business writing: write today

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The first thing I do when reading an article by a new writer is hit the Find and Replace keys. I find the “!s” and replace them all with “.” Usually I’ll replace somewhere between five and ten exclamation points per 500-word article.

I’d love to be able to forbid writers to use exclamation points because the more horrible a piece of writing is, the more exclamation points it contains. Writers who use endless exclamation points KNOW their writing needs something: so they sprinkle it liberally with bangers.

The article On the overuse of exclamation points. - By Jacob Rubin - Slate Magazine says:

“It’s not that we know we aren’t writing well—and so tack on some exclamations!!!—it’s that we know what we’re saying doesn’t deserve to be written at all.”

Please: forbid yourself to use exclamation points. Your writing will improve 1000 per cent immediately.

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Technorati Tags: grammar, English, writing, exclamation point, exclamation mark

For those times you’ve got to get the words exactly right (like on your resume, for example) you need the rules of English grammar at your fingertips.

Bookmark these great grammar resources:

* Grammar at Wikipedia

* Guide to Grammar and Writing

* OWL Handouts

* BBC Grammar

* Dr. Grammar - my favorite.

And relax. No one gets their grammar right all the time; our writing would be dull if we did.

Technorati Tags: grammar, English grammar

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