The 25 Deadliest Words and Phrases in Business Writing

If you've ever included phrases like "enclosed please find," "under separate cover," "please do not hesitate …" or "pursuant to your request" in a business letter or e-mail, you may be turning off your readers for good.

The Communication Workshop, a company devoted to helping business people improve their writing, has issued a list of "The 25 Deadliest Words and Phrases in Business Communication." says Workshop Director Gary Blake. http://www.writingworkshop.com/

"Although employers are constantly seeking employees with excellent communication skills, they often settle for people who write letters with stodgy, cliché-ridden phrases and negative tone (e.g., "You failed to show up for the meeting.") that may keep customers from returning as well as demoralize co-workers who are often shocked at the negativity of the message."

Blake cites phrases such as "Very truly yours," "respectfully," "as per your request," "attached herewith," "Sincerely yours," and "the undersigned" as among the tired phrases that should be banned from business writing. As he travels through North America presenting seminars and webinars in Effective Business Writing and Effective Technical Writing, Blake often finds at least five to eight writing gaffes per page in every letter, memo or report submitted by seminar attendees.

For a copy of "The 25 Deadliest Words and Phrases in Business Writing," or for information about Blake's writing seminars and webinars, call 516-767-9590 or e-mail garyblake@aol.com. His website is http://www.writingworkshop.com/.

WhiteSmoke Expands Writing Style Features in English Grammar Software

Today WhiteSmoke released an update to its English writing software, WhiteSmoke 2009, providing additional writing style suggestions. WhiteSmoke 2009 is an advanced tool for checking grammar, spelling, and writing style. WhiteSmoke hopes the update will bring a competitive advantage to users whose writing performance at the workplace is crucial. As stated in the National Commission on Writing: "Writing is integral in nearly every job. It's really not a promotion issue since you'd never get to the point of promotion without good communications skills. You can't move up without writing skills."

A survey of WhiteSmoke 2009 users showed that 47.1% purchased the program on the strength of its writing style enhancements alone, which drove further development in this area. "Based on the needs of our users in the workplace, this latest update expands the range of writing style enhancements WhiteSmoke 2009 makes by adding specialized suggestions to clean up redundant phrasing ," states Liran Brenner, VP R&D at WhiteSmoke. "The result is more varied and readable writing, without redundant wording, and a reduction in the use of the same phrases in a text over and over again."

Examples:

1. "There was a broad consensus of opinion at the meeting about the new deal." becomes "There was a broad consensus at the meeting about the new deal."

2. "Currently at this time we employee 58 workers." Becomes "Currently we employee 58 workers."

3. "It is clear that the investment strategy is working." Becomes "Clearly, the investment strategy is working."

"The majority of WhiteSmoke users correct and enhance their writing at the workplace. Considering the current job market, there are indications that this could give them a significant advantage as writing becomes a crucial skill to employers. Surveys have indicated that up to 50% of companies take writing skills into consideration during promotions," says Hilla Ovil-Brenner, WhiteSmoke CEO. As one business leader stated in the National Commission on Writing, "Writing skills are fundamental in business. It's increasingly important to be able to convey content in a tight, logical, direct manner, particularly in a fast-paced technological environment."

"The current economic situation requires employees to look for competitive advantages in the workplace - skills that set them apart as workers. Employers have strongly indicated that writing has become a vital skill for promotion, and herein lies an opportunity for WhiteSmoke users. WhiteSmoke 2009's new style features, combined with its highly advanced grammar checking algorithms, can help improve this important skill. " claims Amit Greener, VP Marketing at WhiteSmoke.

Free Web Site Launched to Help Immigrants Learn English

The U.S. Department of Education today launched U.S.A. Learns, a free Web site to help immigrants learn English. The Web site, which is located at http://www.usalearns.org/, provides approximately 11 million adults who have low levels of English proficiency with easily accessible and free English language training.

"America's limited-English adults will now have readily available materials to improve their literacy and help them become more productive workers, better parents, engaged community members and active citizens," said Troy Justesen, assistant secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

Launch of the site completes one of the goals in President Bush's Aug. 10, 2007, announcement of 26 immigration reforms that his Administration would pursue within existing law -- including the assimilation of new citizens and helping immigrants learn English to expand their opportunities in America. Recognizing that "[k]nowledge of English is the most important component of assimilation" and "an investment in tools to help new Americans learn English will be repaid many times over," the Administration pledged to launch a free, Web-based portal to help immigrants learn English.

U.S.A. Learns offers the following features:

* An easily accessible Internet learning tool;

* Simple directions;

* Free instructional materials developed to teach basic English skills and help adults improve their English proficiency; and

* Learning modules that can be used outside a traditional classroom

Upon entering the site, users can choose directions in either English or Spanish and then pick which English level they need -- beginner or intermediate. Once in the modules, the instruction is almost exclusively in English. In the beginner course, 20 units are offered in such areas as numbers, the calendar, places to go, families, schools, clothes, money and shopping. For intermediate students, more challenging exercises can help them further their existing English reading and writing skills.

Learn English Without Grammar Study

Most students who learn English think they must study English grammar rules. Likewise, most English language schools and most English teachers make grammar study the core of their lessons.

While few students enjoy this approach, most resign themselves to years of boredom in the mistaken belief that grammar study is a necessary evil. Most believe that English grammar study is necessary to master the language.

New research, however, refutes this belief. Research in the field of English language education increasingly finds that grammar study is a very inefficient and ineffective way to master English.

Based on the research of Dr. James Asher, Dr. Stephen Krashen, Dr. Ashley Hastings, and Dr. Brenda Murphy, new teaching methods are yielding powerful results-- without grammar study.

These methods utilize an intuitive approach to teaching the language. Students imitate the learning methods of native speakers. They acquire English grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation without studying lists or rules.

Rather, teachers employ carefully designed stories, conversations, and movies to teach grammar patterns naturally and effortlessly.

Research at Shenandoah University found that students using these intuitive methods learned 35% faster than students who studied English with traditional grammar-based methods.

Dr. James Asher's research found that students who use the new intuitive learning methods learn 4-5 times faster than students who use traditional study methods.

Source: http://www.effortlessenglishclub.com/

Britannica Adds New Collections of "Primary Sources"

Students using Encyclopaedia Britannica's school, library and academic Web sites now have extensive collections of original source documents at their fingertips, with Primary Sources, a vast collection spanning literature, history, philosophy and other fields.

The new collections, amounting to tens of thousands of documents, many of them full-length books, are now available to users of Britannica Online (http://search.eb.com/), Britannica Online School Edition (http://school.eb.com/) and Britannica Online Public Library Edition (http://library.eb.com/).

The documents are available by special arrangement with the Project Gutenberg Consortia Center (http://www.gutenberg.cc/), a program founded by Michael Hart in 1971 to create electronic books by digitizing important texts and making them widely available. Incorporating these texts with Britannica's extensive reference and multimedia collections puts them conveniently at the disposal of students, teachers and professors.

Included are full-length works of authors as diverse as Plato, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Geoffrey Chaucer, Leonardo da Vinci, Beatrix Potter, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare and Leo Tolstoy. The books are linked directly with the Britannica articles on the authors, so students researching those authors can instantly get the full texts of their major works with just an additional click of the mouse.

"This adds an entire new dimension to our Web sites with immediate benefit to our subscribers," said Michael Ross, a senior vice president at Encyclopaedia Britannica and general manager of its education division. "It puts an extensive set of classics -- great works in many fields -- right at the user's fingertips. If you're researching Lincoln, Shakespeare, Kant, or Edgar Allan Poe, you not only have information about their lives, but you have their works right there. You can read them for pleasure or enlightenment or use them as documentary sources for research. In addition, many of the documents we include are hard to find in any format, making original research easier. With this, the promise of integrating sources from different sections of the library and putting them in one place takes another big leap."

Dallas SEO Experts on Crafting a Press Release

Dallas SEO Experts says: In order to make your press release to really work, it is necessary to submit them to different press release distribution outlets. Though there is not a great deal of requirements when it comes to this, (they are more lenient than article directories) there is still a possibility that the copy will not be accepted.

To prevent your press releases from getting spammed, make sure that you remember the following:

1. Ensure that your press release is not an advertisement. Many people believe that a press release is a method of promoting their business blatantly. They are wrong. You still need to make sure that the copy possesses facts rather than claims, as well as focus more on benefits rather than features.

2. Speak in third-person. Since the press release is not a direct advertising material for your business, you have to avoid the use of first-person pronouns at all costs such as I, we, us, etc. However, because you are talking about a business, the third-person pronoun is ideal. Try to imagine that you are an editor hired by a business owner to write a press release for an event or news relating to the business or industry he is in.

3. Refrain from repeating a URL too many times. By design, a press release allows you to add a link to your website, especially if you want your readers to know more about your offers, your business, or any call to action. Nevertheless, you should limit hyperlinks to one per every 100 words.

4. Be concise with your article title. The title of your press release should summarize the overall message of the press release, but should never exceed 80 characters. After all, who enjoys reading lengthy titles?

5. Write a concise summary. The title of your press release should summarize your story but readers want to know what to expect from the press release. The summary should possess the nucleus of the article. Keep summaries at no more than 200 characters.

To correctly write your titles and summary, have a useful tool installed by Dallas SEO Experts of - 1VIZABILITY. Check out SEO Word Count Calculator.

What determines success or failure when learning English as a foreign language?

What determines success or failure when learning English as a foreign language? Is it the method used to learn? The teacher? Psychological factors?

In a study by Dr. Stephen Krashen, it was found that "peer group" or "identity" was the single most powerful contributor to success.

Immigrants who learn English fastest are those who have a strong English peer group. A peer group is a community of English speakers.

Students who fail usually lack a peer group. They tend to toil alone- trying to learn English by themselves. These students have no connection to an English speaking community. Therefore, they never form an identity for themselves as English speakers.

By contrast, top performing students almost always have a peer group. Success, it turns out, happens together. Students who are connected to a positive, enthusiastic, supportive group of English speakers develop faster speech, faster understanding, more vocabulary, better grammar, and better pronunciation.

Interestingly, the peer group does not have to include native English speakers. The benefits of an English speaking peer group are just as powerful- whether the group consists of enthusiastic English learners, native speakers, or a mix of both.

A.J. Hoge, Director of The Effortless English Club ( http://www.effortlessenglishclub.com/ ), says, "It doesn’t matter if the group is full of great English speakers or poor speakers, what is most important is the attitude of the group. It is essential to join a group of positive, motivated, and supportive English speakers"

The lesson for English students is simple- join an English speaking group and improve much faster.

Free Guide : DIY Online PR Planning Paper

Leading Online PR and Content Optimistion agency C&M is offering a new, white hot DIY Rough Guide to Online PR planning.

The paper, which is available as a freebie download via C&M's web site, is designed to help modern marketing managers from companies of all sizes figure out how to take advantage of new-fangled webby things like blogs, social networking platforms and search engine optimisation (SEO) in order to boost their wider PR and brand awareness efforts.

The paper also provides a bunch of free planning tools to help more experienced web marketers plan and execute Online PR better in their day-to-day jobs.

In addition, it suggests that...

* Anyone with an ounce of web marketing smarts can plan and execute an effective Online PR campaign;

* You don't need to spend a fortune, but you do need to commit human resources to make an impact in Online PR;

* To do Online PR well, you need to focus (like a maniac) on the publication of superior content;

* You don't necessarily need an agency to do Online PR for you;

* Online PR doesn't really translate well to campaigns: it's a process and you're either in or you're out.

How To Cure The Verbal Virus - A Five Step Treatment Plan

Warning! You may be infected with a virus that could be lethal to your sales, your public relations and even your social life. I call it a "Verbal Virus. "

Verbal viruses are meaningless fillers that speckle our speech, distract from our message, drain our impact and annoy listeners. I call them verbal viruses because they seem to be contagious and we pick them up without being aware of it.

The most common verbal viruses are: "uhh" "um" "like" "you know" "well"
"okay" and "sort of." They also include annoying mouth sounds and lip smacks.

Verbal viruses are jarring to the ear and inconsistent with a professional image. They can make you sound unsure, unprepared and poorly educated. The good news about verbal viruses is that they are easily cured. Here's my 5-step plan for prevention, treatment and cure.

1. DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM: Since verbal viruses are unconscious, the only way you'll hear them is on tape. Record a few of your phone calls on a typical business day to quickly determine if you are suffering from a verbal virus infection.

2. PAUSE: Whenever you catch yourself saying a non-word, just stop talking. Say nothing. This gap of silence will feel scary at first, but if the pause is no longer than 5 seconds, the listener will scarcely notice. A pause will help you gather your thoughts while giving the listener time to reflect on what you have just said.

3. RECORD THE VOICEMAIL MESSAGES YOU LEAVE FOR OTHERS: Listen to them at the end of the day and note whether or not unwanted fillers have crept into your messages.

4. ENLIST THE HELP OF A FRIEND OR SPOUSE: Explain what you are trying to do and invent a code word he or she can use every time you use a filler word. The constant reminder will help you break the habit fast.

5. HOLD YOUR BREATH. When you feel you are about to use a non-word, take a breath, hold it for a moment and then begin to speak. The focus on your breathing will occupy your mind, keep you calm and centered and make the silence between the words seem much less scary. Here's to healthy speaking.

Susan Berkely is owner and writer of http://www.greatvoiceco.com/ which is providing professional voice recording and professional voice over service for call centers. We are also providing telephone business, voice training, and many more voice services.

Resumes Come under Fire in the Hiring Process

Before an interview, someone -- or several people within a company -- reviews resumes of potential candidates, and impressions are created before candidates even engage. Sometime when the candidate arrives for the interview, there is apparently little connection between the resume and the person. This works both ways, says MRINetwork®, one of the world's largest search and recruitment organizations.

"Often the resume does not truly represent the candidate," says Michael Jalbert, president of MRINetwork. "It's disappointing, of course, when candidates are less qualified or suitable than they appear on paper, but it can also mean that viable candidates (maybe even the best candidates) may have been overlooked because their resumes did not stand out."

Historically, resumes have always been vital to the hiring process. Candidates labor over their resumes or purchase professional versions to attract employers. Recruiters gather them to populate their databases. Hiring managers insist upon them and use them as their first method for screening out candidates. "But now that technology allows us to gather resumes off the Internet so easily," says Jalbert, "the value of the resume has decreased. Even so, no one is willing to do without it during the hiring process."

Jalbert says rather than dismiss the resume entirely, it should be recognized for what it is -- a useful tool – and not be assigned inflated power. "Having a conversation with the candidate is the only way to verify that the person matches the resume," he says. He cautions that there are numerous things a resume will not tell you:

1. If candidates are being truthful. A Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) study of 2.6 million applicants found that 53 percent of their resumes contained omissions or misrepresentations. Degrees or certifications, length of employment, and titles are areas that are commonly embellished. Since a resume is not signed like an application, many candidates feel they are just stretching the truth and not really doing anything wrong by doing this. "Several states, however, have put through legislation targeting candidates who misrepresent themselves in writing when seeking employment," says Jalbert.

2. If the candidates are motivated to do this job. Even if they have the necessary qualifications, their resumes will not reveal whether they are willing to do the work. The only thing you know for sure is that they are seeking a change.

3. If the candidates seeks to excel. Many candidates detail every employer, task, and duty they've performed, but they don't show how their efforts benefited their employers. "You need to know what they really accomplished," says Jalbert. "They can deliver the minimum expectations, but will they excel?"

4. If the candidate has good communication skills. Did they write their own resumes or buy them? Did someone coach them through producing their resumes? "Many job seekers obviously enlist the help of colleagues or mentors in developing their resumes," says Jalbert, "and the employer should not place undue importance on the form and presentation of the resume."

5. If candidate will fit the culture. It's almost impossible to judge from a resume whether a candidate will be a good fit culturally for the company and the department. "And In some cases," says Jalbert, "the cultural fit may be more important than the skill match."

As flawed as resumes can be, though, they do provide a starting point. "Assuming the candidates are truthful, resumes let us know if they have the basic, required qualifications," says Jalbert. "They can also be used to screen in candidates instead of out. Employers should not risk dismissing good candidates solely on the basis of their resumes."

Visit MRINetwork at http://www.mrinetwork.com/.

Effective Communication on the Intenet

What is communication? In simple terms it can be defined as the process whereby person A sends a message to person B, on whom it has an effect. H. D. Lasswell in 'The Structure and Function of Communication in Society' (1948) suggested this model of communication: "Who says what by what means to whom and with what effect." In practice it is more complicated than that as there is an interaction among all parties involved in the communication, involving negotiation and exchange of meaning. This interaction takes place in a cultural setting that will also have a direct bearing on the communication process.

Structuralists take a different approach, focusing on the relationship of the actual elements that are necessary for meaning to occur. These are first the text (the actual message that has a physical existence of its own, independent of either the originator, sender, or receiver) this may be the written word or could equally be a photograph or video! The text would be made up of signs or codes, thus gestures and expressions are an important part of the process. Secondly are the 'readers' the people who take the text and within their cultural and social setting form meaning from the text, signs and codes. Finally there is an awareness of an 'external reality' to which both text and people refer. The interaction among these three elements is how meaning is produced.

Communication theory takes all these issues and tries to find a rational explanation of the processes involved and thus the success or failure (or degrees in between) of any message. Some fifty plus years since the early attempts at understanding the communication process, the Internet has opened up a completely new communication medium that is evolving at almost a daily rate. From originally a text based medium it has evolved to have pictures (graphics) sound and audio, animation, video streaming and video instant messaging. It is so very much part of our lives that it is taken for granted, just like all the communication messages that bombard us, day in, day out as we go about our everyday lives. What must not be forgotten is that the messages that are sent and received are constructed to achieve meaning, a result.

When communicating on the Web, it is important to remember the basics of communication, that a message is being exchanged for meaning and understanding to occur. The sender encodes a message, transmits it (publishes on the Web, sends an email etc.) where upon it is received, decoded at its destination causing an effect. The problem is that because the Web is Worldwide, cultural and social factors (leaving out technological factors) can cause the message to be received in a way not intended by the sender.

The solution to creating effective communication on the Internet is to resist in blanket coverage, trying to create a message that will have the same effect everywhere but rather use targeted communication. This involves the sender in researching the audience, understanding who is receiving the message, and thus when the communication is constructed the text and all its signs and codes relate to the recipient ensuring that the message is received and understood as the sender expected.

The use of video can help with this targeted communication delivery as it can be edited and refined for delivery to many divergent audiences across the Web. The added bonus is that each version helps deliver the visual, specific clues that cultures and societies use to enhance communication.

People More Willing to Fib In E-mails

A study coauthored by a DePaul University professor has found that people are significantly more willing to lie in e-mails than in communication with pen and paper, even when both are done in relative anonymity. Moreover, they feel more justified in lying.

"The results of our study illustrate that traditional pen-and-paper communication is indeed different from e-mail in the way it influences people's behaviors, even though both [are] text only," concluded the study by Charles Naquin, assistant professor of management at DePaul; Terri Kurtzberg, associate professor of management and global business, Rutgers University, and Liuba Belkin, assistant professor of marketing and management, of Lehigh University.

In trying to account for the difference between two communication modes that appear similar, the researchers surmised that people may "feel written documents carry stronger legal consequences than do e-mails, which feel fleeting in nature, despite the fact that they are actually harder to erase or contain. Thus, deception may be viewed differently in these two environments."

And they add: "Overall, the lower degree of social obligation found in the use of e-mail versus paper, coupled with ambiguity for communication norms and lack of formal rules, procedures, and expectations regarding e-mail, may allow individuals to tap into a sense of psychological justification for their deviant behaviors ( such as deception ) more easily online than in the paper mode."

In one experiment carried out as part of the research, 48 graduate business students participated in an ultimatum bargaining game nicknamed "dictator."

Participants were given an imaginary $89 and told that they should divide it as they saw fit with a second party, who would have to accept whatever split was offered.

Each subject was told that the second party, who, in fact, didn't exist, knew only that the pot size was between $5 and $100; as part of the arrangement, the participant would have to reveal the amount of money being divided as well as what the split would be.

Twenty-six participants were asked to send this information by e-mail to the class instructor ( who supposedly would inform the second party ), and the remaining 22 were to write it on a piece of paper, which they were to drop in the instructor's secure mailbox. Although in both instances the instructor would know their response, subjects were assured that the second party in this exercise would never know their identity and vice versa. All subjects were given five days to provide the information.

Among the e-mail group, 24 of 26 participants ( 92.31 percent ) misrepresented the pot size, compared to 14 of 22 ( 63.64 percent ) in the pen-and-paper group. In other words, the rate of lying was almost 50 percent greater among the e-mailers.

In addition, participants in the e-mail group lied more egregiously: on average, they represented the $89 pot to be $56.15 compared to an average of $67.32 for the pen-and-paper group. In both cases, offers were roughly half of the reported pot size, meaning that e-mailers offered the second party significantly less than the pen-and-paper group did.

At the conclusion of the experiment, participants were asked, "How justified would it be if you misrepresented the size of your pot to the recipient?" On a scale of one ( not at all justified ) to seven ( very justified ), the e-mail group averaged 4.77 compared to 3.91 for the pen-and-paper group, a difference that was statistically significant.

To test whether this greater sense of self-justification among e-mailers simply reflected the fact that more of them had already lied—and had lied more egregiously—the researchers carried out a second experiment with a different cohort of 56 graduate business students. The exercise was similar to the prior one except in this case participants were asked to assess their sense of justification before they informed the second party about the size of the pot and the way it would be split. Once again e-mailers reported feeling significantly more justified to lie. This time 25 of 28 e-mailers ( 89.29 percent ) misrepresented the size of the pot, compared to 19 of 28 ( 67.85 percent ) among writers, and once again e-mailers lied more egregiously about the pot size.

While conceding that the experiments revealed a considerable amount of deception, Naquin credited the participants with forthrightness in their answers. "Since no real money was at stake, they would have lost nothing by simply giving truthful information to the supposed second party; that they didn't choose that path suggests that they took the exercises seriously."

"I expect, though, that if the experiments had involved real money, we would have seen even more dramatic effects," he added.

The study, titled "Being Honest Online: The Finer Points of Lying in Online Ultimatum Bargaining," was presented at the Academy of Management's annual meeting held in Anaheim, Calif., in August.

Founded in 1936, the Academy is the largest organization in the world devoted to management research and teaching. It has more than 18,000 members in 92 countries, including more than 10,000 in the United States.