Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips

Tip #480: Linking Verbs:

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will help you improve your business writing.

Tip #480: Linking Verbs: A verb that functions primarily to link the subject to a noun or modifier is called a linking verb. The most common linking verb is a form of the verb "be."

For example: Each department "is" important to the organization's overall performance.

However, other verbs may also function as linking verbs, including "become, remain, and seem." For example: He became an investment banker.

Weekly Exercise:

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This week’s quiz:

Rewrite this sentence:

Dear Mr. Smith:

It has come to our attention that you have failed to remit your April payment, which became overdue on April 15.

Quote of the week:

"Character is simply habit long continued." (Plutarch, Roman biographer)

Comments:

Becky Young asked: When processing a formal agreement is it acceptable to underline and bold say a title of a project or owner name, etc. ("Private Project No." "Project Owner")?

My answer: Good question. In legal documents, many words that ordinarily would be written in small letters are often written with initial capitals or all capitals and are bolded.

on what Bill Bronner commented about: I have to disagree with you on the answer you provided for exercise #1 of tip #380.

You state that: It came out (differently) than we expected.

is correct, not:  It came out (different) than we expected.

The first problem is the use of "than" when "from" is correct. "Than" should be used only for comparisons of degree ("smarter than," "taller than," etc.), not for differences of kind. Secondly, both of the following are correct, although the meanings are different:

It came out differently from how we expected.

It came out different from what we expected.

The first of these applies if the manner of coming out is different (e.g., the cake batter poured very slowly from the bowl); the second applies if the end result is different (e.g., the cake turned out too dry).

To see the answers to this week's quiz, sign up for the FREE Bull's Eye Business Writing Tips weekly email.

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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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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