10tipsforbetterwritingAsaproofreaderofbusinesswriting,Iseemanyofthesameerrorsmadeagainandagain.Errorsinyourwriting(betheyinadvertisingcopy,correspondence,orawebsite)aremoreserious,Ibelieve,thanmostpeoplerealize.Why?Well,thestandardofyourwritinghasalwaysbeenimportant.Today,though,morethaneverbefore,FIRSTIMPRESSIONSCOUNT.Wearebombardedbythewrittenwordinitsmanyforms--books,pamphlets,magazines,signs,e-mail,websitesandmanyothermedia.Weareallsufferingfrominformationoverloadandareforcedtofindwaysofscreeningoutasmuchaswecan.Wethustendtomakequickdecisionsonwhattoreadandwhatnotto.Firstimpressionsincreasinglydeterminewhatwereadandwhatwedon’t,andpoorwritingleadstoapoorfirstimpression.Thefollowinglistoftipsshouldhelpyoutoavoidsomeofthemostcommonslip-ups.1.Capitals:AvoidthetemptationtocapitalizewordsinthemiddleofasentenceJustToProvideEmphasisLikeThis.Ifyouwanttobemoreemphaticconsiderusingboldface,italics,colororlargertext.2.Commas:Themostcommonuseofthecommaistojointogethershortsentencestomakeasinglelongersentence.Wedothiswithoneofthefollowingsmalljoiningwords:and,or,but,yet,for,nor,orso.Forexample:Wehavefinishedthework,andwearelookingforwardtotheweekend.Noticethatthetwohalvesofthissentencecouldeachbesentencesintheirownright.Theythusneedtobeseparatedwithacommaandjoiningword.Inthenextexample,though,wedon’tneedacomma:Wehavefinishedtheworkandarelookingforwardtotheweekend.Thehalvesofthatsentencecouldnotstandalone,sonocommawasused.3.Ellipsis:Theellipsisisaseriesofthree--andONLYTHREE--fullstopsusedtomarkmissingwords,anuncertainpause,oranabruptinterruption.Avoidthetemptationtousesixorsevendots--itlooksamateurish.Forexample,wewrite:Niles:ButMissFine’sageisonly...Fran:Young!MissFine’sageisonlyyoung!4.Excessivepunctuation:Onlyoneexclamationmarkorquestionmarkshouldbeusedatatime.Considerthefollowingover-punctuatedexamples:Buynow!!!Greatbargains!!!!!!!!!!Excessivepunctuationlookstoomuchlikehysteriaanddetractsfromyourcredibility.Avoidit.5.Headings:Forlongworks,establishaclearhierarchyofheadings.MicrosoftWord’sheadingstylesaregreatforthis.(Theyalsoallowyoutoautomaticallycreateatableofcontents.)6.Hyphenatingprefixes:Mostprefixesdon’tneedahyphen;i.e.wewrite“coexist“,not“co-exist“.Thereareexceptions,though.Theprefixes“self-“and“ex-“arealmostalwayshyphenated.7.Numbers:Numbersoftenorlessarenormallywrittenaswords.8.Quotationmarks:UsersofAmericanEnglishshouldusedoublequotes(““).UsersofBritishEnglishshouldchooseeithersinglequotes(’’)ordoublequotesandstickwiththemforthewholedocument.Incidentally,BritishEnglishusageisincreasinglymovingtowardssinglequotes.9.Spaces:Modernstyleistouseasinglespaceattheendofasentence,nottwo.Also,mostpunctuationmarks(e.g.commas,fullstops,questionmarks)arenotprecededbyaspace.10.Tables:Settabletextoneortwopointssmallerthanthemainbodytextandinasans-seriffontsuchasArialorVerdana.Avoidverticallinesastheytendtoaddunnecessaryclutter.Armedwiththesesimpleguidelines,yourbusinesswritingshouldbewellreceivedeverytime.Goodluck!
