Don't Let Language Rules Hamstring Your Business Writing and Business Communications by Dave Griffiths

"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put."
- Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

I love that thought from the old statesman/historian/blowhard because it illustrates a collective affliction in the way we use our native tongue. Not only do we fall unthinkingly into copying each other when it comes to the latest trite phrase; we also adhere rigidly to grammar shibboleths such as "proper" sentence closure.

In the business writing classes that I teach for federal agencies, nonprofits and private firms, otherwise intelligent men and women admit to hang-ups that have bedeviled them all the way back to that blue-haired high school English teacher diagramming sentences on the dusty blackboard.

Don't get me wrong. I've got nothing against rules - if they make sense. Take capitalization and spelling. If you casual email communicators can't exert the effort to capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence, I assume you're just as indolent in the "thinking" that goes into the message itself. By the same token, if you rely solely on "spell-check" and blissfully ignore the distinction between "their," "they're" and "there," or fail to edit your writing for proper name spelling, I have a perfect right to ask: "What else is wrong with this email (or white paper, memo, proposal, etc.)?" Or worse: "I thought this guy was a professional."

No, the "rules" that trouble me are the imagined ones, such as not ending a sentence with a preposition, or avoiding "And" to start a sentence, or placing commas. My advice: Lighten up and be yourself. Back in my Washington journalism days, when I was struggling with the transition from covering civil and military aviation for a trade publication to covering the Pentagon for a lay readership at Business Week magazine, I got some great advice from an editor: "Write as if you're having a conversation with an intelligent friend."

Try it. When you talk to your boss, a colleague, a vendor, etc., I guarantee you already end your sentences on a preposition and start the next sentence with "And." And when you actually write, try saying the words out loud. Reach a natural pause, and it's comma time. Try it. The key here is to keep process from hamstringing product, to avoid focusing on form so much that content suffers.

Please visit my website at http://www.davegriffithscommunications.com/, where you'll find that I've worked with a variety of government, nonprofit and private-sector clients on business communication skills -- from effective writing to presentation skills to media training. I travel widely to do writing skills training and media and presentation skills training for federal agencies and businesses that need help with technical writing and written sales proposals.

More Idioms - Understanding and Using Idioms in North American Speech by Liz Niergarth

Learning More Idioms

Setting: Two acquaintances meet in a supermarket. They haven't seen each other for a long time.

A. Hey, Ron, What's Up? How is life?

B. Everything's good. Haven't seen you in a while.

A. Guess who I ran into last week at the post office? Sarah Evans.

B. Really? I haven't seen her in ages. Is she still going out with your brother?

A. Heck, no. He fell in love with someone he met last summer on vacation. Right now they're planning on getting married next April. In fact, they're dropping by my apartment soon and I'm all out of snacks, coffee, and........

B. You'd better hop to it then...get your shopping done and not show up late!

Did you under stand these idioms? Is this a friendly conversation? What do the idioms mean?

Use different words in the conversation to paraphrase the idiom.

Example: Hey, Ron, what's new?

B. Not much. Haven't seen you in a while.

A. Guess...........................................

B. Really? I haven't seen her in ages. Is she still...

A. Heck, no...............................................................

B. You'd better.......................................get your shopping done and............................................

Explanations of idioms used in the above conversation.

What's Up - What is new with you?

Run into - meet unexpectedly

going out with - dating

fall in love - begin to love romantically

to drop by - visit someone informally

out of - lacking (without)

hop to it - hurry

show up - arrive

MORE PRACTICE: Answer the questions below, using the idioms above.

1. What are you lacking for the party?

2. When was the last time you met an old friend?

3. Are you dating anyone special?

4. Do people often visit you announced?

5. Does Jean always arrive late?

Good Luck! Next time, More Idioms!

Do you want to learn how to speak English naturally and confidently NOW?
Click HERE.

Transitions Within Paragraphs - How to Make Them Smoothly by Duncan Fisher

You need to have a lot of quick ways of starting each thought that you build into each paragraph that you write. I've shown in a different article how you can make one paragraph flow into the next one, but here I'm talking about how you can make individual sentences flow together. There are lots of stock sentence-starters out there, and you can generate your own with a little practice too. In the meantime, here are some standard phrases you can use to get going, and keep going.

For laying out an argument:

It's clear that

because

firstly

so

Another reason is

Moreover

because

For stages within an argument:

To begin with

Next

Then

After that

Finally

Now

For comparing things:

X and Y are different, but they are also alike in certain ways.

For example, they both

They are also alike in that they

Y also resembles X by

Not that X and Y are identical, though.

Y does differ from X in one way.

Finally, both X and Y

For discussing things:

It's been said that

because

The argument runs

Someone else who agrees with this is

This argument goes

On the other hand

A competing argument is that

This way of thinking suggests that

It's clear that

because

For explaining things:

There are different reasons that

One explanation is that

Evidence for this is

Another explanation is

This idea is based on

There! Like I say, you'll be making up a lot of your own sentence-starters, of course. And you'll find lots more every time you read, now that you're looking for them. But in the meantime, this is a good box of ammo to get you going.

For 20 years Duncan Fisher, PhD, has been showing people how to get their writing chores done and out the door fast, no matter what kind of training they have (or don't have). He's got an easy system that guarantees your success! Duncan's motto? "Start writing now... even if you can't write!" Visit him at http://www.instantwritingsuccess.com/ today!

Newsletter Writing - Revealed - 4 Fast Steps to Write Fascinating Newsletters by Sean R Mize

By now, you must know that the best thing that you can do to get attention online is to distribute quality information. Aside from article marketing, blogging, and forum posting, you can also do this by writing and distributing your very own newsletters. This is proven effective in building customer trust and loyalty.

Here's how you can write fascinating newsletters:

1. Plan ahead. Before you start writing, do some thinking and brainstorming first. Determine how you can bring value to your readers and how you can make your newsletters stand out from the crowd. It's important that you'll be able to offer something different so you can easily grab your audience's attention.

2. Talk about the problems of your audience. This one is tried and tested. If you want your audience to really pay attention to what you have to say, I suggest that you talk about their pressing issues or the things that bother them. Are they having difficulty pulling up their ranking? Are they clueless on how to run their online business?

3. Share a slice of your expertise. Show off your in-depth knowledge by talking about the problems of your readers in details. Then, tell them exactly how they can resolve it. It is through this that you'll be able to convince these people that you're really good on what you do and that you have what it takes to help them out.

4. Talk about your products and services. Instead of doing hard-selling, I recommend that you communicate the benefits that your products can offer without making your prospects feel that they're obligated to buy. This is more effective in increasing your sales and revenue.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing success, "Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide".

Download it free here: Article Writing.

Prepositions Are Little Words With Big Impact by Gary Speer

This is my personal plea as a writer in support of the little words in our language -- prepositions. Don't leave them out, please. They may be little words, but they have a big impact on our intelligent use of the English language, both spoken and written.

I just spent some time roaming around the Internet looking for discussions about prepositions, those little words in the English language (well, all languages use them in some form, really) that indicate relationships between words and phrases. I'll bet you know the words I mean: "at," "by," "of," "about," "from," "for," "with," etc.

Most native English speakers have few problems understanding prepositions and preposition usage. Native speakers of the language begin to understand from an early age how different words relate to each other, so they quickly learn to pick the correct preposition to indicate those word or phrase relationships. But I recently ran onto several forums for English as a Second Language (ESL) students. If you look around such forums, you may be amazed at how difficult it is for non-native speakers of English to get preposition usage right.

But, really, how much does it matter whether you're off just a little on the correct preposition. They're "little" words, mostly, so how much difference can the right or wrong preposition make? Let me give you a simple exercise to illustrate how important it can be to use the correct preposition in a phrase. Take the phrase "land for sale Branson" as an example. (I live near Branson, Missouri, that country music mecca which now vies with Nashville, Tennessee, as the cultural universe of country music. I recently saw this phrase used exactly as quoted in an online ad about Branson.)

As you can see, some preposition is needed between "sale" and "Branson." Think about what prepositions might be used in the phrase. What would you use, and how much difference would your choice make to the meaning of the ad? Let's look at some examples of how using different prepositions would change the ad:

"Land for sale IN Branson" -- Clearly, the land being sold is located in the city of Branson if you use this preposition.

"Land for sale BY Branson" -- Maybe the land is in Branson; maybe it's not. It appears to be owned by the city of Branson and the city wants to sell it. Or -- does the "by" mean "along side, beside, near" Branson and refer simply to the location of the land?

"Land for sale FROM Branson" -- This preposition is really ambiguous, isn't it? Does this mean the land is owned by someone who lives in Branson and wants to sell it, but the land itself is nowhere near Branson? It might.

The lesson we learn from the Branson ad appears to be clear: Be careful to use prepositions when you need them, and please be careful to use the correct preposition when you use one. Oh, and if you're wondering, I never clicked on that ad so I have no idea which preposition usage is correct regarding that Branson land sale.

As for any ESL students out there reading this -- good luck, my friends. English can be a tricky and mysterious language to learn. Even the seemingly little words like prepositions can have a big impact on meaning. But I'm sure you're learning that, aren't you?

Gary Speer, former newspaper copy editor and news editor for a major Christian denominational publication, is a freelance writer and marketer who focuses on writing tips and online marketing. Gary offers writing tips at http://www.garyspeer.com/, Writing Tips at garyspeer.com, a blog devoted to writing and the writing life. His special love is writing about the life and language of the Old West.

Public Relations Blog Authored by Publicist and Journalist

Allison Dawn PR, Inc. has launched a public relations blog on their website, http://www.allisondawnpr.com/, which will inform its readers with helpful public relations strategies, tips and inside knowledge as it pertains to various types of public relations, marketing, writing and online social media from the point of view of a seasoned public relations professional.

Current blog postings now available to read at allisondawnpr.com/blog/ include insider insights into fashion and beauty public relations, political public relations strategies and tricks that entertainers and politicians actively use, benefits of online social media and online marketing, and public relations etiquette.

Authored by publicist and noted entertainment and political journalist, Allison Kugel, this new public relations blog is relevant and valuable to readers as it is written in the first person, and shares inside tips and personal experiences. Allison Kugel, President of Allison Dawn PR, has had up-close access to some of the most celebrated and influential people of our time. Kugel takes this insider public relations and marketing knowledge and shares it with her blog’s readers.

Current public relations blog posting titles on Allison Dawn PR’s blog include:

Online Social Media Marketing – Public Relations 2.0
President Obama’s Campaign Manager David Plouffe Taught Me About Grassroots Public Relations
Public Relations & Media Tip, Be Well Versed in World Events
Political Public Relations is a New Animal
Public Relations 101 – Be Polite and Gracious
Charitable Work is a Timeless Public Relations Strategy
Fashion Public Relations Tactics – Is US Weekly The New Vogue?

Allison Dawn PR blog postings will be updated by author Allison Kugel on a weekly and sometimes biweekly basis. Blog postings will continue to share inside public relations, marketing and media information with the general public. Allison Dawn PR’s public relations blog is located at www.allisondawnpr.com/blog. The blog is an invaluable resource of helpful information for companies, organizations and individuals who need a “How To” guide for promoting their product or service to the public and to the media.

Harnessing the Power of the Written Word by Stephanie Clark

Do you believe in the power of the written word... power to influence, whether consumers to buy a product, or a nation to follow a leader? Clearly, the written word can influence. Why then does your resume, which you hope will influence the reader to give you a call, and lead to a great job that can earn you a good living and give you a sense of purpose, read as an uninspired and boring litany of job duties?

The word litany has two distinct meanings: one is a "long repetitious list." Long (because it lacks originality), and often repetitious (because the writer has no idea what to write to fill a page), the job hunter's litany is like an uninspired piece of music, more like noise than song, more a jumble of notes than a thoughtful tune.

The second definition is "prayers during worship." The job hunter would do well to approach the resume from this perspective. Although prayer may be a good idea as every little bit counts, the idea here is that invocations from a religious service are carefully thought out. What is needed is thoughtful analysis.

Why is it that the majority of job hunters produce resumes that are almost carbon copies? "Good communication skills; team player who works well on his own; good organizational and time management skills" are found on perhaps 95 percent of resumes. Are people all clones of one another? Surely not.

Here's a revolutionary idea: put some thoughtful analysis into your documents to show that you really do have good communication skills. Communication is not about stringing words together, but about using them effectively: strategizing your message according to what the listener needs or wants to hear; using language that is familiar to the reader; taking the reader's motivators into account. If fast food outlets told us "We make the cheapest grade hamburgers so that we can sell them cheaply to you" would you go?

Essentially that is what most resumes do: they profess to have the minimal basics of requirements. "I can type using Word; I've used Excel; I have a driver's licence." Sorry, but big deal!

Communicate. Use the rich and evocative English language to relate more than basics. Communicate volumes with statements such as:

"Gained a reputation for extreme organization, and can locate a file within seconds. That file will be up to date with the most recent documents, in order, ready to go. Director really appreciates my organization."

"Successfully started a network department from scratch: created policies and procedures; conducted hiring and training, and managed a global, virtual team of 6 staff in a 24/7 operation."

"Slashed department budget by 30% - savings were generated from a network rebuild and renegotiated vendor contracts."

"Received annual (team) bonus in recognition of safety standards, process improvement, and achievement of corporate goals."

"Spearheaded 5S ideas for improvement after completing related quality training. After 3 months, audit score improved from the initial low of 10%, to 80%. And then rose to a sustained 95-100%."

The best thing about creating a resume with power is that it will boost your confidence enormously. Realizing your value pumps you up for the interview and provides the basis for interview questions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephanie_Clark

Tips on Writing a Graduation Speech by Gabriel Stiller

A good graduation speech should be remembered but only for the right reasons. It should be targeted not just at other students but also include your family, friends and faculty.

Your graduation speech should be anything but cliche material. Keep it as original as possible. Say whatever you want in your own words. That will make the speech come across as sincere and unpretentious.

Your speech should appear to have been written specially for the occasion. It should not be too generic. Don't talk only about yourself. Try and include your class within your speech. At the same time, avoid using phrases or expressions that only your class would understand. Remember, you audience also includes friends, family and faculty who may not be clued in to your class lingo.

Stories are a good way of holding the attention of your audience. Try to weave in a story somewhere in your speech. You could use stories that are funny, emotional or just descriptive. Make your graduating class come alive for those in the audience who were not part of your class.

Include any major events that occurred in the past four years that were relevant to your class. Make it a point to keep the tone of the speech positive and avoid pulling down anyone. Be careful that you don't hurt anyone's feelings through your speech.

Rehearse the speech in advance but don't sound too practiced. Practice reading the speech aloud. Leave a bit of room for spontaneity.

Avoid stirring up a controversy in a graduation speech. Controversial issues are best tackled in campaign speeches. A graduation speech should flow with the expectations of the audience.

Do not make dole out too much advice in your speech. If you are a guest speaker, you may provide a few pearls of wisdom. If you are a part of the graduating class, you are better off keeping your speech free of advice.

The little details are crucial in a graduation speech so make sure you get them right. Check that you are pronouncing all names correctly.

A graduation speech should last for a maximum duration of twenty minutes. Take the weather into account. If it is a really hot or a really cold day, no one will appreciate even a well-written speech at the risk of putting up with the heat or the cold. So keep your speech short.

Round off the speech by thanking parents and faculty. Also show your appreciation for the principal or the dean.

Gabriel enjoys providing articles on various interesting topics. Besides this topic, he also has a keen interest in health and fitness. Do check out his latest site at http://homegymfitnessequipment.biz/ which covers reviews and product information on home gym fitness equipment.

REAL Thought Leaders Write Their Own Book

Book Midwife Mindy, is an executive communications strategist who has helped hundreds of business leaders gain recognition as the true experts in their field by showing them how to write the best possible books, ebooks and articles. She believes strongly that the reason people shy away from writing is due to their fear of failure, and the worry of an extraneous amount of time being spent on the planning and editing of the book.

"Writing a full-length book the smart way only takes between 50 and 100 hours of work, total. This can be spread over a three to six month time frame or it can be done during a week or two if you know you are not going to be interrupted. I am not very impressed with so called business leaders who will not put 50 to 100 hours into what is probably the most important job they need to be doing in the current climate, which is influencing their market," says Mindy, who recently published her third book 24 Carat BOLD (£10.99, Ecademy Press).

Mindy has come up with a fool-proof way to get this all important writing time down to 50 hours, and still produce quality material. It has allowed hundreds of her clients to produce excellent books and articles quickly and easily. She insists that the key to the success of a completed book is the planning.

"Why do books need extensive editing? Why do most people never start or finish writing a book? Why do they lack flow, tone, style, content and description? The answer is simple, as it almost always boils down to the lack of a good plan," says Mindy.

As well as a good plan, Mindy recommends that mind-mapping, completing a quick first draft and seeking advice from a professional editor are all what pays off in reducing the number of hours spent on getting a book published. Then, all you have to do is get busy becoming popular!

Writing Newspaper Articles Made Simple by Sean R Mize

Here's the truth; you don't need to have a degree in journalism just to write articles for newspapers. These articles are very easy to write as long as you follow basic guidelines. These are the following:

1. First thing to do is to find interesting story that you can write about. Depending on the beat assigned to you, you can write about police reports (crimes), about the government and politics, economy, sports, entertainment, and other related news. Choose those stories that you consider most important and that are very interesting to your target audience.

2. Think of an attention-grabbing title. The next thing to do is to write a very catchy title for your articles. You want to make sure that this is very powerful so you can entice more readers to pay attention to your story. It's important to keep your headlines short so you can help your editors save some precious space.

3. Inverted pyramid technique. Use this technique when writing your newspaper articles. Present the information you have based on their importance. Your lead paragraph must contain everything that your readers will need to understand your stories. This is important as most people do not have the time to read articles until the end. By using this technique, you can be assured that your readers will understand your story by simply reading your first paragraph.

4. Answer all the possible questions of your readers. Read your articles after you have finished writing them. Make sure that they contain all the information that will address all the what, why, where, when, who, and how question of your readers so you will not leave these people puzzled.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing success, "Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide".

Download it free here: Article Writing.

Tips For Writing a Resignation Letter by Gabriel Stiller

You've just landed the job of your dreams and you are ecstatic about joining your new workplace. There is, however, one little detail you still need to take care of - your resignation letter. Now it may sound strange to write such a letter if you have just landed yourself a job. But it is just as important as your resume letter. In the event that you quit your job due to unforeseen circumstances, it is a useful letter to have. Writing a resignation letter is not something most of us look forward to. Here are some tips that will make the task of writing a resignation letter a little more pleasant.

While writing a resignation letter, remember that it is essentially a formal letter. It should include the following information: the date from when your resignation is effective, the role in your current job from which you are resigning. You may provide a reference about the notice period as per what is stated in your contract. These basic facts are a must. Apart from this, you are free to add whatever other information you would like to give your current employers.

Unless you are leaving the job under not-so-pleasant circumstances, you may want to soften the tone of the letter by adding in a line such as, 'It is with sadness that I inform you of my resignation...'. You may also want to specify that you have handed over the project that you were working on or mention if any work on the project is still pending. Mention the name and designation of the person to whom you are addressing the letter. You may want to add in the reason that you are leaving.

If you have fond memories of the time you spent in your job, include a few lines about the aspect of the job that you enjoyed. You can write a word of appreciation of the opportunities provided to you by the company. Do not forget to thank your colleagues and supervisor or manager. You could also include a few of your achievements while you were working on the job.

If you have had an unpleasant time in your job or did not get along with your supervisor or manager, do not use the resignation letter to voice your angry thoughts or your criticism. Leave the job gracefully and with dignity for you will soon forget about the unhappy memories. The resignation letter should be your cue to resign on a positive note. Wish the company for the future before ending the letter. Both first and last impressions stay in people's memories so establish a positive image of yourself before making an exit.

Gabriel enjoys providing articles on various interesting topics. Besides this topic, he also has a keen interest in health and fitness. Do check out his latest site at http://russellhobbskettle.org/ which covers reviews and product information on Russell Hobbs kettle.