Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #406:  The word “God”...

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Tip #406:  The word “God” is capitalized in such compound expressions as God-fearing and Godspeed but not in such terms as godforsaken and god-awful.

Weekly Exercise:

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This week’s quiz:

Which is correct?

  1. The term “democrat” when referring to the principles of democracy (a lifelong democrat or a lifelong Democrat)?
  2. The official language of people who live in the Philippines is (Pilipino or Filipino)?
  3. When you refer to a specific building, is it written (the Roman Catholic Church on Holy Street or the Roman Catholic church on Holy Street)?

Comments on previous tips:

Fox Cole commented about words that get you in trouble:  I'd like to nominate "pique" for that short list. I can't remember the last time I saw the phrase "piqued [one's] interest" spelled correctly. Although I can almost understand

the mistake, people usually write "peaked" interest, which is entirely different in meaning and which, I think, loses all the spark of the original phrase.

I'd also add to a couple of Sandy's contributions:

gnu, new -- knew
right, write -- rite, wright

As for this week's quiz...

Tell whether Madeline Santoro's comment is correct and why: 

Wouldn't it be easier and be more in line with good parallel structure to repeat the preposition in these phrases- "respect for"  "as well as interest in"?  Parallel construction is always recommended and can easily be identified as the right answer to that question, but I have a feeling the question is taken out of context, and I have no idea what Madeline is really asking.  Repeat the preposition in those phrases? I would assume she doesn't mean to write "respect for for" so there's some other influence at work on the idea. Perhaps the question refers to a clause or sentence, as in "I have deep feelings [for] and a lot of respect for that man." If not, I'm thoroughly confused.

Linda Bowman added:  I remember from grade school the difference between dessert/desert.  Dessert has 2 ss's because everyone always wants 2 desserts!

Quote of the week:

One kind word can warm three winter months.”  (Japanese proverb)

Answers to this week's quiz:

  1. The term “democrat” when referring to the principles of democracy is a lifelong democrat
  2. The official language of people who live in the Philippines is Pilipino.
  3. When you refer to a specific building it is written the Roman Catholic church on Holy Street.

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.

 

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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.

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