Problem prepositions can be tricky Let’s continue our series on confusing words: problem prepositions. I wrote recently about troublesome time expressions, such as a.m. vs. p.m. vs. m. and bimonthly versus semimonthly. Even native speakers of English have trouble with these expressions. When writing emails, reports or letters, you need to be crystal clear.
Here is another installment in our series on “Confusing Words.” Understanding confusing words – an important language skill – is always a work in progress, even in your first language. I remember back to my early school days when I would keep a vocabulary notebook of difficult or confusing words. It has served me well
Digital Audiences Like Short Text Holy Short Attention Span, Batman! You need to keep your reader’s attention. That’s probably the most important aspect to this series on writing for a digital audience. Reading a webpage is not like reading a book. There are probably thousands of other websites that cover the same topic that you’re
Writing with coherence makes you a better writer In my book Write Now: Business Writing That Gets Results (p. 99), I talk about three ways to achieve good writing: you need “paragraph unity, development, and coherence.” Paragraph unity and development are easy to understand. But the notion of coherence is a little more difficult to
“I lost track of time” is a much more useful phrase that “i was chronologically discombobulated”, and while they’re both saying the same thing, you’ll lose a lot more readers by using the latter phrase. Keep your language to the point, easy to understand and familiar and you’ll keep your readers.
Avoid Sexist Language in Business Writing In today’s modern business climate it is essential to avoid discriminatory or sexist language. In our book Write Now: Business Writing That Gets Results, one tip Craig and I give for being professional and projecting the right tone in your business writing is avoiding sexist language (p. 84). For
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