THE AMA HANDBOOK OF BUSINESS WRITING This page intentionally left blank The AMA Handbook of Business Writing The Ultimate Guide to Style, Grammar, Usage, Punctuation, Construction, and Formatting KEVIN WILSON and JENNIFER WAUSON AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION New York • Atlanta • Brussels • Chicago • Mexico City • San Francisco Shanghai • Tokyo • Toronto • Washington, D. C. Bulk discounts available. For details visit: www.amacombooks.org/go/specialsales Or contact special sales: Phone: 800-250-5308 Email: [email protected] View all the AMACOM titles at: www.amacombooks.org This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data AMA handbook of business writing : the ultimate guide to style, grammar, usage, punctuation, construction, and formatting / Kevin Wilson and Jennifer Wauson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-1589-4 Isbn-10: 0-8144-1589-x 1. Commercial correspondence--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Business writing— Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. English language—Business English—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Wilson, K. (Kevin), 1958– II. Wauson, Jennifer. III. American Management Association. HF5726.A485 1996 808'.06665—dc22 2009050050 © 2010 Kevin Wilson and Jennifer Wauson. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. About AMA American Management Association (www.amanet.org) is a world leader in talent development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business success. Our mission is to support the goals of individuals and organizations through a complete range of products and services, including classroom and virtual seminars, webcasts, webinars, podcasts, conferences, corporate and government solutions, business books and research. AMA’s approach to improving performance combines experiential learning—learning through doing—with opportunities for ongoing professional growth at every step of one’s career journey. Printing number 10987654321 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS SECTION 1 The Writing Process Audience Analysis, 3 Proofreading, 19 Brainstorming, 4 Document Review, 22 Research, 7 Revisions, 23 Interviewing, 9 Documenting Sources, 24 Outlining, 10 Footnotes and Endnotes, 24 Writing a Draft, 12 Bibliographies, 26 Business Writing Style, 12 Global Communications, 26 Using Visuals, 13 Collaborative Writing, 28 Page Design, 15 Promotional Writing, 29 Publication Design, 16 Editing, 17 v vi Contents SECTION 2 The Business Writer’s Alphabetical Reference A, An, 33 A.D., 53 Abbreviations, 33 Adjectival Noun, 53 Titles Before and After Names, 34 Adjectival Opposites, 53 Names, 35 Adjective Phrase, 54 Mathematical Units and Adjectives, 54 Measurements, 35 Placement of Adjectives in a Long Phrases, 36 Sentence, 54 Words Used with Numbers, 36 Use of Multiple Adjectives, 56 Common Latin Terms, 36 Degrees of Adjectives, 56 States and Territories, 39 Irregular Form Adjectives, 57 Things You Should Not Abbreviate, 39 A-Adjectives, 57 Spacing and Periods for Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts, 58 Abbreviations, 39 Adverbial Clause, 59 Guidelines for Using Abbreviations in Your Writing, 40 Adverbial Phrase, 59 Abbreviations for Measurements, 41 Adverbs, 59 Abbreviations for Numbers, 42 Prepositional Phrases Acting as Adverbs, 62 Above, Below, 43 Infinitive Phrases Acting as Adverbs, 62 Absolute Form of an Adjective, 43 Adverbs in a Numbered List, 62 Absolute Phrase, 43 Adverbs to Avoid, 62 Absolutely, 43 Positioning Adverbs in a Sentence, 62 Abstract Nouns, 44 Order of Adverbs, 64 Accent Marks, 44 Inappropriate Adverb Order, 64 Accept, Except, 45 Viewpoint Adverbs, 65 Access, Excess, 45 Focus Adverbs, 65 Negative Adverbs, 65 Acronyms, 45 Advice, Advise, 65 Action Verbs, 46 Affect, Effect, 66 Active Voice, 52 Contents vii Affixes, 66 Antonyms, 78 African-American, 66 Any, Either, 78 Age, 67 Any, Some, 78 Agents, 67 Apart, A Part, 79 Agreement, 68 Apodosis, 79 Aid, Aide, 68 Apostrophe, 79 Alike, 96 Appears, Displays, 81 A Little, 264 Appendix, 81 Allegories, 68 Apposition, 82 Alliteration, 69 Appositives, 82 All Right, Alright, 69 Articles, 83 Allusion, Illusion, 69 As, Like, 261 Alone, Lonely, 70 Assure, Insure, Ensure, 184 A Lot, Alot, Allot, 70 Asterisks, 84 Already, All Ready, 71 As to Whether, 84 Altogether, All Together, 71 As Well As, 85 Ambitransitive Verbs, 71 Autoantonyms, 75 American English, British English, 72 Auxiliary Verbs, 85 Among, Between, 91 Average, Mean, Median, 86 Ampersand, 73 A While, Awhile, 87 A.M., P.M., 74 Awful, Awfully, 87 An, 33 Bad, Badly, 88 Anadiplosis, 74 Back-Channeling, 88 Anaphora, 74 Backslash, Slash, 88 And Also, 75 Back up, Backup, 89 And/Or, 75 Base Form of a Verb, 89 Angry, Mad, 268 Basically, Essentially, Totally, 89 Animate Nouns, 75 B.C., 89 Antagonyms, 75 Because, Since, As, 90 Antecedent, 77 Been, Gone, 90 Anti-, 77 Being That, Being As, 90 Antimetabole, 77 Below, 43 viii Contents Beside, Besides, 91 Cannot, 105 Between, Among, 91 Can’t Seem, 105 Bias, Biased, 92 Canvas, Canvass, 105 Biased or Sexist Language, 92 Capital Letters, 106 Bibliography, 94 Capital, Capitol, 106 Billion, 94 Capitalization, 106 Biweekly, Bimonthly, Semiweekly, Acts of Congress, 106 Semimonthly, 95 Associations, 107 Blind, 417 Book Titles and Their Subdivisions, 107 Blog, Weblog, 95 Railroad Cars and Automobile Models, 107 Bold Fonts, 96 Churches and Church Dignitaries, 107 Bored, Boring, 96 Cities, 107 Both, Alike, 96 Clubs, 108 Both, Each, 97 Legal Codes, 108 Brackets, 97 Compass Points Designating a Specific Changes to Quoted Material, 97 Region, 108 Digressions within Parentheses, 97 Constitutions, 108 Brake, Break, 97 Corporations, 108 Brand Names, 98 Courts, 109 Decorations, 109 Breath, Breathe, 98 Degrees (Academic), 109 Bring, Take, 99 Districts, 109 British English, 72 Educational Courses, 109 Bulleted List, 99 Epithets, 110 Bushel, 99 Fleets, 110 Business, Right, 100 Foundations, 110 Buzzwords, 100 Geographic Divisions, 110 By, Bye, Buy, 100 Government Divisions, 110 By, Until, 102 Historical Terms, 110 Holidays, 111 Call Back, Callback, 103 Libraries, 111 Call Out, Callout, 103 Localities, 111 Callouts, 103 Military Services, 111 Came By, 104 Nobility and Royalty, 112 Can, May, 104 Oceans and Continents, 112 Contents ix Parks, Peoples, and Tribes, 112 Colon, 124 Personification, 112 Emphasis or Anticipation, 125 Planets and Other Heavenly Bodies, 113 Time, 125 Rivers, 113 Titles, 125 Sports Stadiums, Teams, and Terms, 113 Combination, 125 Captions, 113 Comma, 125 Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers, 114 Compound and Complex Case, 114 Sentences, 126 Cataphora, 115 Introductory Expressions, 127 Other Transitional Words, 127 Causative Verbs, 116 Prepositional Phrases, 128 Caution Notice, 286 Contrasting Phrases, 128 CD, DVD, 116 Nonrestrictive Modifiers, 128 Censor, Censure, Sensor, Censer, 117 Infinitive Phrases, 129 Champaign, Champagne, 117 Designating Dialogue, 129 Check, Control, 117 Repeated Words, 129 Chiasmus, 118 Word Omission, 130 Chicano, Latino, Hispanic, 118 Transposed Adjective Order, 130 Choose, Chose, 118 Numbers, 130 Addresses, 131 Cite, Site, Sight, 119 Titles, 131 Citing Publications, 119 Company Names, 132 Clauses, 120 Common Adjectives, 132 Cleanup, Clean Up, 120 Common Nouns, 132 Cleft Sentences, 120 Company and Product Names, 133 Clichés, 121 Comparatives, 133 Click, 333 Compared to, Compared with, 134 Click and Drag, 279 Complement, Compliment, 134 Click On, 279 Complements, 134 Closed Compounds, 138 Complex Prepositions, 135 Coleman-Liau Index, 123 Compound Nouns, 135 Collective Adjectives, 123 Compound Predicates, 326 Collective Nouns, 123 Compound Sentences, 136 Collocations, 124 Compounding Sentence Elements, 136 Colloquial, 124 x Contents Compound Words, 137 Could of, Might of, 272 Open Compounds, 137 Council, Counsel, Consul, 151 Closed Compounds, 138 Count Nouns, 152 Hyphenated Compounds, 138 Credible, Credulous, 152 Comptroller, Controller, 139 Cross-Reference, 152 Concord, 139 Cut-and-Paste, 152 Concrete Nouns, 139 Danger Notice, 286 Conditional Perfect, 139 Dangling Modifiers, 153 Conditionals, 140 Characteristics of Dangling Conjunctions, 141 Modifiers, 153 And, 141 Revising Dangling Modifiers, 154 But, 142 Dangling Participles, 154 Or, 142 Dash, 155 Punctuation for Coordinating Data, 156 Conjunctions, 143 Dates, 156 Other Conjunctions, 144 Deaf or Hard of Hearing, 157 Subordinating Conjunctions, 145 Correlative Conjunctions, 145 Deal, 158 Conjunctive Adverbs, 146 Decimals, 158 Conjuncts, 146 Declarative Mood, 159 Connote, Denote, 146 Declarative Sentence, 159 Considered to Be, 146 Defining Relative Clause, 160 Consonants, 147 Definite Article, 160 Continuous Verbs, 147 Defuse, Diffuse, 160 Contractions, 147 Degree Adverbs, 161 Contranyms, 75 Degree Titles, 161 Control, 117 Deixis, 162 Convince, Persuade, 150 Demonstrative Adjectives, 162 Cooperate, 150 Demonstrative Pronouns, 162 Coordinated Adjectives, 54 Denominal