all these people, you
have to have good writing skills.

 Page 3
Anyone can learn to be a good writer. It's like any other skill: To get
good at it, you have to want to be good at it, and you have to practice
a lot. Write as much and as often as you can. Keep a diary; write
letters to friends; write poetry, fiction, and essays. Reading is just as
important as writing. It doesn't much matter what you read so long as
you read well-written books on the subjects that interest you. By
reading good writing, you'll pick up all kinds of little tricks for
making your own writing more interesting. You'll also expand your
vocabulary and your understanding of the language.
The Blank Page (or Screen)
"Blank-page syndrome" is that sinking feeling you get when you sit
down in front of the computer knowing that you have to write a letter,
report, or some other business documentand you don't have the first
idea of how to start! You just sit there, feeling that you're the stupidest
thing that ever drew breath. Finally, you remind yourself that if you
don't write something, you won't get to go home, so you say what you
have to say in the greatest possible number of words, in hopes that all
those words will convince your reader that you know what you're
talking about.
It's blank-page syndrome that makes a lot of people so afraid of
writing. Just keep two things in mind, though. First, everyone suffers
from it. Even Shakespeare probably had it sometimes. Second, it's
easy to overcome, no matter how hopeless you're feeling.
The surest way to beat blank-page syndrome is not to begin at the
beginning.
If you start your letter or report with an introductory passage, you'll sit
there staring at the screen all day.
The first paragraphs should usually be the last thing you write. (It's a
lot easier, nowadays, to write the beginning last, since you're likely to
be working with a computer or word processor that lets you cut and
paste blocks of copy as you work.) Where and how should you start, if
not at the beginning? Every writer has an idea about that. How you get
started depends a lot on how clear an idea you already have of what
you want to say, how complicated the job is, and how thoroughly you
understand the issue you're writing about. I have four methods, each
of which has been very effective in different circumstances:

 Page 4
Start in the middle. Just write. Start anywhere, but write down as much
1.
as you can write. If you have a sentence or paragraph in your mind, but
you're not sure where it should go in the document, write it anyway,
and work around it.
If you're really stumped for something to say, start by writing down
whatever you know about the issue that you're addressing. Suppose, for
instance, that you're writing a brief report on a conference you
attended. You remember what you did at the conference, so start by
stating the plain facts: "On Monday morning I attended the general
session, where the keynote speaker was. " From that, you'll get into a
description of the main points of the speech. Following that, you'll
describe the seminars you attended, the exhibits you saw, and so on.
Before you know it, you'll have written a major portion of your report.
Now that you've done the purely descriptive writing, go over the
document and identify the most important points. For example, maybe
a new product was introduced at this conference, a product that you
think will revolutionize your industry. In that case, it's the new product,
more than the conference, that you'll want to focus on. You then can
write the beginning of the report:
The highlight of last week's Gadgets Unlimited Conference was
the introduction of a left-handed hoozenhaffer, which is likely to
cut our labor costs by about 40 percent within the next two years.
2.Write an informal outline. Nobody enjoys writing outlines. They're not
interesting, and we usually end up ignoring them anyway. But
sometimes they do help. You don't have to write a fancy one, with lots
of Roman numerals and subheadings. Just jot down the points you want
to cover, then figure out which points are the most important andvery
generallywhat you want to say about each. Keep on jotting down ideas,
jumping from point to point as you think of something else to say.
Before too long, you'll have written most of what you need to write.
Now it's just a matter of putting those ideas into complete sentences
 and putting the ideas into their proper order. When that's done, you'll be
ready to write your introduction and your conclusion.
3.Work backwards. If you already know what your conclusion is going to
be,

 Page 5

but don't know how you're going to bring the reader to it, start by
writing the conclusion:
Therefore, all rules against smoking should be abolished.
You have just written your whole story in one sentence. All you have to
do now is supply the why and the how. Just write your reasons for
wanting the anti-smoking rules abolished, as they come to you. Later,
you can worry about putting them in the right order. For now, just get
them onto the screen, along with whatever arguments or evidence you
might have to back them up.
You've now written the middle and the end of the document. Now it
should be easy to determine the beginning, something like, "Doctors at
the North Carolina Research Center have concluded that, contrary to
popular belief, smoking is good for you!"
4.Ask, "Why am I doing this?" One good way to get your motor running
is to start before the beginning. In other words, write an explanation (to
yourself) of why you have to write this document. For instance: "I need
to write a letter to the Mayor's office applying for permission to build
an addition to our factory despite city zoning codes. The problem is
that the land we want to build on is zoned as a street. Even though it's
actually just a big field of gravelso, technically, we'd be building in the
middle of the street!" Before you know it, you'll have written most of
the information that will have to go into the letter. Now it's just a matter
of reorganizing and editing that material into a clearer, more concise
form:
Dear Mayor Dale:
I am writing this letter to request an exemption from Rule 6.12 of
the Montgomery zoning code.
Our firm would like to build an addition on lot 5683, which the
Zoning Commission has zoned as a street. However, as the
 enclosed photographs show, this lot is actually a field of gravel.
There you are: You're rolling!

 Page 6

Writing to Your Audience

Naturally, you will use different tones depending on what you're
writing and whom you're addressing. A letter of complaint will
usually be crisp and businesslike; an annual report will be rather
formal but upbeat; a sales brochure might be dynamic, almost
breathless. Your letters and memos will sometimes be friendly and
chatty, sometimes formal and impersonal. But in each case, you will
follow the One Big Rule:
Brevity, precision, and clarityand the greatest of these is
clarity.
Some experts believe that the best way to adjust the tone of your
writing is to write the way you speak. In other words, if you were
writing one letter to your mother and another to a corporate president,
you would write each letter as though you were talking to the person
in question. This advice is good but is often misunderstood. The tone
has much more to do with your personal relationship with the
recipient than with his or her social position.
A good way to restate that advice is: The friendlier you are with your
audience, the more informal and idiomatic you can be. (For instance,
if you were very friendly with the corporate president, there'd be no
objection to your writing, "Dear Sam, Guess what? I broke 80
yesterday! Nice shootin', huh? By the way, I wonder if you could tell
me. ")
Notice I said, "The friendlier you are," and not "the friendlier you're
trying to be." Never take a chummy tone with people you don't know
in an effort to show them how folksy and likable you are. Such a tone
might not actually offend them, but it will make them think you're
insincere.
Spoken English is more lenient with the rules than written English.
Probably nobody in the world speaks perfect standard English. We'll
use "got" and "gotten" interchangeably; we'll say, ''The man that I was
speaking with," or "it's a couple of miles further on," and nobody will
hold it against us. When you write, your reader will expect you to
avoid such mistakeswhatever your relationship.
This doesn't mean that you should be excessively formal in your
writing. Nobody likes to read something like, "It is to be hoped that
within the next 30-day period you will have given consideration to my
proposals and will be prepared to deliver a detailed response." If you
were speaking this idea, rather than writing it, you'd say it in one of
several ways:

 Page 7
Very informal:
Get back to me on this in a month or so, okay?
Informal:
Could you please get back to me on these proposals within a
month's time?
Formal:
I hope you'll be able to respond to these proposals no later than
a month from now.
Each of those three sentences is clear, concise, and brief, and each
works just as well written as it does spoken.
Probably the best way to adjust your writing for your audience is just
to state the information you're trying to communicate, with no
trimming of any kind. Having done that, you can make whatever
adjustments you feel are necessary.
For example, suppose you're writing a memo to a colleague,
informing her that you want to meet with her. Start by writing:
I want to see you about ABC at three o'clock tomorrow
afternoon.
Now, rewrite the sentence, depending on how you want it to sound:
Friendly, easygoing:
I need to see you about ABC. Could you come by my office at
three tomorrow?
Forceful, impersonal:
We will discuss ABC in my office at three o'clock tomorrow.
Extremely informal:
About ABC: My office, tomorrow at three?
 Formal, respectful:
If it's convenient for you, I'd like to discuss ABC in my office
at three o'clock tomorrow.

 Page 8

Terminology
Before we go any further, let's discuss very briefly the parts of speech.
The list below is not an exhaustive lesson in English grammar. It's just
meant to help you understand the terminology, in case you're not clear
on some of the definitions.
A really thorough study of English grammar is a huge projectbut
believe it or not, it can be fun. Oddly enough, the best way to learn
English grammar is to learn another languageparticularly French or
Latinand then study English more intensely.
Types of Words
Nouns
A noun is a word (or a compound word) that names something. Dog,
father, water, and sky are nouns; son-in-law is a compound noun.
Proper Nouns
Proper nouns are names of specific persons or things. Henry,
Argentina, Mrs. Robinson, and Jeep Cherokee are all proper nouns.
Proper nouns are almost always capitalized.
Pronouns
Pronouns take the place of nouns, proper nouns, and noun equivalents.
I, he, they, me, and him are personal pronouns and refer to specific
persons:
I spoke with Mr. Seaforth. He's smarter than he looks.
Indefinite pronouns do not refer to specific people or things.
Everybody, each, one, and something are indefinite pronouns:
One sometimes forgets that nobody likes a whiner.
Demonstrative pronouns include words like this and that:
This is the best hamburger I've ever tasted!
Words like that, which, who, and whom are relative pronouns and
introduce

 Page 9
subordinate clauses or phrases:
The office manager will issue passes to employees who need
to enter the building on weekends.
In other contexts, words like who and which are interrogative
pronouns:
Who told you that?
Words like himself and yourself are reflexive pronouns, because they
reflect to the subject of the sentence:
He washed himself.
Adjectives
Adjectives describe or modify a noun. Thin, perfect, and yellow are
adjectives. Some adjectives are comparativethat is, they indicate a
greater or lesser degree than the thing to which the noun is being
compared:
Most people think Curly was funnier than Shemp.
Some are superlativethey indicate the greatest degree of a certain
quality:
James I was nicknamed "The Wisest Fool in Christendom."
Adverbs
Adverbs usually modify verbs or adjectives, but they can also modify
other adverbs, prepositions, and whole phrases, clauses, and
sentences. Many adverbs are adjectives with ly tacked onto them:
stupidly, aimlessly, philosophically. Words like now, also, very, and
indeed are also adverbs.
Verbs
A verb expresses an action. Jump, read, and eat are verbs. A verb's
spelling and pronunciation will change according to tense (past,
present, progressive, future, etc.), mood (indicative, subjunctive,
imperative), and voice (active or passive).
Articles
The definite article is the, as in "the hat," which means "that particular
hat." The indefinite article is a as in "a hat," which means ''any hat." A
becomes an when connected to a word that begins with a vowel or
with a silent or unstressed hfor instance, "an eagle" or "an honorable
gesture," but "a hero"!

 Page 10
Prepositions
Prepositions indicate place, direction, or relation. To, against, with,
and despite are prepositions. In reference to and by way of are
compound prepositions.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions are words that link two clauses, such as as, but, for, and
since. Many words serve as either conjunctions or prepositions,
depending on their role in the sentence.
Interjections
Interjections are sounds, single words, or phrases that do not, strictly
speaking, constitute complete sentences. They may stand alone or as
part of a sentence. Some examples:
Ouch!
Ha! I fooled you!
Well, I'll try.
My bossthe jerk!made me come in on Saturday.
This is important! Remember that only some words are only nouns,
only verbs, etc. Many words can be any of several types, depending
on the context. In the sentence "He told you a lie," the word lie is a
noun. But in the sentence "I lie all the time," it's a verb!
Putting Words Together
Phrases
A phrase consists of two or more words that are related to each other,
but which do not form a complete sentence. In spoken English, a
phrase often acts as a complete sentence:
 Not at all.
Of course.

 Page 11
In written English, however, a phrase must almost always be part of a
complete sentence.
Clauses
A clause contains a subject (or a subject phrase) and a predicate
phrase. A subject refers to the person or thing that is the subject of the
sentence; the predicate phrase contains the verb and any adjectives or
adverbs. Some clauses may also be expressed as complete sentences.
He is a man whose head is in the clouds.
This sentence has two clauses: He is a man and head is in the clouds
(whose is a relative pronoun that links the clauses). In the first clause,
He is the subject; is a man is the predicate. In the second clause, head
is the subject; is in the clouds is the predicate.
Sentences
A sentence can express a statement, a question, a command, or an
exclamation. One example of each will do:
I'm the smartest, most talented person in the office.
Don't you think I'm the humblest person in the world?
Tell me the truth!
Holy Toledo!
With the exception of exclamations, a complete sentence must have at
least one complete clausethat is, a subject and a predicate. A simple
sentence has one subject and one predicate:
I write.
A command such as sit down implies the subject you. Some English
speakers still use the obsolete construction Sit you down. A compound
sentence has two or more main clausesthat is, clauses of equal
importance:
You could remain a Democrat, or you could join the
Republicans.

 Page 12
A complex sentence has a main clause and one or more clauses that are
dependent on the main clause:
He hit me so hard that I staggered and fell.
Writing sentences that are both easy to read and stylistically beautiful
takes a lot of practice. The best way to learn how to do this is to read the
works of great essayists and novelists from the eighteenth century to the
present, and try to hear the music that their words produce.
Of course, when you're writing for business, you're not trying to be a
great stylist. But you do want your writing to have an effect on people,
and if you have a strong style, your writing will be very effective indeed.
Paragraphs
If two paragraphs do not clearly relate to each other, you should find a
way to link them together. You can do this by suggesting at the end of
one paragraph what you're going to talk about in the next one, or you can
refer to an idea in the previous paragraph at the beginning of a new one.
A third method of linkage is to insert a very short transitional paragraph:
Now that I've gone on for so long about that sales meeting, I'd
better say something about next year's budget.
You may have learned once that a paragraph must have at least two
sentences. There is no such rule. It's true that it's usually a good idea to
put several sentences into a paragraph: Too many one-sentence
paragraphs will make your writing look very choppy. However, the
occasional one-sentence paragraph will give your writing variety and
emphasis.
So there.
EXERCISES
In the following sentences, identify the type of each word (noun, verb,
I.adjective, etc.):
1. My cat is completely black.
2. Everything that I say is a lie.
3. I work for a company called Dobrian, Logart & Frances.
4. What are you talking about?

 Page 13
In those same four sentences, identify subjects and predicates. (The
II.
fourth sentence is very tricky. Don't feel bad if you don't get it. I
explain it at the back of the book on page 115.)

 Page 14

2
The Style Book
"Correct English"
There is no such thing as "correct English."
That sounds crazy, but if you think about it for a moment, you'll find
that it's the truth. Your pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary are
different from the Queen of England's, from Madonna's, and from
Jesse Jackson'sand who's to say which of the four of you is using
correct English?
Language experts talk about "standard English" and "substandard
English," but standards change all the time. About the time the
Pilgrims were landing in America, I didn't do nothing was considered
standard. George Washington would have said (or written), "I eat a
whole chicken last night," instead of I ate, and he would have
pronounced the word et. English speakers of Abraham Lincoln's time
would have said, "It don't matter.'' There are still many people who
believe there's nothing wrong with saying, "I ain't going."
If you listen, you'll notice language evolving every day. For example,
have you noticed lately how many teenage girls, instead of saying,
"He said, 'I can't go out tonight,'" will say, "He's like, I can't go out
tonight"? That expression is considered substandard English today,
but in a generation or so, he's like might be a standard way of saying
he said. Who knows?
Why are there so many different ways of expressing yourself in
English? And why does the language continue to change so much?
Probably the best answer to both of those questions is that English is
really a hodgepodge of a lot of other languages. Therefore, nobody
has ever been able to come up with a set of iron-clad rules regarding
spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage.
About 350 years ago in France, a group of scholars formed an
organization called the Académie Française to standardize the rules of
"correct French." As a result, French is a much more standardized
language than

 Page 15
English isbut even the Académie has to change its rules from time to
time to allow for foreign words or variant spellings.
As you probably know, English evolved in Britain. In very early
times, the people of Britain spoke Celtic languages. Modern Celtic
languages include Irish, which is still spoken in parts of Ireland;
Scottish Gaelic; Welsh; and Breton, which is spoken in northwestern
France. In Scotland, some people still speak a variety of English
called Scots, which contains many Gaelic words, constructions, and
pronunciations. Things change, though, and Scots is now dying out.
The Romans conquered Britain in the first century A.D., and since
they made Latin the official language of government, many Latin
words and grammatical rules found their way into general use.
In the fifth century, as the Roman Empire collapsed, Britain was
overrun by the Saxons, a Germanic tribe that spoke an early form of
German. Later, the Vikings conquered much of England and Scotland
and introduced their own language, an early form of Danish. The
Viking language survives today in Iceland, still spoken pretty much as
it was 1,000 years ago, since nobody else ever invaded Iceland.
In 1066, Duke William of Normandy (which is part of France)
invaded England and claimed the English throne. Naturally, he
rewarded his friends and allies with land and titles in Englandand the
result was that French quickly became the language of the upper
classes. The kings and queens of England spoke French as their
everyday language for the next 300 years or sosome of them couldn't
speak English at all!
That, by the way, is why we say "cow" to describe the animal in the
field, but "beef" to refer to the meat on the table: The farmers who
raised the animal used the Anglo-Saxon word cubut the upper-class
landowners who ate the animal used the French word buf.
At any rate, English gradually started to sound something like the
language we speak todaybut as you might imagine, it grew in different
ways in different places, as it still does. American and British people
pronounce the language differently, but the main difference between
American and British English is that American English has adopted a
great many more foreign words, mainly from German, Spanish, and
various West African languages.

 Page 16
To this day, English speakers have many different ideas of how the
language should sound. For instance, a Teuchter from the Scottish
Highlands and a Cajun from southern Louisiana would hardly
understand each other at all.
As diverse as spoken English may be, though, written English comes
pretty close to being the same wherever you go. That Scotsman and
his friend from Louisiana would have no problem reading each other's
letters!
In this chapter, we'll cover English grammar, punctuation, usage, and
spelling as applied to written English.
What Is a Style Book?
A style book tells you what is "correct English" for your purposes. A
style book says, in effect, "Okay, we all have our own opinions on
what's right and what's not, and we all have our own rules. Well, these
are the rules for anything you write in this office."
Some companies, such as newspaper and magazine publishers, have
enormous style books that cover everything. Other companies have
smaller, less formal style books. The style book that follows here is
not complete, but it will give you enough information to let you write
well.
If you want a more complete style book, The Chicago Manual of Style
is considered to be a good one; so is the Associated Press Stylebook.
You will find, however, that no two style books agree on everything.
Both of the books just mentioned will disagree with this book on some
points. But each book, in different ways, gives you standard rules.
Punctuation
Apostrophe
The apostrophe is used to indicate missing letters (didn't) or a
possessive (Bill's). Do not use an apostrophe to form a plural (I like
hot dogs). Do not use an apostrophe when speaking of a family. (The
Smiths is the proper way to refer to the Smith family. The Smith's
would mean either The Smith is or something that belongs to The
Smith.)

 Page 17
From the possessive of a noun or proper noun by adding 's: the dog's
bone; Anne's house. Use only an apostrophe when forming the possessive
of a plural noun ending in s: the dogs' bones; farmers' market. Proper
nouns of two or more syllables ending in s or z become possessive with
only an apostrophe: Velazquez' paintings.
Brackets

Use brackets to set off information that you are inserting into a direct
quote. This information could include corrections, explanations,
elaborations, and missing words or letters. Bracketed information may
also appear immediately after the direct quote. Here are some examples:
I'm only 39 [born in 1946, she is actually 49], and I'm already a
grandmother!
I was talking with Rocky Marciano [the former heavyweight
champion of the world] when my future wife entered the room.
We've got to keep this information away from N[ixon].
Colon

Use a colon to introduce:

A sentence, phrase, or word that relates closely to whatever came before
the colon:
She's an attractive woman: Her eyes are especially beautiful.
A particularly important phrase:
Don't forget: She's not easy to fool.
A list:
There were four Beatles: Paul, George, John, and Ringo.
A quote that's being given special emphasis:
It's in the Bible: "Thou shalt not steal."
A colon also punctuates the salutation of a business letter:
Dear Sir:

 Page 18
Many experts feel that the colon should never introduce a phrase that
can stand as a complete sentence. This point has occasioned many
bitter disagreements!
Comma

Since the comma is the most used punctuation mark in English, it's
often overused. Its main uses are to indicate a slight pause between
parts of a sentence and to introduce new ideas within a sentence.
Here are a few examples of how to use a comma in business writing:
I didn't show up on time, so he thought I was careless.
Here, the comma connects two thoughts: I didn't show up on time and
He thought I was careless. The comma indicates that He thought I was
careless was a consequence of I didn't show up on time.
My boss, Ms. O'Reilly, can speak Swahili.
In the sentence above, the commas set off the phrase Ms. O'Reilly,
which specifies the phrase my boss.
In the next sentence, the commas separate a parenthetical phrase from
the rest of the sentence. The phrase is parenthetical because it is not
critical to identifying the shop steward. If there were several shop
stewards, then the information about this steward would be critical
and the commas would be removed.
Our shop steward, who is deaf, is teaching us sign language.
In the sentence below, the commas separate items in a list. Most style
books suggest that a common appear before the word and. It's use is
often needed for clarity.
 I had bacon, eggs, toast, juice, and coffee.
Use a comma to set off a direct address:
Ms. Johnson, I don't think we should do this.
A comma can also be used following a mild interjection:
Oh, he's the stupidest man you'd ever want to meet.
It can also be used to separate two or more adjectives:
He's an honest, hardworking employee.

 Page 19
Use a comma to introduce a direct quotation:
Jim said, "I'm going to ask for a raise."
Commas separate a quotation from the phrase that identifies the
speaker.
"I'm going to China," she cried, "and I'm not coming back!"
Always use a comma after a date:
In 1947, the British granted independence to India.
Commas can take the place of words that would otherwise have to be
repeated. Here, the comma between some and when implies the words
kill their love.
Some kill their love when they are young, and some, when
they are old.
Use a comma following the salutation of an informal letter, and
following the complimentary close of a formal or an informal letter:
Dear Ed,

Sincerely,
Insert a comma between a proper name and an affiliation, degree, or
title:
William B. Jones, Ph.D.
Do not use a comma next to any other punctuation mark that indicates
a pause or an interjection, such as a bracket, colon, dash, ellipsis,
parenthesis, or semicolon, or with any mark indicating a full stop,
such as an exclamation point, period, and question mark.
Commas should also not be used to separate verbs:
 He kissed me and told me he'd be back.
But do use commas to indicate a series of actions:
He kissed me, punched my brother in the nose, and told me
he'd be back.
Commas shouldn't be used to introduce an indirect quotation:
He said he was thinking of quitting.

 Page 20
In many cases, commas should be used simply because a sentence
looks better with them than without them. For instance, anyone can
understand the sentences below:
I was an intelligent if mischievous little boy.
It's you not I who's going to get into trouble.
These sentences are easier to read, though, if you use commas to set
off the qualifying phrases:
I was an intelligent, if mischievous, little boy.
It's you, not I, who's going to get into trouble.
Sometimes, you'll use a comma to indicate the speed with which a
sentence should be read. Consider this sentence:
I never liked you and I never will.
Now add a comma:
I never liked you, and I never will.
With a comma, the sentence reads more slowly and is more emphatic.
Dashes

You may use a dash to set off an explanation or elaboration, in place

of a colon:
She never takes no for an answerthat's why she makes so many
sales.
Dashes are also a less formal, but punchier, equivalent to parentheses:
My husbandwho is very clumsy in most waysis a pretty good
 dancer.
A dash can be used as a stronger version of a comma:
He can barely speak Englishwhich is a big problem.
A dash can also indicate surprise or irony:
My boss just signed a three-year contractwith our main
competitor!
Dashes are useful if you're combining two or more parenthetical
phrases. Use a dash for the more important parenthetical phrase and
parentheses for the less important:

 Page 21
We've notified all our biggest clientsAndy, Stanley, Aunt Bea,
and Herman (Stanley's cousin).
You may use dashes with exclamation points and question marks:
By the time the speaker sat down, I wasand who wasn't?ready
to fall asleep.
Do not use a dash to introduce a list. Use a colon instead:
You need four things to succeed as a boxer: strength, stamina,
intelligence, and determination.
Ellipses

These three dots, so widely used in diaries and love letters, have
almost no place in business writing. Probably the only time you'll use
them is to indicate some missing words in a direct quote:
His report was full of mistakes.
Never use ellipses to indicate a break in the structure of a sentence or
to set off an interjected phrase.
Exclamation Points

Use an exclamation point to express emphasis or strong emotion.

(Don't use it frequently in your writing, however, as overuse will
reduce its impact.) You may use an exclamation point at the end of a
sentence, like a period, or between two dashes:
That was the worst foul-up I've ever seen!
My former employersthe cheapskates!only gave me one raise in five
years.
Hyphens

Use hyphens to link elements in compound words if the compound is

not regarded as a word in itselfas in one-man dog.
In most cases, compound words don't require hyphens. For instance,
ice cream is such a common compound noun that it doesn't need a
hyphen. Whitewalls are now so well known that the term has become
one word (as opposed to white walls, which have nothing to do with
tires). Even compounds like airhead have become so generally known
that they've become words in themselves.

 Page 22
Avoid long hyphenated phrases such as the one in this sentence: He
won the worst-dressed-golfer-on-the-course award. Say instead, "He
won the award for being the worst-dressed golfer on the course." You
can't write worst dressed golfer without the hyphen, because that
might imply that he was the worst of the golfers who were
dressedalthough there might have been a few nude golfers who were
even worse!
Don't use a hyphen to separate an adverb ending in ly and the
following verb:
It was a cleverly crafted question.
Use a hyphen between an adverb and a verb if the adverb does not end
in ly: That's a well-made suit. Drop the hyphen if you turn the phrase
around: The suit is well made.
Hyphenate compound adjectives if you would cause confusion by not
hyphenating them: Black-and-white cats means that each of the cats is
black and white. Black and white cats implies that some of the cats are
white, and some are black.
Do not hyphenate familiar compound nouns used as adjectives, such
as real estate office. But hyphenate unusual compound nouns used as
adjectives if you feel that their meaning might otherwise be
misunderstood, such as striped-pants boys.
Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex-, self-, all-: ex-boxer, self-obsessed,
all-encompassing. Also use one with the suffix -elect and between a
prefix and a capitalized word: mayor-elect, mid-July. The hyphen is
used with figures or letters such as mid-1990s or A-frame.
Parentheses
Parentheses are used much like dashes, to set off a sentence or phrase
that supplements the main sentence:
Only two original members of Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and
Walter Becker) were still with the band when "Gaucho" was
recorded.
Mangas Coloradas was "shot while trying to escape"

 Page 23
(that is, murdered by his guards), as were many Indian chiefs
who resisted the whites.
Use parentheses to provide cross-references:
We must revise our sales goals for the coming year (see my
last letter).
The map of Cincinnati (p. 246) will show you how I plan to
rezone the city.
Or to enclose supplementary quotations:
He made several cynical remarks ("All bosses are liars"; "All
vice-presidents are nobodies"), which annoyed me.
As you see, material between parentheses does not end with a period
unless it stands completely outside any other sentence:
Yesterday, I ran into a former colleague. (Naturally, I pretended
that I was happy to see her.)
In this sentence, you'll observe, the parentheses aren't really necessary,
but they serve to give the last sentence a confidential air: It's as though
the writer is giving you a nudge and a wink.
Period

A period indicates the end of a sentence and punctuates some

abbreviations. (For more on the use of the period in abbreviations, see
page 32.) Use a period after someone's initials (G. A. Brown) unless
the person is known by his initials (JFK, FDR).
Question Mark
A question mark is used at the end of a direct question, but it doesn't
have to come at the end of a sentence.
Will you take tea or coffee?
Did she resign? was the question we all wanted to ask.
Are you a secretary? an executive assistant? an administrative
assistant?

 Page 24
A question mark in parentheses indicates uncertainty:
I once met Lee Harvey Oswald, the murderer (?) of President
Kennedy.
Quotation Marks

Use double quotation marks (also called double quotes):

On either side of a direct quotation:
She said, ''I'm going to be an opera star."
Even if the quotation isn't a complete sentence:
He said he would vote for you "when hell freezes over."
Around words borrowed from others:
As Jim would say, this guy is a real "go-getter."
Around words that you're speaking of as words:
There's no "but" in Butterfield!
But not around individual letters:
He got an A in English.
Around translations of foreign proper nouns or slang termsusually within
parentheses:
Powhatan named his daughter Pocahontas ("mischievous one").
They presented us with a fait accompli (a "done deal").
But not around translations of other foreign words or phrases:
He was elected taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland.
To denote sarcasm:
The boss signed us up to do "volunteer" work at the hospital.
To set off a definition, for the sake of clarity:
The word awful can mean "very unpleasant" or "remarkable."
But not around indirect quotes:
She said something about having to leave early.

 Page 25
Don't use double quotes around slang term, either. It looks too self-
conscious if you write something like,
The presentation was "way cool."
If you feel that the rest of what you're writing is too formal to allow a
slang expression, don't use it at all. If you feel that the expression may
be used, it doesn't need quotation marks.
Use single quotes to enclose a quotation within a quotation:
I told her, "Don't call him 'Shorty' to his face!"
Place commas and periods inside quotation marks:
Her voice said, "yes," but her eyes said, "no."
Colons and semicolons, on the other hand, always go outside
quotation marks. For instance:
He called me a "whiz kid": I think that means he likes my
work.
Question marks and exclamation points go inside the quotation mark
if they are a part of the quotation, outside the quotation mark if they
are part of a larger sentence:
"What do you think of my car?" he asked.
but
Did you really call the boss "an autocrat"?
If a quotation continues from one paragraph to another, do not use
quotation marks at the end of a paragraph, but do use them to
introduce the new paragraph. Close the quotation only at the very end:
"I'm an honest woman," she said. "Sure, I bet on football
games, but I've never been involved in shaving points or fixing
 games.
"I haven't even heard of that sort of thing more than once or
twice in my life, and I've been betting on football ever since
Teddy Roosevelt threatened to ban it."

 Page 26
Semicolon

A semicolon looks like a combination of a comma and a period, and

that's just about what it is. It usually takes the place of a conjunction,
to separate two related clauses of a sentence:
Some people thought that the boss was really angry; I knew he
was just kidding.
Use a semicolon to separate two clauses if the second clause is
elliptical (that is, if it leaves out one or more words that are
implied from the first clause):
He's very tall; his wife, very short.
Semicolons separate two clauses when the second begins with a
conjunctive adverb or phrase, such as consequently, still, or on the
contrary:
I speak French pretty well; therefore, I learned Creole quickly.
Use semicolons instead of commas in a list of long items or items
containing commas:
I fired him for several reasons: He was consistently late; he
insulted my assistant; he smoked at his desk; he stole from
petty cash; and he insisted that he had an "evil twin," named
Skippy, who was doing all these things.
Slash

A slash can represent small words such as or, to, and, and at:
 Bed/dresser set
his/her
the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan area
Slashes sometimes appear in abbreviations:
d/b/a (doing business as)
c/o (in care of)
a/k/a (also known as)

 Page 27

Capitalization,
Plurals, Possessives, and
Abbreviations
Capitalization

Capitalize:
Proper names: John Anderson
Titles when they're used as part of a name: the Duke of Cumberland
President William Clinton
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Nicknames: Long John Silver
Old Hickory
Full names of businesses, organizations, American Express
cultural centers, government agencies: Southern Christian Leadership
Conference
Carnegie Hall
Central Intelligence Agency
Slang terms for such organizations: Ma Bell
Geographic terms, including slang terms: the Western Hemisphere
the Old West
the Mississippi River
the East Village
the Windy City
The first word of a sentence within a sentence, such "As I always say, He who laughs
as a proverb or a direct question: last doesn't get the joke."

 Page 28
The first word following a colon if the words "I love Liszt's piano music: My
following the colon form a complete sentence: favorite piece is his Sixth
Hungarian Rhapsody."
The first word of a salutation or close of a Dear Mrs. Lincoln:
letter: Yours truly,
The first letter of an abbreviation of a capitalized Mex.
word:
Languages, nationalities, races, and French
religions: Polynesian
Muslim
Laws and principles: Murphy's Law
Days of the week, months, and holidays: Monday
June
Halloween
All words except for short articles, conjunctions, Pride and Prejudice
and prepositions, in titles of books, plays, films,
and periodicals:
Trademarks: Coca-Cola
Do not capitalize:
Titles when they're not part of a name: Roger Simmons, president of
General Electric
The first word following a colon if the words I had my favorite dish for dinner:
following the colon do not form a complete pork chops.
sentence:
Seasons of the year: fall

 Page 29
Plurals
English is full of "irregular plurals"that is, plural forms that end with
something other than s or es. Most of these you know alreadyand you use
them without noticing them. (Think of man/men; foot/feet; ox/oxen;
mouse/mice.) A few, however, are tricky.
The regular rule is this: You form a plural by adding s to most words. To
words ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh, you usually have to add es. If the word
ends with a y preceded by a consonant, change the y to an i and add es
(baby/babies). If a word ends with f or fe, the plural usually ends in ves
(life/lives; leaf/leaves).
Do not use 's to denote a plural. The sole exception is if you're pluralizing
a lower-case letter of the alphabet: Be sure to dot your i's and cross your
t's.
In many cases, you won't know that a certain word has an irregular
plural. If you're in any doubt at all, you'll just have to look the word up in
the dictionary. However, certain types of words are likely to have
irregular plurals.
Many animal names have the same form in the singular and the plural
(moose, quail, trout).
Words derived from classical languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew) often
have irregular plurals (stadium/stadia; alumnus/alumni; Hasid/Hasidim
Foreign terms should be pluralized in their original languages
(beau/beaux or tempo/tempi). In most cases, a good English dictionary
will supply the correct plural forms.
Pluralize compound terms that consist of a noun and an adjective by
adding s or es to the noun, not the adjective (attorney general/attorneys
general; heir apparent/heirs apparent).
Possessives
Form the possessive of a noun or a proper noun by adding 's: The dog's
bone; Anne's house. Use only an apostrophe when forming the possessive
bone; Anne's house. Use only an apostrophe when forming the possessive
of a plural noun ending in s: the dogs' bones; farmers' market. Proper
nouns of two or more syllables ending in s or z become possessive with
only an apostrophe: Velazquez' paintings. These are my suggestions, but
forming possessives is a topic on which nobody seems to agree. Some
people feel

 Page 30
that if a word would be easy to pronounce with an extra s (Jesus's, for
instance), you should add 's. But most people prefer to make a proper
name ending in s possessive with only an apostrophe (Barnes').
It's this kind of thing that makes it advisable for an office to have its own
style book. If you have your own house rules as to when to use 's and
when not to, then you might still have some people thinking that you're
not using good English, but at least you'll be able to defend yourself by
saying, "It's just our style!"
Abbreviations
When should you use abbreviations?
Abbreviations should not be overused in business writing. The best rule
to follow is, "When in doubt, spell it out." There are, however, a good
many words that may be abbreviated in business writing:
Days of the week should not be abbreviated, but months other than May,
June, and July may be.
States should be abbreviated only if they're part of an address; in
narrative, spell them out. Use the old-fashioned abbreviations in letters
and reports, but use the two-letter post office abbreviations when
addressing envelopes.

State Old-Fashioned Post Office

Alabama Ala. AL
Alaska Alas. AK
Arizona Ariz. AZ
Arkansas Ark. AR
California Calif. CA
Colorado Colo. CO
Connecticut Conn. CT
Delaware Del. DE
District of Columbia D. C. DC
Florida Fla. FL
Florida Fla. FL
Georgia Ga. GA
Hawaii Hawaii HI
Idaho Ida. ID
Illinois Ill. IL
Indiana Ind. IN

 Page 31
State Old-Fashioned Post Office
Iowa Iowa IA
Kansas Kans. KS
Kentucky Ky. KY
Louisiana La. LA
Maine Me. ME
Maryland Md. MD
Massachusetts Mass. MA
Michigan Mich. MI
Minnesota Minn. MN
Mississippi Miss. MS
Missouri Mo. MO
Montana Mont. MT
Nebraska Nebr. NE
Nevada Nev. NV
New Hampshire N. H. NH
New Jersey N. J. NJ
New Mexico N. M. NM
New York N. Y. NY
North Carolina N. C. NC
North Dakota N. D. ND
Ohio Ohio OH
Oklahoma Okla. OK
Oregon Ore. OR
Pennsylvania Penn. PA
Rhode Island R. I. RI
South Carolina S. C. SC
South Dakota S. D. SD
Tennessee Tenn. TN
Texas Texas TX
Utah Utah UT
Vermont Vt. VT
Virginia Va. VA
Washington Wash. WA
West Virginia W. Va. WV
Wisconsin Wisc. WI
Wisconsin Wisc. WI
Wyoming Wyo. WY

 Page 32
Use abbreviations in street addresses: St., Ave., Rd. Abbreviate directions
if they're part of an address, like 15th St. NW, but spell them out if you're
describing a region or direction, such as I'm walking northwest.
Spell out the names of associations, schools, organizations, and agencies
on first reference, with the abbreviation in parentheses; then abbreviate
all further references:
The International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) has
agreed to represent employees of Fruit of the Loom. An ILGWU
spokesperson said she expected the union to have a good
relationship with the company's management.
Abbreviate commonly used words in company names, such as Corp.,
Inc., and Bros.
Abbreviate titles and military ranks, such as Mrs., Dr., Col., and Rev.
Don't abbreviate weights or measures unless they're part of a recipe.
Don't ever begin a sentence with an abbreviation.
How do you punctuate abbreviations?
When two or more words are abbreviated with their initial letters, use
periods (as in P.O.), unless the abbreviation is an acronym (an
abbreviation that's spoken as a word), such as NATO; an organization,
like the FBI; or a trade name, like PC. (You would use periods to
abbreviate politically correctP.C.because it's an expression, not a name.)
If the abbreviation is one word abbreviated by capital letters (such as TV
or NW for northwest), don't use a period. If an acronym has become so
widely used that it's no longer considered an abbreviation, use lower-case
letters (radar, snafu).
If a word is abbreviated by two or more letters, use a period: Esq., Ph.D.
In informal writing, you may contract long words by using an apostrophe
(sec'y) or abbreviate them with a period (pres. or bldg.). Do not use this
type of abbreviation in formal business writing.
When should you capitalize abbreviations?
An abbreviated word of two or more letters should be capitalized if you
would capitalize the spelled out word (Penn.), but not if the word is not
ordinarily capitalized (fig.).

 Page 33
Capitalize any abbreviation that combines the initials of two or more
words: CBS.
Do not capitalize Latin abbreviations: etc., op. cit., ibid.
When should you use symbols instead of words?
The short answer is, rarely. Use the dollar or pound signs with any
number 10 or greater ($50; £50). Use the "each" symbol (@) only in
billing situations: socks, 144 pairs @ $25. Do not use the ampersand
(&) unless it's part of a company name, but when you do use it, omit
the comma that you would normally insert before and (Dewey,
Cheatam & Howe).
Irregular Abbreviations
You will encounter a few abbreviations that don't seem to relate to the
word they're abbreviating. These will just have to be learned as you
encounter them. Some of the most common are:
pp. (pages)
cc: Bob Smith (I sent a copy of this document to Bob Smith.)
viz: (namely)
i.e. (in other words)
et al. (and others)
e.g. (for example)
etc. (unspecified additional items of the same kind)
et seq. (and those that came after)


 Page 34

How to Write Numbers

Cardinal numbers 10 and above and ordinal numbers 10th and above
should be written in numeral form except at the start of a sentence.
Spell out cardinal numbers one through nine and ordinal numbers first
through ninth, unless they are part of an address (3 Morningside Dr.),
a recipe (5 cups flour), or a date (Dec. 9). Be consistent, though: Don't
spell out some numbers and use numerals for others when referring to
the same type of unit.
Round numbers (five thousand, twenty million) should usually be
spelled out.
In general, all numbers in addresses should be expressed as numerals.
An exception is made in New York City, where streets are written as
numerals and avenues are spelled out: 215 E. 26th St., but 1120 Sixth
Ave.
Use hyphens when spelling out fractions (two-thirds) and numbers or
parts of numbers between 21 and 99but not in spelling out hundreds,
thousands, or millions.
Sixty-seven
One hundred thirty
One hundred thirty-one
Six million, four hundred twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred
ninety-eight
Hyphenate numbers and the unit of measurement if they're being used
as modifiers, except when the measurement is percent:
She had an 18-inch waist.
but
 We experienced a five percent sales gain.

 Page 35
and
Her waist measured 18 inches.
Repeat symbols (The salary range is $30,000 to $40,000), but don't
repeat spelled out units of measurement (The salary range is thirty to
forty thousand dollars).
You may use a decimal point to express numbers greater than one
million (6.8 million) if there are no more than two digits following the
decimal point.
Always spell out a number if it begins a sentence.
If two numbers referring to different things stand next to each other in
a sentence, spell out one of the numbers. Which one you spell out is
up to you: In general, you should spell the number that's easier to read
(four 28-year-old men).
Insert a comma after every third digit, reading right to left (38,445;
3,222). Do not use commas following a decimal point (56,102.3888).
Do not use a comma if you're expressing a year (1996).
Days of the month require a comma if they're placed after the month
(December 25, 1956) but not if they're placed before the month (9
July 1850). Either style is acceptable. However, do not use the all-
numerical form (6/11/93), as nobody will know whether you've put
the month or the day first! Use ordinal numbers (August 15th) only if
the date doesn't include a year.
Time of day is usually spelled out if it's a full, half, or quarter hour
(Four o'clock in the afternoon; a quarter to noon), but written in
numeral form otherwise (2:11 A.M. ). Military time uses no punctuation
(1800 hours, or simply 1800).
Roman Numerals
You'll seldom have to use or read Roman numerals in a business
situation, except perhaps in writing outlines, but here's a quick course
in how to translate Arabic to Roman:

 Page 36
Arabic Roman Arabic Roman
1 I 15 XV
2 II 20 XX
3 III 40 XL
4 IV 50 L
5 V 60 LX
6 VI 90 XC
7 VII
8 VIII 100 C
9 IX 500 D
10 X 1000 M
Note that you simply add Is, Vs or Xs, as appropriate, unless the number you're
trying to express is one less, five less, or 10 less than a multiple of 5, 10, 50, 100,
500, or 1,000. In that case, place the difference between the number you're
expressing and the greater multiple. For instance, 48 would be written XLVIII; 49 is
IL. Eighty-three is LXXXIII; 84 is LXXXIV. The year 1998 would be written
MXMVIII; the next year would be MIM. do vou wonder whv Roman numerals have
hardlv been used for centuries?
EXERCISES
Punctuation
Punctuate the following sentences:
I.
1.Ive had some tough times in the past two years but that was the
toughest day of my life
2.On the Senate floor one of the Republican partys major bills is in
trouble The Democrats on the Appropriations Committee which must
approve it seem intent on talking the bill to death
3.We're talking about the right to know making sure people have access
to the information they want in a timely manner and in a form they
can understand
4.Although it was thought to be broadly accurate Bede's history was
written almost 300 years after the events it describes which is rather
like us writing a history of Elizabethan England based on hearsay


 Page 37
Oddly McCormick never called for two of the most common
5.
shortenings tho and thru He just didnt like them which of course is
all the reason that is necessary when its your newspaper
6.Websters first work A Grammatical Institute of the English
Language consisting of three books a grammar a reader and a speller
appeared between 1783 and 1785 but he didnt capture the publics
attention until the publication in 1788 of The American Spelling
Book
7.Outside the New College chapel Spooner rebuked a student by
saying I thought you read the lesson badly today But Sir I didnt read
the lesson protested the student Ah said Spooner I thought you didnt
II.Some of the following sentences could be punctuated better, and some
are acceptable as they are. Find and correct the mistakes:
1.Before the Windsors' honeymoon was half over, the Devil, in the
plausible guise of Charles Bedaux, had devised a sorry piece of work
for the brother whom George VI had unwisely left in idleness.
2.The Duke did not care for Maxim's and the Tour d'Argent; they were
the most celebrated restaurants but also the most expensive.
3.Reporters temperamentally and traditionally are skeptical and
perhaps justifiably so, whenever the personal honesty of a public
official is questioned.
4.At 6:45 (still 15 minutes before poll-closing time in the West) Eric
Sevareid of CBS reported; ''We are pretty confident now of a
Kennedy victory; all of the computing machines are now saying
Kennedy."
5.If you're watching a black and white movie, its actually better to
have a black and white television.
6."Do you think he's innocent," the lawyer asked?
7.In the entire history of the case, both before the Committee on Un-
American Activities and in Hiss's two trials for perjury, no one could
be found who could remember George Crosleyexcept Patricia Hiss.


 Page 38
Plurals, Possessives, Abbreviations, Capitalizations
Some of the following sentences contain mistakes. Identify and correct
them:
I'll be arriving on Fri., Aug 18, 1995.
1.
2. "Keeping up with the Joneses'" is an old expression.
3. Pres. Bush was once the head of the C. I. A.
4. Woodrow Wilson was the only President of the United States to have
a P. H. D. Degree.
5. Phenomenon such as comets and eclipses happen rarely.
6. One of my favorite reference books is the Reader's Encyclopedia.
7. I was praying with my Brethren from the Universal Life Church.
8. Mick Jagger is the Rolling Stones' most famous member.
9. Many americans love comedy shows from overseas, such as Monty
Python's Flying Circus.
10.I spoke for several hours with Professor Einstein, who explained that
his Theory of Relativity was just a wild guess.
11.A Muslim may have as many as four wives.
Numbers
Write out these numbers:
36,616
406
26.65
6 7/8
1,086,924.5

 Page 39

3
Getting to Work
Editing and Proofreading
Basic editing primarily involves checking a manuscript for
organization, grammar, spelling, punctuation, stylistic consistency,
and factual accuracy, and may involve extensive rewriting or "cutting
and pasting." Proofreading involves working with material that's
already typeset, checking it against the original manuscript.
In other words, editing mainly involves working on the big picture;
proofreading is the correction of tiny details.
Editing, of course, involves the proofreading of a manuscript, and
typeset copy often requires additional organizing or rewriting.
Besides, nowadays, a lot of publishing gets done in-house, often with
the same person handling the entire job. Therefore, editing and
proofreading are really one ongoing, multistep process.
Whether you're editing or proofreading, you'll need to know some
standard proofreader's marksthat is, marks that tell the typesetter what
corrections to make. The list in Exhibit 1 is not exhaustive, but it will
get you through most situations.
Exhibit 1. Proofreader's marks.


 Page 40
Here's an example of how proofread copy might look:

Proofreading and editing require tremendous precision and attention

to detail. When you're proofreading, you'll have to read line-by-line,
breaking each line up into individual words, and sometimes individual
numbers and letters!
Many good proofreaders will read a piece of copy several times. First,
they'll glance over it quickly to see if any mistakes pop out at them.
Second, they'll read it very closely, looking for the harder-to-find
mistakes in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. (A good idea is to use a
ruler or a bookmark to keep the eye focused on individual lines during
this process. A proofreader should never take in a whole sentence or
paragraph at a time, as you might do when reading for pleasure.)
Often, good proofreaders will check the typeset document against the
original if they're in doubt about a spelling, punctuation, or sentence
structure.
Third, they'll read the typeset document carefully for content, making
sure that its meaning is clear, that it contains all necessary information
and references, and that there are no repetitions.
(Since you'll often be working with word-processed documents, you're
likely to find frequent repetitions: Sometimes, for instance, the author
will want to replace one paragraph with another and forget to delete
the original paragraph.)
Do not trust the spell-and grammar-checking software in your
computer! You may use it to scan the copy before you proofread it
yourself, but no computer is as accurate as a good human proofreader.
The main problem

 Page 41
with your computer's spell-checker is that if you misspell a word, but the
spelling is also a word (such as "were" when you meant to write
"where"), the computer won't catch it. Grammar-checking programs tend
to be inflexible, and have no understanding of context. If they can't
understand the context, they can't correct your grammar.
Proofreading Tips
Pay special attention to elements such as headlines, subheads, call-out
1.
boxes, and photo captions. These are the parts of a document that are
certain to be read, so they've got to be perfect.
2.Be particularly careful about names, titles, and dates. Probably the
worst proofreading mistake you can make is to misspell someone's
name.
3.Check all small elements such as page numbers and "running copy,"
such as the title of the report, which might appear centered at the top of
each page, or the name and date of the newsletter, which might appear
in the bottom outside corner of each page.
4.Check all word breaks at the ends of lines (ex-tra, not ext-ra).
5.If you're proofreading a document for the second time, check all the
mistakes you caught the first time, to be sure the typesetter corrected
them.
Editing Tips
Check every sentence for grammar:
1.
Is each sentence complete, with a subject and a predicate?
Does the subject agree with the verb?
Does each clause have a referent?
Does each modifier or participle have a referent?
2. Be sure the sentence conforms to your style book. Check to see:
Is every word spelled correctly?
Is the capitalization consistent?
Is the sentence punctuated in accordance with your style book?
3. Double-check all names and numbers:
3. Double-check all names and numbers:
Is every name spelled correctly?

 Page 42
Is every title correct?
Is every date correct?
Are all other numbers correct?
If the document involves mathematical equations, are they correct?
4.Watch for sloppy writing:
Does the same word appear too frequently?
Does the writer use too many clichés or too much jargon?
Does the writer use too-wordy constructions, like It is to be hoped that
?
5.Check each sentence, each paragraph, and the entire document for
organization.
Are these elements put together in a logical, orderly manner?
Is reading this document a "smooth and easy journey"?
Above all, does this document observe the One Big Rule?
If you're editing your own work, you should make all the changes you
think necessary. If you're editing someone else's work, don't make any
changes unless you've been authorized to do so. Instead, note all changes
you propose to make, then get the author's permission to make them.
In the final stages of production, it's always a good idea to have more
than one pair of eyes on any document. If you can get a colleague to
proofread your work before you send it out or publish it, do so!
The Fog Index: A Never-Fail
Key to Readability
In business, whatever you're writing has to be easy to read. The two
biggest enemies of easy reading are long words and long sentences. You
can't eliminate all long words and sentences, of course. But too many of
them will make your document "foggy."


 Page 43
Many business writers use a formula called the "Fog Index" to help them
write clear, concise reports, memos, and letters. Learn to use the Fog
Index immediately! You'll be amazed at how much it will improve your
writing skills.
The Fog Index is a way of determining the reading level of a document.
If a document is written at, say, a 10th-grade level, it means that an
average 10th-grade student would be able to read and understand it
easily. Most experts agree that business reports and articles should be at
about the 11th-or 12th-grade level of readability, although some very
technical documents may be written at a higher level.
The Fog Index is only a guideline. For instance, if you find that your
report is slightly above the 12th-grade level, it's not necessarily a
problem. And, of course, many other factors go into the writing of a good
report. Short words and sentences usually help, but so does "punchy"
language; so do numbers; so do common words in place of jargon.
Also, it's not true that the more readable a report is, the better. If you
write at the third-grade level, you'll sound like you're talking down to
your readersand that's never very effective.
The Fog Index is a mathematical formula, which you can use for any
piece of writing other than poetry. Here's how it works:
Select a passage at random from your document. (You might want to
1.
choose three or more passagesfor instance, the opening, a portion of the
middle, and the conclusion.)
2.Count 100 consecutive words from that sample passage. Include all
words except numbers that aren't written out. Contractions and
hyphenated words count as one word.
3.Count the number of sentences in that passage, and divide the 100
words by that number. This will give you the average number of words
per sentence. (For instance, if there are four sentences in those 100
words, divide 100 by 4. The average number of words per sentence is
 words, divide 100 by 4. The average number of words per sentence is
25.)
4.Count the number of words with three or more syllables in the passage,
not counting proper names, and not counting words of which the third
syllable is ing, es, or ed.

 Page 44
Add the number of long words in the passage to the average number of
5.
words per sentence. (For instance, 25 words per sentence + 16 long
words = 41.)
6.Divide this number by 10. (In this example, the result is 4.1.)
7.Multiply that result by 4. (Here, the result is 16.4the reading level of an
average college senior.) That's your Fog Index. An index of 16.4 is
much too high for most business writing: You've got some editing to
do!
Let's try applying the Fog Index to the first 100 words of a well-known piece of
writing:
Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a
new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men
are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We
are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that
nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
You'll observe that the passage has eight long wordscontinent, liberty,
dedicated, proposition, dedicated again, battlefield, dedicate, and resting-
place, which counts as one word of three syllables. Created doesn't
count, because without the ed suffix it would be a two-syllable word. The
passage has five sentences.
So, here's the math:

Abraham Lincoln wrote his Gettysburg Address at an 11th-grade

levelperfect!

 Page 45
Let's do it again, with a piece of business writing:
What bothers supporters of the market system is their fear that
both clerical and lay critics have become more than society's
social conscience: They've become the voice of a leftish ideology
and unknowing supporters of people committed to increasing their
own dominance over others. Sociologist William Boothby called
the non-ecclesiastical critics the Useless Class who got their
livelihood from the information industry and their power through
manipulation of words rather than the making of things. Boothby
cited the Small Companies Administration as the perfect example
of how ideologues establish a power base within the federal
government while simultaneously gleaning profits from policing
certain occupations.
This 104-word passage contains 17 long words (don't count Small
Companies Administration since that's a proper name), and has three
sentences. Rounding off the fractions, here's the math:

With a Fog Index of 20.8, this passage would be mighty hard going for
anyone!
To de-fog this passage, you need to do only a few things, and they're
easy:
Take out words you don't need.
Substitute short words for some of the long ones.
Break long sentences into two or more short ones.
Let's start by striking out unnecessary words:
Supporters of the market system fear that both clerical and lay
critics have moved beyond being society's social conscience to
become the voice of a leftish ideology and unknowing supporters
of groups committed to increasing their own political power.
Sociologist William Boothby called these critics the Useless Class
who got their livelihood from the information industry and their
power through

 Page 46
manipulating symbols rather than making things. Boothby cited
the Small Companies Administration as the perfect example of
how ideologues establish power within the federal government
while profiting from policing certain occupations.
Now, we'll change some long words to short ones:
People who support the market system fear that both church
and lay critics have moved beyond being society's social
conscience to become the voice of a leftish ideology and
unknowing supporters of groups trying to increase their own
political power. Sociologist William Boothby called these
critics the Useless Class who made a living from the
information industry and got power by manipulating symbols
rather than making things. Boothby cited the Small Companies
Administration as the perfect example of how such people gain
power in the federal government while profiting from policing
certain occupations.
Finally, we'll break up those long sentences:
People who support the market system fear that both church
and lay critics have moved beyond being society's social
conscience. These critics, they say, have become the voice of a
leftish ideology. Further, they're unknowing supporters of
groups that are trying to increase their own political power.
Sociologist William Boothby called these critics the Useless
Class. This Useless Class makes a living from the information
industry and gets power by twisting symbols rather than
making things. Boothby cited the Small Companies
Administration as the perfect example of how such people gain
power in the federal government while profiting from policing
certain occupations.
Now, this passage still has 103 words, but it contains six sentences
and only 11 long words. Once again, here's the math:

The passage is now at about the right reading level for most
businesspeople.

 Page 47
More Tips
If you can cut a word out, cut it out.
If a short word will do as well as a long one, use the short one.
Use contractions, such as you're, he'd, and isn't.
Avoid using sentences beginning with There is, or It is.
Use the active voice (Jane closed the window), rather than the passive
voice (The window was closed by Jane).
Be careful of words with suffixes such as er, ent, ing, ion, orize. (For
instance, take the sentence, Following his oration, he was lionized by the
entire population of the community. Clearer is, After his speech, the whole
town treated him as a hero.)
Don't overuse that as a conjunction. I think he's lying is clearer than I
think that he is lying.
Many software programs come equipped with programs that will enable you to
measure the Fog Index of your writing. Some will even analyze and determine grade
level for you.

Memos
The purpose of a memo is to get something doneto get someone to take
action, to change people's opinions, to provide information that will stir
things up. The keys to writing effective memos are:
Organization
Complete, accurate information
Forceful style
Memos are usually internal documentsmeant for your colleaguesbut you'll
occasionally write them for people outside the company, such as vendors or
customers.
Memos are usually short, although there are no rules as to length. They
often place less emphasis on information and more on exhortation. And
they are frequently addressed to several people at once.

 Page 48
Organization
How you organize a memo depends on the subject and on who will be
reading it. But however you organize the memo, keep these three
objectives in mind:
Tell the readers exactly what they need to knowno more, no less.
1.
2. Explain this information.
3. Tell them what you want them to do, and when to do it.
A well-organized memo will answer all immediately relevant questions concerning
its subject. To supply those answers as clearly as possible, it will usually contain, at
the bare-bones level, an introduction, a main body, recommendations, and a
conclusion.
A well-organized memo must also be well-reasoned. If your logic isn't
good, you won't persuade anyone. If your memo is going to say, ''We
know A and B, and from that we must conclude C," you'd better be sure
that C follows from A and B. For instance, a manager once circulated the
following memo: "Yesterday, someone spilled iced tea on the carpet of
the employee lounge, causing a permanent stain. Therefore, iced tea may
no longer be drunk in carpeted areas." At least the manager gave
everyone a good laugh: He was apparently the only one in the office who
thought that the fact that the beverage was iced tea had anything to do
with its being spilled on the rug.
When you're writing a memo, mention everything you want done, and all
information that you have that will help the reader do it. Organize this
information in a sensible sequence, so that the reader won't have to
organize it himself.
You might use any one of several ways to organize information,
depending on the kind of memo you're writing. Here are a few methods:
Chronological: First A happened, then B, then C, and now D. Therefore,
we must do E.
Big picture to smaller pictures: "Our manufacturing division has been
Big picture to smaller pictures: "Our manufacturing division has been
sold to the Very Big Corp. of America. The division's operation on our
premises will cease at end of business Friday, June 30. Very Big will
offer employment at the same or higher salaries to all management
personnel in the division who wish to relocate to Very Big's offices in
Cleveland. We will make every effort to absorb nonmanagement
personnel into

 Page 49

other divisions. Those who cannot be absorbed will receive three months'
salary as severance, dating from June 30."
Cause and effect: "So that employees may attend the memorial service
for Clara Belle, the office will close at 3 P.M. tomorrow."
Effect and cause: "We're having a party! Our company president,
Allbright Green, has declared tomorrow 'Goof Off and Do Nothing Day,'
to celebrate the birth of puppies to his dog Brandy!"
Questions and answers: "Are we really going out of business? No. Are
we going to be laying off employees? Unfortunately, yes. Will the layoffs
affect all departments? No, only the manufacturing divisions. When will
these layoffs happen? We will inform all employees who are to be laid
off by end of business today. If you don't hear further from us by quitting
time, you can assume you're still employed."
Act I, Act II, Act III: Just as with a play, you state the problem, analyze
it, and solve it, in that order. "Recently, A, B, and C have happened. This
means D, E, F, and G. Therefore, we must do H, I, and J."
Description: "Donald Duck has just joined our company as senior vice
president of customer service. He will be in charge of teaching customer
service reps to lose their tempers and talk in loud, squawking voices."
The Form
Always write memos on company stationery. Beneath the company
letterhead, use the following form:
To: Frank Furter
From: Olive Green
Subject: Company Picnic
Date: August 25, 1996
If you're sending the memo to fewer than 10 people, list all names after
To:, but if you're sending it to a lot more people, you might prefer to
write, See distribution list next to To:, and place the distribution list at the
end of the memo. If you're sending the memo to a specific group of
people, you may write To: All Employees, or To: Manufacturing Staff.
Next to Subject:, use as few words as possible.
You may include your phone extension next to your name. If your
company's a large one and the recipient is in another department, you
might include his department next to his name.

 Page 50
How Should You Write It?
A memo longer than two pages should open with an introduction,
preferably of five to ten lines. You should write the introduction after
you've written the main body of the memo in the plainest possible
language. This will make it easier for your readers to understand a
long, complicated memo, or to skim over the memo and read only the
parts that apply to them. Although a summary can't supply all the
facts, it should give the overall meaning of the memo and highlight
the central idea.
If you expect the memo to be good news to the reader, the
introduction should contain a summary of the information in the main
body. That way, you immediately alert the reader that there's
something good coming up. The summary should include findings,
conclusions, and recommendations. If you can keep the summary to
no more than 10 lines, include a brief overview of important details.
However, if you expect an unfavorable reaction to your memo, the
introduction should simply state the problem or the situation. Save
your findings, conclusions, and recommendations for the end of the
memo, by which time (with any luck) you'll have prepared the reader
to accept your opinions.
In many cases, the introduction should begin with a reference to some
past meeting or other contact, such as, "Thanks again for all the good
advice you gave us yesterday," or might begin with a question: "Do
you want to help raise everyone's salary?"
The main body of the memo contains the facts and explains what they
mean. This could be a plain statement, requiring no more than two
sentences, or it could include several pages of analysis. Here is where
you put all the facts the reader needs to understand your position or to
do what you want him to do. It's also where you persuade the reader
to do what you want him to do, if necessary.
In the main body, you'll want to organize the information in one of the
ways described above. For easier reading, you could begin each
paragraph or each idea with a heading, such as Objectives, Progress
So Far, Options, Resources We'll Require, Possible Problems, and
Recommendations.
The conclusion wraps up the information in the introduction and main
body. If the memo is short and easy to understand, a conclusion may
not be necessary.

 Page 51
In the conclusion, you should stress the objective of the project under
discussion, the main points of information, and your directive or
recommendation, in a tone that will impart the proper attitude to the
reader. Include the deadline for action, if there is one;
acknowledgment of any actions already taken; and a sentence or two
of "pep." For instance:
When we've compiled a comprehensive, fully cross-referenced
directory of our customer base, our sales and speed of
fulfillment should both rise dramatically. We've already got
almost all of the information we need to put this directory
together. Now, we just need your recommendations on how best
to cross-reference the entries. We need your input by noon
tomorrow. Our thanks to all of you for all the good work you've
done so far on this project. It's going really well, and we should
have it wrapped up and ready to deliver by the weekend!
Who Should Receive the Memo?
A memo can go to one person or to everyone in the company. When
deciding who should receive a copy, simply ask yourself, "Does this
person need to know this?" If the memo involves an idea that you
want to be sure to get credit for, send it to two or more people. That
way, there can be no doubt that it's yours.
Letters
No two people will ever agree on exactly what is the proper format for
a letter. Many different formats are acceptable. The format in Exhibit
2 is standard and quite conservative, and is acceptable for any
business letter, formal or informal.
The centered copy at the top of the page is the letterhead. This will
almost always be preprinted on the paper you're using. Just below that
is the date. The date may be flush left, or to the right of center of the
letterhead:
January 1, 1999 January 1, 1999
Below the date is the inside address. The inside address is always
flush left. Some authorities say that the inside address should have
four lines:
Mr. John Q. Businessman
The Small-Town Brokerage

 Page 52
Exhibit 2. Standard letter format.

123 West 456th St.

Anytown, IL 56789
Other authorities prefer a three-line inside address, leaving out the
street address and the ZIP code and using the old-fashioned state
abbreviation:
Ms. Euphemia Andrew
Larks Unlimited
Athol, Mass.
Next comes the salutation. In business letters, this almost always
consists of three words: Dear, the addressee's title, and the addressee's
surname, followed by a colon:
Dear Dr. Howard:
Say Dear even if it's a hostile letter.
In very informal letters, you may use the recipient's first name,
followed by a comma instead of a colon:
Dear Dave,

 Page 53
If you're being very formal, you may choose to say, Dear Sir: or Dear
Madam: instead of a surname. However, this will sound very
impersonal.
Actually, only in very rare cases should you write a letter to someone
whose name you don't know. If you don't know the name or title of the
person you want to address, find it out before you write the letter!
If it's exceptionally inconvenient to do this, or if the letter is not
addressed to any person or organization (such as a letter of
recommendation), you may use one of the following salutations:
Dear Madam or Sir:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
To whom it may concern is not recommended.
You may lay out the body of the letter in one of two ways. Most
business-people prefer to leave an extra line between paragraphs, and
not indent a new paragraph, as in Exhibit 2. Some writers don't leave a
line between paragraphs, and indent each new paragraph. Either
format is acceptable, although the former method looks more
businesslike.
Following the body comes the complimentary close and the signature.
These can be flush left or aligned under the date (when it is to the
right of center of the letterhead). Exhibit 3 shows both options.
Exhibit 3. Standard letter closes.


 Page 54
In a formal business letter, you will usually use a complimentary close
such as Yours truly, or Sincerely. However, you'll find that the
complimentary close you choose can give a subtle flavoring to the tone
of the letter. A very friendly letter might close with:
Best personal regards,
Warmest regards,
As ever,
All the best,
To strike a very formal tone, you might use one of these:
Respectfully yours,
Very truly yours,
Yours faithfully,
Leave three or four lines below the complimentary close, to make room
for the signature. Type the name of the writer (yours or another's) and,
below that, the sender's title:
Homer Samuel
Manager, Purchasing
If there are two signatures, place them side by side, with the higher-
ranking signature to the left:

David Clark Peter Stern

Executive Vice President
President
Two lines below the signature, flush left, place the author's initials, in upper-case
letters, followed by a colon or a slash, and the typist's initials, in lower-case letters.
Below that line, place the notation Enclosure if you're enclosing materials in
addition to the letter. If you're sending a copy of the letter to someone
else, then type cc: [names of other recipients].
JLD: tih
Enclosure
cc: Evelyn Hampster, Charles Farley
These final three lines are optional.

 Page 55

Job Descriptions
You should have up-to-date job descriptions on hand for every position in
your department.
A job description is a list of the specific responsibilities and required
skills for each position. Clarity is very important in writing job
descriptions.
Main Functions Of A Job Description
To list duties that must be performed to accomplish department
objectives. Each job description in a department is a piece of a puzzle: If
you put them all together, you'll have a good idea of how the department
works as a team. Further, if you examine and revise all job descriptions
in your department, you'll cover all tasks that need to be done, without
hiring two people to do the same work.
To help you to hire the right person for the job. If you have a complete
list of the skills that the job requires, it'll be easier to make sure the
applicant has what it takes.
To let the employee know exactly what is expected of him. If it's listed
on the job description, he'd better do it.
To make performance evaluations easier. You can look at each point on a
job description and ask yourself, "Is the employee doing this
satisfactorily?" A written job description protects both employer and
employee when there's a grievance over a performance evaluation.
However, the usefulness of a job description is zero if it's not updated every year or
so, particularly if technological changes have altered the job's requirements. In any
case, use an up-to-date job description to maintain a clear idea of what you're
expected to do, be accurately graded and paid for your work, and gain recognition
for what you're doing. (Although it can't guarantee advancement, a good job
description can promise higher visibility and recognition for your work.)
Writing the Job Description
When writing a job description, remember the following:
When writing a job description, remember the following:
Because everybody's job is different, everybody's job description should
be different. If a company's administrative employees all share the same

 Page 56

job description, yet perform entirely different jobs, then a terrible

management situation is at hand.
Begin with an opening statement that focuses on the main purpose of
your job, your key contributions to the workplace.
Use adjectives such as efficient, effective, and meticulous to reflect the
unique worth of your job to the department.
Identify the degree of supervision associated with the job (Under general
supervision, Following guidelines provided, etc.). Note that most job
evaluation systems use the level of supervision required by a job to rate
that position. Likewise, the number of individuals an employee
supervises is taken into account.
Focus on job results, not specific duties. Results are what make you and
your job important to management, so show management what you really
do. For example, instead of writing Reads and routes correspondence
(duty-oriented) on your job description, write, Organizes work by reading
and routing correspondence (results-oriented). Results let management
know how valuable you are to your company.
List results in order of their importance. No one should have a job
description in which the first listing is, Opens mail.
Begin each listing with an action verb describing the accomplished result
(Organizes work, for example), then the word by, followed by the duties
that the result demands.
Be succinct, but supply enough information that a third person would
understand each key result and the duties required.
Exhibit 4 is an example of a job description.

 Page 57
Exhibit 4. Sample job description.
Administrative Assistant
JOB PURPOSE: Provides office services by implementing administrative
systems, procedures, and policies, and monitoring administrative
projects.
UNDER GENERAL SUPERVISION:
Maintains Work Flow
by
studying methods; implementing cost reductions; and developing
reporting procedures.
Creates and Revises Systems and Procedures
by
analyzing operating practices, record-keeping systems, forms control,
office layout, and budgetary and personnel requirements; implementing
changes.
Develops Administrative Staff
by
providing information, educational opportunities, and experiential
growth opportunities.
Resolves Administrative Problems
by
coordinating preparation of reports, analyzing data, and identifying
solutions.
Ensures Operation of Equipment
by
completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs;
maintaining equipment inventories; evaluating new equipment and
techniques.
Provides Information
by
answering questions and requests.
answering questions and requests.
Maintains Supplies Inventory
by
checking stock to determine inventory level; anticipating needed
supplies; placing and expediting orders for supplies; verifying receipt of
supplies.
Completes Operational Requirements
by
scheduling and assigning administrative projects; expediting work
results.
Maintains Professional and Technical Knowledge
by
attending educational workshops; reviewing professional publications;
establishing personal networks; participating in professional societies.
Contributes to Team Effort
by
leading administrative projects team, participating in department
planning.

 Page 58
Writing With Verve102 Action Verbs
A job description differs from a resume in that it emphasizes
responsibilities rather than accomplishments. However, both your
resume and job description should be updated regularly, and they should
both be written using action verbs. Here are 102 verbs to help you
rewrite your job description and resume:
direct maximize support
accelerate
draft mentor survey
achieve
enhance monitor train
administer
establish negotiate translate
advise
evaluate operate upgrade
analyze
exceed optimize utilize
apply
excel orchestrate
arrange
execute organize
assess
exhibit originate
author
expand oversee
automate
expedite perform
brief
facilitate pilot
catalogue
fashion plan
collaborate
formulate prepare
communicate
furnish prioritize
compile
generate process
compose
handle produce
computerize
head program
conceptualize
identify promote
conduct
implement provide
consult
improve recommend
contribute
incorporate reconcile
control
increase recruit
coordinate
initiate represent
correspond
institute research
create
instruct resolve
cultivate
 instruct resolve
cultivate
instrument revise
customize
interface schedule
delegate
launch specialize
deliver
liaise streamline
design
maintain submit
develop
manage supervise
devise

 Page 59

Reports
A report can be of any length, from one page to thousands of pages. It
can be a plain statement of facts, or it can include exhaustive
documentation and analysis.
You'll know the objective of the report before you begin to research or
write it. Whether the objective is to address a problem or to simply
publish information, keep the objective in mind as you do the research
and decide what you're going to say. Don't let yourself go off on a
tangent, unless you're convinced that doing so will force a major
change in your favor.
To put it another way, if you set out to mine for silver, set all your
intelligence and all your energies toward the objective of mining for
silver. Don't let anything distract you. But if, while mining for silver,
you strike gold, your new objective will be to mine for gold!
Be steadfast in your objective, but flexible in your conclusions. If
you're writing a long report that requires a lot of research, you'll
probably have some preconceived ideas of what your conclusions will
be. That's fine, but it's likely that you'll make some discoveries in the
course of your research that will force you to some other, unexpected
conclusions.
Usually, you'll want to outline the report before you write it. This is
especially important if it's a long report that contains a lot of
complicated information. If you don't have a good idea of how the
report is going to flow, you risk writing it in a disjointed manner,
jumping from one point to another.
Most reports are fairly straightforward in terms of organization.
Usually, you'll want to start by stating the problem or objective that
the report will address; you might also want to give a brief outline of
your conclusions and recommendations. After all, a report isn't a
novel; you shouldn't surprise the reader at the end.
How you organize the information in the main body of the report will
be largely up to you. Most writers prefer to determine the main points
they want to address, and the minor points that grow out of each major
point, and organize the main body of the report something like this:

 Page 60

Part I:
Broad overview of most important point (A).
a.
b. Closer examination of point A, with broad overview of A's
subpoints.
c. Closer examination of A's subpoints.
d. Preliminary conclusions based on analysis of A.
Part
II:
a. Broad overview of second-most important point (B).
b. Closer examination of point B, with broad overview of B's
subpoints.
c. Closer examination of B's subpoints.
d. Preliminary conclusions based on analysis of B.
And so on, until you've come to the final section of the report, which will include
your conclusions and recommendations.
Format
Many reports are actually memos or letters, and may be written in the
letter or memo style. A longer report may contain various elements in
addition to a plain statement of information and require a more complex
format.
A formal report may contain any of the following elements, usually in
the following order, although it's up to the author to determine which of
these elements are necessary:
Cover. A long, formal report should have a cover, rather than simply
being stapled together. The cover can be simple or elaborate, but in any
case should be neat and attractive, and should bear the title of the report
and (usually) the author's name.
Flyleaf. A blank page that precedes all other pages, the flyleaf is like a
handkerchief in a man's breast pocket: It has no purpose but to dress
things up.
Title fly. This is just like the flyleaf, except that it contains the title of the
report (but not the author's name) centered on the page.
Title page. The title page contains the title, the author's name, and
perhaps the author's company, department, and address.
Letter of authorization. This is a copy of the letter you received,
authorizing

 Page 61

you to write the report. If you received no such letter, you might wish to
mention your authorization in the foreword or in the letter of transmittal.
Letter of transmittal. This is a letter that says, in effect, ''Here's your
report." It might include a summary of the report or a statement of its
objectives, as well as thanks to anyone who was particularly helpful to
the writing of the report.
Foreword. This is much like a letter of transmittal, except that it's written
in standard paragraph form, not in letter form. Usually, if you include a
letter of transmittal, you won't need a foreword.
Acknowledgments. If your list of people to thank is very long, you
might want to put your acknowledgments on a separate page.
Table of contents. This tells you on what page each section of the report
begins. Many word-processing programs will generate a table for you,
which you can then fine-tune to your specifications.
List of illustrations. In effect, this is a table of contents covering only
pictures (photographs, designs, drawings, or reproductions).
List of figures, maps, and tables. It's common practice to list charts,
graphs, maps, and tables separately from pictures.
Summary. You might choose to precede the report with a paragraph or
two telling the reader, very briefly, what you're going to say. This is
especially useful if the report is long and complex.
Body. This is the report itself, however you've decided to organize it.
Appendix. This contains brief, supplementary reports. For instance, if
you were writing a report on American professional football, you might
include an appendix on the Canadian Football League. You may want to
include several appendices.
Notes. The notes may appear at the bottom of the page where the
referent occurs (footnotes); at the end of each chapter; or in a section at
the end of the report.
Glossary. If the report contains a great many technical or foreign terms
that most readers should know but some readers might not, it may be


 Page 62

more practical to define those terms in a glossary, rather than interrupt

the flow of the report to provide definitions.
Bibliography. The bibliography lists all sources of information. The
standard method of listing sources is alphabetically by author. Following
the author's name, list the title, name of publisher or name and number
of periodical, and date of publication:
Manfred S. Guttmacher, M.D., America's Last King,
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1941.
Joseph Dobrian, "Dodging the Wild Beer Bottle,"
Boxing Illustrate, 5, November 1984.
Index. An index is hardly ever necessary to a report, unless the report is
exceptionally long. Your word-processing program will usually be able
to make a serviceable index for you.

Press Releases
A press release is, in effect, a very short news article. It's what you send
to newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV stations when there's
something big happening at your company, in the hope that you'll get
some press coverage.
A press release must observe the One Big Ruleand then some! It's got to
be short, punchy, and absolutely accurate.
Usually, you should write a press release in what journalists call an
"inverted pyramid": Place the most important point at the very
beginning, followed by details directly relating to it, then list the other
points in descending order of importance.
Answer all of a journalist's Big Six: who, what, when, where, why, and
how.
If the release contains numbers, put them at the top. Numbers grab the
eye.
eye.
Normally, a press release should be written on special press release
letter-head paper, which typically says press release at the top left, along
with the name and phone number of someone to contact for more
information.
The release should start with a headline (usually in all caps), followed
by a dateline.

 Page 63
Exhibit 5 is an example of a press release.
Exhibit 5. Sample press release.

Note that the press release could stand as a short newspaper article:
An editor could simply type it into a computer, and it would be ready
to be placed at the bottom of the business page.
Newsletters
Nowadays, it's routine for an assistant with no previous training to
produce newsletters for use within the company, for a select mailing
list, or for general publication. Desktop publishing software available
today usually includes a variety of templates that will allow you to
plug your copy into a standard newsletter format, personalizing it with
your own graphics or slight design variations.
Having the right software is only half the battle, however. You also
have to understand how to lay out a page so that it's easy to read,
attractive, and professional-looking.


 Page 64
The purpose of a newsletter is to give the reader a broad, superficial look
at the newsa few easily digested sentences per item. Think of it as a
minimalistic newspaper, on regular-size paper.
(A newsletter is usually laid out like a newspaper, with a banner,
headlines, and several short articles, in two or three columns on each
page. It's easier to read short items if they're laid out this way.)
A newsletter is not the place for a lot of details. Instead of crowding too
much information into a newsletter item, concentrate on pointing the
reader toward other resources. For instance, instead of giving full details
about an upcoming seminar, a newsletter item might say something like
this:
Oldham Will Give Witchcraft Talk
Cassandra Oldham will present a seminar on the benefits of using
witchcraft in the workplace, with some introductory techniques, at
5:30 P.M. Thursday, May 16, in the large conference room. All
employees are invited. For more details, call Cassandra at
extension 233.
Plenty of books and courses are available on desktop publishing. These
will teach you the fundamentals of page layout and ideal use of copy and
graphics. To get you started, here are some pointers:
Grab The Reader!
Use big, bold banners in a distinctive type style, and quick, punchy
headlines. Using numbers in headlines is especially effective ("Sales Go
Up 15%"). When possible, use pictures with people in them.
Use white space. A page that is packed chock-full is hard to read. Cut
down the articles, or add a few pages, rather than crowd the pages you
have. Leave a couple of lines of space between articles. Leave a line
between the copy and a photograph or other graphic.
While you don't want a dense-looking page, do fill up the page. If you're
short on copy, lay it out loosely; never leave a gaping white hole at the
end of the last column because you've run out of material.
Don't overdo the graphics. A photo or two, or a piece of clip art, will
make the page look livelier, but don't sacrifice content for the sake of
artistry.
Be Easy On The Eyes
In general, serif type (fonts which the letters have little tails) is easier

 Page 65

to read over long periods than sans-serif type (no tails, like this).
However, sans-serif fonts tend to be more eye-catching. If you're going to
use more than one type style in your publication, use sans-serif type for
short articles (and for headlines) and serif type for longer ones.
"Knock-out" type (white lettering on a dark background) is attractive but
hard to read. Don't use it for more than a few words.
To highlight short but important stories, put a tinted box around them.
Don't use more than one or two boxes per page, though, and don't use a
tint so dark that the copy can't be read. A 10 percent tint is usually about
right.
Use "breakers." Breakers are anything that interrupts the flow of the text
and forces the reader to pause for a second. The "bullets" used to mark
each new point in this list are examples of breakers; so are the subheads
in this book. "Call-outs" (short, snappy quotes from a story, set in larger
type) and ''drop caps" (oversized capital letters et into the copy to indicate
a new section) are also effective.
Breakers serve as teasers, to keep the reader alert and interested; they're also
mileposts, reminding the reader that she's finished another section of the story.
Professional Secrets
Probably the three most common layout mistakes are "bumping heads,"
"widows," and "rivers." Bumping heads occur when you start two stories
side by side on the same page, so that the two headlines are right beside
each other. Look at the front page of your morning newspaper, and you'll
see that each article begins at a different level on the page, so that the eye
can separate them easily. (A typical newspaper or newsletter front page
has one headline at the extreme left, one at the extreme right, and a
picture in the center with a headline below it.)
A widow is a last line of a paragraph that contains only one word. If a
widow occurs in the middle of the page, it's no problem. But when a
story jumps from one column to the next, and the first line of the new
column is mostly white space, it looks sloppy. The first line of a column
column is mostly white space, it looks sloppy. The first line of a column
should always run the full width.
Rivers are the opposite of bumping heads: A river occurs when two or
more patches of white space appear side by side in adjacent columns. For
instance, if you've got a widow in the middle of column one, next to the
end of an article in column two, next to some white space above a
graphic in column three, you've just cut the page in half.

 Page 66
Nearly all word-processing and desktop publishing packages contain a
spell-checking feature. These programs are not infallible. If the spell-
checker says you're wrong, and you're sure you're right, check the
dictionary.
Some software programs also have a grammar-check program. These
programs tend to be dogmatic about certain "rules," and have no idea of
context. Do not rely on them.
Develop a look, and keep it. You can identify each of your local papers at
a glance by type styles, headlines, and standard ways of laying out the
front page. Likewise, cover designs. If you maintain a certain look,
people will immediately identify your publication and associate it with
your company. If you're doing everything else right, that's what you want
them to do!

Going One Step Further

You may be asked not only to produce camera-ready pages but to
produce the actual newsletter. That means you have to decide the kind of
paper, grade, and weight to use. Since specifying the right paper can
significantly impact the final product, here are some tips from Creative
Litho of Foster City, California:
Grades of paper. There are four grades:
Bond. This is the paper most frequently used for letterheads,
business forms, and fast printing jobs.
Offset or uncoated book. Most commonly used for offset printing,
this paper grade has a smooth, uncoated look.
Coated book. Great to use with bright colors, this glossy sheet
provides excellent reproduction quality.
Text. Suitable for soft, gentle colors, this high-quality paper offers a
 nice texture.
Basic weight. Weight is used to distinguish papers. Coated papers are
more compressed so when you go from uncoated sheets to coated, weight
may have to increase to get the same thickness. This explains why paper
specifications include both weight and grade.

 Page 67
Basis weight is the weight of 500 sheets of paper cut to a standard
size. So, for instance, 500 sheets of 25 inches by 38 inches of 60#
offset would weigh 60 pounds. The standard size for bond is 17 inches
by 22 inches; for text, offset, and coated, 25 inches by 38 inches; and
for cover stock, 20 inches by 26 inches. This may explain why two
similar sheets of different grades may have different basis weights.
Looking at the grades and ranges of weight:
Bond. Usually 24# for stationery, 20# for copying, and 16# for
forms.
Text. The most common weights are 70# and 80#, but weights
range from 60# to 100#.
Offset. Most professional publishing houses use 50# to 70#
stock.
Cover. This comes in 60#, 65#, 80#, or 100# weights.
What about recycled papers? Prices continue to be higher than for
virgin stock, but they are more widely available than in the past.
E-Mail
You will, without question, be communicating more and more by
electronic mail (e-mail) in your office and outside of it. However,
don't overuse e-mail. Routine letters, memos, and reports usually don't
require electronic transmittal. Save e-mail for situations demanding
urgent replies or communications.
Some situations shouldn't be the subject of e-mail, either. For instance,
personnel problems should be handled in face-to-face meetings, not
through electronic communications. Nor should you respond to a
negative e-mail message when you are still angry or upset about the
message.
When you use e-mail, proofread your document carefully.
Unfortunately, many writers, when they start using e-mail, get into the
habit of writing very informal, sloppy, downright illiterate lettersas if
the difference between regular mail and e-mail were the same as the
difference between a formal dinner and a meal consumed while
standing in front of the refrigerator.

 Page 68
This can't be permitted. Whether you're writing a letter on paper or
online, a letter is a letterand a business communication is a business
communication. There is no excuse for not following the same rules
of grammar, spelling, usage, format, and protocol when writing e-mail
as you would follow when writing a nonelectronic letter or memo.
The only exception has to do with formatting: Naturally, it's difficult
to send e-mail on your company's letterhead, and in most cases, it's
difficult to use certain formatting techniques such as paragraph
indentation or typing copy any way other than flush left.
Other than that, you must behave just as though you were using an
old-fashioned manual typewriter. That means complete, formal letters
and memos in good English.
To avoid sloppy habits, don't compose e-mail using your server's
facilities. Instead, if you can, compose your e-mail on your word-
processing program, edit and proofread it thoroughly, then transfer the
text to an e-mail document.
Do not use any emoticonsthose cute little symbols that have become
fashionable in online chat rooms, such as:) or @-/-. They are okay for
personal communications, but they have no place in business.
E-mail communications should usually be as short as possible, and
should contain mostly short paragraphs. In some cases, you'll be
obliged to send a long proposal or report electronically, instead of as
printed copy. Be sure such reports include a summary at the
beginning, to help the reader stay on track as she's scrolling through
the document.
Don't write in all capital letters, any more than you'd use all caps in a
regular letter.
E-mail allows a message to be received, read, commented on, and
forwarded to another person with the forwarder's comments. This
often results in a very long chain of comments. Paraphrase the initial
message and subsequent comments when you're responding to such a
message: It'll make for easier reading.
In the "subject" line of your e-mail, state your business as plainly as
possible in 25 to 30 characters. Some people get as many as 100 e-
mail messages each day, and a well-written subject line will help them
to choose which messages to read first.

 Page 69
Make sure your system is compatible with the recipient's. Sending files
via e-mail doesn't work if the two systems aren't compatible. Find out
which extension (such as MIME) you should use when you send files.
Sometimes you might have to send files in ASCII format, which may
make sending graphics difficult.
Also, don't assume that everybody checks their e-mail regularly. Some
people only check their e-mail every couple of days. If you've sent
something that's in any way time-sensitive, follow up with a phone call.
Don't consume valuable computer memory by keeping even your critical
messages stored indefinitely on the system. After a given period, print
and file important messages you want to keep.
Since some e-mail systems automatically erase documents after a certain
time, check your system's record-keeping capability to be sure that you
retain paper records of critical messages.
EXERCISES
Proofreading
Proofread and correct the following texts (I and II). The subject matter
may not interest you, but then many documents you proofread may be
about topics of little interest.
Mhuammad Ali regained the Heavyweight Championship by defeating
I.
George Foreman in 1974. He lost the title to Leon Spinks in 1978 and
regained it later that year. Following his, rematch with Spinks, he hinted
that he was retiring. Over the next two years, the WBA and the WBC
recognized different claimants as Ali's successor. In 1980, Ali
"unretired" and made a come-back against the WBC claimant, Larry
Holmes. Since the claim to the title was in dispute at that time. And
since Ali hadnot lost his title int he ring, hemust be regarded as having
been the defending championand Holmes, the challenger, in that fight.
Thus, intellectually honest historians generally agree that Holmes won
 Thus, intellectually honest historians generally agree that Holmes won
the Heavyweight Championshipby defeeting Ali in nineteen-eighty.
Since then, that title has changed hands in the following

 Page 70

succession: Michael Spinks, Mike Tyson, James Douglas, Evander

Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield, Michael Moorer, George
Foreman. In each case, the title chagned hands in the ring; in no case
was an elimination tournament involved.
While You might be right that the officials gave a bad decision in the
Foreman-Schultz fight (and even that point is nowhere near so black
and white as you'd have us believe), to argue that Forman has no
legitimate claim to the title is simply pernicious.
II.As you see from this list of ingredience, chef Jacques Pépin makes
chocoate cake with almost no flour
12 ozs. semi-sweet choclate
11/2 sticks sweet butter, softened
8 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 cups almonds ground in the blender (yields 21/4 cups ground)
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (about one slice bread
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Fog Index
Calculate the Fog Index for the following 104-word passage:
I.
The question was what Plimpton's death meant to Lachlan and
Fairbanks. To the extent that the Lachlan campaign was aimed at
winning at all, rather than at simply protesting, it had always depended
heavily on coming through a broken field at the convention. Bob Jones,
for one, had always felt that Lachlan's only serious chance would come
at a convention deadlocked between Plimpton and Fairbanks. His
theory, expounded to many a skeptical delegate and journalist, was that
Plimpton and Lachlan between them would stop Fairbanks, and that
enough Fairbanks people would then switch to Lachlan, in preference to
Plimpton, to give him the nomination.
 Plimpton, to give him the nomination.

 Page 71
Write about something unusual that happened to you at work in the
II.
past few days. Write at least 200 wordspreferably moreand let the Fog
Index be less than 12.

Memos
Think of a book you've read recently that you feel would be helpful to
your co-workers. (This could be a "how-to" book for business, a self-help
or inspirational book, a biography of someone you admire, or a novel
with an important message or an original idea.) Using any organizational
style you please, write a memo to your boss addressing the following
questions (although not necessarily in this order):
What is the book called?
Who are the author and publisher?
What is the book about?
Why should everyone in the department read it?
How can we apply the lessons of the book to the workplace?
What specific profitfinancial or psychologicalwill we gain from this
book?
Should we implement a group study of the book and its principles? If so,
what form should this take?
What are some of the book's principles that we can implement
immediately?

Job Descriptions
I. Without looking at any job description that might actually exist, write
your own job description.
II. Do the same for someone you know.
Press Releases
I. Write a press release announcing something exciting that has just
I. Write a press release announcing something exciting that has just
happened in your company. Using no more than 300 words, make the
reader want to expand your release into a feature article.

 Page 72
II. Rewrite the following press release to make it more interesting and
readable:

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: William Gladstone (212) 779-8826
WRITER NEW OWNER OF METS
NEW YORK CITY, March 1, 1996"Eighty million dollars was a small
price to pay. I raised the money in just a few days by selling a few of my
poems. We're going to win the pennant this year, and four years out of
every five thereafter, indefinitely.
"I'm also going to build a new baseball park, probably near Wall St.,"
Joseph Dobrian revealed. "I'm going to move the Mets out of Shea
Stadium as soon as I can."
Dobrian, a freelance writer who lives in Manhattan, announced that he
has made a major purchase: the New York Mets baseball club. He said he
made the purchase because he always wanted to have a major league
baseball team.
The entire purchase price was reported to be $80 million.
Dobrian said he planned to release all Met players from their contracts
and hire all new players. He will also change the team name to the New
York Moderates.
For more information, contact William Gladstone at (212) 797-8826.

 Page 73

4
Getting to Be an Expert
Do's and Don'ts
From the Experts
DO'S:

Write the subject and the verb, then worry about the rest. Say, "I left the
office yesterday afternoon at about three to go to a seminar," not,
"Yesterday afternoon, at about three, since there was a seminar I had to
go to, I left the office." Say, "The boss left early to go to a seminar," not
"The boss, who had to go to a seminar, left early."
Replace adverbs with snappy, dynamic verbs. Sales rose very steeply last
month sounds okay, but your readers would probably rather read, Sales
soared last month.
Use personal pronouns. I will look into your complaint is far stronger
than Your complaint will be looked into. In the first example, you're
promising to assume responsibility. In the second, it sounds like you're
saying, "Somebody's going to look into it." Who? Long ago, someone
created the myth that personal pronouns are inappropriate to business
writing. That idea is pure foolishness, and it's about time we got rid of it.
Use clear, imaginative similes, metaphors, and anthropomorphisms to
pep up your writing. A simile is an expression that compares one thing to
another, as in The boss came out of his chair like a scorched ferret.
You've written a Metaphor when you characterize, rather than compare,
as in He's a real pussycat. An anthropomorphism is when you attribute
human characteristics to an animal or to an inanimate object, as in My
invoice is growing a long gray beard.
However, be conservative with these expressions. They are the salt and
pepper of writing, not the meat!

 Page 74
Be aware of the connotations of certain words and phrases. Two words
may mean the same thing, but one may have a much more positive
connotation than the other. The philosopher Bertrand Russell provided
the following examples: "I've got an eye for the ladies; you're a sex
maniac. I'm prudent; you're timid. I'm a visionary; you're impractical.
I'm an idealist; you're a radical."
Be very careful of loaded phrases such as for your information, please
be advised, obviously, and others that might anger or intimidate.
Use small words. If you can think of a short, plain, everyday word, use
itdon't utilize it! But big words can be your friends at times. For
instance, if you don't say "disestablishment," you'll have to say,
"changing the law so that the Church of England is no longer the state
religion of England."
Remember that technical terms have their places. If you're writing a
scientific document, you're likely to use a lot of words that only
scientists know. But the place to put a difficult word is in a simple, clear
sentence.
Use repetition for emphasis. Consider the following sentence: My plan
will lead to higher productivity, higher sales, higher margins, higher
profits, higher consumer satisfaction, and higher employee morale. It's a
lot snappier than My plan will improve productivity, sales, margins,
profits, consumer satisfaction, and employee morale.

DON'TS

Don't automatically cut out prepositions to shorten a sentence. We need

an updated accounts payable and receivable management system is a
shorter sentence than We need to update our system for managing
accounts payable and receivable. However, those prepositions make the
second sentence easier to read!
Don't over-qualify. For instance, don't say, "At the present time, I'm
feeling optimistic about the project." I'm feeling already implies the
present.
Avoid phrases such as in this way or in a [fill-in-the-blank] manner.
Instead of "He greeted me in a very friendly manner," say, "He gave me
a friendly greeting."

 Page 75
Seldom turn verbs into nouns. Instead of saying, ''I will run a check on
the system," say, "I will check the system." Instead of saying, "He was
the first baseman and sometimes played catcher," say, "He played first
base and sometimes caught."
Beware of constructions that use give, have, provide, or similar verbs to
turn another verb into a long, modified noun. Which is easier to read: He
had a negative reaction to my suggestion, or He didn't like my
suggestion?
Avoid using there is or there are, as in There are reasons why I feel that
way. I have reasons for feeling that way is clearer, because it stresses
that the reasons are yours, not simply that they exist. However, some
writers go overboard in their efforts to eliminate all there is
constructions. A sentence like There are gold deposits in my backyard is
okay, because you're trying to emphasize the gold deposits, not your
backyard.
Avoid redundancies. Beware of such phrases as past history and
unwanted intruders. However, be certain that what looks like a
redundancy doesn't actually provide a useful explanation. For instance, a
phrase like the state of New York is acceptable if the reader might not
otherwise know whether you mean the state or the city. The Balkan
country of Bulgaria is acceptable if you're uncertain whether your
readers know where Bulgaria is. But if you're writing to the Bulgarian
ambassador, remember that he knows it's a Balkan country.
Don't vary your terms for the sake of doing so. In other words, avoid
sentences such as, Sales are down in Chicago, partly because residents
of the Windy City have been staying indoors to beat the long heat wave
that has blanketed Chi-town. Much more to the point is Sales are down
in Chicago, partly because the heat wave there is keeping people
indoors.
Don't attach degrees to absolute terms. For instance, don't say "totally
destroyed." If a thing is destroyed, the word totally is implied. Don't say,
"a few short yards away." A yard is 36 inches, neither more nor less.
Don't say, "partial suppression of free speech." That's like saying "a little
bit pregnant."

 Page 76

Everyone's
Favorite Mistakes
Observing Imaginary Rules
Many writers sacrifice clarity and brevity for the sake of "rules" that
may not be rules at all.
For instance, there is no such rule as It's wrong to end a sentence with
a preposition.
You shouldn't use a preposition at the end of a sentence if it doesn't
belong in the sentence at all (as in, Where's the library at?), but it's
usually okay to put the preposition at the end if it belongs in the
sentence. Where did you come from? is perfectly good English.
If you go out of your way to avoid ending a sentence with a
preposition, your writing will often be too wordy and self-conscious.
As Sir Winston Churchill once joked, "That is the kind of pedantry up
with which we must not put!"
Another famous "rule" is that you must never split infinitives. (That
is, if you're expressing a verb as an infinitive, such as to speak, you
mustn't separate the to from the verb. It's supposedly wrong to write a
sentence such as I'm going to carefully investigate this matter, because
you've separated to and investigate.)
Both, He tried to thoroughly explain the situation, and He tried to
explain the situation thoroughly are standard, but the latter
construction sounds a little odd, mainly because that isn't the way
most people would say the sentence.
The real problem with split infinitives is that the words that you use to
split them often ought not to be in the sentence at all! In the sentence
above, for instance, the word thoroughly is just excess baggage. He
tried to explain the situation is sufficient, because, after all, nobody
assumes that his explanation was anything but thorough.
Overusing the Passive Voice
Writing or speaking in the active voice means that you describe
someone

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doing something: Jane closed the window. The passive voice is a style
that describes something having something done to it: The window
was closed by Jane.
Businesspeople tend to use the passive voice a lot, probably because
using it keeps you from having to use personal pronouns (see the third
bullet under Do's at the beginning of this chapter). However, it's
usually a better idea to use the active voice.
The active voice is usually clearer, shorter, and more interesting than
the passive voice. Note, in the examples above, that the use of the
passive voice increased the length of the sentence by 50 percent.
Compare the following two sentences:
It is to be hoped that the suggestions submitted by our
committee will be acted upon by your department.
I hope your department will act on our committee's
suggestions.
Just by using the passive voice, the writer of the first sentence
manages to sound pompous, imperious, patronizing, and downright
rude. The writer of the second sentence sounds assertive but polite.
If you use the passive voice, you risk sounding evasive. I made a
mistake is much more straightforward than A mistake was made.
At times, the passive voice will suit your needs better than the active.
For instance, you might use the passive voice if the thing being acted
upon is more important to the sentence than the person acting on it, as
in The report was very well received. Here, you want to make the
point that the report did well; it's less important to name the people
who received it.
Sentences written in the passive voice do tend to have a pleasant
rhythm, and in some cases the passive voice will be clearer than the
active. But when either voice will do, it's usually better to use the
active voice.
Using Clichés
It has come to my attention that. Here's the bottom line. Give me a
ballpark figure. These overworked phrases aren't bad by definition.
But if you use them at all, you'll be tempted to overuse them. That's
how clichés get to be clichés.

 Page 78
I once worked in an office where, when an employee had a baby, the
personnel department would circulate a memo saying something like,
"Audrey Smith gave birth yesterday to a bouncing baby boy, Homer
Israel Smith. The names of the parents, and the name, weight, and sex
of the baby always changed, but the kid was always bouncing.
Finally, a co-worker remarked that just once, he'd like someone to
have a baby who landed with a SPLAT.
Of course, it's impossible to completely eliminate well-known figures
of speech or overworked phrases. But be aware that they can detract
from what you're trying to say.
Overusing Jargon and Euphemisms
A few people have the idea that using "office-ese" makes them sound
more businesslike, and maybe even more powerful. Not so.
I once had a boss who asked us to "Place your time sheets on that
shelving unit there so that we can access them at the end of each pay
period." She should have said, "Place your time sheets on that shelf so
we can pick them up on Friday."
Sending the First Draft of an Angry Letter
When you have to write an angry letter or memo, go ahead and do it.
Make it as vicious as you like. Call the person every name you've ever
felt like calling him. Accuse him of every rotten thing you've ever
suspected him of. Tell him exactly what you're going to do to him if
you're ever in a position to do it.
When you've finished, put the letter in a drawer and leave it there until
tomorrow morning. Then, read it once more to remind yourself of
how much fun you had writing it, tear it up, and write the real letter.
It'll come out civilized, reasonable, and tellingso much so that the
person you're sending it to might even see things your way at last.
Using Jokes and Obscure References
We all think our own jokes are funny. But not everybody else is going
to get them, and there's always a chance that someone will
misunderstand one of your jokes in a disastrous way if you're not
there to explain it. Jokes and obscure references are fine in personal
letters or in creative writing, but in business writing, be very careful.

 Page 79
Using Adjectives Instead of Adverbs
If someone plays the piano very loudly, don't say that he plays very
loud. Adverbs (which often end in ly) modify verbs, in this case,
plays. Adjectives only modify nouns.
Using Adverbs Instead of Adjectives
Some writers when using a "sense verb" (taste, feel, look, smell,
sound, think) modify it with an adverb instead of modifying the
subject with an adjective. For instance:
Whatever you're cooking, it smells deliciously.
Here, the writer mistakenly modifies the sense verb smells, instead of
the subject, Whatever you're cooking. This subject is a compound
noun, so you'd use an adjective (in this case, delicious) to modify it.
However, consider this sentence, in which the adverb is properly used:
She smelled deliciously of roses.
Here, the adverb, deliciously, modifies the compound adverb of roses,
not the sense verb smelled.
Misplacing Modifiers
Even the best writers will sometimes confuse the reader by misplacing
a modifier, or by punctuating it incorrectly, or by otherwise making it
unclear what the modifier is and what it's supposed to be modifying.
Here are a few examples of how these foul-ups can happen.
A car was reported stolen by Rev. Thomas yesterday.
Now, did Rev. Thomas report the car stolen, or did someone else
report that the minister had stolen a car? Here's an example of how a
writer can get into trouble by using the passive voice (A car was
reported). By changing the sentence to active voice (Rev. Thomas
reported yesterday that his car was stolen), you've removed all
confusion.
Being a ferocious jungle creature, I knew that the tiger would
be hard to make friends with.
Wait a minute! Are you a ferocious jungle creature? If you're not, the
sentence should read I knew that the tiger, being a ferocious jungle
creature, would be hard to make friends with.
He bought the elephant, along with his sister.

 Page 80
And which did he pay more for, the elephant or his sister? Far better is
He and his sister bought the elephant.
Using Dangling Participles and Modifiers
When you write a participle (a verb ending in ing) or a
modifying phrase that contains a verb, you need to be sure that
that phrase or participle has a referenta person or thing to which
it refers. If it has no referent, it's called a "dangling" participle or
modifier, and it can lead to a few laughsat your expense.
Having had a few drinks, the celebration became rather rowdy.
The celebration had a few drinks? It's better to say, "Since we'd had a
few drinks, the celebration became rather rowdy," or, "Having had a
few drinks, we became rather rowdy."
The house comes into view, climbing the hill.
Here, I hope you mean "The house becomes visible as you climb the
hill." Otherwise, we've got to deal with a house, normally invisible to
the naked eye, now reared up on its hind legs and struggling uphill as
its image becomes more and more distinct.
Having been told that she was a nincompoop, Ms. Woodenhead
was reluctant to promote Ms. Awful-Nuisance.
What are we to think from this? That some other person told Ms.
Woodenhead that Ms. Awful-Nuisance was a nincompoop? Did Ms.
Awful-Nuisance call Ms. Woodenhead a nincompoop, or was it the
other way around? Depending on what you're trying to say, one of the
following would be clearer:
Ms. Woodenhead had been told that Ms. Awful-Nuisance was a
nincompoop, and so was reluctant to promote her.
Since Ms. Awful-Nuisance had called Ms. Woodenhead a
 nincompoop, Ms. Woodenhead was reluctant to promote her.
Making Ambiguous References
Be sure you make it clear, at all times, who or what you're referring to.
A large beam fell on me, pinning my head to the ground. This
had to be removed before I could escape.
Yes, but did you get your head back on? Try this: My head was pinned
to the

 Page 81
ground by a large beam, which had to be removed before I could
escape. (This is a rare instance where the passive voice is clearer and
more efficient than the active voice.)
Although I was in it at the time, someone stole a suitcase out of
my hotel room.
Must have been a large suitcase. Try Someone stole a suitcase out of
my hotel room, although I was in the room at the time.
Making Subject-Verb Disagreements
The verb in a sentence must agree in number and person with its
subject. This is a point on which it's easy to make mistakes.
Every man, woman, and child has to be rescued.
Here, many writers will make the mistake of using have to be rescued,
thinking that the verb must be plural to agree with all those men,
women, and children. But if you take the sentence apart, you'll find
that the verb should agree with every man, every woman, every child.
In other words, the singular has is better.
Music, poetry, and theatre are fine arts.
The fine arts are things like music, poetry, and theatre.
The phrase fine arts means things like music, poetry, and
theatre.
In the first sentence, you have to use the third-person plural form of
the verbareto agree with music, poetry, and theatre, which, together,
are the subject.
In the second sentence, again, you use the third-person plural form,
since the subject, the fine arts, is plural.
But in the third sentence, the subject is singular, because the subject is
the phrase fine arts. Phrase is singular, so you would use the singular
form of the verb: means.
Making Structural Inconsistencies
A sentence such as Being handsome isn't as important as wealth is
awkward

 Page 82
because you've constructed the parallel ideas differently from each
other. Being handsome is a noun-adjective construction, while wealth
is a simple noun. Far better would be Looks aren't as important as
wealth, or Being handsome isn't as important as being wealthy.
Frequently Misused
Words and Expressions
Consensus
Consensus means general opinion, or position acceptable to everyone
involved:
The consensus was that he wouldn't stay with the company much
longer.
Republicans and Democrats tried to reach a consensus on the bill.
Consensus does not mean majority. And don't say consensus of
opinion.
Different Than
Different than is now so common that many people consider it
standard. However, we must discourage this ugly construction. Use
different from!
A man's viewpoint is different from a woman's.
Eke Out
Many writers mistakenly use the expression eke out to mean barely
achieve:
The horse eked out a narrow victory.
I eked out a tiny profit.
The standard definition of eke out is supplement:
 I eked out my salary by winning at the racetrack.
The Thanksgiving turkey was eked out by stuffing and mashed
potatoes.
Eke is an old-fashioned word meaning extra or more. The word
nickname comes from the centuries-old expression eke-name, which
means extra name.

 Page 83
Emphasize
Most of us know that emphasize means give special force or
prominence to:
She dressed to emphasize her figure.
I emphasized the importance of speaking clearly.
However, some people think emphasize also means feel what the other
person is feeling. The word they want is empathize:
I try to empathize with any customer who has a complaint.
Enormity
Enormity means heinousness, or dreadfulness. It does not mean
immense size.
Because of the enormity of his offense, the judge sentenced him
to death.
Equally As
If you want to sound really illiterate, just use equally as, as in:
I'm equally as fond of Ms. Smith as I am of Ms. Jones.
As is implied in the word equally. In any case, in the above sentence,
you shouldn't use equally at all. Just say, "I'm as fond"
Use equally to precede a list to which it refers:
I'm equally indebted to my boss, my assistant, my family, and my
dog.
Equivocal/Equivocate
Equivocal means ambiguous, questionable, or misleading.
If you're equivocating, you're being deliberately vague or ambiguous
in order to avoid committing yourself, or to mislead or confuse the
person you're speaking with. Equivocating is not exactly lying; it's just
not being entirely truthful.
The definitions of equivocal and equivocate do not have anything to
do with words like equal, equivalent, or equate.
Irregardless
Strictly speaking, it's not true that there is no such word as
irregardless. Since so many people use it, we have to admit
that it's a word. However, it's an illiterate word, and has no
place in business writing. Use regardless.

 Page 84
Literally
Many writers use literally when they mean figuratively:
He literally stuck a knife in my heart and twisted it.
Really? Then why aren't you dead?
This is a very easy mistake to make. Many of us throw in the word
literally as a "flavoring particle," just to make the sentence a little
strongeras you might say, "He's a total fool," instead of "He's a fool."
Only use literally when you have to emphasize the fact that you really
do mean something literally:
After the burial, he literally danced on her grave. I was
disgusted by this display of hatred.
Majority
A majority means more than half. It does not mean the most. A
plurality means more than any of the others, but not more than half. In
other words, if Ms. Smith got 53 percent of the votes, she would have
a majority. If she got 48 percent, Mr. Jones got 40 percent, and Ms.
Brown got 12 percent, Ms. Smith would have a plurality, not a
majority.
If more than half the people in a town were Catholic, then the
Catholics would be in the majority. If the religious breakdown were
45 percent Catholic, 20 percent Protestant, 15 percent Jewish, 10
percent Buddhist, and 10 percent Muslim, then the Catholics would
have a very large plurality, but not a majority.
Plurality also refers to the difference between one number and
another. If the 435-member House of Representatives had 218
Republicans, 190 Democrats, 20 Communists, and 7 Libertarians,
then the Republicans would have a majority of one. (That is, 218 is
one seat more than half of the total.) They would have a plurality of
28 over the Democrats.
Momentarily
Momentarily means for a moment, not in a moment. If you say, "I'll be
back momentarily," it means, "I'll be back, but only for a short time."
If you mean to say that you won't be gone long, say, "I'll be back
soon."
Party
Party can mean a group of people: Mr. Jones and his party means Mr.
Jones and the people he brought with him. A person can be a party to
a contract, in a legal document, or party to a conspiracy. Party is not a
synonym for

 Page 85
person. Don't say, ''The party I spoke to yesterday," if you're referring
to one person.
Penultimate
Penultimate means next to last. It does not mean highest or greatest.
Some people use phrases like, This meeting is of penultimate
importance, probably because penultimate is such an impressive-
sounding word.
Presently
Presently means soon or shortly thereafter.
I'll be back presently.
He lay on the floor sobbing for a while, but presently he
composed himself.
Presently does not mean now. At present does.
Commonly
Confused Words
Accept/Except
Accept means take something that's offered:
I proudly accept your nomination.
The nounthe act of acceptingis acceptance.
I wrote my acceptance speech in three minutes.
Except, as a verb, means exclude; as a preposition, it means excluding:
I except my husband when I say, "All men are pigs."
Nobody knows anything about good English, except George
Orwell.
The noun exception can mean the act of excepting or strong objection:
I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception.

 Page 86
I take exception to being called "a chucklehead."
Adverse/Averse
Adverse is related to the word adversary (opponent), and can mean
contrary, unpleasant, or disapproving:
I had an adverse reaction to the medicine.
He suffered many adverse circumstances.
I was adverse to his suggestions.
Averse is related to avert (to move away from), and it means likely to
avoid. It almost always requires a preposition, usually to.
She's averse to talking about her marriage.
Advice/Advise
Advice is the noun; advise is the verb.
I advised him to move to New York, and he took my advice.
Advise/Inform
To advise is to give advice; to inform is to give information.
I advised him to convert to Islam.
He informed me that he was a Buddhist.
Affect/Effect
Affect has two meanings: To assume a mood or style in a contrived
manner, or to have an effect (not an affect!) on something.
He affected indifference.
His constant drinking affected his performance at work.
Effect is a verb meaning to cause, and a noun meaning result. To have
an effect on means to cause a change in.
Her innovations effected a dramatic rise in sales.
The effect of his scolding was to make us all work harder.

 Page 87
Her attitude had a positive effect on all of us.
Aggravate/Annoy
Aggravate means make something worse.
I aggravated my sprained ankle by running a marathon.
Annoy means make angry or uncomfortable.
That deodorant commercial really annoys me.
Allude/Elude/Allusion/Illusion
To allude to something means to refer to it indirectly. Such an indirect
reference is an allusion.
She was alluding to my wife when she said, "I hope nobody's
coming with you."
To elude someone is to slip away from him.
My boss was going to ask me for that report, but I eluded her
all day.
An illusion is something that appears real, but is not, or is much less
impressive than it appears to be.
China's military strength was an illusion.
A magician's tricks are illusions.
Amoral/Immoral
Amoral can mean not related to morality or without morals.
The question of what's good music and what isn't is an amoral
issue.
An amoral person has absolutely no sense of right and wrong.
Immoral means morally wrong.
An immoral person knows right from wrong, but misbehaves
anyway.
Anxious/Eager
Anxious implies worry or fear; eager implies desire.
I'm anxious about this exam.
I'm eager to get it over with.

 Page 88
Anymore/Any More
In modern American English, anymore means nowadays.
I don't get around much anymore.
Any more means any additional.
Is there any more beer?
As/Like
Although like is commonly used as a conjunction in everyday speech
(like it ought to be used, like some people might say), as is more
appropriate for formal speech and writing (as it's being used in this
sentence, as your boss would probably prefer).
Assure/Ensure/Insure
You assure people (make them feel sure); you ensure something
(make sure it will happen); you insure your life, home, or health (by
taking out a policy).
I assured her that she wouldn't be fired.
She ensured that he'd work late by promising him a bonus.
I insured the package for $100,000.
Between/Among
Use between when referring to two or specific individuals or if you're
speaking about sets of two, no matter how many elements are
involved. Use among when you're speaking of more than two or a
group as a group.
A long discussion took place between Tom and Dick.
There is shuttle service between Kennedy, LaGuardia, and
 Newark airports.
A brawl broke out among the spectators.
Bi/Semi
Bimonthly means every two months. Semimonthly means twice each
month.

 Page 89
Block/Block
Block, of course, has many definitions. However, if you're talking
about a group of people or organizations that has agreed to act as a
unit, the word is bloc.
Can/May
Can refers to capability, while may refers to possibility and to
permission:
I can touch the ceiling.
I may propose to her tonight.
You may jump out the window, if you like.
Capital/Capitol
Capital has many meanings, while capitol has only one. Capitol refers
to a building that houses a legislative body; in any other context,
you'll use capital:
The U.S. Capitol Building is in Washington, D.C., which is
our nation's capital city.
Each state also has a capital city, where you'll find the state
capitol.
Censor/Censure
In its modern usage, to censor something is to suppress or exclude it
to avoid giving offense or revealing sensitive information. Every time
you stop yourself from cursing, or stop talking before you give away a
secret, you're censoring yourself.
To censure someone is to scold him: In modern usage, it almost
always refers to official, formal reprimands, as when the Senate votes
to censure a member for misconduct.
Compliment/Complement
A compliment is a phrase or gesture of courtesy, flattery, or respect.
Complement has many definitions, one of which is to enhance or
complete. Many people confuse these two words when referring to
something that enhances or completes another thing. The following
sentence uses both words properly:

 Page 90
I complimented him on his red tie, which complemented his
blue suit.
Connote/Denote/Imply
Connote is similar to imply; it means to suggest something beyond the
explicit meaning. The difference between connote and imply is that
the speaker implies; his words connote:
The term nouveau riche connotes ostentation and vulgarity, as
well as wealth.
By calling him a "smooth character," I implied that he wasn't
altogether honest.
Denote means to stand for or to refer to something explicitly:
A black armband denotes the recent death of a friend or
relative.
The St. Andrew's Cross denotes Scotland.
Continual/Continuous
Continual means done regularly. Continuous means repeated or
continued without interruption:
His continual drug abuse affected his performance at work.
The continuous drumming in the upstairs apartment kept me
awake.
Deprecate/Depreciate
Deprecate means put down; depreciate means lose value:
She deprecated her sister's taste in men.
A new car depreciates by more than 50 percent as soon as you
 drive it off the lot.
Discreet/Discrete
Both of these words are adjectives. Discreet means prudent or
tactful. Discrete means separate or distinct.

 Page 91
He was too discreet to mention that she needed voice lessons.
I write a regular column for the Times, but this essay is a
discrete project.
Disinterested/Uninterested
Disinterested means neutral, unbiased, or not influenced by personal
considerations:
We asked a disinterested person to settle our argument.
Uninterested means not interested.
My son is uninterested in his schoolwork.
Elicit/Illicit
Elicit is a verb, meaning to bring about. Illicit is an adjective,
meaning illegal or immoral.
His firing elicited a strong protest from the rest of the staff.
He was fired for illicit use of inside information.
Emigrate/Immigrate
You emigrate from somewhere; you immigrate to somewhere. A
person who does those things is an emigrant or an immigrant,
depending on whether you're speaking of his departure or his arrival.
To simply call someone an immigrant implies that he immigrated to
the country you are in right now, or the country you were just now
speaking of.
I emigrated from Poland.
I immigrated to the United States.
He's an emigrant from Russia.
 My parents were immigrants.

 Page 92
Eminent/Imminent
These two words have no relation to each other save for a similarity in
sound and spelling. Eminent means greatly respected; imminent
means about to happen.
Farther/Further
If something is farther, it's more distant:
My house is farther from the office than yours.
Further refers to an extension of quantity, time, or degree. In effect, it
just means more:
Do you intend to investigate further?
In practice, the distinctions between farther and further have almost
disappeared.
Flaunt/Flout
To flaunt something means to display it ostentatiously (and often
defiantly):
She flaunted the jewelry her boyfriend bought her.
You flout a rule or law if you scornfully disobey it:
He flouted the speed limit.
Good/Well
In general, good is an adjective, used to modify a noun (He's a good
worker). Well is an adverb, used to modify a verb (He played well). I
feel good is standard English, as a way of indicating emotional well-
being or physical vitality. I feel well means I do not feel ill. Otherwise,
good is acceptable as an adverb only in informal expressions (I nailed
him but good). You'll seldom use good as an adverb in business
writing.
Historic/Historical
Historic means of importance to history. Historical means a fact or
occurrence of history, or referring to history. Since the h in these
words can be unstressed, many authorities prefer to speak of "an
historic place," or "an historical fact"even though they would say "a
history of football." Other authorities feel that the use of an in this
context is absurd. Whichever you choosean or abe consistent.
July 4th is an (a) historic date.

 Page 93
Your birthday is an (a) historical fact, but it is not historically
important, so you can't call it an (a) historic event.
Home/Hone
To home in on something means to seek out and attack something with
great precision. (It refers to homing pigeons, which have
extraordinary senses of direction.) Some writers mistakenly say "hone
in" possibly because to hone means to sharpen.
I/Me
No doubt you've heard plenty of people saying things like, "Just
between you and I," or "He spoke to my wife and I." Using I where
one should use me is a very common mistakeprobably more common,
in the business world, than using me instead of I.
Some of us never recovered from the way our third-grade teachers
gave us grief for using me incorrectly (as in "It's me," or "Him and me
are going swimming."). These teachers did such a good job of curing
us of our mistakes that many of us avoid using me in just about any
situation. However, He spoke to my wife and me is perfectly all right,
as you can tell by dividing the sentence in two: He spoke to my wife.
He spoke to me. Or try turning the sentence around: You would never
say, "He spoke to I and my wife." On the other hand, many people do
misuse the word me. For instance, It's me! is substandard; It's I! is
better, and you can see this when you state the sentence as I am it!
She's taller than me is substandard. She's taller than I is better,
because it would be just as proper to say, She's taller than I am. But
you wouldn't be likely to say, She's taller than me am.
Imply/Infer
The speaker implies; the listener infers:
He implied that he was thinking of quitting.
 I inferred from what he said that he didn't like his job.
Ingenious/Ingenuous
Ingenious means clever or resourceful.
His method of making hats out of dried pumpkin shells is quite
ingenious.

 Page 94
Ingenuous means innocent or frank. (Disingenuous means fake-
innocent or hypocritical.)
"That hairdo makes you look 20 years older," he said
ingenuously.
You're being disingenuous when you say, "Guns don't kill
people; people kill people."
An easy way to remember the difference is by the sound of the words:
Ingenious sounds like genius; ingenuous sounds like genuine.
Its/It's
Its is the possessive, meaning belonging to itits claws, its beak, etc.
You would think it would be spelled it's since most possessives are
formed by adding's (Jim's, the company's, etc.). But remember that the
possessives of pronouns (his, hers, yours, its) are not formed with
apostrophes! It's is the contraction for it is and for it has, and its
apostrophe represents the missing space and letters.
Ah, English! It's a shame that it's got so many little tricks up its
sleeve.
Lay/Lie
Lay requires a direct object; lie does not. Lie is something you do; lay
is something you do to something.
I'm going to lie down.
I want the tablecloth to lie flat.
But:
Lay down your arms!
The past tense of lie is lay:
 I lay down for a few minutes.
Less/Fewer
In general, you should use fewer when you're referring to something
that can be measured or counted, and less when you're referring to
something that can't have an exact quantity placed on it.

 Page 95
I have three fewer staffers than I had last year.
I wear less clothing in hot weather.
In many cases, you'll use fewer to modify plural nouns even if there
are no numbers involved:
I saw fewer customers today than yesterday.
Use less to indicate diminishment:
There's a pint less in the bottle than there was an hour ago!
Less is also standard in many phrases involving distance, money, and
time:
I make less than $50,000 a year.
I did it in less than two hours.
It's less than a mile away.
Lightning/Lightening
Lightning is what you see in the sky. Lightening is what you do to
your work load by making the intern do most of it!
Masterful/Masterly
Masterly uses master in the sense of master craftsman. It means of a
masterin other words, first-rate:
It was a masterly presentation!
Masterful uses master in the sense of a dog and its master. It means
like a masterin other words, domineering:
He was masterful when the strikers confronted him.
Nauseated/Nauseating/Nauseous
Nauseated means disgusted or sick to one's stomach. Nauseating and
nauseous both mean causing nausea or revulsion. If you want to say
that you're feeling queasy, use nauseated, not nauseous.
Her new perfume made me feel nauseated.

 Page 96
Her makeup job is nauseating, too.
Her entire appearance is nauseous.
Oral/Verbal
Oral means spoken, as opposed to written:
She gave me written instructions, and explained them orally.
Verbal means having to do with words or language. It can refer to
spoken and written words.
He has a terrible temper, but he only expresses it verbally,
never physically.
Persecute/Prosecute
To persecute someone is to continually make trouble for him; to
prosecute someone is to press civil or criminal charges against him.
Hitler persecuted many ethnic and religious groups.
You can't be prosecuted for making a face at someone.
Pore/Pour
To pour is to dump something out of a container. To pore over
something is to read it very intently.
If you like a book, you'll pore over it. If you don't like it, you
might pour your tea on it.
Precede/Proceed
Precede means come before; proceed means go ahead.
A precedes B in the alphabet.
As soon as you've stopped screaming, we'll proceed with this
 meeting.
Premier/Premiere
Premier as an adjective means most important. (Some people use it to
mean first in time, but this usage is almost extinct.) As a noun, it
means prime minister.

 Page 97
As a noun or a verb, premiere means the first performance or exhibit
of a play, film, or piece of music.
The premier attended the premiere of my new play.
The premier reason for doing it is that you'll be fired if you
don't.
Principal/Principle
Principle is a noun, meaning a fundamental truth or law; principal is
an adjective and a noun, and can mean the head of a school, a sum of
money that accrues interest, or a person of the highest rank within a
group.
The principal of my school didn't have any principles!''
A principle of sound investment is to get a high interest rate for
your principal.
He's the principal tenor in the opera company.
If you're referring to a person, you will always use principal rather
than principle. Just remember: The principal is your pal!
Regarding/As Regards/In Regard To/
In Regards To/With Regard To
You can probably come up with another half-dozen variations. For
business writing, though, the only one you need to know or use is
regarding. The others say the same thing, only they use two or three
words where one would do.
Regarding means the same thing as about or concerning, and many
peopleprefer to use either of those two words. However, regarding is
acceptable:
Regarding yesterday's meeting: Was the boss right?
In very informal writing, you may abbreviate regarding as re.
I have a question re your latest memo.
Right/Rite
A rite is a ritual, procedure, or ceremony. You'd speak of a rite of
passage, or the rites of courtship. To spell the word differently
wouldn't be right.
Role/Roll
Role means a part or character in a play, or the function of an office:

 Page 98
He assumed the role of chairman while Mr. Baldwin was in
the hospital.
A roll, among its other definitions, is a list:
You may search the roll of the saints, but you will never find
one who smoked.
Stationary/Stationery
The paper you write on is stationery. If something won't move, it's
stationary.
Than/Then
Than is a conjunction that helps form a comparative phrase:
I have more black shoes than brown ones.
Then refers to a point in time or to a sequence of events:
I was out of my mind then.
We shed bitter tears for our departed King, then we played bridge.
Then also joins with if to describe a fact contingent on one or more
conditions:
If it's a parrot, then it can talk.
However, sentences of this sort usually work just as well without
using then at all.
That/Which/Who
Many people believe that it's proper to use that in clauses that are
essential to the meaning of the sentence and which in clauses that do
not add to the meaning of the sentence:
The tree that I planted last year is already six feet tall.
 His story, which he told in a trembling voice, was probably
not true.
This distinction is dying out, however.

 Page 99
A thing is a that or a which, but a person is a who:
From things that go bump in the night, good Lord, deliver us.
People who wear dentures shouldn't take them out in public.
An animal can be that or who, depending on whether or not you know
the animal:
A cat that was howling outside my window woke me up.
My cat, who has a loud voice, wakes me every morning.
Their/There/They're
People who confuse these three words usually do so from
carelessness, rather than from poor English skills. But in case you
forget, here are the distinctions:
Their is a possessive, meaning belonging to them.
There is a direction, meaning at or in that place or point.
They're is the contraction of they are.
They're going there, to their house.
To/Too/Two
This is another group of words that people often confuse due to
carelessness: To is a preposition meaning, in the direction of, as in I'm
going to the store. It's part of an infinitive, as in It's so easy to fall in
love.
Too means also, as in You come, too. It means excessively, as in I'm
too tired.
Two is the number.
Toe/Tow
It's easy to see why some people write tow the line instead of toe the
line, when they mean buckle down and work hard, or be on your best
behavior. Toe the line is correct, though. The term comes from an
extinct rule of boxing: Years ago, at the start of a bout, both opponents
had to stand with one toe touching a line drawn in the middle of the
ring.

 Page 100
Unconditional/Unequivocal
Unconditional means with no conditions attached, or no matter what.
The Germans surrendered unconditionally.
He left me his entire estate, unconditionally.
Unequivocal means absolutely clear, with no shading of meaning.
I agree with you unequivocally.
Her explanation was unequivocal.
Waive/Wave
To waive something means to give it up, to not take advantage of it, or
to not impose it:
Since your payment was only a day late, I'll waive the penalty.
The suspect waived his right to remain silent.
A waiver is the act of waiving something or a written statement saying
that you waive something.
A wave is something you do with your hands or something you're
holding (such as a flag) to attract attention or to communicate. A wave
is also a moving ridge or swell on the surface of water or an
undulating pattern.
Who/Whom
Whom is the prepositional case of who. That is, if it follows a
preposition such as for, to, or with, you should say whom:
With whom are we going?
To whom did you give it?
Technically, if you put the preposition at the end of the sentence, you
should still say whom. However, who has become so common in this
construction that, today, either of the following sentences would be
considered standard:

 Page 101
Who did you give it to?
Whom did you give it to?
Do not use whom if there is no preposition: "Who shall I say called?"
is standard; so is "Who did you punch?"
Spelling
If you're a poor speller, you're in good company. The novelist F. Scott
Fitzgerald was notorious for his poor spelling. George Washington's
and Andrew Jackson's letters are full of spelling mistakes, and they
both ended up with their pictures on money! William Shakespeare
would sometimes spell the same word two or three different ways on
the same page.
English spelling is so irregular that it's almost impossible to come up
with any rules to help you avoid mistakes. In some languages, like
Spanish or Italian, each letter has a certain sound value and you can
usually spell a word correctly just from hearing it. In English, if you
hear the sound sloo, you won't know whether to spell it slough, slue,
or slew, unless you know the context. On the other hand, if you see
the word slough, without a context, you won't know whether to
pronounce it sloo or sluf.
As you know, sometimes there are two or more "standard" ways of
spelling (and pronouncing) a word. An ideal example is misspelled.
Both misspelt and misspelled are standard. You may use either one;
just be sure you always use it, and not the other.
Probably every English-speaker in the world, if asked how to spell the
color between black and white, would reply, "Either gray or grey."
And probably we've all spelled it both ways, sometimes on the same
page!
About the only useful spelling rule that any of us remembers from
school is I before E, except after C. This rule means that if you're
dealing with a word in which the letters I and E form the ee sound, the
I will fall before the E, as in field or grieve. But if the two letters come
after a C, the E comes before the I, as in receive and perceive. Even
that rule has an exception, though. It's weird.

 Page 102
Otherwise, good spelling is a matter of learning, practice, and memory.
To become a good speller:
Learn by reading a lot.
Practice by writing a lot.
Memorize by looking words up in a dictionary and remembering how to
spell them.

To remember how to spell a tough word, associate a funny phrase, and

then a funny picture, with the word. For instance, you might look at the
word carburetor, and come up with Car, berate her! Now you have a
picture of a car standing up on its rear wheels, scolding a woman. Think
of this picture as you look at the correct spelling in the dictionary. When
you next hear the word, and want to remember how to spell it, just think
of the phrase and the picture. That will cause the printed word, spelled
correctly, to pop into your head.
Another technique is to remember the context in which you first read the
word. Take a mental photograph of the page where the word appears. If
there are any graphics on the page, expecially photos or drawings, be
sure to remember them. The more detailed the picture in your mind, the
surer you'll be to remember the word.
Here are a few often-misspelled words. Note all the inconsistencies: For
instance, if I'm contemptIBLE, why am I so desirABLE?
a lot (two words)
accidentally (two c's, two l's)
accommodate (two c's, two m's)
acquainted
all right (two words)
amateur (You'll often see the eur ending in words we borrowed from
amateur (You'll often see the eur ending in words we borrowed from
French.)
appear (two p's)
appropriate (two p's)
carriage (two r's, i and a)
character (What's that h doing there?)
choir (Note the utter absence of a relationship between spelling and
pronunciation.)
commit (two m's, one t)
commitment
committed (two t's)
committee (three double letters!)

 Page 103
connoisseur (two n's, two s's, and that French eur ending)
conscience (Note the sci representing the sh sound.)
conscientious
conscious
consensus (think of "consent")
contemptible (ible, not able)
convenience
desirable (able, not ible)
despair (pronounced dispair in informal speech, but spelled with an e)
defendant (ant, not ent)
despondent (ent, not ant)
dispensable (able, not ible)
divorce (The couple's paths diverted.)
embarrass (two r's, two s's)
fascinating (sc, not s alone)
finally (three syllables, two l's)
fluoride (Remember that fluor prefix in words like fluorescentthe u
comes before the o!)
foreign
forty (It should be fourty, but it isn't!)
government (Remember the n.)
harass (one r, two s's)
humorous (In British English, just to confuse us, it's humourous.)
incidentally (five syllables, not four)
independent (ent, not ant)
irresistible (ible, not able)
laboratory (If you give a speech there, it's laboratory!)
liquefy (efy, not ify)
marriage (two R's married I and A.)
miniature (Minnie ate your dessert.)
necessary (one c, two s's)
optimistic
permanent
rhythm (Remember where the h's go.)
similar
sincerely (Remember the second e.)

 Page 104

Correcting Your Boss

Now that you know quite a lot about how to use the English language,
it's likely that your boss will start to depend on your knowledge. He
might, for instance, give you a very roughly written letter or memo
and say, "Translate this into good English for me." Or he might just
tell you, very generally, what he wants the letter or memo to say, and
let you write it.
Exhibit 6. Rough draft of letter.


 Page 105
Let's deal with the former situation first. Say you boss has just given you
the letter in Exhibit 6 with orders to knock it into shape. Let's go over it
and see what we can do.
To turn this perfectly awful letter into something readable, let's edit it
twice: first for style, then for organization.
Style
Let's start with the inside address. Notice that Mr. O'Shaughnessy's name
is spelled differently in the inside address and in the salutation. Find out
the correct spelling of his name. Probably your boss has Mr.
O'Shaughnessy's card in his Rolodex; if not, you can call Ritter, Tod &
Teufel and ask Mr. O'Shaughnessy's assistant.
Note also that your boss used the Post Office abbreviation for New York
(NY) but the old-fashioned abbreviation for Massachusetts (Mass.).
Except when you're addressing an envelope, the old-fashioned
abbreviation is preferable.

First paragraph:
The first sentence is better stated as Thank you for your letter of the
19th. (If you're writing in response to a letter written in the same month,
it's not necessary to mention the month in your letter.)
They were in the next sentence should be It was, since it refers to a letter.
Use active voice (My staff went over it) instead of passive (It was gone
over).
It's my staff and me, not my staff and I.
Avoid clichés such as all-out effort.
The word is empathize. Emphasize means something else entirely.
The listener infers, but the speaker implies.
Access more data is business jargon. Avoid it.
There's no such thing as a conclusion that isn't final!
Second paragraph:
Second paragraph:
Most previous is awkward. Say last.
To eke out something means to add to it, supplemnet it, not to barely
achieve it. As against is gibberish; over our major competitors is correct.

 Page 106

Third paragraph:
An ellipsis () should almost never be used in a business letter. Here, a
colon (:), followed by an initial capital, is correct.
Who was lost in dead files? The report or the secretary?
In any case, why tell the reader that you lose documents?
Don't use the word copy twice in the same sentence.
Figures which are contained in it is the passive voice. Its figures is
shorter and clearer.
The expression is apropos. Use the English word: relevant.
Is the report really enclosed with Mr. O'Shaughnessy's marketing staff?
Fourth paragraph:
Use a comma, not a colon, after Also.
Monitor should not be capitalized.
Spell out single-digit numbers.
It's people who do so-and-so, not people that. Use that only when
talking about animals or inanimate objects.
Is he talking about people who smoke, or computers that smoke?
Fifth paragraph:
Penultimate means next-to-last, not vital.
The second sentence contains two misspellings: Roll and similar are
correct.
As I understand they're working on should be which I understand they're
working on. Better yet, cut that phrase out: Why do you need it?
The last sentence is a mangled cliché. If we keep both our ears glued to
the ground, we won't be able to move. And we won't even mention see
what we can hear!
Sixth paragraph:
Final is a useless word in this context.
If possible, propose a specific date for the upcoming meeting.
Personal and Regards should not be capitalized.

Organization
Organization
Just remember the One Big Rule:
Brevity, precision, and clarityand the greatest of these is clarity.

 Page 107
Some of the principles you should use to follow the One Big Rule are:
Short sentence Lively style
Active voice Correct spelling
Plain words Consistent use of abbreviations

The following four rules will help you to write clearly:

Never use a long word when a short one will do.

Exhibit 7. Final draft of letter.



 Page 108
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Avoid the passive voice (All vacations must be approved by the
supervisor) when the active voice will do (The supervisor must approve
all vacations).
Never use a foreign, scientific, or jargon word if you can use an
everyday English equivalent.

See Exhibit 7 for the final draft you would present to your boss.
Ghostwriting
Suppose your boss calls you into his office and says, ''The Men's Hatters
Association of America has asked me to write a short instructional
manual on how to buy a hat. It'll go out to all the hat stores in the
country for customers to read, and it'll have my name on it, so I want it
to make me sound intelligent, if you know what I mean."
At this point, you should stop your boss and make him sit next to you at
your computer as you take down everything he says.
Let him go on about what he considers to be the main points about
buying hats. Any time you don't understand his meaning, stop him and
ask for an explanation. Ask as many questions as you can think of to get
him to elaborate. Ask him which points are more important than others.
When he's talked himself out, and you've recorded it on your computer
screen or taken it down in shorthand, it's time to reorganize it all.
BOSS: A lot of guys who wear hats, if they wear the same hat all
the time, that becomes, like, a kind of trademark. Like you know
that guy used to coach the Cowboys, Landry? He always wore
that velour trilby. And Al Capone, he had that big wide white
fedora. And Sherlock Holmes, and Senator Moynihan with that
tweed thing he always wears.
 YOU: That's called a walker, I think. But what do they call that
hat that Sherlock Holmes wore?
BOSS: A deerstalker. And I'm sure you can think of a lot of other
famous people you could identify by their hats.

 Page 109
YOU: Winston Churchill, Malcolm X, Jean-Paul Sartre
BOSS: Exactly. But here's the thing: Those guys all looked
good in those hats because they fit their overall look. I mean, I
see some guys, they think they're being real clever always
wearing a San Francisco Giants cap no matter what else they're
wearing, or a cowboy hat no matter whether they're wearing
jeans or a tuxedo and like they think that's some kind of really
cool trademark, but it's not, 'cause it's inappropriate. I mean, it's
not always gonna be appropriate to wear the same hat all the
time.
Not to mention that these are the kind of guys, they're so proud
of their hats, that they think they've gotta keep them on all the
time. I want you to mention that, specially, if you're inside a
building, you're supposed to take your hat off. Also, I might be
old-fashioned, but I think you gotta take your hat off, too, if
you're standing in the street talking to a woman. You meet a
lady in the street, you take your hat off, and you keep it off as
long as you're standing talking to her. You can put it back on if
you and her start walking together, but not till then.
Start by putting everything he's said into complete sentences. For
instance:
Many men, if they wear the same hat all the time, turn the hat
into something by which they can be identified. The former
coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Tom Landry, always wore a
velour trilby. Al Capone always wore a big wide white fedora.
Sherlock Holmes always wore a deerstalker. Senator Daniel
Patrick Moynihan always wears an Irish walker. Winston
Churchill always wore a homburg. Malcolm X always wore a
stingy-brim fedora. Jean-Paul Sartre always wore a beret.
 Those men all looked good in those hats because they chose
hats that fit their overall look. Some men think they're being
real clever if they always wear a San Francisco Giants cap no
matter what else they're wearing, or always wear a cowboy hat
whether they're wearing jeans or a tuxedo. They think that's a
strong fashion statement, but it's not, simply because it's
inappropriate to wear a hat without thinking about how it
relates to the rest of your outfit.

 Page 110
Some men are so proud of their hats that they keep them on all
the time. If you're inside a building, you're supposed to take
your hat off. It's also polite to take your hat off if you're
standing in the street talking to a lady. It's appropriate to put it
back on if you and she start walking together, but if you're
standing still, keep it off.
Now, this is still not very good writing, but at least you've put it into
standard English sentences. Having done that, you can cobble the raw
material into stylish, lively prosebriefly, precisely, and clearly,
especially clearly.
If you've chosen your hat well and wear it consistently, it can
become a way of identifying you. (Think of Daniel Patrick
Moynihan's Irish walker; Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker;
Winston Churchill's homburg; John Steed's bowler; Tom
Landry's velour trilby; Al Capone's wide, white fedora;
Malcolm X's stingybrim; Jean-Paul Sartre's beret.)
But don't make the mistake of gluing the hat to your head, so to
speak. The above examples worked because each hat fit the
wearer's overall costume. Men who wear the same hat every
day, regardless of the rest of their attire, just look silly. A hat
that's perfect with a business suit rarely looks right with jeans
and a baseball jacketand vice versa, God forbid!
Another common mistake is to almost never take your hat off,
indoors or out. According to the laws of etiquette, you must
remove your hat when you enter a building, or when stopping
in the street to speak with a lady.
Your boss might look at this and say, "It's perfect." He might say,
"This sentence sounds a little too formal," or, "I prefer the expression
Heaven forfend to God forbid." But his criticisms will probably be
minor, and on the whole, he's likely to say, "You made me sound like
a genius!''
Foreign Words and Phrases
In general, it's best to avoid using foreign words or phrases if you can
find an English equivalent. In some cases, however, you will choose
the foreign termpossibly because no English word expresses exactly
what you want to say; possibly because you feel the foreign term will
have more force.

 Page 111
But beware! Misusing a foreign term in business writing really makes
you look bad! If you have the least doubt as to the spelling or meaning
of a foreign term, look it up. If you can't look it up, don't use it.
Always write foreign words and phrases in italics unless they're so
commonly used in English that they're considered English words. (For
instance, you wouldn't italicize caucus, which is an Iroquoian word
that English-speakers adopted more than 200 years ago.) If the word is
listed in a standard English dictionary, that means it's common enough
to forgo italics.
Each entry on the following list includes the phrase, the type of word
or phrase it is, the language it comes from, pronunciation, and
definition.
(n. = noun; v. = verb; adj. = adjective; adv. = adverb; exc. =
exclamation; exp. = expression; con. = conjunction; prep. =
preposition; Fr. = French; Gr. = Greek; It. = Italian; L. = Latin;
Sp. = Spanish; Y. = Yiddish)
ad hoc (adj., L., ad HOK): for a specific or temporary purpose
ad infinitum (adv., L., ad in-fin-ITE-um): forever; to the point of
infinity
ad nauseam (adv., L., ad NOW-zay-am): to a sickening degree
àpropos (adj., Fr., ah pro-PO): relevant; timely; fitting
bête noire (n., Fr., bet NWAHR): person who brings trouble or bad
luck
bona fide (adj., L., BO-na FEE-day): genuine
carte blanche (n., Fr., cart BLAWNSH): permission to do whatever it
takeslegal or not
cause célèbre (n., Fr., cohz say-LEBRH): sensational controversy or
legal case
c'est la guerre (exp., Fr., say la GEHR): that's war; such things happen
in war; tough beans
c'est la vie (exp., Fr., say la VEE): that's life
chutzpah (n., Y., KHOOTS-pah): gall; nerve
coup d'état (n., Fr., coo day TAH): overthrow of a government, usually
by force
coup de grâce (n., Fr., coo duh GRAHSSnote: Not coo day GRAH):
killing blow
crème de la crème (n., Fr., KREM duh la KREM): best of the best

 Page 112
cum laude/magna cum laude/summa cum laude (adv., L., coom LOW-
day; MAHG-na coom LOW-day; SOOM-ma coom LOW-day): with
honor; with high honor; with highest honor
de facto (adj., L., day FAK-to): in effect, if not by law
déjà vu (n., Fr., DAY zha VOO): the idea that what is happening has
happened before
de jure (adj., L., day YOO ray): by right
de rigeur (adj., Fr., duh ree GURR): required by unwritten law
éminence grise (n., Fr., ay-mee-NAWNSS GREEZ): the power behind
the throne
enfant terrible (n., Fr., awn-FAWN tay-REEBL): person who stirs
things up or behaves unconventionally
en masse (adv., Fr., awn MAHSS): as a large group
ergo (con., L., AIR-go): therefore
esprit de corps (n., Fr., es-PREE duh KOR): team spirit; team pride
eureka (exc., Gr., yoo-REE-ka): I've found it
ex post facto (adj., L., ex post FAK-to): concocted to punish an act
that was legal when committed
fait accompli (n., Fr., FAY ta-com-PLEE): done deal
faux pas (n., Fr., fo PAH): social mistake
hoi polloi (n., Gr., HOY puh-LOY): ordinary people
in loco parentis (adv., L., in LO-co puh-REN-tis): in the role of a
parent
in memoriam (adj., L., in meh-MO-ree-am): in memory of
in situ (adv., L., in SEE-too): in the original state
in toto (adj., L., in TO-to): in its entirety
je ne sais quoi (n., Fr., j'n say KWAH): that "certain something"
joie de vivre (n., Fr., ZHWAH duh VEEV): enjoyment of life
mea culpa (exc. or n., L., MAY-ah KOOL-pah): as an exclamation, "I
am guilty"; as a noun, "confession."
mensch (n., Y., mensch): heroic person; good guy.
modus operandi (n., L., MO-dus o-per-AHN-dee): method of
operation

 Page 113
noblesse oblige (exp., Fr., noBLESS o-BLEEZH): noble (high-ranking)
people must behave nobly
non compos mentis (adj., L., non KOM-pos MEN-tis): insane
nouveau riche (n., Fr., NOO-vo REESH): newly rich and ostentatious
persona non grata (n., L., per-SO-na nohn GRAH-ta): an unacceptable
person
post-mortem (n., L., post MOR-tum): autopsy
prima donna (n., It., PREE-ma DOHN-na): demanding, self-important
person
pro tempore (adj., L., pro TEM-po-ray): temporary
que sera sera (exp., Sp., kay seh-RAH seh-RAH); sometimes che sarà,
sarà (It., kay sah-RAH sah-RAH): what will be, will be
quid pro quo (n., L., kwid pro kwo): tit for tat; something given in
exchange for something
raîson d'être (n., Fr., RAY-zohn DET): reason for existing
savoir-faire (n., Fr., SAH-vwar FAIR): tact; suavity; grace under
pressure
schlemiel (n., Y., shl'-MEEL): worthless, bungling person; loser
schlimazel (n., Y., shl'-MAH-z'l): luckless person
schmendrick (n., Y., SHMEN-drik): wimp
semper fidelis (exp., L., SEM-per fee-DAY-lis): always faithful
status quo (n., L., STAH-tus KWO): the existing order
terra firma (n., L., TEHR-ra FEER-ma): solid ground
tour de force (n., Fr., TOOR duh FORSS): extremely well-done task
tour de force (n., Fr., TOOR duh FORSS): extremely well-done task
vis-à-vis (prep., Fr., VEE zah VEE): toward
EXERCISES
Misused Words and Phrases
Some of these sentences contain misused words and phrases, and some
don't. Find and correct the mistakes.
I had to run a mile further than I'd expected.
1.
2. The Petersons invited me to they're house last night.

 Page 114
I shall be waiting for you next door.
3.
4. A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.
5. Dickens' novels had a profound affect on me.
6. It's I, not you, who's the real power behind the throne.
7. She presently has a thousand less votes than he has.
8. She went on and on about her grandchildren, and I became more and
more disinterested.
9. Were you inferring by that remark that its foolish for us to try to form
a union?
10.He smoked continuously, lighting one off the other, not even stopping
momentarily.

Spelling
Find and correct the misspelled word in each of the following sets of
five words:
aphid, aphorism, appathy, appetite, apprehend
1.
2. charisma, chicanery, chihuaua, chimera, chromatic
3. emanate, emissary, emolient, emolument, emphasis
4. kimona, kiosk, kitchenware, kleptomaniac, knell
5. operative, opthalmology, optimistic, opinionated, oppress
6. socialist, soliloquy, soltitude, somersault, soothsayer
7. sophmore, sophistry, sorority, sorrel, southerly
8. veinous, veneer, venereal, ventral, ventrical

 Page 115

5
Answers to Exercises
Terminology
1.My (possessive pronoun) cat (noun) is (verb) completely (adverb)
I.
black (adjective).
2.Everything (indefinite pronoun) that (relative pronoun) I (personal
pronoun) say (verb) is (verb) a (indefinite article) lie (noun).
3.I (personal pronoun) work (verb) for (preposition) a (indefinite
article) company (noun) called (adjective) Dobrian, Logart &
Frances (proper nounfunctioning here almost as an adverb!).
4.What (interrogative pronoun) are (verb) you (personal pronoun)
talking (verb) about (preposition)?
II.1.My cat (subject) is completely black (predicate).
2.Everything that I say (subject) is a lie (predicate).
3.I (subject) work for a company called Dobrian, Logart & Frances
(predicate).
4.I threw you a curve with "What are you talking about?" It's actually
a compound sentence, with several words that are simply implied,
not written. Including the implied words, the sentence would read,
"What is it that you are talking about?"
In this sentence, What is the subject of the first clause; is it is the
predicate. That is a conjunction that joins the two clauses. You is the
subject of the second clause; are talking about is the predicate.

 Page 116

Punctuation
1.I've had some tough times in the past two years, but that was the
I.
toughest day of my life.
A comma separates the two clauses in the sentence.
2.On the Senate floor, one of the Republican party's major bills is in
trouble. The Democrats on the Appropriations Committee, which
must approve it, seem intent on talking the bill to death.
Put a comma between the two clauses in the first sentence, and on
both sides of the explanatory phrase, "which must approve it." If you
wish to draw a closer relationship between the two sentences, you
may use a colon, instead of a period, after the word "trouble."
3.We're talking about the right to know: making sure people have
access to the information they want in a timely manner and in a form
they can understand.
A colon and a period are all the punctuation you need here. Since the
material that follows the colon is not a complete sentence, do not
capitalize "making."
4.Although it was thought to be broadly accurate, Bede's history was
written almost 300 years after the events it describeswhich is rather
like us writing a history of Elizabethan England based on hearsay.
The dash here sets off the final clause more distinctly than a comma
would have done.
5.Oddly, McCormick never called for two of the most common
shortenings: tho and thru. He just didn't like themwhich, of course, is
all the reason that is necessary when it's your newspaper!
Use a comma after "Oddly" to indicate that the word modifies the
entire sentence. The dash isolates the editorial remark (although a
comma would have been acceptable), and the exclamation point acts
as a sort of written laugh track. (If you'd wanted to deemphasize your
own joke, you could have used a period instead.)
6.Webster's first work, A Grammatical Institute of the English
Languageconsisting of three books: a grammar, a reader, and
 Languageconsisting of three books: a grammar, a reader, and

 Page 117

a spellerappeared between 1783 and 1785, but he didn't capture the

public's attention until the publication in 1788 of The American
Spelling Book.
You could have used parentheses instead of dashes. The colon in the
parenthetical phrase introduces a list. You could, if you wished,
have placed commas around the phrase, "in 1788," but that might
make the sentence even heavier-looking than it is!
7.Outside the New College chapel, Spooner rebuked a student by
saying, "I thought you read the lesson badly today." "But, Sir, I
didn't read the lesson!" protested the student. ''Ah!" said Spooner, "I
thought you didn't!"
This passage has three exclamation points, indicating, respectively,
a strong protest, an interjection, and a punch line. Note that in the
first two cases, the exclamation point takes the place of a comma.
And did you get all the quotation marks in the right places?
II.1.Before the Windsors' honeymoon was half over, the Devil, in the
plausible guise of Charles Bedaux, had devised a sorry piece of
work for the brother whom George VI had unwisely left in idleness.
This is acceptable as it stands.
2.The Duke did not care for Maxim's and the Tour d'Argent: They
were the most celebrated restaurants but also the most expensive.
Since the second clause is rather long and complicated, it's better to
substitute a colon for the semicolon, and capitalize "they."
3.Reporters, temperamentally and traditionally, are skepticaland
perhaps justifiably sowhenever the personal honesty of a public
official is questioned.
The commas serve to clarify the first clause. The dashes set off the
writer's side comment. Parentheses also would have been
acceptable.
4.At 6:45 (still 15 minutes before poll-closing time in the West) Eric
Sevareid of CBS reported, "We are pretty confident now of a
Kennedy victory: All of the computing machines are now saying
 Kennedy victory: All of the computing machines are now saying
Kennedy."
That semicolon that introduced the quote was obviously a typo. Use
a full colon to separate the two clauses in the quote, and capitalize
"All," since that clause can stand as a complete sentence.

 Page 118
If you're watching a black-and-white movie, it's actually better to have
5.
a black-and-white television.
Without hyphens, this sentence is unclear: You might be talking about
watching a movie about black and white people on a television that's
painted black and white.
6."Do you think he's innocent?" the lawyer asked.
Include the question mark within the quote.
7.In the entire history of the case, both before the Committee on Un-
American Activities and in Hiss's two trials for perjury, no one could
be found who could remember George Crosleyexcept Patricia Hiss.
This is acceptable as it stands.

Plurals, Possessives, Abbreviations, Capitalizations

I'll be arriving on Friday, Aug. 18, 1995.
1.
Days of the week shouldn't be abbreviated; August may be, but it
needs a period.
2."Keeping up with the Joneses" is an old expression.
The plural of "Jones" is "Joneses," without an apostrophe.
3.President Bush was once the head of the CIA.
Don't start a sentence with an abbreviation, and do not use periods
with an abbreviation of an organization.
4.Woodrow Wilson was the only President of the United States to have a
Ph.D.
"Ph." abbreviates one word. You need not use the word "degree,"
since, in modern usage, it is implied in abbeviations for doctoral
degrees such as Ph.D., M.D., D.V.M., and D.D. In any case, the word
degree should not have been capitalized.
5.Phenomena such as comets and eclipses happen rarely.
The singular is "phenomenon"; the plural is "phenomena."
6.One of my favorite reference books is the Reader's Encyclopedia.
Titles of books should appear in italics. (You may underline them, if
 Titles of books should appear in italics. (You may underline them, if
you're using a typewriter.)

 Page 119
I was praying with my brethren from the Universal Life Church.
7.
"Brethren" is an acceptable alternative plural form of "brother,"
especially in a figurative sense, but it should not be capitalized unless
it is part of the name of an organization.
8. Mick Jagger is the Rolling Stones' most famous member.
This sentence is acceptable as it stands.
9. Many Americans love comedy shows from overseas, such as Monty
Python's Flying Circus.
"Americans" should be capitalized.
10.I spoke for several hours with Professor Einstein, who explained that
his theory of relativity was just a wild guess.
"Theory of relativity" is not a proper name, and should not be
capitalized.
11.A Muslim may have as many as four wives.
This sentence is acceptable as it stands.

Numbers
Thirty-six thousand, six hundred sixteen
Four hundred six
Twenty-six point six-five, or twenty-six and sixty-five hundredths
Six and seven-eighths
One million, eighty-six thousand, nine hundred twenty-four and one-
half, or one million, eighty-six thousand, nine hundred twenty-four
point five

 Page 120

Proofreading

 Page 121

Fog Index
I.

Press Releases
Here's one way to make the release more useful to the reader. (And
II.
did you notice that the phone number in the body copy was different
from the number at the top of the page?)

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: William Gladstone (212) 779-8826
METS HAVE NEW NAME, NEW OWNER
NEW YORK CITY, March 1, 1996Joseph Dobrian, a freelance writer
based in Manhattan, bought the New York Mets baseball club this
morning for $80 million.
Dobrian said he will change the team name to The Moderates, release all
Met players from their contracts, and hire all new players.
"I'm also going to build a new baseball park, probably near Wall St.,"
Dobrian revealed. "I'm going to move the Mets out of Shea Stadium as
soon as I can.
"Eighty million dollars was a small price to pay. I raised the money in
just a few days by selling some of my poems. The Moderates will win
the pennant this year, and four years out of every five hereafter,
indefinitely."
For more information, contact William Gladstone at (212) 779-8826.

 Page 122

Misused Words and Phrases

1. I had to run a mile farther than I'd expected.

2. The Petersons invited me to their house last night.
3. I shall be waiting for you next door. (No mistakes.)
4. A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly. (No mistakes.)
5. Dickens' novels had a profound effect on me.
6. It's I, not you, who's the real power behind the throne. (This is
acceptable. You wouldn't say "It's I, not you, who am" The verb "to be"
has to correspond to the pronoun "It," not to "I."
7. She currently has a thousand fewer votes than he has.
8. She went on and on about her grandchildren, and I became more and
more uninterested. (You could just as well have said, "less and less
interested.")
9. Were you implying by that remark that it's foolish for us to try to form
a union?
10. He smoked continuously, lighting one off the other, not even
stopping momentarily. (No mistakes.)

Spelling
The standard spellings of the misspelled words are:

1. apathy
2. chihuahua
3. emollient
4. kimono
5. ophthalmology
6. solitude
7. sophomore
8. ventricle


 Page 123

Index
A
a, an, 9
abbreviations, 30-33
capitalizing, 32-33
introducing, 32
irregular, 33
in letters, 54
of months, 30
punctuating, 32
slashes in, 26
of states, 30-31
in street addresses, 32
and symbols, 33
Académie Française, 14-15
accept/except, 85-86
action verbs, 58
active voice, 47, 77
ad hoc, 111
ad infinitum, 111
adjectives, 9
adverbs vs., 79
comma with, 18
ad nauseam, 111
adverbs, 9
adjectives vs., 79
hyphen with, 22
using verbs instead of, 73
adverse/averse, 86
advice/advise, 86
advise/inform, 86
affect/effect, 86-87
affiliations, comma with, 19
agencies, abbreviations for, 31
aggravate/annoy, 87
all right, 102
allusion/illusion, 87
a lot, 102
ambiguous references, 80-81
American English, 15
among/between, 88
amoral/immoral, 87
ampersand, 33
annoy/aggravate, 87
anthropomorphisms, 73
anxious/eager, 87
anymore/any more, 88
apostrophe, 16-17
appendices, in reports, 61
àpropos, 111
articles, 9
as/like, 88
as regards, 97
Associated Press Stylebook, 16
associations, abbreviations for, 31
assure/ensure/insure, 88
audience
for memos, 47, 51
writing to, 6-7
averse/adverse, 86
B
backwards, working, 4-5
banners, in newsletters, 64
basis weight, 67
bête noise, 111
between/among, 88
bibliographies, in reports, 62
bi/semi, 88
blank-page syndrome, 3
bloc/block, 89
bona fide, 111
bond paper, 66, 67
boxes, in newsletters, 65
brackets, 17
breakers, 65
Breton, 15
brevity, 2
Britain, evolution of English in, 15
bullets, 65
bumping heads, 65
C
call-outs, 65
can/may, 89
capital/capitol, 89
capitalization, 27-28
of abbreviations, 32-33
cardinal numbers, 34
care blanche, 111
cause and effect, in memos, 49
cause célèbre, 111
cc:, 33, 54
Celtic languages, 15
censor/censure, 89-90
c'est la guerre, 111
c'est la vie, 111
The Chicago Manual of Style, 16
chumminess, avoiding, 6
Churchill, Sir Winston, 76
chutzpah, 111
clarity, 2
clauses, 11
clichés, 77-78
closes, of letters, 53-54
coated book paper, 66
colon, 17-18
with quotation marks, 25
comma, 18-20
in days of month, 35
 in numbers, 35
with quotation marks, 25

 Page 124
company names, abbreviations in, 31
comparative adjectives, 9
complex sentences, 12
complimentary closes, 54
compliment/complement, 89-90
compound nouns, 8
compound prepositions, 10
compound sentences, 11
compound words, 21
computer files, sending, via e-mail, 69
conclusion
beginning with, 4-5
in memos, 50-51
conjunctions, 10
connotations, 74
connote/denote/imply, 90
consensus, 82
continual/continuous, 90
contractions, 47
"correct English," 14-16
coup de grâce, 111
coup d'état, 111
cover paper, 67
crème de la crème, 111
cross-references, parentheses for, 23
cum laude, 112
D
dangling participles./modifiers, 80
dash(es), 20-21
exclamation point between, 21
dates
comma after, 19
in letters, 51
in memos, 49
days of month, comma in, 35
Dear, in letters, 52-53
decimal point, in numbers, 35
de facto, 112
degrees
with absolute terms, 75
comma with, 19
déjà vu, 112
de jure, 112
demonstrative pronouns, 8
denote/connote/imply, 90
deprecate/depreciate, 90
de rigeur, 112
desktop publishing software, 63
different than, 82
direct address, comma with, 18
direct quotations
brackets with, 17
comma with, 19
discreet/discrete, 90-91
disinterested/uninterested, 91
dollar sign, 33
double quotation marks, 24-25
drop caps, 65
E
"each" symbol, 33
eager/anxious, 87
editing, 39
of letter/memo, 104-108
tips for, 41-42
effect/affect, 86-87
effect and cause, in memos, 49
e.g., 33
eke out, 82
electronic mail, see e-mail
elicit/illicit, 91
ellipses, 21
elude/allude, 87
e-mail, 2, 67-69
emigrate/immigrate, 91
éminence grise, 112
eminent/imminent, 92
emoticons, 68
emphasis, with repetition, 74
emphasize, 83
Enclosure, 54
enfant terrible, 112
English, 2
American vs. British, 15
"correct," 14-16
evolution of, 15
spelling in, 101
written vs. spoken, 6
en masse, 112
enormity, 83
ensure/insure/assure, 88
equally as, 83
equivocal/equivocate, 83
ergo, 112
esprit de corps, 112
et al., 33
etc., 33
et seq., 33
euphemisms, 78
eureka, 112
evolution of language, 14
except/accept, 85-86
exclamation point, 21
dashes with, 21
with quotation marks, 25
expertise, writing and, 2
ex post facto, 112
F
fait accompli, 112
farther/further, 92
faux pas, 112

 Page 125
fewer/less, 94-95
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 101
flaunt/flout, 92
Fog Index, 42-46
foreign terms, 110-113
plurals of, 29
translations of, 24
forewords, in reports, 61
formality, excessive, 6
further/farther, 92
G
ghostwriting, 108-110
glossaries, in reports, 61-62
good/well, 92
grammar-checking software, 40, 41, 66
H
historic/historical, 92-93
hoi polloi, 112
home/hone, 93
hyphen, 21-22
in numbers, 34
I
Iceland, 15,
i.e., 33
illicit/elicit, 91
illusion/allusion, 87
image, writing and, 2
I/me, 93
immigrate/emigrate, 91
imminent/eminent, 92
immoral/amoral, 87
imply/connote/denote, 90
imply/infer, 93
in a [fill in the blank] manner, 74
indefinite pronouns, 8
indexes, in reports, 62
indirect quotes, 24
infer/imply, 93
informality, 6, 7
informal outlines, 4
ingenious/ingenuous, 93-94
initials
in letters, 54
 periods with, 23
in loco parentis, 112
in memoriam, 112
in regard/regards to, 97
inside address, 51-52
in situ, 112
insure/ensure/assure, 88
interjections, 10
comma with, 18
interrogative pronouns, 9
in this way, 74
in toto, 112
introductions, in memos, 50
inverted pyramid style, 62
irregardless, 83
irregular abbreviations, 33
irregular plurals, 29
its/it's, 94
J
Jackson, Andrew, 101
jargon, 78
je ne sais quoi, 112
job descriptions, 55-58
action verbs to use in, 58
definition of, 55
example of, 57
main functions of, 55
tips for writing, 55-56
joie de vivre, 112
jokes, using, 78
K
"knock-out" type, 65
L
lay/lie, 94
learning to write, 3
less/fewer, 94-95
letterhead, 51
letters (correspondence), 51-54
abbreviations in, 54
body of, 53
closing in, 53-54
date in, 51
editing, 104-108
inside address in, 51-52
 salutation in, 52-53
signature in, 53, 54
standard format for, 52
writing angry, 78
letters (of alphabet), plurals of, 29
lie/lay, 94
lightning/lightening, 95
like/as, 88
lists
colon with, 17
commas in, 18
semicolon in, 26
literally, 84
loaded phrases, 74
M
magna cum laude, 112
main body
of letters, 53
of memos, 50
of reports, 59-60
majority, 84
masterful/masterly, 95
may/can, 89
mea culpa, 112

 Page 126
me/I, 93
memos, 47-51
audience of, 47, 51
conclusion of, 50-51
form of, 49
introduction in, 50
length of, 47
main body of, 50
organization of, 48-49
purpose of, 47
stationery for, 49
mensch, 112
metaphors, 73
middle, starting in, 4
military ranks, abbreviations for, 31
military time, 35
misplaced modifiers, 79-80
modifiers
dangling, 80
misplaced, 79-80
modus operandi, 112
momentarily, 84
months, abbreviating, 30
N
nauseated/nauseating/nauseous, 95-96
newsletters, 63-67
boxes in, 65
breakers in, 65
developing "look" for, 66
getting attention of reader in, 64
layout errors in, 65
layout of, 64
level of detail in, 64
paper for, 66-67
purpose of, 64
typeface in, 64-65
noblesse oblige, 113
non compos mentis, 113
notes, in reports, 61
nouns, 8
nouveau riche, 113
numbers, writing, 34-36
O
objective, of reports, 59
obscure references, 78
offset paper, 66, 67
"One Big Rule" of writing, 2, 6, 62
oral/verbal, 96
ordinal numbers, 34
organizations, abbreviations for, 31
outlines, informal, 4
overqualification, 74
P
paper
grades of, 66
weight of, 66-67
paragraphs, 12
quotation marks at ends of, 25
parentheses, 22-23
question mark in, 24
parenthetical phrases
commas with, 18
dashes with, 20-21
parts of speech, 8-12
party, 84-85
passive voice, 76-77
penultimate, 85
period, 23
persecute/prosecute, 96
personal pronouns, 73
persona non grata, 113
phrases, 10-11
plurality, 84
plurals, 29
possessive, 17
pore/pour, 96
possessive plurals, 17
possessives, 29-30
post-mortem, 113
pound sign, 33
pp., 33
precede/proceed, 96
precision, 2
predicate, 11
prefixes, hyphen with, 22
premier/premiere, 96-97
prepositions, 10, 74
 at end of sentence, 76
presently, 85
press releases, 62-63
prima donna, 113
principal/principle, 97
pronouns, 8-9
personal, 73
proofreading, 39-41
marks for, 39
tips for, 41
proper nouns, 8
possessive, 17, 29-30
prosecute/persecute, 96
pro tempore, 113
punctuation:
apostrophe, 16-17
brackets, 17
colon, 17-18
comma, 18-20
dashes, 20-21
ellipses, 21
exclamation points, 21
 hyphens, 21-22
parentheses, 22-23
period, 23

 Page 127
punctuation (continued)
question mark, 23-24
quotation marks, 24-25
semicolon, 26
slash, 26
purpose in writing, 5
Q
que sera sera, 113
question mark, 23-24
dashes with, 21
with quotation marks, 25
quid pro quo, 113
quotation marks, 24-25
quotations
colon with, 17
parentheses with supplementary, 23
R
raîson d'être, 113
readability
Fog Index for measuring, 42-46
tips for improving, 47
reasons for writing well, 1-3
recycled paper, 67
redundancies, avoiding, 75
reflexive pronouns, 9
regarding/as regards/in regard to/in regards
to/with regard to, 97
relative pronouns, 9
repetition, 74
reports, 59-62
covers for, 60
format of, 60-62
objective of, 59
organization of, 59-60
outline for, 59
right/rite, 97
rivers, 65
role/roll, 97-98
Roman numerals, 35-36
round numbers, 34
Russell, Bertrand, 74
S
salutations
 colon in, 17
comma in, 19
in letters, 52-53
sans-serif type, 65
sarcasm, quotation marks to denote, 24
savoir-faire, 113
schlemiel, 113
schlimazel, 113
schools, abbreviations for, 31
Scottish Gaelic, 15
semi/bi, 88
semicolon, 26
with quotation marks, 25
semper fidelis, 113
sentences, 11-12
prepositions at end of, 76
serif type, 64-65
Shakespeare, William, 101
signatures, in letters, 54
similes, 73
simple sentences, 11
slang terms, 25
slash, 26
small words, using, 74
spell-checking software, 40-41, 66
spelling, 101-103
split infinitives, 76
spoken English, written vs., 6
standard English, 14
starting to write, 3-5
states, abbreviations for, 30-31
stationary/stationery, 98
status quo, 113
street addresses, abbreviations in, 31
structural inconsistencies, 81-82
style:
abbreviations, 30-33
capitalization, 27-28
''correct English," 14-16
numbers, 34-36
plurals, 29
possessives, 29-30
punctuation, 16-26
style books, 16, 30
subject, 11, 73
subject-verb disagreements, 81
summa cum laude, 112
summaries, in reports, 61
superlative adjectives, 9
supplementary quotations,
parentheses with, 23
symbols, using, 33
T
table of contents, in reports, 61
technical terms, 74
tense, verb, 9
terra firma, 113
text paper, 66, 67
than/then, 98
that, 47
that/which/who, 98-99
their/there/they're, 99
there is/are, 75
time of day, 35
titles
abbreviations for, 31
 comma with, 19
toe/tow, 99
to/too/two, 99