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The Seven Sins of Confused Writing
Whether you're writing a business memo, report, or presentation, make sure you avoid these very common writing mistakes:
1. It's and Its: - "It's" is a contraction meaning "it is." Example: It's hot today. "Its" is a possessive form. Example: I read the book with all of its 500 pages.
2. You, Your, and You're: While the previous example is a grammatical error, the confusion of you and your is often a typo. You're is the contraction of "you are" and some people confuse it with your. Examples: You're a good person. Your sincerity is admirable.
3. Lose and Loose: Loose can have several meanings in English and is used as an adjective, adverb, or a verb (although that's not very common). Here are some examples: Unattended children ran loose through the store. That person has a pretty loose reputation. But lose is always a verb: His boss told him to lose his negative attitude while serving customers.
4. Compliment and Complement: - If you like your colleague's way of expressing herself, you'll compliment her on her communication skills. Complement is most commonly used to indicate that something completes a set or matches it well. Example: His positive attitude complements his wide knowledge of the product, making him a very effective salesman.
5. Principal and Principle: A principle is a basic truth, policy or value. (The Ten Principles of Effective Management.) Principals are the key persons holding responsibilities in schools or organizations.
6. Affect and Effect: Affect is a verb: it acts upon something, someone, or an emotion, while effect is both a noun and a verb, and hence comes the confusion. Let's see examples. Affect (verb): Because I have allergy, the weather affects me badly. Effect (Noun): The weather has a terrible effect on me. Effect (Verb): We will implement a new internal communication strategy to effect change. In this sentence, "to effect change" means "to cause change to happen."
7. Assure, Insure and Ensure: Assure, ensure, and insure all mean "to make secure or certain." Only assure is used with reference to a person in the sense of "to set the mind at rest": I assured the customer of our refund policy. Although ensure and insure are generally interchangeable, only insure is now widely used in American English in the commercial sense of "to guarantee persons or property against risk."
(c) Communication Ideas. This article is part of our Content For Communicators service. Add high value and interest to your publications: Get 12 volumes of articles and cartoons to publish in your print or electronic publications for $129.00 
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Write Type: Personality Types and Writing Styles
These two books by Dr. S. Gladis provides you with what you need to write effectively as well as understand and improve your personal writing style.
The first book: The Manager's Pocket Guide to Effective Writing
Written communication is prevalent at most levels of business, but especially at the managerial level. Your writing may be grammatically and logically sound, but is it effective? Is it conveying your message with the concision and accuracy that makes you an effective writer? Whether you're a manager in charge of a group of writers, or a person interested in just improving his or her writing skills, The Manager's Pocket Guide to Effective Writing will help you write better using easy, practical, how-to steps that will guide you towards more effective writing, which will, in turn, allow you to make a better impression on others.
The second book: Write Type: Personality Types and Writing Styles.
Based on individual personality styles, it provides new strategies for the four basic types of writers: the correspondent, the technical writer, the creative writer, and the analytical writer. Each person fits into one of these well defined types of writing styles, and once readers learn their writing personality types, the book guides them through the writing process.
Contents
- An Introduction to Personality Type
- Understanding Personality Type
- The Four Basic Writing Types
- Personality Type and The Writing Process
- Personality Within the Organization
- Collaborative Writing Groups
- The Care and Feeding of Personality Types
- Questions and Answers About WriteType
The Writer's Two-Book-Pack $25.95
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Free Communication Ideas In Our TGIM Newsletter
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For a Limited Time: 90 Day Access to Business Writing Basics for Just $29.95
You know what you want to say, but how do you say it? Do you even know the proper format to use for a memo, business letter, etc.? Writing is a part of everyday life, particularly in the work setting.
This course will help you avoid common grammar and spelling blunders and outline ways you can make your writing more persuasive and professional. Once you've learned the simple guidelines for writing more effectively, misunderstandings will be avoided, and you will be able to communicate with ease.
Upon completion of this course you should be able to:
- Master the mechanics of writing.
- Spell correctly.
- Punctuate accurately.
- Refine her style.
- Display professionalism in writing.
- Convey her message clearly.
- Create a sense of flow.
- Keep it concise.
- Pack punch in her prose.
- Strive for excellence.
- Apply her skills to business challenges.
- Master the methods of business communication.
- Handle the special cases.
Communication Ideas/ AmericaLearn is pleased to offer a powerful online interactive course that covers the strategies and tips above. You can access the course for three months for just $29.95. Visit http://americalearn.howtomaster.com
Click on Courses, then look under Soft Skills.
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How To Master Business Writing: from Memos and Minutes to Proposals and Press Releases $59.95
This powerful interacitve online course provides the most comprehensive review of effective writing of most documents you use at work, from letters, memos, and minutes to proposals, reports, and press releases.
In addition, It reviews basic spelling, punctuation, and grammar rules. It also teaches the importance of pre-writing activities, such as audience analysis, brainstorming, outlining, and first drafts. It covers sentence and word choice so the students will be able to determine the most effective and appropriate words and sentence lengths.
The course also warns you of common pitfalls, such as wordiness, cliches, active vs. passive voice, misplaced modifiers, and formal vs. informal tone. These skills are taught by using text, examples, exercises, and quizzes.
Upon completion of this course you will be able to:
- Create letters, memos, minutes, proposals, and press releases
- Use correct spelling and grammar in a document
- Practice pre-writing exercises
- Choose words carefully
- Avoid common writing pitfalls
Communication Ideas/ AmericaLearn is pleased to offer a powerful online interactive course that covers the strategies and tips above. You can access this comprehensive course for three months for just $59.95 - Visit http://americalearn.howtomaster.com
Click on Courses, then look under Soft Skills.
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