Business writing tips In January 2019, Harvard linguist Steven Pinker wrote 13 tweets on writing. I decided to do the same for business writing. Why write? What do you want to achieve and is writing the best way? Would a phone call or meeting be better? Think of your audience. Imagine writing as a conversation. […]
When to use words or numerals for numbers In business writing, a generally accepted rule is to spell out numbers from one to nine and use numerals for 10 and above. Some organisations change at 11 rather than 10. Numerals are usually used in scientific and technical writing, and increasingly I am seeing some organisations […]
Avoid comma errors Comma splices and run-on sentences are common problems in business writing. So what are they? They are both comma errors. Comma splice A comma splice occurs when you use a comma to join two independent clauses (also known as main clauses). An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone. […]
Seven tips to kick-start your writing ‘Simple English is no one’s mother tongue. It has to be worked for.’ Jacques Barzun, French-American historian From time to time, we need to stand back and re-assess our writing skills to make sure our writing is clear, concise and engaging. 1. Just write It’s a truism that the more […]
Use while, which, however, this, it is, there is with caution Problems arise when writers overuse or misuse while, which, however, this, it is and there is. These words per se are not a problem – it’s just how they are used or overused. If you’re a person who overuses any of these words, I suggest you […]
Age terms and hyphens Question: How do you use hyphens with ages, for example, two year old child? Answer: Compound adjectives (two or more words that both modify the following noun) are hyphenated in age terms. a two-year-old child two-year-old (compound adjective) child (noun) However, if the age term is not modifying a noun, you don’t need […]
The modern trend is for more minimal capitalisation One of my pet hates is the overuse and inconsistent use of initial capitals. I think many people were taught that all important words deserved to be capitalised and old habits die hard. The modern trend is for more minimal capitalisation. There are some specific rules, but […]
No universal style for writing dates The style you use varies depending on where you live In Australian, New Zealand and British business writing, the order of dates is day of the week (optional), day, month, year (dd/mm/yyyy). There is no need for any punctuation, but some writers put a comma after the day of […]
What letters should you capitalise in titles and headings? Capitalisation means writing the first letter of a word in capital letters (upper case) and the remainder in lower case. Title case and sentence case In title case, the first words, proper nouns (name of people and places) and ‘important’ words are capitalised. Words that are […]
Some hyperlink conventions have changed Reader’s question: Are there any conventions for writing web addresses, i.e. should you try and get the whole address on one line and should you use http or www or both? My answer: I have updated my original response to this question because some styles have changed. How you write web addresses […]