Write subject lines that draw attention
How can you guarantee that your messages never again drown in a sea of e-mail in someone’s electronic inbox? By following these 4 tips to improve your crafting of the all-important subject line…
Category: Communication
Grammar Repair Shop: Is it ‘staff is’ or ‘staff are’?
Problem: Whether to use singular or plural verbs and pronouns with collective nouns that represent a group, such as “board,” “jury” and “staff.”
Update your style for citing sources
The basic information required for noting sources hasn’t changed since you wrote a high school term paper, but the wealth of information available in electronic formats continues to add new twists.
Grammar Repair Shop: Can you decipher Latin abbreviations?
Problem: Writers who never studied Latin often mix up the abbreviations i.e. and e.g.
Grammar Repair Shop: Dangling modifiers
Problem: A case of “dangling modifier”: when the subject of your sentence doesn’t agree with the description that precedes it.
Grammar Repair Shop: When to choose ‘a’ vs. ‘an’
Problem: “I know to use the article ‘an’ before a vowel,” writes Penny Perkins, Dayton, Ohio. “Do you use ‘an’ before a silent ‘h,’ as in ‘an honor student?'”
Grammar Repair Shop: Will they understand every word?
Problem: Moni Jackson, Toms River, N.J., takes minutes during a board of directors meeting. “At a recent session, the vice president stated that policies should be reviewed biannually,” Jackson told us. “I found out later that she actually meant once every two years. I believe the word should be ‘biennially.'”
Cubicle etiquette: Don’t be a prairie dog
If you’ve noticed a lack of “cubicle etiquette” around the office lately, distribute the following “good neighbor” checklist to your co-workers. Example: Don’t be an office prairie dog. Instead of popping your head over the top of a partition, walk around it to see your neighbor.
Grammar Repair Shop: Avoid gender bias with clever writing
Avoid gender bias with clever writing
Make your instructions more memorable
Make your instructions more memorable by boiling down your main point to its essence and phrasing it so people can easily recall and repeat it.