Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #466:  Complement vs. Compliment:

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

Tip #466: Complement vs. compliment:

A complement is anything that completes a whole, and in a sentence the complement can be found as a word, phrase, or clause.

For example: The two programs complement one another perfectly. (verb)

A compliment means praise. It too is used as either a noun or a verb.

For example: The manager's compliment boosted the staff morale. (noun)

Weekly Exercise:

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This week’s quiz:

Which sentences are clearer?
  1. a) The assets we had, had surprised us.
    b) We were surprised at the assets we had.
  2. a) He is a conscientious, honest, reliable, worker.
    b) He is a conscientious, honest, reliable worker.

Quote of the week:

"If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it." (Lucy Larcom)

Answers:

Both are b:

We were surprised at the assets we had.

He is a conscientious, honest, reliable worker.

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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