Christie asked about the "top 10 mistakes [in grammar and writing] and
how to avoid them."
The biggest mistake we've seen in our thirty years teaching employees to
improve their business writing is not a grammar error. It's failing to
have a clear objective.
There are many others:
* Writing what you want to say, not what the reader needs to hear
* Hiding the objective somewhere other than in the first sentence
* Failing to ask for what you want
* Writing to many people as a group, rather than to each reader
individually
* Beginning every sentence with "I," or making the focus yourself,
whether you use "I" or not
* Using hackneyed expressions to open, close, or communicate every
thought you have--"Per your request," "Feel free to call if you have any
questions," etc.
* Failing to proofread carefully
* Failing to read your writing aloud
Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are superficial elements that writers
can easily correct. They just need to know what errors they're making.
Spell checkers, grammar checkers are helpful, but certainly not to be
relied on. Most of the time my PC's spell checker is wrong in guessing
what word I wanted. Active voice is preferred, but not always.
Personally, I've always liked the rule that "good writers can break any
rule"!
In terms of the other advise I've seen on this topic. Winston Churchill
was famous for responding to a woman who told him that he ended a
sentence with a preposition, "That's the sort of pedantry, up with which
I will not put." "Put up with" is really a phrasal verb--I guess we
should rely on statesman for statesmanship, and writing experts for
writing advice. Nonetheless, it is okay to end a sentence with a
preposition, as in, "It's confusing to know what your client was
thinking about."
I'd tell your client who wants this list to offer a business writing
training course, buy its employees "The Elements of Style," or stop
writing to its clients! Sorry, but a list of 10 items won't help your
client to avoid problems in writing, won't make the writing more
effective, and is in effect telling its employees, "writing isn't really
that important." Maybe it feels this way. Maybe clear, direct
communication isn't that important to your client. Most likely it is.
My commercial:
We offer an online business writing course that provides instruction and
five, personal critiques of each participant's job-related writing.
Many of our clients use this program because it doesn't require their
employees to leave work to learn. Linking to our website (the URL's
below) might prompt some of your client's representatives to do more
about developing this fundamental skill.
Cordially,
Doug
--
Douglas M. Max
Managing Director
LR Communication Systems, Inc.
http://www.LRcom.com
139 Dogwood Lane
Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922-0264
USA
Training in business writing and presentation skills. Seminars, distance
learning/correspondence programs with personal feedback. Online options.
Editing services. Founded in 1969.
E-mail for business:
mail@LRcom.com
personal:
dmax@bellatlantic.net
voice @ Work (908) 464-1231
fax (908) 464-1350