Write It Well

You convey leadership through your writing when you master nuances of punctuation. For example, this sentence features a strong, strategic colon:

Though he is routinely armed with an iPhone and at least one iPad, the man who oversees the entire animated film output for both Pixar and Walt Disney Studios prefers doing things old school: warm-embrace greetings followed by face-to-face meetings.

— Peter Newcomb, “A Day with John Lasseter, King of Pixar,” wsj.com

The journalist’s colon is correct: it introduces an explanation of the preceding idea. John Lasseter has an old-school style. In what way? He greets people warmly and he meets face to face.

Readers follow punctuation marks instinctively even if they themselves don’t know how to use them. It can feel like struggling through a traffic jam to try to follow poorly punctuated sentences and paragraphs.

But when you punctuate your sentences correctly, readers can be grateful for your clear directions through a maze of complex ideas. That’s one way high-quality writing can convey the quality of leadership.

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Write It Well’s book Essential Grammar includes two user-friendly chapters on punctuation. It’s a thorough review of the fundamental grammar you need to project credibility, clear thought, and professionalism through all your writing.

Do you have an important document but not enough time to polish it? Just use Write It Well’s editing services. We’ll make sure the prose is correct, clear, concise, and engaging so your readers will follow your ideas and respect your voice.

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Long sentences can be correctly punctuated, but too intricate for busy readers to follow easily. Here’s an example:

Employers who fail to provide timely and accurate performance appraisals risk exposure to age discrimination claims, but more importantly, they deprive themselves of good workers who, with proper guidance and honest feedback, could be productive employees for years to come.

— Laurie McCann, “Do Older Workers Need a Nudge?”

nytimes.com, June 15, 2011

That intricate sentence is correctly punctuated with four commas. One clear sentence with four commas could read, “Employers should provide [A], [B], [C], [D], and [E].”

But the quote isn’t a simple list of items: it’s three complex ideas glued together. Busy readers could absorb the information more quickly in two or more sentences:

Employers who fail to provide timely and accurate performance appraisals risk exposure to age discrimination claims. More importantly, they deprive themselves of good workers who could be productive employees for years to come if they received proper guidance and honest feedback.

A simple sentence break can solve a host of punctuation problems.

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Write It Well’s new book Essential Grammar is a thorough review of the punctuation and grammar knowledge you need to project a credible, professional image through your writing. Our book Professional Writing Skills helps you craft concise, clear sentences.

Our book Writing Performance Reviews helps you write performance objectives, reviews, appraisals, and other documentation that is clear, descriptive, objective, and acceptable in today’s workplace.

Do you have an important document but don’t have enough time to polish it or make it easy for your readers to understand? Just use Write It Well’s editing services. We’ll make sure the prose is correct, clear, concise, and engaging so your document will create an excellent impression.

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People sometimes make punctuation mistakes because they don’t type the way they speak. Here’s an example:

[The view from the rear of the property] displays the canopy of a 150-year-old, live-oak forest.

— “Killingsworth ‘Case Study’ home in Piedmont,” sfgate.com June 10, 2011

That comma is as incorrect as it would be in this parallel sentence: “I saw an old, oak tree.”

Punctuation should often reflect the patterns in how we speak. You wouldn’t pause between the adjectives if you said the words “old oak tree” out loud.

By speaking sentences out loud and trusting your ear, you can usually avoid these kinds of incorrect commas in your own writing.

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Write It Well’s e-learning module Just Commas covers everything business writers need to know to use commas correctly.

Our new book Essential Grammar includes a full chapter on commas. The book is a thorough review of the fundamental grammar you need to project a credible, professional image through your writing.

Do you have an important document but don’t have enough time to polish it? Just use Write It Well’s editing services. We’ll make sure the prose is correct, clear, concise, and engaging so your document will create an excellent impression.

Your writing can look incoherent if you use too many different punctuation marks in a short space. In this example, it looks as if the author threw in parentheses and dashes at random:

[Lonnie magazine] has attracted big-name advertisers (Kravet, Room & Board and Bloomingdale’s all ran ads in the latest issue), as well as competitors. Since Lonny started, in October 2009 — at a time when many traditional shelter magazines, including House & Garden, Metropolitan Home and Blueprint, had gone out of business — three more online shelter magazines have popped up.

— Steven Kurutz, “The Thriving (Online) Shelter Industry,”

June 1, 2011, nytimes.com

We think simple commas and periods would make these sentences much easier for a busy reader to follow:

[Lonnie magazine] has attracted big-name advertisers such as Kravet, Room & Board and Bloomingdale’s, which all ran ads in the latest issue. The venture has also attracted competitors. Many traditional shelter magazines such as House & Garden, Metropolitan Home and Blueprint had gone out of business when Lonny started in October 2009. Three more online shelter magazines have popped up since then.

At Write It Well, we love to see authors correctly use a range of punctuation marks. But we like clear writing even more. Short sentences and simple punctuation are usually the most effective ways to communicate for a busy audience.

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Write It Well’s newly updated book Essential Grammar includes two clear chapters on punctuation. The book is a thorough review of the fundamental grammar you need to project a credible, professional image through your writing. It also includes nuances of punctuation and grammar that help your writing look especially polished.

Do you have an important document but not enough time to polish it? Just use Write It Well’s editing services. We’ll make sure the prose is correct, clear, concise, and engaging so your document will create an excellent impression.

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