business writing: write today

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English grammar is fun. No, really, it is.

The Chicago Tribune’s “Rebels with a clause are back” notes that:

Now, even the sentence diagram, long the symbol of abandoned methodology, is allowed, if not endorsed, in the classrooms of high-performing school systems throughout the region. To diagram a sentence is to deconstruct it, with the main noun, verb and object written on a horizontal line and their various modifiers attached with diagonals.

“Diagramming Sentences” offers an excellent free PowerPoint presentation on how to diagram sentences. Download it - it’s fun.

Technorati Tags: English grammar, sentence diagram, how to diagram a sentence

Do your memos get you the results you want? For example, if you’ve just written a memo to advise your boss that Widget 00968B has been discontinued, you may feel that you’ve done the right thing, and that your boss will quickly find a new component for the new product, of which Widget 00968B is a vital component.

But… A month later, production comes to a halt, and the launch of the new product is postponed. Your boss is furious, and your wail of “I sent you a memo!” doesn’t calm him down.

Tailor your memos to the recipient

Before you write a memo, picture the recipient. What does this person (or group) know?

Give enough detail so that the recipient of your memo knows what the message means, why it’s important, and how it’s likely to impact the business.

In your “Widget 00968B” memo, you could have pointed out that Widget 00968B is a vital component, and that finding a new supplier is urgent. Adding a list of possible new suppliers would have given your boss the information he needed.

Technorati Tags: business writing, memo writing, write memos

Confused about the correct usage of “its” or “it’s”?

Read “An Elementary Rule of Usage” for a very funny diatribe:

Evidently, despite the sterling public and private school education provided by our fair nation, there are people — evil, ignorant, or merely misinformed, it’s not for me to say — who insist on using it’s, the possessive form of the pronoun it, when the correct form is its.

Just remember that “it’s” is a contraction, meaning “it is”.

Therefore:

It’s a fine day today;

It’s a shame she married a fool;

It’s about time you learned to do that.

And:

The car had its fender dented;

The cat got its tail caught in the door;

The rose lost its petals.

Technorati Tags: its, it’s, possessive, contraction