By Mary Morel The two main reference systems used in business writing are the author-date system and the documentary-note system. The Vancouver system, which is similar to the documentary-note system, is used in scientific writing. Many organisations develop their own referencing style based on either the author-date or documentary-note system. Referencing within text The author-date […]
By Mary Morel | February 2015, updated February 2017 Do you like exclamation marks? Did you know that the exclamation mark didn’t become a standard feature on keyboards until the 1960s? Traditional uses of the exclamation mark For years its usage was fairly standard and we used exclamation marks for: Urgent commands (Run!) Expressing emotions (We […]
Mary Morel | April 2014 Short sentences are easier to read than long, complex sentences. Readability tests prove this. As is usually the case with English, there are exceptions to this rule, and long sentences can work well. As Joseph M. Williams says in Style: Toward Clarity and Grace: ‘Every competent writer has to know […]