Linden’s question: “Must the abbreviation ‘Ltd’ have a period after it? If you do use a period after it, how do you deal with the end of the sentence? Are there two periods, one for the abbreviation and one for the sentence?” BizWritingTip response: Any abbreviation composed of upper and lower case letters should have […]
Paulo’s question: “A famous supermarket announces that ‘We won’t be beat’ when referring to their unbeatable prices. Why beat and not beaten?” BizWritingTip response: Beat is more commonly used in conversational English. However, a grammatical purist would say the phrase “can’t be …” must be followed by the past participle beaten. Therefore, the supermarket should say its prices “can’t be beaten.” But as […]
Taranjit’s question: “Should we put a comma after ‘but’ in the following sentence: I am sorry to hear you’re leaving the department. But (comma?) I know you will enjoy your new position.” BizWritingTip response: Good question. If your connecting word is only one syllable (e.g., and or but), do not place a comma after it. […]
I just heard about a disgruntled parent who demanded to see the minutes of his son’s minor hockey association. It doesn’t matter what the man was looking for. But, under freedom of information legislation, the group had to turn them over. The members were shocked. After all, they were just a volunteer group organized to […]
Tammy’s question: “I’ve always thought that it is not appropriate to start a sentence using ‘but.’ What are your thoughts?” BizWritingTip response: Starting a sentence with but is not a grammar error. It is a style issue. In the academic world, the writing style is formal. Therefore, starting a sentence with but would be inappropriate […]
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Ontario Training now offers a web based courses through Udemy on Taking Minutes at Meetings: Web based training by Jane Watson Jane Watson has been involved in the meeting process — both as a minute taker and as a chair — for many years. In fact, she has written one of the first books exclusively on […]
Marg’s question: “My manager says I can’t use contractions in my minutes. What do you think?”BizWritingTip response: First, contractions are words that are shortened by replacing a letter or letters with an apostrophe. Examples Cannot = can’t It is/it has = it’s We will = we’ll Contractions are not wrong, but they are considered a less […]
Paul’s question: “What is the difference between ‘recur’ and ‘reoccur’?” BizWritingTip response: If you say something recurs you are saying the event happens repeatedly – at regular intervals. Example We see a recurrence of flu symptoms in our patients beginning in December. (Flu happens every year.) How should we handle the recurring problem of all staff wanting to take their vacations during […]
Paul’s question: “My manager was talking about smothered verbs last week. What are they and why should we avoid them?”BizWritingTip response: Smothered verbs deal with style. There is nothing wrong with them grammatically. Smothered verbs are created when writers take our strong English verbs and turn them into nouns. They then have to insert another verb […]