Posted by Conni Eversull on Tue, Jul 13, 2010 @ 04:00 AM
The following is a guest post written by Kyle Simpson.
When you got your bachelor’s in English, everyone told you how lucky you were to have a degree that would help you in any field you chose to work in, from corporate marketing to communications to service writing for an automotive shop. But now that you’ve started your professional life, you’re having trouble adapting the lessons you learned from classical literature and poetry classes to practical purposes. After all, how does penning a sonnet relate to organizing a marketing campaign for dog kibble? However, having a strong grasp of the mechanics of the English language (spelling, grammar, vocabulary, structure) can only help you in any area where writing and communicating (or even thinking and organizing) are required. You just have to work at it.
- Write for your audience. The first thing you’ll want to do is tailor your writing to the business you’re in. For example, writing a service manual for a vacuum cleaner doesn’t exactly call for flowery prose (“Attach the hose with the utmost attention to detail, ensuring that all parts go together like cake and ice cream” will probably leave customers scratching their heads – and you out of a job).
- Format properly. Every position is going to call for a specific style, so do whatever you can to learn the format as quickly as possible. Advertising, marketing, and press releases all require completely different types of writing (even though they’re closely related fields), and you’re going to stand a lot better chance of excelling at your job if your writing is versatile.
- Be smart. Believe it or not, there is a certain amount of logic involved. If you want to run a successful ad campaign, you need to learn how to influence people in a subtle manner, whereas a press release is the very simple conveyance of information, largely unembellished. You will benefit a lot more from learning how to say what you want if you understand the reasoning behind it.
- Never stop learning. Chances are, you’re not going to write the definitive novel of your generation, or get the dream job working in a publishing house or writing literary reviews for a well-known magazine. It’s much more likely that you’ll take a paying job wherever you can get it.
- Have fun! You can still use your writing skills to your advantage and enjoy whatever career you pursue. And you’ll find that pushing yourself to learn a style that is not familiar to you will present not only difficulties, but rewards. There is nothing more fulfilling than flexing your mind in a new and challenging way…and succeeding.
The main thing to keep in mind is that confidence is the key. If you don’t believe you can master a particular style of writing, you’ve already lost the battle. People don’t like to change, but we are, by nature, adaptable creatures, and teaching yourself to think and express your ideas in new ways can be as easy or as hard as you make it. The truth is, being flexible will not only make your job easier, it will allow you more opportunities in the future. And if you are writing that novel or blogging in your spare time, every technique you pick up will allow you a greater range of expression and help you to hone your individual style.
Kyle Simpson writes for Medical Billing and Coding Certification, where you can find more information about a career and training in the medical field.
Posted by Conni Eversull on Fri, Jun 18, 2010 @ 09:48 AM
I recently had a conversation with Rick Roberge who told me what a great service our company provides. Rick, a sales coach and trainer, said he believes that every salesperson who writes proposals, e-mails, letters, etc., should incorporate proofreading as a standard part of their business writing process. Rick then went on to write a blog post about this topic.
I had to agree with Rick about the need for attention to detail in writing. As you may know, I've written before about the lack of quality and the inattention to detail that I see almost every day on the Web and in e-mails and other written correspondence.
I'm constantly amazed that there are folks who think it doesn't matter that their posts include misspellings or bad grammar. Their attitude is that it's more important to have timely posts than correct posts. But while I firmly believe a casual style of writing is appropriate in many instances, such as blog posts and some e-mails, this doesn't mean that all writing guidelines should be ignored.
First impressions are very important. If you're a businessperson who comes across unprofessionally in a first encounter, whether face-to-face or in writing, you may very well take yourself out of the running for new business. I'm totally in agreement with Rick on this!
So are you in agreement with us? How do you approach your business writing projects? Do you use the "get it done quickly" approach, without paying heed to misspellings, grammar and punctuation? Or do you stop to proofread before posting, e-mailing, or printing your document?
We at ProofreadNOW.com can help you present a professional image. But if you're looking for help in perfecting your company's professional sales image, I recommend you talk with Rick at Kurlan Associates.
Posted by Phil Jamieson on Mon, Mar 15, 2010 @ 09:36 AM
Sure, this is a diversion from grammar, but many in our market are from ad agencies, so this article in AdAge was interesting to us at ProofreadNOW.com. What about it? Is your ad agency hiring now? Do you see significant growth opportunities in 2010? Tell us!
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=142795
Posted by Conni Eversull on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 @ 05:00 AM
We recently received the following grammar question from one of our customers. I thought this question and answer might be useful to other grammarians and maybe even spark a little discussion.
Question
If you can help me solve this nagging grammar issue, I will be eternally grateful and one of your biggest fans. Does the word because require a comma in the following sentence?
'That might be an exaggeration, because we were not physically abused, but Mama didn't hesitate to use the switch.'
More and more I'm seeing a comma precede the word "because," but I never grew up with that rule. Has the rule changed?"
Answer
In the context, a comma after 'abused' is useful because it breaks the otherwise-assumed cause and effect of 'because.' The commas that you do use, which are appropriate, make the phrase 'because we weren't physically abused' into a parenthetical phrase.
Any other thoughts on this, readers?
Posted by Conni Eversull on Mon, Apr 13, 2009 @ 10:52 AM
No, this isn't the name of a song title. It's a borrowed line from a post I saw that was part of a reply to someone asking about a grammar-checking facility in CMS. This made me wonder: Is this how most business people today think about the quality of their written communications? Doesn't anyone care anymore that words are spelled correctly or that proper grammar is used? Is it important to proofread communications before they're published?
In my opinion, whether communications are printed on paper, in emails, or on the Web, it makes sense to be clear about what is being communicated. And I've found it's particularly important that the written word needs to be clearer than the spoken word. After all, you can easily lose tonality in a written communication. (I can't tell you how many times a family member and I have gotten upset about something written in an email that, had the same thought been spoken, no one would have been upset.)
Of course, because we're an online proofreading and copyediting company, we're driven to make sure that our customers send out only clear, concise, properly spelled, and grammatically correct documents. We have a vested interest in this because it's our business to provide superior proofreading and copyediting services for business, medical, legal, and technical documents.
Now, I'm not one of our professional proofreaders or copyeditors. But I know enough to distinguish between a well-written resume, without typos, and a poorly written one. And I have to say that the quality of the written word goes a long way toward my first impression of a candidate.
I'm well aware that texting has created a new shorthand for communicating quickly. That's fine; this shorthand is great for texting. But texting shorthand and need for speed seems to have created a whole new attitude that says "Don't worry. Be sloppy." This mind-set says correct spelling and proper grammar use aren't important anymore.
I know how I feel about this. What do you think?