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Category Archives: Flair & Finesse
Wicked “Which”
Knowing when to use that and when to use which is not as wicked a situation as you might think. Simply put, we use that to introduce a phrase or clause that is essential for clarity. We use which to … Continue reading
A Solid Start
The use of participles (“-ing” verbs) to get sentences off to a lively start was recommended in one of my earliest posts, on October 10, 2014 (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/i-got-choppy-rhythm/). Here’s what I said at the end of that post about avoiding monotonous … Continue reading
Posted in Common Grammar Errors, Flair & Finesse
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Reach for That Red Pen
You don’t have to agree with me, but I think some aspects of editing are fun. There, I said it. When editing doesn’t require the unwieldy task of reorganizing, and mainly entails catching a typo here and a missing apostrophe … Continue reading
Posted in Brevity, Flair & Finesse
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Pop Quiz Theme: Summer Cookouts
I don’t get it. Back in school, having a teacher spring a quiz on us elicited groans and anxiety, but several readers have remarked that they particularly like the posts containing quizzes. So here you go. Each sentence below can … Continue reading
Framing Your Message, Part 2
Last week, we looked at the prime location for workplace writers to frame their messages: the subject line of an email. For most of us, email is the most frequent medium of written communication, and the subject line box is sitting … Continue reading
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Framing Your Email Message
Skillful writers do their readers, and themselves, a favor by effectively framing their messages. They let their readers know at the outset precisely where they are going. Whether the message is an email, letter, proposal, news release, or PowerPoint, effective … Continue reading
Posted in Brevity, Flair & Finesse
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An Embarrassment of Glitches II
Once again, I have come across an online article containing a treasure trove of common writing problems. See what you spot in this paragraph. A lot of the time, an employee who has recently been promoted to a supervisor role … Continue reading
Posted in Brevity, Common Grammar Errors, Flair & Finesse
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You’ve Got Style
One of many ways to refine our writing is developing a personal style guide. Some employers have a style guide to help ensure consistency and correctness across all departments, but most don’t. That shouldn’t stop you, however, from maintaining … Continue reading
High-Crime Area
In recent posts we’ve been identifying “alarms” we can set on commonly confused words, poorly understood punctuation rules, and other potential stumbling blocks. Today let’s look at a place in our writing that often contains errors: the title line. Because … Continue reading
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Alarm #3: Re-verberations
Reverberations are loud echoes, and a key to catching unwanted echoes in our writing is setting alarms on common traps so the lack of economy comes through loud and clear. Redundancies like “ATM machine” and “Please RSVP” are well known, … Continue reading
Posted in Brevity, Flair & Finesse
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