Business Writing With Buzz

It’s a rainy Tuesday and your deadline for an important tender is fast approaching. You’re doing the final proofread and everything is looking good… When, suddenly, it glares up from the page. A word that can trip up the most experienced writer: ‘affect’. The doubts creep in. Is it right? Are you sure it shouldn’t be ‘effect’?

You are not alone if you are sometimes stuck by doubts as to when and how to use some of the following words. Even the experts get caught out and need to check the rules. But don’t worry. We have got some simple ways to remember your ‘affect’ from your ‘effect’ and your ‘which’ from your ’that’.

Which/that
Which and that are commonly used interchangeably, but they actually do different jobs. "That" defines something, while "which" gives extra information about it, usually in a clause enclosed by commas:

This is the cake that Mary made.
This cake, which Mary made, is delicious.

You can delete ‘that’ from a sentence and it will still be grammatical (this is the cake Mary made) and this can be a good way to edit your writing. But a sentence using ‘which’ won’t make sense without it.

Affect/effect
It’s one of the most difficult to get right, but you’ll be OK if you remember ‘effect’ is usually a noun and ‘affect’ is always a verb.

She was greatly affected (verb) by the latest news. Smoking will affect (verb) your health.

Take care of your personal effects (noun). The effect (noun) it had was amazing.

The only exception is when we write in a formal style. Then we sometimes use ‘effect’ as a verb meaning ‘to carry out’ or ‘to cause to happen’:

The lawyer effected (verb) a great result. We hope to effect (verb) a change soon.

It’s/its
When do you use an apostrophe for ‘it’ plus ‘s’? It is intuitive to think it is when you use ‘it’ possessively as you do for ‘Mary’s cake’ or ‘Martin’s cheese’. But you’d be wrong. The possessive form of it does not include an apostrophe:

The cat is eating its fish.

The only time you use an apostrophe is when you want to shorten ‘it is’ or ‘it has’:

It’s a fat cat. It’s been a while since we met.

Advice/advise, practice/practise
Advice is a noun, and advise is a verb, just as practice is a noun and practise is a verb.

Take her advice (noun). She runs a large legal practice (noun).
I advise (verb) you to keep quiet. I will practise (verb) every day.

If you’ve got any others, let me know.

In her book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Lynne Truss explains why we need commas:

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'

The sad truth is that we can't do without commas. And, to make it worse, while there are some set rules about how to use commas, writers and editors do not always agree about some of their other uses. This ambiguity means that people tend to abuse and misuse their commas.

Here’s what I mean:

All the children who love pizza will be there on Friday.

This means that only those children who love pizza will be there on Friday. Compare this to:

All the children, who love pizza, will be there on Friday.
 
All the children will be there on Friday and, by the way, they love to eat pizza.


How to use commas - lists

At school, the first use we learn for commas is to separate items in a list. For example:
 
When I go shopping I buy shoes, dresses, coats and gifts.

Sometimes, particularly in the US, we include a comma before "and" as in “dresses, coats, and gifts”. This is called an Oxford comma, or serial comma, because it was used by editors, proofreaders and printers at Oxford University Press.

In Australia and the UK it’s unusual to use an Oxford comma, but feel free if you think it adds clarity, particularly if the last two items in your list are not separate words.

For example, if we write, "I love margarita, meatlovers and ham and pineapple pizzas”, it is not clear if the last pizza is a single ‘ham and pineapple’ pizza or two pizzas: a ham pizza and a pineapple pizza. In this case, we could add the Oxford comma to say, “I love margarita, meatlovers, and ham and pineapple pizzas”.


How to use commas with adjectives

Commas in a list of adjectives are not always needed. As a guide, if you can change the order of the adjectives, use a comma. If not, there’s no need for a comma. Here’s what I mean:

The report was long, boring and too detailed.

You could shift the order of the adjectives:
The report was boring, long and too detailed.

My daughter has beautiful blonde hair and clear blue eyes.
As we can’t change the order of these adjectives, we don’t need commas.

How to use commas – to add extra information

Sometimes we add extra information to our sentences to make them more interesting. For instance:

Our business, the world’s largest producer of eggs, is opening a plant in Rio.

We could easily remove the information about ‘world’s largest producer of eggs’ without changing the meaning of the sentence.

How to use commas to join two clauses together

Use a comma to join two clauses together. These are two separate parts to a sentence joined by conjunctions such as and, but, so, or, yet, but could be separated by a full stop. For example:

I love eating pizza, but I don’t like anchovies.

This could also be written as:

I love eating pizza. But I don’t like anchovies.

There is a move away from using these commas, so if you feel the meaning is clear without a comma, go for it.

How to use commas after introductory statements

There is also a trend towards not using commas after introductory statements, which is fine if the meaning is clear. Whichever option you choose, be consistent. One of the biggest errors I see when proofreading is inconsistency – one sentence has an introductory statement with a comma and the next does not.

Here are some examples:

At Proof Communications, we help our clients to win more business.

On 5 September 2011, we will be holding a party with hundreds of guests.

You could write either of these sentences with no comma.

How to use commas around ‘interrupters’

Sometimes, to add emphasis, we use an interrupter in our sentences. These always need commas before and after:

She was, however, feeling sad about missing out on the pizza.

I asked her, reluctantly, if she would get take-away.

How to use commas: the last piece of advice

Commas give us a pause in our writing. They give us room to breathe. If you’re not sure when to use a comma, read your writing aloud. You’ll hear the need for a pause.
If you suffer from comma confusion, let us know now.

When my daughter was about three years old, we were watching an episode of that classic Australian TV drama, Bananas in Pyjamas. B1 and B2 were struggling to persuade a cow to re-enter its barn.

The cow would not budge.

Despite B1's and B2's pushing, pulling, shouting and feet stamping, the cow stood unmoved.

After a short while, Rat in a Hat came along. Rat, of course, asked, "What's going on here?" The Bananas explained.

Rat bent to the cow, whispered in its ear, and the cow happily strolled into the barn.

The Bananas were astonished. "What did you say?" they exclaimed in surprise. 

"I just said the magic word," replied Rat. 

"What's that?" asked B1 and B2.

"Please", said Rat. 

As we all know from when we first start talking (parents take great pride in their toddler's first "ta, ta"), good manners go a long way, and not just when you have to get a cow into a barn.

While I'm sure there have been occasions when I've inadvertently failed to thank a client, business friend or contact for their referral, help or advice - I admit I'm no etiquette expert and nor am I infallible - I do know that after 10 years in business saying thank you builds business relationships. It's good marketing sense.

But you have to mean it.

You don't need a special reason to say thank you. Thanking a potential client for making the time to meet with you is simply a polite way making yourself memorable. I know there are projects I've been invited to work on, partly because I sent my prospective client a handwritten note to thank them for their time.

I have specially designed and printed thank you cards. I'm not pretending to be an innovator here, but quite a few of the recipients over the years have asked me if they can 'borrow' my idea and get their own cards printed for themselves, or for their companies. 

In 10 years, I can only recall receiving one thank you note myself, from a fellow copywriter to whom I gave some advice on starting a new business. I have had phone calls and emails of thanks, of course, which I always appreciate.

So, in the words of Rat in the Hat, remember the magic word (or words). They can make a thankful differerence to you business' development.

Your business is a singular collective noun.

What do I mean?

I recently edited a marketing document for a thriving business that got its grammatical position as a singular collective noun correct from the first draft.

I admit I was surprised. Why?

Well, it’s very common for writers (both professionals and in-house staff) to describe the company (or organisation) they work for in the plural. This is something I see constantly, and it's incorrect. A business, company or organisation is a single entity. It is a singular collective noun.

For example, we often read, “TWP are the biggest online publishers”. It should say, “TWP is the biggest online publisher”.

Or, “RST have won the biggest government tender”. It should say, “RST has won the biggest government tender".

Remember though, it’s correct to use the plural when writing about your business as “we”. So, it’s fine to say, “At RST, we have the best tender writing team in Australia”.

Are you skeptical about the claims made in adverts? Especially those for creams that claim to lessen the lines around your eyes?

Perhaps honesty is the way to go when you're copywriting sales and marketing materials.

When you consider that people buy from you because they like you and trust you, isn't it better to be honest?

At the very least, it reminds our readers that we are human. It's more credible to read that, yes we sometimes get things wrong but as soon as we know about a problem we do our utmost to fix it.

Here are some suggestions for honest business writing that make you sound human.

Share stories in your tenders, proposals, sales letters and websites. These could be case studies that reveal why you love your work, why you love your industry or why you started your own business.

Show emotion. Perhaps the work you do is, at times, exciting, stressful, worrying, energising, thrilling, joyous, satisfying, or all of these things.

Ask your clients to write a testimonial about how you helped them to overcome a problem (or write it for them). This is a great technique for e-books, blogs and articles as well as tenders and proposals.

Personalise your copywriting. Use words like 'you', 'your', 'I', 'we', 'our'. 

Admit things are not perfect. Imagine you are invited to write an article on how your business or firm became so successful. It's great to share positive stories, but what people want to know is how you resolve obstacles. You could mention the time the bank turned down your loan application, or the time your biggest client didn't pay you for 4 months. How did you deal with these situations?

Simply using any one of these techniques will make your marketing and sales materials more credible.

Clients often ask me, “What do you think about bullet lists?” The question usually comes when they are writing a proposal or a tender, or copywriting a website or brochure. They come to read their work, only to realise it’s full of endless bullet lists.

I find B2B documents with lots of bullet lists hard to read and tend to skim over them. By zoning out, I probably miss some key messages.

Yet bullet points are great when they are used well. Here are 5 tips to make your bullets more readable.

1. Turn a bullet list into numbered list, just like this one. Numbers make the list seem more important, and more likely to be read.

2. Put a box around the bullet points, with or without shading, or just use shading. Highlighting your bullet points makes them stand out for your readers.

3. Bold or underline some of the key words for emphasis and to attract your readers’ attention.

4. Make each bullet point a stand-alone sentence so your readers get the message quickly. It saves them having to refer back to the lead-in sentence.

5. Start each bullet point with a verb in the present tense, where possible. That’s what I've done in this list. It’s punchier and faster to read. 

There's an 80/20 rule for everything, including copywriting headlines. Read anything about copywriting and you'll discover that the headline, or subject line, of your email, article, brochure or letter is where you need to spend 80% of your writing time. That's right: only 20% left to copywrite your article or brochure.

It does depend on what you're writing, of course. When you're writing tenders and proposals there's rarely time for a catchy headline, whereas writing headlines or subject lines for your letters, articles, emails and brochures gives you time to play.
 
Like most things in life, there are a few good tricks to help you write a great headine or subject line.

The most accessible ones are:
 
"How to..." suggests we'll learn something useful without much effort.

"The Secrets of..", or "Revealed..." hint at something a little mysterious that we really need to know.

"Discover the..." means we'll find something useful.
 
5, 7 or 10: we're all used to Top 10s. Five and 7 are great too and more credible than even-numbers except 10. But when you're writing about large numbers, it's more persuasive to use the precise figure than a rounded figure.

Don't forget, you can combine these for even more attention-grabbing headlines and subject lines. For example:

• Discover how to...
• How my aunt saved $46,729 on her tax bill
• 7 deadly copywriting sins...how to avoid...
• Copywriting secrets revealed
• Discover the 7 secrets of copywriting
• Revealed: the 7 secrets of copywriting
• How apostrophes can get you arrested
• Top 10 tender mistakes

Why are these so useful? Because they work. They're simple, straight to the point, attract attention and make your reader curious about what's coming next. In my article Is This the World's Most Attractive Headline?, I've written about other attention-grabbing words for headlines. Put them together and you get:

• Discover 7 easy ways to write for a living
• Revealed: 5 simple tricks for younger looking skin
• How to get the haircut of your dreams - for free!
• Faster, better copywriting in 5 easy steps
• Save $2,397 a year with this foolproof money-saving tool

Another useful headline trick is to ask a dramatic question. My free guide, Do You Make These Mistakes in English? is very popular because people wonder what mistakes they might be making. 

You can download the guide right from this website.

 

When you're cooking up marketing or business development materials (brochures, profiles, flyers, email, tenders, proposals) it's tricky to get the recipe right. Between your two main ingredients - a capital letter and a full stop - there are different flavours of words, and occasionally a dash of commas, to give you a sentence. Not a very tasty one perhaps, but one you can mix until you get the flavour right.

How do you get the flavour right? With good editing.

Here are 5 tips to great editing:

1. Read your work aloud. You'll hear where it doesn't flow.

2. Leave it to bake for long enough. If you have time, leave it overnight. In the morning read it afresh. You will recognise your good work, and the parts you need to revisit.

3. Add some new ingredients. Seek alternatives for the words you keep repeating.

4. Reduce the fat content. Cut out unncessary words. Adjectives (these are mostly really lovely words ending in -ly) and parts of the verb 'to be" can often be cut. For example, instead of "...the magnificent views are carefully framed", edit to "frames the magnificent views".

5. Use present tense to makes your work shorter, and livlier. Instead of, "You will receive three issues for free when you...", try "Receive 3 issues free when you...", or "You receive 3 issues free when you..."

For more help, download our free guide Do You Make These Mistakes in English? or call Rosemary on (02) 9314 7506

Apostrophes are everywhere. Especially in the wrong places. Often called greengrocer’s apostrophes, these are well-meaning but unnecessary apostrophes in plural words, anecdotally favoured by shop owners who feel compelled to add an apostrophe to the end of any word that ends in "s" on their display placards. You know the sort of thing:

• Banana’s $4.99kg
• Fresh carrot’s
• Todays special’s.

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald suggested that despite their 300-year existence, apostrophes are under threat. According to the article, the forces behind the move to abolish apostrophes are the "knuckle-dragging illiterates" who staff lower-level government jobs and a clique of modern grammarians who argue that apostrophes "hold children back".

While I see little evidence that apostrophes are dying out, it's not just greengrocers who don't know their apostrophes from their brussel sprouts. If you are one of the many people who are not quite sure how to use them, you’re not alone (there's a quick overview below). Many of my clients quietly confess that they are confused about when and where to use apostrophes, especially with "its" and "it's.

Another common example is, "she was born in the 1960’s…", or "since the 1970’s…".  These may be examples of apostrophe misuse, but at least they show us that people understand apostrophes have a purpose. 

I take comfort from the Apostrophe Preservation Society and my good friend Liz, who confessed last year that she seethes when she sees apostrophes misused, or, even worse, not used at all. She’s not the only one who gets annoyed. Last year, SBS World News reported on two Americans who were cycling around the U.S. correcting publicly- displayed typos. (Don’t try this at home: I later read they were arrested for defacing public property.)

The rules surrounding the apostrophe are not as daunting as they might first appear. Here’s an overview.

WHEN TO USE THE APOSTROPHE

1. To show ownership or possession.

(a) When one thing owns another, the apostrophe goes before the ‘s’. For example:

I have borrowed Damian’s car.
We walked Andrew’s dog.
It is the company’s policy.

(b) When more than one thing owns something, the apostrophe goes after the ‘s’. For example:

The three schools’ results were impressive.
The two dogs’ owners got together after the training class.

(c) When a noun ending in "s" owns something, the apostrophe goes after the "s". For example:

Chris’ book
Rufus’ friends

(d) When two things share joint ownership of something, you only need to add one apostrophe at the end of the second "owner". For example:

Mum and Dad’s house
His mother and father’s legacy
Will and Toby’s restaurant

2. When referring to time. For example:

Six weeks’ time
Three months’ worth
A day’s trip from Sydney

3. To show letters have been left out

When you are shortening a word, or combining two words into one, the apostrophe replaces the missing letters. For example:

it is /it has = it’s
do not = don’t
should not = shouldn’t
what is = what’s
that is = that’s
cannot = can’t
you are = you’re

WHEN NOT TO USE THE APOSTROPHE

1. To indicate a plural

A plural doesn’t have an apostrophe, unless it owns something. For example:

Incorrect: Here are some photo’s for you.
It should be: Here are some photos for you

Incorrect: Todays special’s
It should be: Today’s specials

The exception to this rule is when you are referring to plural letters of the alphabet. For example:

Mind your p’s and q’s.
Read the t’s and c’s.

2. When you are using a pronoun

A pronoun is a small word that represents a thing or a person – such as: I, me, she, he, him, it, its, we, us, our, you, your, their, or them. 

The most common mistake happens with “it’s”. Just remember: only use the apostrophe if you are talking about “it is”.

The following are all incorrect:

The dog was their’s.
It’s nose was red.
Their’s is the house on the hill.
It’s eyes were blue. 

They should be:

The dog was theirs.
Its nose was red.
Theirs is the house on the hill.
Its eyes were blue.

3. When writing about an official Australian placename

In 1966, the Geographical Names Board decided that Australian place street and road names would not have an apostrophe:

Kings Cross
Saint James Station
Mrs Macquaries Chair

4. After an acronym or "initialism"

When many words are shortened into one, and referred to as a series of letters or pronounced as a word (e.g. TAFE), there is no need to include an apostrophe.

For example, the following are incorrect: MP’s, FAQ’s and CEO’s.

They should be: MPs, FAQs, CEOs.

5. When referring to a decade

Many people incorrectly insert an apostrophe when referring to a period in time – 1960’s, 70’s. It is correct to use 1960s, 70s.

For more on avoiding grammatical errors and word confusion, download our free guide
Do You Makes These Mistakes in English?

Can you read the following? 
 
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteres are in the rghit pclae.

I bet you could read every word. And I bet too that you’d never send a client a document with this many typos. But if you do send a document with even one typo, it could be costing your business.

Let's get back to that paragraph. You could read every word because we read words as whole units, not as individual letters. Our brains use our experience of English to make assumptions about what’s coming next. 

The flipside is that sometimes our assumptions are wrong. That’s why we occasionally miss typos when we’re proofreading, especially if it’s a document we’ve written ourselves.

A survey by the UK’s Royal Mail cited poor grammar and atrocious spelling as potentially costing British businesses billions of pounds every year. In most cases, email was the culprit. The survey found that:

• 75% of customers do not trust companies whose written communications contain errors.

• 30% of potential customers refuse to deal with organisations whose written communications – including emails and letters – contain mistakes.

For a real life example of how typos can literally cost money, the BBC reported last year that the Bank of Kazakh had released newly printed bank notes into circulation with the word bank misspelled.

It is incredibly difficult to proofread your own work. There's no doubt about that. But if you have no choice, here are five tips to help you avoid costly mistakes: 
 
1. Print the document and read it out loud to check it is grammatically correct and conveys the right meaning.

2. Read from the last word to the first. Start at the end of the document and read each word in turn, from the last to the first. When you read each word in isolation, you are more likely to spot typos.

3. Know what mistakes to look for. We often repeat the same mistakes:

• missing narrow letters (e.g. ‘i’ - offical, opportunites, instnctively)
• using extra letters  (e.g. acccountancy, narrrow)
• mis-spelling long or technical words (e.g. physiothearapy, implenemtation).

4. Spell checkers won’t pick up typos which are correct spellings, or words that sound the same but have different meanings.
 
Last year, for example, I proofread an annual report for a big Australian bank only to find the word 'divided' had been used a few times instead of 'dividend' - a pretty significant typo for a publically listed financial institution.

Other examples are:

• causal/casual
• form/from
• unclear/nuclear
• their/there
• site/sight.

5. Double check all the headings and page numbers. This is where most mistakes are made, especially in long documents such as annual reports, proposals and tenders. Check that all the fonts, colours, headings, titles and numbered sequences are consistent. And if you have an index or contents list, don’t forget to check that the page numbers match the list.