I am just back from England where one of my favourite restaurants is Mr. Thomas’s Chop House. Note the apostrophe plus the “s.” This is the latest British rule for making a name ending in “s” possessive is to simply add an apostrophe plus an additional “s” — on everything. North American rules, however, differ. We […]
Jane’s Question: “Having to use she/he or his/her or even s/he throughout a long document is often cumbersome, but changing it to they or their when we are still referring to the singular person is just wrong, isn’t it? What do you say?” BizWritingTip response: This is a frequently debated question. Language purists say a pronoun must always agree with its antecedent. Therefore, you should […]
Bonnie’s question: “In one of your biztips, would you please explain how to write terms such as ‘up to date’ and ‘cost effective’ as adjectives?” BIzWritingTip response: Sometimes, words change the way they are written because of their order in a sentence. When two or more words form one unit and are placed before a noun, […]
Annabelle’s question: “I want to know if I am placing my commas correctly when I list several items or people. For example: Jim, David, and I denotes 3 different people. But Jim, David and I could imply David and I are a couple. I always tend to put commas before ‘and.’ However, several of my […]
Carol’s question: “I see a lot of people using quotes to highlight info. For example, all sports teams are encouraged to adopt a “tobacco-free” policy. I am under the impression quotes and single quotes are to be used sparingly, if at all, for anything that is not a direct quotation. But can you clarify?” BizWritingTip response: […]
Bill’s question: “I have seen parentheses with the period both inside and outside the brackets. Which is correct?” BizWritingTip response: The rules for punctuation with brackets — or parentheses — are actually quite simple. If the material inside the brackets is a sentence fragment or an acronym, place the period outside the bracket. Examples I am […]
BizWritingTip reader: “I am confused about the punctuation with the word ‘however.’ I know that I must always place a comma after it. But when do I use a comma before it and when do I use a period?” BizWritingTip response: Most people do not know how to punctuate the word “however.” If you understand […]
Jean’s question: “Just wondering if you could clarify the use of parentheses. I have a colleague who uses parentheses because she finds them ‘cleaner.’ I beg to differ.” BizWritingTip response: When you have material within a sentence that is not essential to the meaning of the sentence, you must set this material off. You could […]
BizWritingTip reader: “I am getting frustrated when I hear ‘that’ instead of ‘who.’ Am I wrong? For example, ‘I know the people that are in the English class.’ Is this correct?” BizWritingTip response: This is one of those subjective grammar points that has also become debatable. Back in the days of the dinosaurs, I learned […]
BizWritingTip reader: “Regarding ‘i.e.’ and ‘e.g.,’ my understanding is that they should be followed by a comma. I see these appearing in all different forms. Is my own understanding correct, i.e., with a comma following the abbreviation?” BizWritingTip response: You are absolutely correct. Writers often ignore the necessary punctuation. The abbreviations “i.e.” and “e.g.” are […]