Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #426:  Writing isn’t an exact science, and we have to make our choices with care.  This sentence was the headline of an article by James Kirkpatrick, (The Writer’s Art, a syndicated article that appears in The Asheville Citizen Times on Tuesdays)

Mr. Kirkpatrick goes on to use the word “dragged” as an example of a word the usual dictionaries give.  However, there is a whole world out there in which this word is used as “drug in.”  Most English teachers would place “drug in” with “ain’t” as “nonstandard.”

For example, discussing his debate with Senator Bob Dole in the 1996 campaign, a former American President recalled that the combatants received thousands of comments and questions that had to be weighed:  “That’s what drug it out.”  Obviously, the use of “drug in” is a regional saying.

Some words are subtler since we depend as much on sound as on meaning, for we read not only with our eyes but also silently with our ears.  For example, there is no meaningful difference between sank and sunk or pled and pleaded or dived and dove.  What word you choose is sometimes based on what sounds right to you

Please answer "Mike Goronsky’s questions:

Hi, Gloria. I am an avid fan of your site. If I may, I'd like to ask a few questions.

1. I am going over to the Smiths'. (I'm assuming this is correct--with the apostrophe--because I'm making reference to the Smiths' house.)

2. Front-End Operational Coordinating Specialist Judith Peachnik resigned early yesterday. (Cap all letters in the title because it precedes the name?)

3. Judith Peachnik, front-end operational specialist, ....  (Good?)

"Acts of kindness every day will insure the world won't sway." (Sam Glaser, based on Sayings of the Elders)

Answer to this week's exercise:

My answer to Mike Goronsky’s questions.  The sentences are all correct.