Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #402:  Starting with a conjunction:

These FREE weekly business writing tips
will help you improve your business writing.

Tip #402:  Starting with a conjunction:  Many of us were taught not to start a sentence with a conjunction such as “and” or “but.”  But what was common two hundred years ago is again in vogue (used in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations).

As a single sentence the following sentences would not have made as great an impact.

For example:

The CEO liked the idea of a twelve-hour workday.  But the employees did not like this idea.  And many of them decided to write a petition to the CEO against his radical idea.

Weekly Exercise:

We receive over 200 emails per day.  We encourage you to answer our weekly tips, but please, if you are answering this weekly tip exercise,  identify the tip number in the subject line of your email.

This week’s quiz:

See how many words you can match to their meanings:

Alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, epic

  1. a long poem that tells the story of an heroic person

  2. the repetition of initial consonant sounds

  3. a figure of speech giving human traits to ideas or inanimate objects

  4. the use of words to imitate sounds

Comment on Tip #400:

Yossi David commented about Tip 400’s exercise:

As an alternate answer for quiz question #2, consider moving the second comma one word back:

You have a great interest, as well as a deep respect, for fine antiques.

I seem to remember reading that in cases of multiple objects for a single prepositional phrase, the preposition should agree with the nearest object. If the sentence were to be rearranged, the preposition would change too.

You have a deep respect, as well as great interest, in fine antiques.

Do you agree?

My comment:  I was trying to make the point that the prepositions “in” and “for” are sometimes essential to the clarity of sentences.  Your alternate arrangement is another possibility if you do not use any prepositions.

Quote of the week:

Words are often seen hunting for an idea, but ideas are never seen hunting for words.”  
(Josh Billings, author)

Answers to this week's quiz:

  1. Alliteration:  the repetition of initial consonant sounds

  2. Onomatopoeia:  the use of words to imitate sounds

  3. Personification:  a figure of speech giving human traits to ideas or inanimate objects

  4. Epic:  a long poem that tells the story an heroic person

To send the above exercise answers to Gloria for her comments and review,  copy the questions,  paste  them into an email, answer them,  and send to Marsha@basic-learning.com.

 

See this week's tip

You can always see the FREE Weekly Business Writing Tip.
But you must be on my mailing list to receive the answers! 

Please share these FREE tips with your friends.

For those who are first-timers, sign up by sending me an email.
 
Google Custom Search

These business writing tips brought to you by:
Bull's Eye Business Writing Bull's Eye Business Writing logo
10 Easy Guides for Getting to Your Writing Target
By Gloria Pincu, M.A. , President of Basic Learning Systems, Inc.
return to first page
Please feel free to share these tips with a friend
To find out more about us:

Order our books, CD-ROM and online courses today through our secure online store.

 
Here are some books on business writing that I recommend.

Bull's Eye Business Writing is also available from Amazon.com.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, author, Lynne Truss The Everything Resume Book by Steven Graber
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction , by William Knowlton Zinsser  The Gregg Reference Manual, by William A. Sabin 
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, White, E. B. White  How to Take the Fog Out of Business Writing, by Robert Gunning, Richard A. Kallan (Contributor) 

More books on business writing and other business subjects  (available from Amazon.com). 

Contact Gloria Pincu at Basic Learning Systems, Inc.

Bull's Eye Business Writing banner