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Author Archives: Norm Friedman
Making Subject Lines Pay Off
Last week (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/scary-emails/), we talked about common failings in email correspondence. This week, as promised, we’ll home in on an area where many emailers can easily enhance their skills: the composition of subject lines. Do you allocate a few seconds … Continue reading
Posted in Flair & Finesse
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Scary emails
Let’s do some ghostbusting today and identify common email failings that can spook our readers. Identify lack of courtesy or efficiency in the following exchange. Hazel Witch … Continue reading
Posted in Flair & Finesse
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Whiskers II
Two weeks ago (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/the-whisker-metaphor/), I introduced a cat’s whiskers as another metaphor for the warning system each of us should continually be expanding to refine our writing. This time, instead of focusing on correctness, let’s concentrate on conciseness. As you … Continue reading
Posted in Brevity
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The A-List
See if you can avoid stumbling on any of these word choices. An A grade awaits. 1. I’m sure you will (appraise/apprise) me if anything changes. 2. A three-person panel (administers/administrates) the review process. 3. We’ve used the same financial … Continue reading
Posted in Commonly Confused Words
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The Whisker Metaphor
No, I’m not above pandering, so this week – in addition to targeting folks who care about perfecting their writing – I’m going after the Internet’s cat-crazy crowd. The word that pertains to both groups? “Whiskers.” In my workshops I … Continue reading
Paper Cuts II
As noted last week, observing what newspaper and magazine writers are doing to inform and entertain us can be quite instructive … while catching their occasional errors can bolster our confidence. I know I felt pretty smug when I read … Continue reading
Posted in Brevity, Commonly Confused Words, Flair & Finesse
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Paper Cuts
The daily paper serves as a living textbook on writing, but we all know that even the pros slip up once in a while. Here are a few gotchas from the past week. The sports page These two sentences appeared … Continue reading
Posted in Brevity, Common Grammar Errors, Flair & Finesse
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Don’t Stumble at the Start: The Sequel
In my first post one year ago, I talked about the downsides of starting sentences with “There is” or “There are” (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/dont-stumble-at-the-start/). Now let’s look at another kind of less-than-optimal opening. To make my point, I’ll focus on what I … Continue reading
Posted in Flair & Finesse
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“Like”
We have several reasons to beware of the word “like.” Let’s see why. Like 101 Given the overuse of this word in recent years, it’s obvious we aren’t going to impress anyone with sentences such as this: The movie was, … Continue reading
Posted in Common Grammar Errors, Flair & Finesse
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Anniversary Month
Yep. If you are one of my original subscribers, you have now been receiving posts for a full year. And if you joined the party late, entries you missed are waiting for you in “Archives.” So let’s mark the one-year … Continue reading