
TashWord
Tash is a professional writer who loves helping people communicate clearly and effectively.
cell: a basic unit, often regular in shape and function
Each cell of his body reacted to the oxygen
or
He couldn’t find a way out of his prison cell
sell: to transfer or exchange goods or services in return for money or other goods and services
How do you sell your services?
If you are having trouble with these two words, remember that a shop sells things.
When I’m writing for some of my corporate clients, a number of people need to be involved in the document – usually a mix of technical experts and legal advisers, along with a manager or two. If you have ever had to deal with a committee consensus, you’ll know that this process can be frustrating and time-consuming.
The best results arise when everyone has the appropriate input with one or two people having responsibility for the final result – usually the writer and a senior manager.
Here are some of my tips to keep this process under control:
As a writer, it is my job to take their technical knowledge, legal requirements and document intentions and provide them with a clear, easy to read document. So sometimes I do exactly as their feedback requests (e.g. changing a measurement from 5mm to 5cm) and at other times I adjust their feedback for clarity.
Use your words wisely!
allowed: to have permission
Under school rules, she was allowed to wear casual clothes.
aloud: not silent, speak openly rather than in a whisper
The students took turns reading aloud from the novel.
Today’s pair of definitions isn’t one I see misused very often, but it looks very strange when they are misused so it’s important to get it right!
whether: providing two or more options or choices
I am not sure whether I will have a boy or a girl.
weather: atmospheric changes that affect people – we usually include temperature, humidity, wet/dry conditions, wind and sunny/cloudy as part of the weather
Do you know what the weather will be for our picnic?
How to remember which spelling is which? Whether (starts with wh) is about which (starts with wh) choice, but weather affects what we want to eat!
Don’t rely on your spell checker. Even if there are no language differences, it won’t always catch your errors.
Both “the buoy is floating” and “the boy is floating” are correct, but they mean different things. Of course, if you live in the USA you pronounce buoy as boo-ey so this pair of words doesn’t seem quite so similar as it does to those of us who prounce it the same way as boy.
boy: a male child
The boy was excited about his birthday.
buoy: a floating device that marks significant spots in water
The boats kept outside of the circle of buoys during the race.
In a traditional job setting, the difference between work and home is fairly clear and easy to see – until you start bringing work home anyway! But when you run a business or have a remote job, it can be harder to spot the difference – and harder to manage things.
Of course, the big question is HOW to manage time! I think the simplistic answer is to set boundaries to maintain control.
From talking to various people, I see two main groups of at home workers – those who get distracted from work by the need to tidy the kitchen, hang out the washing, vacuum the floors and so on, and those who work a lot and find it hard to manage much of the house stuff at all. Which group do you fit into? I have no trouble (well, generally speaking!) getting on with work but end up working too hard and letting the housework slide…
Here are some of my ideas on creating boundaries between business and home, but I’d love to hear your suggestions, too…
Sometimes it seems impossible to make those boundaries, but the reduced stress and lost time is well worth the effort. Good luck with it!
Use your words and time wisely!
I have received emails/letters that include “thanks for your patients” where I’m sure the writer didn’t have the slightest idea that they really meant “thanks for your patience”. Do you know the difference?
patience: bearing or enduring difficult or trying circumstances, usually in a calm and accepting manner
The audience’s patience was rewarded with a wonderful concert.
patients: people receiving the services of medical practitioners – often ill or injured people but not always
The doctor had a queue of patients waiting to see her during the epidemic.
Given that patients refers to a group of people, it is no surprise that the word ends in s, the common plural ending.
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