Due to is a phrase that many people misuse. We could tell you to use due to in front of adjective phrases. But let’s keep it simple. Use due to if you could also use caused by. Example The rising gas prices were caused by low inventories. The rising gas prices were due to low […]
Who Versus That I have noticed lately that there seems to be an increasing use of the word that in news reporting rather than the word who. Example The soldiers that fought in the battle. It is not incorrect. You can use that for both objects and people, but it is not frequently used for […]
A BizWritingTip reader wrote: “A colleague and I are having an argument. If you have to make an abbreviated word plural, do you include an apostrophe? For example, should I write two CEOs or two CEO’s? BizWritingTip response: If you want to make capital letters and abbreviations ending in a capital letter plural , it […]
What punctuation should I use with a bulleted or a numbered list? This is a commonly-asked question. Although many writers like to use bulleted lists in their business documents, list writing is difficult. You must be consistent. Your lists must contain all sentence fragments or all complete sentences. Your lists should never be a mixture […]
BizWritingTip reader: When is it ok to use a comma before “and”? BizWritingTip response: Many people tell me that they have been told never to put a comma before “and.” However, as we all know, never say “never.” When listing a series of ideas in a sentence, you separate the thoughts with commas. But when you […]
Mary Ann’s question: “Should there be a comma in the following sentence: ‘If you’re driving tired you’re driving impaired’?” BizWritingTip response: Years ago, writers were told to place a comma wherever they would take a breath. But this could sometimes be confusing as people don’t always have the same breathing patterns. And people learning English […]
The BizWritingTip I sent recently regarding “between you and me” caused some questions regarding the word “number.” I wrote “Between you and me, there are a number of people who don’t get it right.” Questions then rose around the word “number.” Does “number” take a singular or a plural verb. In other words, should it […]
Grace’s question: “Is the word ‘learned’ as past tense right or should it be ‘learnt’ instead?” BizWritingTip response: “Learn” is an interesting verb. When using it in the past tense or as a past participle, you have two options. Examples (correct) I learned about the meeting last week. (past tense) I learnt about the meeting last week. […]
“How many typos in a resume does it take for you to decide not to consider a job candidate for a position with your company?” The result: more than 80 per cent of the executives surveyed said they would lose interest in a candidate if they found two typos.