Write It Well

While Burberry joined many designers in live-streaming its show online, it was the first brand to also do it in 3-D. Crowds packed the London show at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, but viewers in five cities around the world were also able to sit in the front row: the show was live-streamed in 3-D to Tokyo, New York, Paris, Dubai, and Los Angeles, where viewers donned special Burberry 3-D glasses.

— Isabel Wilkinson, “The Best of London Fashion Week,”

“Burberry Prorsum” page, The Daily Beast, February 24, 2010

Sometimes, perfect punctuation isn’t enough to make a sentence perfectly clear. Rewriting is the best answer.

Take this last sentence. Viewers in all five cities probably got the 3-D glasses, but the excellent punctuation still leaves you guessing whether the glasses were a perk of being in L.A.

We’d suggest this revision for clarity:

Crowds packed the London show at the Chelsea College of Art and Design. The show was live-streamed in 3-D to Tokyo, New York, Paris, Dubai, and Los Angeles, enabling all these viewers around the world to don special Burberry 3-D glasses and sit in the front row.

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For more guidelines on how to use commas correctly and confidently and write crystal-clear sentences, see our updated book Professional Writing Skills: A Write It Well Guide, which will ship on March 5th!

Many pairs of English words sound alike, although the two words have different spellings and very different meanings. In these cases it can be hard to choose the right word, since a word can have the wrong meaning for your sentence but still be spelled correctly. Misused words can distract your readers and diminish your credibility.

Whenever you’re in doubt about a spelling, use one of these methods to select the right word:

• Rewrite the sentence, using a word that’s easier to spell and recognize
• Memorize the differences between similar-sounding words

Memorizing spelling differences requires some dedication on your part. For a simpler approach, try stepping back and rewriting the sentence below with a common word that’s easier to spell.

Nick met with his supervisor for (advice, or advise?) about handling troublesome customers.

The right word is advice: this noun is spelled with a c, while the verb advise is spelled with an s. But if you forgot the spellings and didn’t have a dictionary, you could also use an alternate word:suggestions.

Nick met with his supervisor for suggestions about handling troublesome customers.

You can test your spelling knowledge by selecting the correct word in the word pairs in the following sentences, and also step back and try to think of an alternate, easily spelled word.

1. The delay will not (affect or effect?) the outcome.
2. The attorney (cited, sighted, or sited?) similar cases.
3. What is your (principal or principle?) reason for this decision?
4. Her (principals or principles?) prevented her from accepting the illegal funds.

Here are the answers, with alternate words you might also choose if you’re not certain of the correct spelling:

1.  The delay will not affect the outcome.
or The delay will not change the outcome.

2.  The attorney cited similar cases.
or The attorney referred to similar cases.
To remember: to cite is from the noun citation.

3.  What is your principal reason for this decision?
or What is your primary reason for this decision?

4.  Her principles prevented her from accepting the illegal funds.
or Her ethics prevented her from accepting the illegal funds.
To remember: principles are related to ethics. Principle ends with e, and ethics begins with e.

Check out our book Professional Writing Skills: A Write It Well Guide for more advice on spelling, word choice, and many other tips for maintaining a consistent image of yourself as a careful, knowledgeable writer. The new edition of the book and its corresponding facilitator kit will ship in February 2010.

I get a lot of requests like this: “My co-worker Dan always says ___, and I know it’s wrong. Can you tell me why I’m right so I can correct him?”

I always hesitate, picturing some hapless drone about to get slapped with the Fear of Grammar. Most likely, the correction will make Dan feel personally insulted and insecure about his writing. When Dan next sits down to compose an e-mail, he’ll over-correct. His writing style will be formal and convoluted. In the end, Dan will be worse at communicating than before he was stricken with the Fear of Grammar.

It doesn’t have to be so bleak. There are tactful and affirming ways to address a co-worker’s mistakes.

• First, do your research. Check contemporary usage manuals and talk to your favorite grammar expert. You might find that you were carrying around an outdated pet peeve, or that the question is highly controversial in academic and editorial circles. Don’t deliver a correction that’s the least bit controversial.
• Second, think about the seriousness of the problem. Does Dan’s writing affect his ability to do his job or form good relationships? Will Dan take it as an insult, or will he appreciate the constructive criticism? Is his professional image at stake? Will Dan and others think you’re overstepping your bounds? Unless it’s your job to make sure everyone writes clearly and professionally, your insight might do more damage than good.
• If, after weighing all the issues, you still think the problem is important enough to address, approach it carefully. Don’t make a big deal out of it. Find a good example of the error, and say, “Dan, I think your idea would be more clear if you said….” Take yourself lightly, and use humor if you’re prone to funniness. No good writing will come of pompous self-righteousness.

A Phillies fan asked, “Why can’t us?” on a radio show last Thursday. The Phillies haven’t been to the World Series since 1993, so the wistful, ungrammatical plea was the perfect rallying catchphrase for the team’s fans. Sometimes, “bad” grammar is more effective than “good” grammar. It sounds like blue-collar grit and visits to grandma, which is just fine when we’re talking about good old-fashioned fun like baseball.

We run into problems when we take informal grammar out of context. When people falsely put on blue-collar airs or unnaturally adopt “bad” grammar, they risk sounding incompetent or patronizing.

When I worked for a newspaper, the staff met each week to discuss all the mistakes that slipped past our editors’ notice. Alert and well-rested, we were always amazed at how many glaring errors reared their ugly heads in the light of day. Just the night before, our words had looked so perfect. The staff at The New York Times has a similar meeting, and some of their conversations end up in the column After Deadline. Last week, they discussed the errors spell-check can’t find, like using “forego” (to go before) instead of “forgo” (to give up). 

Accept or except? Altogether or altogether? Just for fun, you can test yourself on frequently confused words at the Gaylord College of Journalism.

When Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, called the latest iPod Touch the “funnest iPod ever,” some people got angry. “Fun is just a noun, not an adjective,” they said, “even if you’re Steve Jobs.” Grammar Girl jumped in and argued that “fun” is turning into an adjective, and “funnest” will soon be acceptable. Then the linguists picked apart the word’s history — but not before T-Mobile and Google started making fun of Apple. They called their new Android G1 phone “connecteder” and “funnerer”.

Can Jobs get away with calling it the “funnest” iPod? The answer to that question lies not in a musty grammar-book, but in the ears of his audience. My guess is that young techies will think, “Funnest! An odd word to see in print! But this iPod is so fun you forget about rules” — and Jobs will have won his point. 

Can YOU get away with using “funnest”? Again, consider your audience. You’re at risk for sounding lazy, flip, or too informal if you use it when writing for your boss, customers, or professionals in other companies. 

As for the “funnerer” phone? I laughed.

We hope that you aren’t one of those unfortunate people who get out of bed to check their e-mail. Believe me, people do it. We were hired by a global energy company earlier this year because their sales staff was so busy reading and responding to e-mail, they had no time to be with customers. They were also losing sleep! We learned what happens when people receive “too much e-mail.”

First of all, what does “too much e-mail” mean, specifically?

We interviewed sales managers around the world and had the IT department run some numbers. We found, universally, that anyone who received more than 65 e-mail messages each day said that they received “too much e-mail.”

What happens if you receive “too much e-mail?” If you receive “too much e-mail,” you start to miss the important messages. If your organization sell a product or service, sales might suffer. And, if you are conscientious and hard-working, you probably try to answer them all and then check your e-mail in the middle of the night.

So, what can be done about “too much e-mail?”

1. Have the CEO, department head, or manager tell everyone about the negative impact of sending too much e-mail and its affect on sales or profitability or whatever is important to your group.
2. Have your corporation, organization, department, or team develop a set of e-mail guidelines.
3. Ask people to use better judgement when they decide to send each e-mail they send.
4. Ask people to reduce the number of e-mails they send by ten each day.

Keep in mind that it’s not just the quantity of e-mail that is important, it’s also the quality of e-mail. More on that later…

If you keep an eye on the evolving language, you might want to check out the handy guide to current jargon at http://www.tendocom.com/view/jargon-watch.php. Doing that the other day, we noticed the word “grok.” Those of us who spent our formative years immersed in science fiction know this word — it was coined by author Robert Heinlein in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land and entered common usage for a time during the somewhat hallucinogenic sixties and seventies.

Tendo defines “grok” as Internet slang meaning “to understand something to an almost Zen-like state,” usually used by a subculture, such as techies. The folks at Tendo love the word, because it “…acts as a line in the sand: You get it or you don’t. It’s useful for separating out the nerd elite from the normal people.”

We like the word, too. It’s got a great sound (say it aloud a few times and you’ll see what we mean). But like any made-up word, if you don’t know what it means, you’ll just shake your head: Is it a bird? A plane? A noun? A verb? Like any jargon, its function as a business communication tool is limited to those people who “grok” it.

Happy New Year from the Write It Well team!