It happened again. Just about the time I’m ready to leave the office for the day and head home, an email pops into my inbox from our marketing director, Kari. The forwarded subject line from my publisher says “URGENT.” Kari’s email basically states that yes, I can be available for an interview with a newspaper journalist that day [...]
Are you curious about the three punctuation errors that surface most often when participants bring writing samples to our business and technical writing workshops? Although we haven’t kept a formal list, hands down, these are the three that take top honors: Run-on sentences (missing or inadequate punctuation) The biggest punctuation pitfall that renders a sentence [...]
Many kids cut their teeth on the negatives at home and school—even when the intention is good: “Don’t forget your coat.” “Don’t leave your bike in the driveway. It’s going to get run over.” “Stop fooling around at the table and eat. You’re going to be late.” “Don’t forget your key. You’ll be locked out [...]
At the risk of offending, I’m posing a question here that maybe some of you can weigh in on with your theories. Though not something that keeps me awake at night, my curiosity grows year by year—in fact, every time we post a job opening and go through the interviewing process as we’ve just now [...]
Last year researchers at Oxford University published a list of the most irritating words and phrases. (Read my blog post and the Oxford list here.) Executives have now come up with their own list of overused clichés in the workplace. “When business or industry terms become overused, people stop paying attention to them,” said Max [...]
Pity the poor person who has to translate the ubiquitous phrase “I’m good” in the current vernacular. The phrase rivals “stuff” for frequency and variety in meaning. A couple of nights ago I was out to dinner with friends, and I became fixated on the phrase as it was bandied back and forth across the [...]
