Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #410:  Literally vs. figuratively: 

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Tip #410:  Literally vs. figuratively:  Can you “literally” float on Cloud 9?  Not unless you’ve mastered levitation.  Many writers and speakers misuse “literally”, which means “actually” or “true to the exact meaning of the words.”  In the example used, the writer meant to use “figuratively”, which means “in an analogous or metaphorical sense.”

Weekly Exercise:

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This week’s quiz:

Here is a great question from a reader.  Please send in your answers.

“My coworker and I disagree about what's correct for the following example: "Due to the upcoming holiday, time cards for pay-period 5/14/06 –5/27/06 are due tomorrow...."  Aside from the hyphen error and her not using a proper ellipsis, I believe the sentence should begin with "because of" or "as a result of" rather than "due to." I spent a semester working in a college grammar lab and was taught to use "as a result of" and "because of" interchangeably and "caused by" and "due to" interchangeably."  Caused by the upcoming holiday" does not make sense, so logic tells me "due to" is incorrect. She pulled out her Gregg Reference Manual and said her explanation trumps mine.  I came across the "tip 106" entry, which refers to the Gregg Reference Manual, but I don't feel like that effectively solves the debate we're having. Who's right? Tip #106:  When do you use "due to" or "because of"? “

In what examples is it better to use "due to" than "because of"?  We usually use the latter more than the former, but I read an article in which it was suggested that "due to" equals "attributable to." Well, isn't "because of" synonymous with "attributable to" as well?  

Perplexed in  Massachusetts  Rick"

Quote of the week:

Proverb:  
You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.

Answers to this week's quiz:

My answer:  I agree with you that this sentence should use “because of” since this phrase modifies the verb phrase “are due tomorrow.”  You could change the sentence around and say, ”Time cards for pay period……are due tomorrow because of the upcoming holiday.”

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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