There are numerous English words that have the same meaning but are spelled/spelt differently. For example, in Britain and in many other English speaking countries people write “centre” and “organize.” But in the U.S., writers use “center” and “organise.” Why? The reason is interesting. In the early 1900s, the American industrialist/philanthropist Andrew Carnegie believed English […]
“Amount” and “number” are words that are often misused. “Amount” is used for money amounts and for things that cannot be physically counted. Example The amount of work has increased this year. “Number” refers to things that can be counted. Example I spent the day reducing the number of emails in my inbox. Exercise 1. […]
A BizWritingTip reader wrote: “At work, I do a lot of proofreading written by various people in Canada, U.S. and even Europe. One inconsistency I have noticed is how the monetary value of each country is written. For example, when referring to Canadian dollars, I have seen it written: $C, CA and CAD. When referring […]
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 […]
Susan’s question: “I had a discussion the other day about the word ‘center/centre.’ I was under the impression that ‘centre’ was a noun and ‘to center’ something was the verb. But I was told that it was grammatically correct to use ‘centred.’ ” BizWritingTip response: The word centre comes from the Latin centrum meaning “stationary […]
BizWritingTip reader: “My pet peeve is the use of towards instead of toward. I see it all the time in business communication, e.g., ‘… progress towards our goal.’ To my knowledge, there is no such word as towards. Am I correct?” BizWritingTip response: Towards is traditionally used in British English and toward is more traditionally used in American English. According […]
In our recent poll on pet peeves regarding emails, a number of respondents expressed irritation about receiving messages that contained only the words thank you.They reasoned that opening these short messages wasted their time. They were merely doing their job and didn’t need to be thanked. I understand their rationale; however, sending a thank you indicates […]
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 […]
Mary’s question: “I am never quite sure when to use ‘distrust’ versus ‘mistrust.’ Are they interchangeable, or do they each have specific usages/meanings?” BizWritingTip response: There is a fine line between these two words. Based on the Oxford Dictionary, distrust as a noun means “suspicion or lack of trust.” Mistrust means “suspicion or lack of […]
BizWritingTip reader: “Are the words fewer and less interchangeable. I see them used often but seem to recall there is a rule about which one to use.” BizWritingTip response: Less refers to things that cannot be counted. Fewer refers to things that can be counted. Another way to look at it is that less means […]