Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #427:  What makes some words obsolete?

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

Tip #427: What makes some words obsolete?  Some words are like machines.  They wear out sooner than others.

For example, some grandmothers used an “ice box” since there were no refrigerators. Even some definitions are like magazine subscriptions because they can expire like the Ladies' Home Journal.

Here is an example of one:  to decimate.  This word used to mean “a punishment reserved for disobedient Roman Legions.”  Today “decimation” conveys a sense of massive destruction.

Weekly Exercise:

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This week’s quiz:

Correct the following sentences:

  • Small business persons were not eligible to receive the grant.
  • The boss summoned Alice and I to her office.
  • She had an ingenuous solution to the problem.
  • You cannot believe the medias today.
Comment from my readers:

One of my readers commented about the use of “over” in this sentence: 
I am going over to the Smiths'.

My answer: 
The sentence is not grammatically correct.  However, the use of “over” like “going over to visit someone” is used in parts of the country like the Northeast.  I wonder how many other regions of the country use this phrase?

Quote of the week:

“A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared  to take the helm.” 
(Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright)

Answer to this week's exercise:

  1. Small businesses were not eligible to receive the grant.  (The people are not what is small.)
  2. The boss summoned Alice and me to her office. (Use the objective case.)
  3. She had an ingenious solution the problem. (Use the correct word.)
  4. You cannot believe the media today. (Do not put an s at the end of “media.”)

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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10 Easy Guides for Getting to Your Writing Target
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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