Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #408:  Try getting rid of the word “very”.

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

Tip #408: To make your writing more interesting try getting rid of the word “very” and convert the adjective it modifies to a stronger adjective. 

For example:

Eliminate: very small Convert to:  tiny, puny, compact
Eliminate:  very hot Convert to:  torrid, scorching, sultry

ALSO, PLEASE NOTE:  

Dan and I will be out of the USA for the next two Fridays.  We will resume our tips on June 2.

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:

True or False:  write True or False after each statement:

  1. This is a grammatically correct sentence:  A preposition is a good word to end a sentence with. (T or F)
  2. Is this sentence the word “currently” is unnecessary:  They currently work for XYZ, Inc.  (T or F)
  3. The singular and plural of “phenomena” is “phenomenon.” (T or F)
  4. Avoid “peruse” when you mean simply “to read.” (T or F)

Paul Oyler commented:  I really appreciate all of your tips; abbreviations seem to trip me quite frequently.  Have you ever published a tip regarding the correct display usage of such abbreviations as PS (or is it p.s.),  ie (i.e.), re (re:), etc. (etc...)?  These are the types of abbreviations that always look 'wrong', regardless of how I write them. 

My comment:  I will address this in tip #409.

Fox Cole sent in a writing error:  “Suggestions pop up in the most interesting places. In Michael Quinon's World Wide Words, a reader contributed to the "Sic!" section (which chronicles the usually humorous errors found in everyday publications or signs):  "I lament the lack of proofreading nowadays," e-mailed Annmaree Dwyer from Australia, "and cringed when I chanced upon an error as obvious as this from the Lincraft Essentials Catalogue 2006: 'Make this neckless and earing set with Ribtex Beads.'"  I laughed out loud, and immediately thought to nominate "neckless, necklace" for your list.”

Fox Cole also did some investigating of the words “homonym,” “homograph,” and “homophone,”  Here’s what she found out:  homograph and homonym appear to be very closely related, and both may be classed as homophones. Homograph is clearly much closer to my interpretation of a homonym, and a homonym appears to bridge the gap between homophone and homograph. The main difference between a homograph and a homonym, then, appears to be in word derivations... homographs are spelled the same but have different roots, and homonyms are the same word (same spelling and derivation) with different meanings, as well as words having the same sound but different meanings. Homophones are words that sound the same, but differ in origin and/or meaning.

Quote of the week:

“Politeness is the art of choosing among one’s real thoughts.”  (Adlai Stevenson, American politician)

Answers to this week's quiz:

  1. This is a grammatically correct sentence:  A preposition is a good word to end a sentence with. (T)
  2. Is this sentence the word “currently” is unnecessary:  They currently work for XYZ, Inc.  (T)
  3. The singular and plural of “phenomena” is “phenomenon.” (F) “Phenomenon” is singular.
  4. Avoid “peruse” when you mean simply “to read.” (T).  Use “peruse” when you want people to examine or consider with attention to detail.

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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By Gloria Pincu, M.A. , President of Basic Learning Systems, Inc.
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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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