This is the eBook version of the printed book. This Element is an excerpt from The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing (9780137153152) by Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz. Available in print and digital formats. Improving your grammar where it matters and even when you don’t have time How often have you said: “I can’t stop now to think about grammar; I’ve got to finish this report because the department head is waiting for it!” You’re right: Now is not the time. But here are a few pointers so you’ll be prepared next time.
DON'T LET YOUR WRITING HOLD YOU BACK. When you're fumbling for words and pressed for time, you might be tempted to dismiss good business writing as a luxury. But it's a skill you must cultivate to succeed: You'll lose time, money, and influence if your e-mails, proposals, and other important documents fail to win people over. The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing, by writing expert Bryan A. Garner, gives you the tools you need to express your ideas clearly and persuasively so clients, colleagues, stakeholders, and partners will get behind them. This book will help you: Push past writer's block Grab--and keep--readers' attention Earn credibility with tough audiences Trim the fat from your writing Strike the right tone Brush up on grammar, punctuation, and usage Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
Reliable, authoritative, and designed to ease grammar anxiety! Words are the currency of every business transaction. They persuade, inspire, educate, and clarify. Essential Grammar for Business offers guidance to professionals perplexed by proper comma placement, dangling modifiers, or the difference between who and whom. With a better understanding of the building blocks, readers will be better equipped to focus on the other ingredients of good business writing such as content, clarity, and style. This book is fun, fast-paced, and easy to use.
How many pieces of paper land on your desk each day, or emails in your inbox? Your readers – the people you communicate with at work – are no different. So how can you make your communication stand out from the pile and get the job done? Whether you’re crafting a short and sweet email or bidding for a crucial project, Business Writing For Dummies is the only guide you need. Inside you’ll find: The basic principles of how to write well How to avoid the common pitfalls that immediately turn a reader off Crucial tips for self-editing and revision techniques to heighten your impact Lots of practical advice and examples covering a range of different types of communication, including emails, letters, major business documents such as reports and proposals, promotional materials, web copy and blogs - even tweets The global touch - understand the key differences in written communication around the world, and how to tailor your writing for international audiences
Master verbalist Richard Lederer, America's "Wizard of Idiom" (Denver Post), presents a love letter to the most glorious of human achievements... Welcome to Richard Lederer's beguiling celebration of language -- of our ability to utter, write, and receive words. No purists need stop here. Mr. Lederer is no linguistic sheriff organizing posses to hunt down and string up language offenders. Instead, join him "In Praise of English," and discover why the tongue described in Shakespeare's day as "of small reatch" has become the most widely spoken language in history: English never rejects a word because of race, creed, or national origin. Did you know that jukebox comes from Gullah and canoe from Haitian Creole? Many of our greatest writers have invented words and bequeathed new expressions to our eveyday conversations. Can you imagine making up almost ten percent of our written vocabulary? Scholars now know that William Shakespeare did just that! He also points out the pitfalls and pratfalls of English. If a man mans a station, what does a woman do? In the "The Department of Redundancy Department," "Is English Prejudiced?" and other essays, Richard Lederer urges us not to abandon that which makes us human: the capacity to distinguish, discriminate, compare, and evaluate.
A must-have guide for writing at work, with practical applications for getting your point across quickly, coherently, and efficiently. A winning combination of how-to guide and reference work, The Only Business Writing Book You’ll Ever Need addresses a wide-ranging spectrum of business communication with its straightforward seven-step method. These easy-to-follow steps save you time from start to finish, and helpful checklists will boost your confidence as they keep you on track. You’ll learn to promote yourself and your ideas clearly and concisely—whether putting together a persuasive project proposal or dealing with daily email. Laura Brown’s supportive, no-nonsense approach to business writing is thoughtfully adapted to the increasingly digital corporate landscape. She provides practical tips and comprehensive examples for all the most popular forms of communication, including slide presentations, résumés, cover letters, web copy, and a thorough guide to the art of crafting e-mails and instant messages. Insightful sidebars from experts in various fields demystify the skills of self-editing, creating content, and overcoming writer’s block, and Brown’s reference-ready resources on style, punctuation, and grammar will keep your writing error-free. Nuanced, personable, and of-the-moment, The Only Business Writing Book You’ll Ever Need offers essential tools for success in the rapidly changing world of business communication.
How to write business letters, emails, reports, minutes and for social media. This book enables you to plan, prepare and express your thoughts in a clear and persuasive way. This is the UK spelling version of this book.
These fifty humorous misrules of grammar will open the eyes of writers of all levels to fine style. How Not to Write is a wickedly witty book about grammar, usage, and style. William Safire, the author of the New York Times Magazine column "On Language," homes in on the "essential misrules of grammar," those mistakes that call attention to the major rules and regulations of writing. He tells you the correct way to write and then tells you when it is all right to break the rules. In this lighthearted guide, he chooses the most common and perplexing concerns of writers new and old. Each mini-chapter starts by stating a misrule like "Don't use Capital letters without good REASON." Safire then follows up with solid and entertaining advice on language, grammar, and life. He covers a vast territory from capitalization, split infinitives (it turns out you can split one if done meaningfully), run-on sentences, and semi-colons to contractions, the double negative, dangling participles, and even onomatopoeia. Originally published under the title Fumblerules.
I'm a longtime English teacher, consultant, editor, and professional writer. Over the years many people told me about their secret desire to write for publication. They have an abundant storehouse of ideas and experiences to write about. What holds them back is finding time for an intensive review of English grammar. They're always astonished when I tell them that there's an easier pathway to writing-one that doesn't involve complex grammar theory, workbook exercises, and grammar tests. Here's what your English teacher may not have told you: You've been using language expertly all your life, and you can easily build on that foundation to learn the sentence patterns and writing strategies used by professional writers. The traditional curriculums and teaching materials used in many schools don't always cover the skills needed for 21st-century writing. But you'll find them in my book. "What Your English Teacher Didn't Tell You" offers you a thorough review of punctuation, sentence structure, and usage. Practice Activities and a Pretest allow you to assess what you're learning. A complete Answer Key is included. Everything is presented in plain, everyday language. More important, you'll learn how to use writing to showcase yourself, your knowledge, and your ideas. You can use your new skills in writing classes, workplace tasks, and creative writing-short stories, a novel, a nonfiction book, a memoir. This book was written with YOU in mind. My teaching techniques have helped countless students take their writing skills to exciting new levels. I'm eager to share them with you. Let's get started! Praise for "What Your English Teacher Didn't Tell You": "Practical and accessible" - Marcella Cooper, Temple University, Osaka, Japan "Personable and readable...Jean knows her subject forwards and backwards." - Adair Lara, author of "Hold Me Close, Let Me Go"
The ability to persuade people to agree with you can be crucial to your working life. This book will help you apply the psychology of persuasion to your writing. Persuasion expert Karen Mannering guides you through all aspects of business writing, from adverts to business plans, emails to Twitter Feeds, and letters to reports to produce sharper and more productive copy through the power of persuasion.