BizWritingTip reader: “I have started to see phone numbers written with periods rather than hyphens. Which is correct? In addition, do you still put parentheses around the area code?” BizWritingTip response: The elements in a telephone number may be divided by hyphens, diagonal lines, spaces, periods, parentheses or a combination of these. Your choice. Examples (correct) […]
BizWritingTip reader: “I have a question for you. Which is right — he is taller than I or he is taller than me? I see both versions a lot.” BizWritingTip response: Whenever a pronoun follows the words than or as in a comparison, the right pronoun is determined by mentally adding the remaining words. He is taller than I […]
Suzanne’s question: “I often struggle with the use of quotation marks in conjunction with periods, question marks, and exclamation marks. I was educated in Scotland, and we sometimes put them outside.” BizWritingTip response: Yes, the North American English rule for using periods with quotation marks is now different from the British English rule. North American […]
BizWritingTip reader: “I have seen ‘till and ‘til. Which is correct?” BizWritingTip response: First of all, ‘till is incorrect. According to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, the correct word is till (no apostrophe); it is an accepted variant of until and “may be used interchangeably with it except at the beginning of a sentence.” The decision as to whether to use till or until is often decided by the way […]
BizWritingTip reader: Would you please clarify if “as per” should be used in reports and business letters, and — if the response is no — please identify the correct wording. BizWritingTip response: “As per” means “in accordance with” or “in response to the request made.” However, the phrase is rarely used today when speaking in the business […]
The slash (also called a virgule, diagonal, solidus, oblique, or slant) is a punctuation mark that is often overused. And it often creates the impression of a lazy thinker, particularly when used to imply and/or. Most readers and editors dislike this usage. Example We need to get a copy of the presentation in print/electronic form. (This […]
Linden’s question: “The verb I always have trouble with is ‘lay’ and its past tense and past participle. Can you provide some guidance?” BizwritingTip response: “Lay” and “lie” are two verbs that fall into the irregular category. In other words, the normal rules for changing their tenses do not apply. But let’s start with their […]
BizWritingTip reader: “In a prior BizWritingTip, you wrote: ‘None of these mechanisms have the ability to improve our reading skills.’ Isn’t this an error in subject and verb agreement? Shouldn’t it be: none of these mechanisms has the ability”? BizWritingTip response: In very formal writing, “none” takes a singular verb. However, in business writing, “none” […]
A BizWritingTip reader wrote: “In a recent tip, you wrote the sentence ‘Whom should I send the report to?’ In my years of taking English, I would consider re-writing the sentence to read ‘To whom should I send the report?’ If you are so inclined, I would love to know if you have a different […]
A BizWritingTip reader wrote to tell me about an article she had just received titled Thousands of Hyphens Perish as English Marches On. I really appreciated it as I try to keep as up to date as possible. The article discussed why the latest edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has removed the hyphens from about 16,000 […]