Phil’s question: “I have been asked to write a policy for our department. I am not sure when to use ‘should’ or ‘must.’ Can you please explain the difference?” BizWritingTip response: A number of organizations seem to be writing or rewriting their policies and procedures nowadays, and this is a common question. The two words imply […]
BizWritingTip reader: “We are having a debate in our office about the use of ‘as of’ or ‘as at’ to describe a statistic that pertains to one point in time. I think ‘As at December 2010, the number of X in Y program was Z’ is correct.” BizWritingTip response: This is quite an interesting point. […]
Susan’s question: “I saw this recently on a television network’s van: Now there’s a million ways to connect. Is this correct?” Bizwritingtip response: Good catch. This is not correct. The author elected a catchy slogan over a grammatically correct one. Whenever you start a sentence with “there” or “here” the verb agrees with the closest […]
BizWritingTip reader: “Would you please help me with the difference between ‘diagnoses’ and ‘diagnosis’? Are these words singular and plural?” BizWritingTip response: “Diagnosis” is a singular word meaning the identification of an illness or disease by means of a patient’s symptoms. Example Dr. House’s diagnosis was accurate – as usual. The word “diagnoses” is the […]
Pam’s question: “I am curious about the appropriate use of ‘premise’ and ‘premises.’ I never see ‘premise,’ but I understand it is the singular form of ‘premises.’However, I continue to see ‘premises,’ e.g., people refer to premises lease rather than premise lease.” BizWritingTip response: When I teach a grammar course, I tell people that for every English grammar rule […]
BizWritingTip reader: “I’m very confused as to when to use the words ‘lunch’ and ‘luncheon,’ ‘company,’ and ‘accompany.’ The first two seem to have the same meaning.” BizWritingTip response: The words lunch and luncheon refer to the lightest meal of the day, normally consumed at mid-day. However, a luncheon is more formal. I would expect it to be a sit-down affair […]
A number of BizWritingTip readers were concerned about an example I provided recently to explain the placement of punctuation with quotation marks. The BizWritingTip said that when using question marks and exclamation points, place the punctuation inside the closing quotation mark, when it applies to the quoted material only; place it outside the closing quotation […]
Hilary’s question: “I often see sentences that I think overuse the word ‘of,’ e.g., ‘He lived outside of Canada’ or ‘She peered out of the window.’ Isn’t this incorrect?” BizWritingTip response: This is actually a style issue rather than a grammar one. The term “outside of” is considered acceptable North American informal speech. However, business writing […]
The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar has declared March 4, National Grammar Day. How do you celebrate it? Speak well! Write well! Read well! And on March 4, if you see a sign with an appalling apostrophe, send a kind note to the owner. If your local radio announcer says “between you and I,” set […]
In a previous post, we discussed some of the rules surrounding hyphens, and I promised to provide more guidelines in this BizWritingTip. I did say not to put a hyphen between a compound adjective (two adjectives) when the first word ends in “ly.” Examples (correct) Environmentally friendly packaging Poorly written report There is, however, an exception: When […]