Archive for Business English
Always Refer To Companies In Singular Form
When I started writing professionally, I always treated companies as a plural noun. I never even gave it much thought. Since companies are made up of a group of people, I assumed I was referring to every single one of those individuals whenever I wrote. Looking back at those pieces that actually made it to [...]
3 Types Of Business Emails That Get Ignored
When writing business emails, you want it to get read. A passed-over email usually means a lost opportunity – one that you may never get back again. These five types of emails are high on the chopping block that busy professionals regularly give up on without a second thought. 1. Emails that pile on the [...]
Why Press Releases Fail
There are many reasons why a press release can fail and they span everything from the way you write to the way you get it into the hands of editors and journalists. 1. Not sending them as a text mail. Anytime you send a press release in the form of an email attachment, you automatically [...]
Writing Reference Letters
Reference letters from a reputable source can be an invaluable help to anyone who’s trying to either land a job or get into a good school. When you have family or friends that ask you to craft one such letter for them, it’s usually difficult to say no – no matter how much of a [...]
How To Write Your Business Correspondences
When writing business correspondences, clarity and completeness are vital. Done well, they can be the precursor to a healthy business relationship. Executed poorly, they can lead to confusion and miscommunication. This five-point plan is designed to give you a guideline from which you can base your business correspondences on. It will ensure that your ideas [...]
Creating An Effective Call To Action
When writing sales pages, your copy’s call to action will frequently play the deciding factor on whether your prospect takes your relationship to the next step. A double-edged sword, an effective call to action can seal the deal while a poorly-executed one can destroy all the pre-selling you’ve done before it. How do you craft [...]
Avoiding Long And Winding Sentences
Long sentences, done well, can be grammatically correct. Even the best English writing software won’t have a problem with it. Being mistake-free, however, is not the issue. The main problem is that it’s a pain to read. No matter what your writing abilities are, long sentences aren’t that difficult to avoid. So why aren’t you [...]
Business Documents: Reduce Cross-Referencing To A Minimum
When writing long business documents, especially ones filled with charts and tables, it’s very convenient to cross-reference information while you’re writing. Instead of detailing the facts of a situation again, many simply point the reader to a previous reference to it. Takes this paragraph, for example: The device comes with a built-in worldwide 3D map [...]
Five Important Aspects Of Business Writing
Even if you’re an untrained writer, you’ll likely need to compose written reports at various times during the course of your business. As such, having the basics of business writing down pat can help you immensely in your daily life. According to the book Business Writing For The Uninitiated, all forms of good business writing [...]
The Mistake Of Being Verbose
Many unseasoned writers often fall prey to the trap of verbosity – using too many words to express too little of an idea. Unless your goal is to write a requisite number of words, instead of successfully communicating with your audience, verbose prose is bad for business and should be avoided at all costs. Here’s [...]
