"Our walking campus tour does not include a residence hall, however the Department of University Housing is proud to offer a special tour of one of our newest residential complex, Eagle Village."

"... a residence hall, but the ..."

"... a residence hall. However, the ..."

"... a residence hall; however, the..."

1. Edit and proofread thoroughly. After looking over your writing, ask someone else - a co-worker, friend, spouse - to edit your drafts and proof your final copy.

2. Learn to write clearly, concisely, and forcefully. For starters, I recommend studying The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and The Elements of Business Writing by Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly. Both are short and highly readable.

3. Beware of troublesome words, such as affect and effect, compliment and complement, less and fewer, principal and principle, its and it's. Bill Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right is an excellent resource.  

4. Hire a professional writer/editor for your larger, more important writing projects. A proficient professional will increase the impact of your communications and save you valuable time.

(For assistance with your hiring decision, I invite you to download and read my free white paper, "5 Qualities You Should Look For When Hiring a Professional Writer (So You Don't Make a Costly Mistake!)."

5. Keep a style reference book on your desk. For my professional writing, I use The Chicago Manual of Style.
But for everyday business use, I recommend The Business Style Handbook by Helen Cunningham and Brenda Greene.

6. Give a copy of The Business Style Handbook or some other style manual to every manager in your department, division, or company. That will help ensure that communications throughout your organization are correct and uniform. For example, the terms Website, Web site, and website are all acceptable, but it's important to be consistent. 

7. Don't make spelling misteaks. Use a dictionery and the spell-check feature on your computer.

8. Don't take #7 above too seriously. 

 

 

As you conclude an important meeting with a client, he says to you, "Your presentation was very perspicacious."

Do you apologize, thank him, or punch him in the nose?

(The answer is at the end of this newsletter.)

I'm not talking about his politics. I'm referring to his grammar.
 
It's kind of humorous, actually. Rush advertises Verbal Advantage, a program designed to improve one's English- language abilities. But when a listener calls in and asks Rush how he's doing, he answers, "Good!"
 
That's poor grammar because the word good is an adjective. It needs to modify a noun. For example, it would be correct for Rush to say, "I'm doing a good job," but that's not what he means.

Rush means to say, "I'm doing well." Well is an adverb that properly modifies the compound verb am doing.
 
Let's take this one step further. What if a listener asks Rush, "How are you feeling?

Rush can properly answer, "I'm feeling good (or bad)." That's because feel - like the words smell, hear, taste, appear, seem, and look - is a "linking verb." It links a subject with a noun, pronoun, or adjective in the predicate. In our example,the linking verb "feel" would link the subject "I" with the adjective "good" (or "bad").

One more wrinkle: It's also perfectly acceptable for Rush to say, "I feel well." Why? Because in English the word well is an adjective when it describes a state of health. 
 
Bottom line: It's OK to say either "good" or "well" if someone asks you how you're feeling, but it's always wrong to answer "good" when someone asks you how you're doing. 
 
How are we doing so far?
 
I hope you answered, "Well!" 

 

 

Beverly R., St. Louis, MO