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.'”
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.
Avoid gender bias with clever writing
Close isn’t good enough when it comes to business communication. The person reading your correspondence or memo might understand your meaning if you use almost-correct words, but you’ll lose respect from those who know the difference. Test your knowledge of these commonly confused words by selecting the right one for each sentence: 1. Our manufacturing […]
Problem: Several readers have asked recently about whether to capitalize particular words, ranging from job titles to seasons.
Problem: Therese Sliwa, Waltham, Mass., wrote about our response in the July “Our Readers Write” column to someone who complained about people writing “could of” for “could’ve” and “should of” for “should’ve.”
Even a “quiet” workplace often produces noise at 40 decibels, and office machinery can reach 80 decibels. Minimize distractions by strategically placing the noisemakers (and people) when you arrange work spaces. Here’s how…
Problem: Reader Judy Woodliff asked us whether “elders retreat” should carry an apostrophe after the “s” in “elders” to make it possessive.
Problem: Phyllis Nagy, Orlando, Fla., asked about the spelling of the possessive “boss’s.”
Test yourself by circling the one word in each of the following pairs that’s spelled correctly.
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