a simple guide to _better business (or, things you wondered about correct English writing but never got around to asking) a publication by 8020 Communications a simple guide to better business writing

_meet the authors

Marc Cornelius Barry Dunstall Founder & Managing Director Content Editor

Marc has over 20 years’ international Barry is a senior content writer PR experience. He was a Middle for 8020 Communications. Prior East country manager for a top-three to moving into PR and content global PR consultancy and worked marketing, Barry was a career for three other leading international journalist with a 15-year career PR agencies in London. In-house, spanning a range of aviation Marc was corporate communications and B2B publications. He was manager for a FTSE 100 company managing editor of ‘Regional and communications director for International’ magazine and has a technology start-up. He has published and/or edited magazines specialised in aviation, travel and for the global, European and North transport for more than a decade and American divisions of the Airports served as a PRCA Awards judge. Council International (ACI) and for the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

www.8020comms.com 2 a simple guide to better business writing

_contents

01 introduction 02 the wasted word – why concision matters 03 using apostrophes – it’s really very simple 04 the comma – when to use it, and when to lose it 05 practice makes perfect (or is it practise…?) 06 compound adjectives – the well-informed approach to writing 07 me and I (and Terry and June) 08 the wonderful world of interrobangs and sarcastrophes

www.8020comms.com 3 a simple guide to better business writing

chapter 01 _introduction

www.8020comms.com 01 4 a simple guide to better business writing 01

_introduction

Good writing matters. For PR professionals and content marketers the written word is our stock in trade. However, the English language is a notoriously complex and inconsistent beast, so getting your writing chops together is an ongoing challenge. There’s always something new to learn, even for native speakers.

In this short, practical guide we cover some of the misunderstandings and uncertainties we come across most frequently with clients.

Writing should be fun, so this isn’t a fusty, academic tome. It’s a collection of blog posts we’ve written on those little aspects of writing you may have wondered about but never quite got around to investigating.

We hope this is something you’ll enjoy reading and which will make you walk taller, confident in your superhuman understanding of written English. Pick this up the next time you’re arguing the toss over whether a comma is needed in what you’ve just written!

www.8020comms.com 5 a simple guide to better business writing

chapter 02 _the wasted word. why concision matters

www.8020comms.com 02 6 a simple guide to better business writing 02 _the wasted word. why concision matters

One of the goals of print journalism is concision. Student journalists are often told to imagine a businessman reading a newspaper on the way to work. As his train nears the station, our commuter will just have time to read another 30 words before being swept away into office life. Will he leave the train having read nothing more than an ambiguous headline and a paragraph of vague preamble? Or will your razor-sharp writing tell him everything he needs to know before the train doors open at Clapham Junction?

Unsurprisingly, therefore, journalists despise the wasted word. Every sub-editor’s heart beats to the rhythm of “Shorter, Shorter, Shorter”.

A quick example of how easily words can be wasted: “Both Alec and Kenny agreed that old-age pensioners would soon find the brand new tea-making machine had become an absolutely vital part of their lives.” Perhaps, at first glance, that sentence does not seem so painfully verbose. But what if we remove the underlined words? “Both Alec and Kenny agreed that old-age pensioners would soon find the brand new tea-making machine to have become an absolutely vital part of their lives.” The sentence that remains: “Alec and Kenny agreed pensioners would soon find the new tea-making machine vital,” makes sense and contains all the points of the previous version.

The principles of good writing are always worth applying and become particularly important when dealing with the media. With a little effort, the first draft of any news story (or other piece of text) can be edited to achieve a shorter, better version. The goal of concision is not just to make grumpy sub-editors happy. The goal is to ensure even the busiest commuters know the news.

www.8020comms.com 7 a simple guide to better business writing

it's really very simple

chapter 03 _using apostrophes. it’s really very simple

www.8020comms.com 03 8 a simple guide to better business writing 03 _using apostrophes. it’s really very simple

Of all the problems in punctuation, perhaps the most common everyday confusion arises in knowing when to write “it’s”, with an apostrophe, and when to write “its”, without one.

Like a policeman, pesky apostrophes never seem to be around when you need one. And yet they always seem to turn up without warning when they’re not wanted, like an unwelcome Christmas guest.

The situation with “its” and “it’s” is actually very simple. You should only use an apostrophe if you are abbreviating the words “it is” or “it has”. For example, the sentence: “It is the best product the world has ever seen,” becomes: “It’s the best product the world has ever seen.” The apostrophe takes the place of the deleted letter “i”. When you then go on to explain that: “It’s got lots of flashing lights on its display screen,” an apostrophe is needed at the beginning of the sentence, where the meaning is: “It has,” but not toward the end of the sentence (because the statement: “It’s got lots of flashing lights on it is display screen,” makes no sense).

Bringing the apostrophe and the word “its” together often seems to cause trouble – but it’s really not a problem.

it's really very simple... www.8020comms.com 9 a simple guide to better business writing

chapter 04 _the comma. when to use it, and when to lose it

www.8020comms.com 04 10 a simple guide to better business writing 04 _the comma. when to use it, and when to lose it

There are really no rules in punctuation, only conventions. And conventions, by definition, vary between cultures and ages.

One perfect example of this variety is the use of a comma directly before grammatical conjunctions such as ‘but’ or ‘and’. English school education often outlaws the practice of placing a comma before such words. US education, however, tends to take the opposite position. (For example, US convention dictates that the word ‘and’ at the end of a list absolutely should be preceded by a comma, as in “red, white, and blue”, which strikes English people as odd.) We should remember too that many business people in modern Asia and Europe are primarily educated in American-English rather than English-English.

The conventions may be different on different sides of the Atlantic but it would be small-minded in a big world to suggest that either party is right or wrong.

Returning to the origins of punctuation provides us with a useful rule of thumb. The very first punctuation marks were introduced by the ancient Greek dramatists to tell actors when to pause and breathe when delivering speeches. On one basic level, therefore, the comma represents a pause. If what you are writing were to be read aloud, would you want the reader to pause at this point, for clarity or emphasis? For example, if you were talking about “going to dinner with Jack and Jill”, you would not ordinarily pause before the ‘and’, so a comma seems unnecessary in writing. But if you are “playing football with Jack, and Jill is going shopping”, a pause (represented by the comma) seems helpful to indicate that two separate events are taking place.

If in doubt, read aloud what you have just written, see where you naturally pause, and add commas appropriately. www.8020comms.com 11 a simple guide to better business writing

chapter 05 _practice makes perfect (or is it practise…?)

www.8020comms.com 05 12 a simple guide to better business writing 05 _practice makes perfect (or is it practise…?)

We’ve noticed some confusion in the media lately about the difference between “practice” and “practise”. Conventions in American English differ but with good old- fashioned English English – the original and best! – the important thing to remember is that “practice” is the noun and “practise” is the verb.

A doctor has a practice, therefore; footballers might have a practice session; and we can say that the practice of spelling correctly is an admirable thing.

But when we are talking in verbs, that same doctor is practising medicine; the footballers are practising their ball control; and lucky children are practising their spelling in tests at school.

The same principles often apply to nouns and verbs with similar “-ce” and “-se” endings, such as licence and license (e.g. “My driving licence [noun] means that I am licensed [verb] to drive a car.”).

And the point of all this practice? To make perfect, of course. As the legendary Gary Player once said, when accused of just being a lucky golfer: “I am lucky. And you know what, the more I practise, the luckier I get!”

www.8020comms.com 13 a simple guide to better business writing

chapter 06 _compound adjectives. the well-informed approach to writing www.8020comms.com 06 14 a simple guide to better business writing 06 _compound adjectives. the well-informed approach to writing

We are often asked by our clients for advice on matters of grammar and punctuation. Even the strongest ideas can appear weak when presented poorly. Clumsy writing is especially damaging in areas of marketing, advertising and public relations.

One common question concerns ‘compound adjectives’, such as ‘last-minute’ or ‘high-flying’, when two words are brought together and hyphenated to express a single idea. Clients often tell us that they don’t know when two words become such a compound adjective and therefore need a hyphen.

A good rule of thumb is to ask whether both of the words in question can operate coherently in isolation, when attached to the noun being described. For example, a “progressive, pioneering company” can also be described as just a “progressive company” or a “pioneering company”. All of those phrases make sense. However, a “well-informed company” could not also be described as a “well company”. That phrase clearly makes no sense. The words ‘well’ and ‘informed’ therefore have to operate in partnership, which is where the hyphen comes in, effectively acting as a chain linking the two words together into a single idea.

So, the next time you need to write a description of your business, remember that you work for a well-informed, forward-thinking company.

www.8020comms.com 15 a simple guide to better business writing

chapter 07 _me and I (and Terry and June)

www.8020comms.com 07 16 a simple guide to better business writing 07 _me and I (and Terry and June)

To some people’s ears, the sentence: “Terry is going shopping with June and I” sounds perfectly reasonable and correct. To those same people, the statement: “Terry is going shopping with June and me” might well sound rather colloquial and improper.

In fact, the latter version is grammatically correct. A simple set of guidelines helps explain. Firstly, as in both cases above, whenever you are listing people including yourself, you should always deferentially name yourself last (e.g. “Terry and me” rather than “me and Terry”).

The greater problem is when to use “me” and when to use “I”. Basically, if you are part of the subject of the sentence (which is ordinarily indicated by appearing near the start of the sentence), then you need to use “I”. If you are not part of the subject of the sentence but one of the objects (ordinarily indicated therefore by appearing later in the statement), you should refer to “me”.

So, correctly, you could say: “Terry and I are going shopping with June” or “Terry is going shopping with June and me”.

You should not say: “Terry and me are going shopping with June” or “June is going shopping with Terry and I”.

Confused? Not sure? Try the above incorrect sentences with Terry staying at home. You basically end up with: “Me am going shopping with June” or “June is going shopping with I”. They obviously sound wrong, so you know you need to try again.

www.8020comms.com 17 a simple guide to better business writing

chapter 08 _the wonderful world of interrobangs and sarcastrophes

www.8020comms.com 08 18 a simple guide to better business writing 08 _the wonderful world of interrobangs and sarcastrophes

The origins of punctuation date back to ancient Greece, when dramatists like Aristophanes found a need to visually indicate pauses to actors reading and learning scripts. A system of dots, arranged vertically, revealed the length of the pause required to achieve the perfect breathing rhythm and dramatic effect. Over 2,000 years later, punctuation still serves essentially the same purpose. Although most words are now written to be read silently to oneself, punctuation continues to tell us how to hear the words in our heads. A few well-placed dots and squiggles let us know when to pause or change inflection.

Having been free to evolve for more than two millennia, punctuation’s bag of tricks unsurprisingly became pretty comprehensive long ago. New punctuation marks rarely emerge blinking into the sunlight. Most disappear from view again almost at once. Rare indeed is the punctuation mark that captures the public’s imagination and becomes part of common English usage. The last example was arguably the introduction of the quotation mark to denote direct speech in the early 18th century. However, in this world of texts and Twitter, where so much casual conversation is actually written rather than spoken, perhaps one or two forgotten punctuation marks deserve another chance.

Take the interrobang ( ), for example, which, as the name and look suggests, literally combines the interrogation of the question mark with the dramatic stress (or ‘bang’ if you prefer) of the exclamation mark. Introduced in 1967 but hardly ever seen today, surely the interrobang deserves a renaissance for rhetorical exclamations like: “WTF ” and: “He said what ”. www.8020comms.com 19 a simple guide to better business writing 08 _the wonderful world of interrobangs and sarcastrophes

And how about a campaign for the use of the wonderfully named sarcastrophe? Office politics means peace is often a fragile commodity in the corporate world, and friction can easily surface if a well-intentioned email is misinterpreted. A sincere expression of gratitude, like: “You were a great help”, could be seen as a sarcastic rebuke if the over- sensitive reader is having a bad day. Without the tell-tale inflections of speech, irony can easily be overlooked, or mistakenly perceived, when words are simply written down. Unleash the sarcastrophe (^), however, and all becomes clear. The phrase: “You were a great help” offers genuine thanks, but: ^You were a great help^ leaves the recipient in no doubt that their efforts were worse than useless.

Given that punctuation ultimately exists to improve the clarity of communication, it seems odd that something as potentially useful as the sarcastrophe has never really taken off. Perhaps it was a victim of its own success, hoist by its own petard? “The sarcastrophe – oh, yes, that’s a ^really good^ idea.”

www.8020comms.com 20 a simple guide to better business writing

_interested?

To learn about our writing courses or to discuss your needs in PR, social media and marketing content, please get in touch.

If you’ve found this guide helpful, don’t stop your reading here, check out the blog on our website. You can also subscribe to our newsletter to receive more updates, tips and insights from the 8020 team.

Subscribe

www.8020comms.com 21 8020 Communications e: [email protected] w: 8020comms.com

Head Office Hadleigh House 232-240 High Street Guildford GU1 3JF United Kingdom t: +44 (0)1483 447380

London Office 42 Brook Street London W1K 5DB United Kingdom t: +44 (0)20 7664 6310