I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
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Three dots to continue…
Ellipsis points, or suspension points, have a couple of uses, but they always come in threes.
Although not generally used in business writing, ellipsis points can be used to show a continuation or an undefined idea. This allows for the reader to complete the sentence in a number of ways which can create interest or indicate uncertainty.
“I wasn’t sure what she meant, maybe it was a mistake…” (shows some confusion about how to react to her words)
“Sally called me yesterday and told me the news…” (makes the reader curious as to what the news is)
Ellipses are also used to show some missing information in a quote. When quoting some text from elsewhere, it isn’t necessary to quote every word but it is also important to not misrepresent the text as being complete. Adding … between words indicates that part of the original is missing.
“Australians all let us rejoice … Advance Australia Fair” shows that some words are missing between those quoted.
However, do not use ellipsis to change the meaning of the original text.
Compare “The root of all evil is in the love of money” and “the root of all evil is … money”
Note that the use of the ellipsis removes the need for other punctuation. If the original quote has a comma or full stop, this isn’t included next to the ellipsis. A question mark, exclamation mark or quotation marks, however, are included with the ellipsis.
What is title case?
Style guides and related documents sometimes specify a system of capital letter use.
Word processing packages often give four styles to choose from:
- all lower case
- ALL UPPER CASE
- Title Case
- Sentence case
The first two are fairly self-explanatory but here is a definition of the other two common case styles.
Title case – traditionally used for the titles of everything (books, plays, movies, etc), title case has a capital letter for the start of every significant word – where words like and, of, the and a are not counted as significant. {If every word begins with a capital letter, we call it start case.}
The Little House on the Prairie
One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Sentence case – just like you use in most sentences, only the first word and any proper nouns start with a capital letter.
The little house on the prairie
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Sentence case is the default now for most writing, including headings.
Proof read your work…
You have heard it before, but I’ll say it again – it is critical to proof read your work before sending it out to work for you. Even if it is boring and you are short on time, proof reading is important and a valuable use of your time.
I just came across a perfect example of someone not proof reading after using a spell checker (at least I am assuming they used a spell checker!) Too often people let a spell checker do the proof reading for them but it just isn’t a safe option.
I hate to use the word “disguised”, simply because you’re NOT hiding anything from your prospects, nor are you tricking them. But the bottom line is – “disgusted” *best describes* what your “free information pack” really is. It’s disgusted from THE FACT that it’s an ad, or that it WILL BE selling them something.
{That is an exact copy – capitals, punctuation and spelling are not mine!}
Easy enough to make a mistake while typing disguised and having a spell check suggest disgusted as the closest word. 
Very easy to ignore that and give a silly message, too, unless you proof read properly after using the spell check.
Of course, some of us may be amused at a marketing eBook referring to marketing techniques like information packs as disgusting, but I doubt that was their intent!
Proof reading is more than checking everything is spelt correctly – you also need to check the correct word is being used. And having a habit of proof reading everything you write, even the shortest emails and blog comments, will make it easier to project a professional and caring image for yourself and your business.
Having said that, what is your favourite story about a failure to proof read?
repeat the boring stuff…
Do you get bored with hearing the same stuff a number of times? What do you do about repeated information?
As I wrote a few days ago, some repetition of stuff is necessary to succeed – either because it takes a few goes to really understand it or the timing wasn’t right initially or even just as a reminder that it is still important.
I agree with Jack that looking professional is important – and that includes care with grammar, spelling, effective links and care of details. So I write about those topics quite often, which may seem boring to some I know, but I do try to cover a range of topics within clear and professional communications.
Given the amount of poor writing I come across every day, I see there is a need for a repetition of grammar and spelling tips, too!
If you are good at grammar and spelling – my apoliges for repeating what you already know! But why not take this opportunity to tell me what other topics you would like me to write about?
Media release quotation marks part ii
Last week I wrote about a media release not using quotation marks correctly. Unfortunately, I have just read another release from the same PR company (written for one of their clients) and they have actually misused quotation marks again – breaking different rules!
Samples of the release (identifying features adjusted for the sake of their client):
“We’re fine tuning the offer for them.” XYZ managing director Fred Nerk said.
“There’s lots of ducks that need to be lined up in terms of how the groups support the plans”.
“Now they’ve thought ‘hang on, we need to provide for this”.
The rules they don’t know are therefore…
- while what the person is saying may be at an end, a full stop is not used at the end of speech if it is followed by details for the speaker. Apart from anything else, they have created XYZ managing director Fred Nerk said.as a stand alone sentence which is incomplete. A correct example is ‘I am working on it now,’said Mary.
- punctuation goes inside the quotation marks, except if the punctuation is part of the surrounding sentence rather than part of the quoted material
- if a speech includes a quote, two full sets of quotation marks are required, and generally the second set will be different to the first (i.e. if one quotation mark is used, the inner set will have double quotation marks). So a correct example is “I spoke to the officer in charge who said ‘this is a major catastrophe,'” said the reporter
If we add in the incorrect spelling of the client name (yes, really!), typos and words like ‘throught’, this media release is a very poor return for the client’s money. To me it shows an absolute lack of respect to their client and is unprofessional.
Media outlets will often use a media release as the basis of any reports and they obviously don’t expect to have to spend time correcting silly errors like this. If they have two equally promising stories to run, the better presented media release is likely to win so I would be very cross if a PR company sent out a release about me in that state.
Would you expect a PR company to get the writing elements right, or would you be comfortable checking it for errors yourself?
Quotation marks for speech
Do you remember learning about talking marks at school? I remember thinking of them as commas up in the sky:)
Over time, I learnt they are called quotation marks and that there are a few simple rules associated with their use. One of the rules about quotation marks is that you don’t close them until the person finishes speaking.
It isn’t often I come across examples of this in business writing – it’s generally more relevant for fiction or story writing. However, I did come across a media release recently which completely ignored this rule (and a few others but that’s a different story altogether!)
How do we use this rule? I’m glad you asked!
John said ‘It is hot today.’
John has finished speaking so we close off the quotation marks – easy.
John said ‘It is hot today and I would like to go the pool for a swim. The pool is just around the corner.
‘I wonder if Mary and Susan would like to come too? I will call them before I leave.’
In this example, John’s speech is divided into two paragraphs but he hadn’t finished speaking so I didn’t close the quotation marks. For clarity, however, I opened them again to show he is still talking (and I hadn’t just forgotten to close them!)
However, if John’s talking was interupted by text, we would close the quotation marks:
‘It is hot today and I would like to go the pool for a swim. The pool is just around the corner,’ said John.
‘I wonder if Mary and Susan would like to come too? I will call them before I leave.’
Once could be an error…
As much as I advocate being careful with spelling and grammar, everybody is human and mistakes will be made. So I can excuse an error.
It is much harder to excuse a document or website that makes the same mistake more than once. I came across this sentence a little while ago:
“Informing you super fund of a change of address is just as important as informing you bank.”
Using you instead of your is one of those things done easily enough (spell check won’t pick you as wrong) but really annoys me. Seeing it twice in that sentence just tells me the writer doesn’t understand the difference between you and your or just doesn’t care about being professional or making a good impression.
Two errors in that sentence would also make me less forgiving of other mistakes in the same document so it goes further than two missing letters.
How about you – do you also cringe when you read (or hear!) about ‘you object’?
Twenty starts
When writing numbers at the beginning of a sentence, always write the words out in full.
So, “Twenty sailors were on deck at the time” is correct.
Within a sentence, numbers can be written in words – “There were twenty sailors on deck” – or in numerals – “There were 20 sailors on deck.”
There are different styles, so the use of words or figures in text can vary. If in doubt, the most common rule is that single digits (one, two, three, etc) are written in words and the number 10 and greater are written in figures.
“Of the 18 children in class, only five were in yellow house.”
Their names are precious
Did you know that someone’s name is one of the most precious words to them?
If you don’t believe me, think about how you feel when you are ‘treated like a number’, someone pronounces your name poorly and you get a letter with your name wrong in some way.
I once got a letter that referred to Mr T Hughes, opened with Tash and had Mrs Hughes on the envelope. I didn’t like being called Mr but the lack of care shown by the inconsistency was very poor.
Getting people’s names right is a sign of respect, and in business it also shows attention to detail matters to you. So consider the following tips:
- check the spelling of someone’s name before you send a letter or email – and use their spelling even if you don’t like it
- personalise where possible – if sending a letter or email, consider adding their name to the subject and/or body as well as in the opening line
- think about what form to use – title and surname or just first name for instance will depend on your audience and your business style. Note if they have shown a preference for one style then make sure you use that style.
- if you are not sure of gender from the name, avoid using terms that indicate gender as getting it wrong can be offensive
- never make fun or joke about someone’s name, even if you think you have a friendship, unless they have done so first – even then I would hesitate before joking about their name
- wait to be invited to use a nickname or abbreviation. So many people meet a Michael or Jonathon and start saying Mike and Jon, but if Michael hates Mike it will not impress him at all. Besides, nicknames are personal and often reserved for friends
- ask how to pronounce their name if you are not sure – people don’t mind helping but may resent errors
- do your best to remember names, especially at networking events or if a client introduces you. There are many techniques for improving your name memory and it is a valuable skill to have
PS On a humorous note, I received a phone call a few days ago where the person asked “Is that Mr Tash Hughes” (badly pronounced)
I answered “No” thinking – do I really sound like a Mr?
Next question “Can I speak to Tash Hughes?”
My answer “You are – I am Tash but I’m not Mr.”
“Oh, I thought you were a boy, Goodbye” and hung up!
Singular indefinite pronouns
Although it sounds simple, plural and singular words are not always placed with the appropriate version of a verb. While many people understand what to do for she, we and they, it gets harder for indefinite pronouns (those which refer to something not specific).
The following indefinite pronouns are always singular, even though they might, by implication, suggest many people:
another, anybody, anyone, each, either, every, everybody, everyone,
neither, nobody, no one, one, somebody, someone
Anything is possible in your dreams.
Everybody comes in the front door.
There are a few indefinite pronouns that may be singular or plural, depending on their use. They are:
any, all, none, more, most, some
All of us are running late. All is not lost.
None is more important than honesty. None of those books are mine.
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