There’s no excuse for sexist language in business writing The first book on business writing I ever bought was The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing: For writers, editors, and speakers by Casey Miller and Kate Swift (The Women’s Press, 1981). I still have it on my bookshelf, and it’s available on Amazon. (My version has a hyphen in Non-sexist.) They […]
The singular they is now widely accepted The use of the singular ‘they’ to avoid using the generic ‘he’ or alternative usages such as ‘he and she’ or ‘h/she’ is not new and is now widely accepted. (The singular they includes ‘them’ and ‘their’.) ‘The person is entitled to have an alternative address substituted for […]
The terms ‘numbers’ and ‘numerals’ are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference between these words. A number is a concept and a numeral expresses that concept in writing. For example, the number five is a concept and you can express it in different ways. For instance, you could hold up five fingers, say […]
Bullet points are useful for lists, but I have three gripes about the way they are misused. Sometimes prose is better than a list They are often used when a paragraph would be more effective. Take this following example from a hospital information sheet: After surgery: Sit on the side of the bed initially Transfer […]