Grammar and style

You’ve worked hard to find just the right words.  Now polish it to a professional shine.

1. Get right to the point.

Make your point up front and indisputably. 

Dear Angelina

It has come to my attention that we often fail to recognise the little things people do to support one another, and further that our employee recognition scheme focuses principally on financial results, as shown by our employee recognition form.  I think we need to do something about this immediately.

Dear Angelina

I’m writing to propose that we modify our Employee Recognition form to include day-to-day kindnesses employees show one another. 

2. Write shorter sentences and simpler words.

These methods and materials help you conduct a rigorous analysis of the problems you face, ensuring you will examine many factors in a structured and methodical way.

These tools could highlight problems and indicate ways to address them.

3. Use transition sentences.

Transitions move the listener, reader or viewer from one idea to another.  Ask someone to read your text and note any point at which she gets lost or feels confused.  If that happens, you may need a transition. 

At the meeting yesterday, we discussed New Hire Orientation problems.  I want to tell you what I think of the Orientation Brochure.

At the meeting yesterday, we discussed New Hire Orientation problems.  I believe that the Orientation Brochure isn’t well written and may contribute to some of the problems.  I want to suggest some changes to the Orientation Brochure that may address problems 3. and 5. of the Agenda.

4. Check spelling.

Virtually all word processing packages a have spell check.*  Most offer a custom dictionary where you may enter terms specific to your field, and the spell checker incorporates them.   If your email program doesn’t have a spell check, copy and paste important messages into a word processor and check spelling along with grammar and punctuation. 

5. Italicise words that are foreign to the language of your document, even if the words are familiar.

Giles made a faux pas when he neglected to shake hands. (Note, italics are not often used on the web as they can be difficult for some people to read. We use a different colour for this purpose.)

Our President spoke of the company’s Zeitgeist when explaining why so many people like to work here.

6. Use the apostrophe to show possession, not plural.

All our customer’s liked the new bedding range.

Robert took fine photograph of the horse’s at the show.

We addressed the customer’s complaint immediately.

It’s all in a day’s work.

... and check Grammar. Grammatical errors distract and irritate and cost you respect.  Inspect for errors yourself or run a word processor’s grammar check.  In (7) and (8), I’ve highlighted two grammar rules lots of people don’t follow.  The incorrect examples are from a (real) HR Handbook.

7. Make subject and pronoun agree.

Incorrect

• If a candidate is late for interview, they will not be considered for the job.  (This sentence needs amendment on two counts:  agreement, and also passive voice – of which more below.)

Incorrect

• If a candidate is late for interview but calls to let us know, we will consider them for the job. 

Correct

• If a candidate is late for interview, we will not consider the candidate for the job.

or

• If a candidate is late for interview, we will not consider him or her for the job.

It’s troublesome, this business of writing 'his or her' each time you need the singular.  See Bonus Tip. You’ll find information about how some writers and companies address this issue.

Better

• We will not consider candidates who are late for interview unless they call ahead to say they are delayed.

Incorrect

• Each employee must bring their health report to Orientation.

Correct

• Each employee must bring a completed health report to Orientation.

8. Make subject and verb agree.

• One of the doors (is, are) closed.
• The manager, along with his team, (are, is) worried about the annual results.
• Neither of the employees (are, is) ready for the meeting.

The subjects of these sentences are all singular - One, The Manager and Neither (= neither one nor the other, so neither is singular.)

• All the members, including Stephen, (is, are) welcome.

The subject here is 'All' and hence plural.

9. Check for Passive Voice

For years business thought passive voice lent an air of professionalism.  Now we know it simply puts people to sleep. 

• The manager was informed by the team that the research was completed.  A new alcohol abuse monitoring system was then set up.
• The team told the manager they’d completed the research.  Local authority set up a system to monitor alcohol abuse.

Passive

Synonyms include inactive, sluggish, submissive and limp.  Passive voice = something is done to someone or something.  It has been decided …. 

Active

Synonyms include lively, dynamic, vigorous, energetic, and on the go.  Active voice = direct action; someone does something. Miss Jones decided…. 

Passive

• The meeting will be sponsored  by our Sales Team.
• It has been decided that the party will be held at the  golf club.

Active

• The Sales Team will sponsor the meeting.
• We will have the party at the golf club.

If you haven’t time or inclination to fix your writing through study and practice, Word has a passive voice checker.  Probably other word processing programs do too.  Here’s how to use the checker in Word.

• Tools/Options/Spelling and Grammar
• Settings:  Tick Passive Voice
• To check text for passive voice (and other grammatical and stylistic faults), select the text you want Word to inspect, click Tools/Spelling and Grammar; or, press F7 to check the entire document. 

10. Write numbers under 100 in words. 

• We sold 108 tickets to the dinner. Seventy-eight people turned up.  

some exceptions 

• You may write percentages in figures.  There was a 3% response to this month’s direct mail.
• You may write your age in figures.  I am 55 years old. 

Here’s a site where you may learn about the finer points of English grammar. They’ve organised the information alphabetically, so you may dip in occasionally to polish your skill over time - http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

Bonus Tip

Where appropriate, replace gender specific words with neutral words. Congressman is the customary title of any person elected to the US House of Representatives.  Someone newly elected is a freshman.  Aiming to be gender neutral, one New York columnist famously referred to a freshwoman Congressperson. People thought he’d gone too far, yet it made the point that people tend to use the masculine form to represent the population. 

To address the issue, some writers alternate 'his' and 'her' and some use 'her or him' consistently.  In the latter case, the author may write a note saying that the decision is for clarity rather than to show gender preference.

Inappropriate

• The girls in the office went to lunch.
• Each employee wants to earn his bonus this year.
• If a manager completes this workshop, he can take the advanced course.

Appropriate

• The women in the sales office went to lunch.
• Employees want to earn their bonuses this year.
• A manager who completes this workshop qualifies for the advanced course.

*Spell checking

Microsoft Word appears to default to US English. If you want to spell check in another version of the language, this seems to work:

• Open Word
• Tools
• Language
• Select the version you want
• Click on Default
• Click on OK

The same seems to work for Outlook, though this seems to default back to US English when you close Outlook. (Maybe it's just me!)

For more on this subject review:

• Personal communications
• How to say it and write it correctly - now