Posts

Writing Style – That

Leah’s question: “Would you please write about the overuse of the word ‘that’? For example, shouldn’t ‘Please read the letter that I wrote’ be better as ‘please read the letter I wrote.’ ” BizWritingTip response: The use of the pronoun “that” is controversial. Fortunately, it is a style issue rather than a grammar one. In […]

Writing Style – Capitalization With Occupations Versus Titles

BizWritingTip reader: “When you are referring to a person’s title, i.e., nurse, doctor, accountant, etc., when do you capitalize the first letter in their title and when do you not?” BizWritingTip response: According to The Canadian Press style book, Caps and Spelling, the style for capitalization is “modified down.” This means that occupations and job descriptions […]

Writing Style – Ms.

BizWritingTip reader: “I was told that it is not correct to add a period after Ms as it isn’t a short form of a word as Mr. is for Mister. Is this correct?” BizWritingTip response: Yes, Ms. is not actually a short form. It was coined by well-known author Germaine Greer and other feminists in the 1970s […]

Word Choice – Company Name

BizWritingTip reader: “When you close a business letter, does it still need to include the company name typed under the closing line? It seems like it duplicates the letterhead.” BizWritingTip response: Before letterhead, the courts required companies to put their name somewhere on the document to show they stood behind the correspondence. Most organizations placed […]

Writing Style – In Appreciation

BizWritingTip reader: “Please review the following phrase and let me know which one sounds better: ‘in appreciation to’ or ‘in appreciation of.’ ” BizWritingTip response: When it comes to using the noun “appreciation” meaning “in favourable or grateful recognition,” the correct preposition is “of.” Therefore, you should say “in appreciation of.” Wow, that was an […]

Writing Style – Noon and Midnight

BizWritingTip reader: “How do you record the time between 11:59 a.m. and 12:01 p.m.? Is there a standard other than 12 noon or should it be avoided by altering the time either way by a minute or two?” BizWritingTip response: This is a question many writers struggle with. But it is actually quite simple. When […]

Writing Style – Cont. or Cont’d.

Connie’s question: “I was wondering what you thought the correct abbreviation for continued would be?  Is there a standard?” BizwritingTip response: Some words have set abbreviations, e.g., Mr., Sr., and Inc. You will find official abbreviations in the dictionary. Other words are abbreviated by leaving out letters and inserting an apostrophe, e.g., can’t or it’s. […]

Information/Fun – To the Grammar Gurus

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 […]

Information/Fun – National Grammar Day

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 […]

Writing Style – Addressing Letters

A BizWritingTip reader has asked us to review the best practices for sending letters to people you don’t know. In years past, it was acceptable to begin a letter to someone you didn’t know with Dear Sir/Madam or Dear Ladies and Gentlemen. (Note: There is no “e”on madam.) However, the North American business culture is […]