An E-Newsletter of Profitable Advice about Writing
To Increase Your Personal and Organizational Success
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| September 2009
Volume II, Issue 9
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Are You and Your Organization Doing Business in Style?
To find out, read the feature article below.
Also in this issue, you'll get to take our famous grammar quiz. See if you know more about grammar than the president of the United States!
And as if that weren't enough, you'll be able to read an interesting e-mail we received from one of our readers.
Enjoy reading about writing!  Michael J. Dowling Professional Writer, Ghostwriter, Editor & Publisher |
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Recently, as my eighteen-year-old son was heading out the
door, I noticed that he was wearing plaid Bermuda shorts and a striped shirt. Did
I suggest that he change? Of course not! At his age, that outfit was right in style.
Style matters, not only in fashion, but also in writing. In
this age of the Internet, the ability to write clearly, concisely, and
consistently is more important than ever. Other people form an opinion of you
and your organization from your writing style.
Have you made an effort to improve your writing style?
And how about your people. If
you're the leader of an organization, have you helped those who report to you improve
their written communication skills? I suggest you do so by picking up a
copy of The Business Style Handbook (BSH) for yourself and others in your organization.
In this excellent book, authors Helen Cunningham and Brenda Greene
give some helpful tips about writing. They also provide guidance that will help you produce more accurate and consistent written communications.
Here are the types of questions a style manual answers:
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Which spelling is correct: website, Website, or Web site? Answer: All of them are correct. But whichever one you pick, stick with it.
- Which spelling is correct: e-mail or email?
Answer: The former is preferable, but the latter is becoming increasingly
acceptable. Make your choice and remain consistent.
- Should you capitalize the title president? Answer: The BSH says to capitalize it only when it precedes a name. (e.g., the president of ABC Company, Mr. Smith; President Smith of ABC Company)
- Which is the correct expression: 5% or 5
percent? Answer: The former is preferable in business communications according to the BSH. On the other
hand, The Chicago Manual of Style (considered by many to be the gold standard
of editing books, but probably more than you need for everyday business purposes) says
just the opposite. So, it's your call. Just be consistent throughout your communications.
To supplement the BSH, I recommend developing your own organizational style manual.
Your unique style manual should specify the important rules and terminology for words and phrases that are frequently used within your organization and industry.
A style manual will help you ensure that your
written communications are correct and consistent. When you and others in your
organization rely on the same style manual, you can be more confident that your sales
proposals, marketing literature, correspondence, and other documents will
represent you well.
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Our Famous Grammar Quiz
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Which of the
following sentences are grammatically incorrect?
(A) "The former Atlanta Falcons quarterback (Michael
Vick) was conditionally reinstated to the NFL on Monday, critical to restoring
a career derailed by his role in dogfighting that resulted in him serving a
20-month sentence."
USA
Today
July 28, 2009, page C1
(B) "Mr. (John) McCain said the vote meant 'there's a
chance of us changing the way we do business in Washington.'"
The New York
Times
July 22, 2009, page B4
(C) "These goals can be achieved without us increasing
troop levels."
President Barack Obama
Fox News interview
July
12, 2009
(D) "We are aware that occasionally individuals or
companies will fraudulently misrepresent themselves as UPS or one of our
customers, and we appreciate you alerting us to this latest incident."
United Parcel Service letter
August 17, 2009
Answer at the bottom of this newsletter.
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| White Papers Worth Reading |
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Our Readers Are Writing!
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Michael Katz, president of Blue Penguin Development (www.bluepenguindevelopment.com), writes:
"I appreciated your article in your August newsletter titled "Sometimes It's Better Not to Write a Book." I know someone who got into one of those
schemes, and he lost a lot of money."
Thanks for writing, Michael, and thanks for creating the "Do-It-Yourself E-Newsletter System." Your program was so helpful to me as I started this newsletter.
As a token of my appreciation, I'm mailing
you a copy of my book Boosting Your Pet's Self-Esteem. Hope you enjoy it! |
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Answer to Grammar Quiz
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All four of the sentences are incorrect. Here's how the incorrect
portion of each should be rewritten:
(A) ... resulted
in his serving ...
(B) ... chance
of our changing ...
(C) ... without
our increasing ...
(D) ... appreciate
your alerting us ...
It will take me a couple of minutes to explain why these sentences
as originally written are incorrect. But it's worth your time, so you don't make the same mistake.
This is a very, very common grammatical
error. In fact, the above four occurrences are just a few of the many I personally
noticed in just the past month or so.
To explain why these sentences are incorrect, let's remember what we learned in high school English about participles and gerunds.
A present participle is a word ending in ing that is formed
from a verb and used as an adjective. Examples: working woman, swimming
coach.
A gerund is a present participle used as a noun. Example:
His favorite pastime is sleeping.
All four of the sentences above (A, B, C, and D) contain gerunds,
not participles. One way to test for a gerund is to see if you can substitute a
noun for it and retain the meaning.
For example, in sentence (A) above, we could
substitute the noun "imprisonment" for the gerund "serving a
20-month sentence." If we do that, the sentence would read, "resulted in him imprisonment."
Obviously, that's not right. We know we should say, "resulted in his imprisonment. Likewise, the original sentence should have read, "... resulted in his serving ..."
Let's look at another example.
In sentence (C) above, suppose we replace the gerund
"increasing troop levels" with the noun "reinforcements." That would have President Obama saying, "...
without us reinforcements," which certainly would provoke a laugh.
Of course, the proper expression is "... without our
reinforcements." And because a gerund functions as a noun, President Obama should have said, "... without our increasing troop
levels."
Here's the rule:
Gerunds should be preceded by possessive
pronouns (his serving, my going, your having, etc.), not objective pronouns (him serving,
us going, me having, etc.).
If
you follow this rule, you'll avoid making a very common grammatical error, one that is committed even by the current president
and a former candidate for president of the United States.
Now, aren't you glad you read this newsletter! |
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Michael J Dowling ~ Writer ~ Editor ~ Ghostwriter ~ Publisher
133 Worthing Road, St. Simons Island, GA 31522
Phone: 912.230.5051 Fax: 912.634.5777
E-mail: MJD@MichaelJDowling.com Website: www.MichaelJDowling.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljdowling
Clear, concise, creative, and convincing writing and editing to enable individuals and organizations
to accomplish their goals and increase their visibility, credibility, and profitability.
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