Gillian and Char’s question: “What are the rules today to indicate a plural possessive (e.g., six hats that belong to girls)? We have come across situations where the apostrophe is left out or appears before the ‘s’ in girls, e.g., “six girl’s hats.” Which is correct?” BizWritingTip response: First, you are right. “Six girl’s hats” is […]
Judy’s question: “I was taught that when beginning a sentence with a number it should be written out, regardless of whether it is smaller or larger than nine. For example, ‘Thirteen food handlers successfully certified in our safe food handling course this month.’ Is this still correct? Also, I sometimes see it written as ‘Thirteen […]
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 […]
Julie’s question: “A few of us are in dispute over the use of the word ‘slow’ or ‘slowly.’ For example,The wound healed slow or The wound healed slowly. I think either is fine, but my friend insists it should be ‘slowly’. Can you settle this?” BizWritingTip response: I can see why this is confusing. I often hear newscasters […]
I asked readers to send me more redundant phrases that irritated them. The venting was amazing. If you use any of the following phrases in your writing, you risk the chance of annoying your reader: advance planning at this point in time basic fundamentals blunder mistake communicate in writing desirable benefits exact same extended long […]
BizWritingTip reader: “I often hear people make the following statement: ‘This one is different than that one.’ I think it should be ‘from’ and not ‘than.’ Please clarify this when you can.” BizWritingTip response: You are correct. Different from is the way to contrast two items. Examples My findings are different from hers. Vancouver is different from Montreal. This one is different from that […]
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, […]
BizWritingTip reader: “Are ‘former’ and ‘latter’ still good words to use in the business world?” BizWritingTip response: Former and latter are both adjectives. They should only be used when referring to two people or things. Former refers to the first of the two things mentioned. Latter is used for the last item. Examples I can meet you at the main or the branch […]
Klaus’s question: “Every morning I hear an announcer on the radio broadcast what is upcoming by stating ‘coming up in a moment’s time … .’ Is this grammatically correct?” BizWritingTip response: Your announcer is being redundant. I would call his phrase a doublet. A moment is a short period of time. Therefore, he is actually saying in […]