|
Home::Writing
10 Tips for Better Writing
Author : Tim North
As a proofreader of business writing, I see many of the same
errors made again and again. Errors in your writing (be they in
advertising copy, correspondence, or a web site) are more
serious, I believe, than most people realize.
Why? Well, the standard of your writing has always been
important. Today, though, more than ever before, FIRST
IMPRESSIONS COUNT. We are bombarded by the written word in its
many forms -- books, pamphlets, magazines, signs, e-mail, web
sites and many other media.
We are all suffering from information overload and are forced
to find ways of screening out as much as we can. We thus tend
to make quick decisions on what to read and what not to. First
impressions increasingly determine what we read and what we
don't, and poor writing leads to a poor first impression.
The following list of tips should help you to avoid some of
the most common slip-ups.
1. Capitals: Avoid the temptation to capitalize words in the
middle of a sentence Just To Provide Emphasis Like This. If
you want to be more emphatic, consider using bold face,
italics, color or larger text.
2. Commas: The most common use of the comma is to join together
short sentences to make a single longer sentence. We do this
with one of the following small joining words: and, or, but,
yet, for, nor, or so. For example:
We have finished the work, and we are looking forward
to the weekend.
Notice that the two halves of this sentence could each be
sentences in their own right. They thus need to be separated
with a comma and joining word. In the next example, though, we
don't need a comma:
We have finished the work and are looking forward
to the weekend.
The halves of that sentence could not stand alone, so no comma
was used.
3. Ellipsis: The ellipsis is a series of three -- and ONLY THREE
-- full stops used to mark missing words, an uncertain pause,
or an abrupt interruption. Avoid the temptation to use six or
seven dots -- it looks amateurish. For example, we write:
Niles: But Miss Fine's age is only ...
Fran: Young! Miss Fine's age is only young!
4. Excessive punctuation: Only one exclamation mark or question
mark should be used at a time. Consider the following
over-punctuated examples:
Buy now!!!
Great bargains!!!!!!!!!!
Excessive punctuation looks too much like hysteria and
detracts from your credibility. Avoid it.
5. Headings: For long works, establish a clear hierarchy of
headings. Microsoft Word's heading styles are great for this.
(They also allow you to automatically create a table of
contents.)
6. Hyphenating prefixes: Most prefixes don't need a hyphen; i.e.
we write "coexist", not "co-exist". There are exceptions,
though. The prefixes "self-" and "ex-" are almost always
hyphenated.
7. Numbers: Numbers of ten or less are normally written as words.
8. Quotation marks: Users of American English should use double
quotes (" "). Users of British English should choose either
single quotes (' ') or double quotes and stick with them for
the whole document. Incidentally, British English usage is
increasingly moving towards single quotes.
9. Spaces: Modern style is to use a single space at the end of a
sentence, not two. Also, most punctuation marks (e.g. commas,
full stops, question marks) are not preceded by a space.
10.Tables: Set table text one or two points smaller than the
main body text and in a sans-serif font such as Arial or
Verdana. Avoid vertical lines as they tend to add unnecessary
clutter.
Armed with these simple guidelines, your writing should be well
received every time. Good luck!
About the Author
You'll find over 200 tips like this in Tim North's much applauded
e-book BETTER WRITING SKILLS. It's just $19.95 and comes with a
90-day, money-back guarantee. Download a sample chapter here:
http://www.betterwritingskills.com Spam emails More free articles Related articles
|
More related feeds |
Grammar Girl :: Can Versus May
... author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, who blogs at sentencesleuth.blogspot.com, and I'm Mignon Fogarty, the author of the paperback book Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. ...ngo.media - writing, editing, copywriting and publications for ...
Sign up for ngo.media's FREE Good Writing for Charities bulletin to be the first to hear about ngo.media's training, seminars, publications projects and to find out more. Plus, sign up now to receive your FREE 20 Top Tips for Better ... Writing Tips for Non-Writers Who Don’t Want to Work at Writing ...
More Mundane Meanderings. on 13 Feb 2006 at 2:45 pm. How to write better in 10 easy steps. I just read a blog post by John Scalzi, entitled Writing Tips for Non-Writers Who Don’t Want to Work at Writing. It had some good tips, ... Virtually Yourz: 10 Tips to Writing Better Marketing Materials
When searching for a topic to write about, I came across another great article on Biznik.com, this one from Lynn Baldwin-Rhoades: 10 Tips to Writing Better Marketing Materials. In this article, she offers advice from other writers on ... 10 Tips on Writing An E-Book | Altitude Branding
10 Tips on Writing An E-Book. I’m embarking on a big and fun project right now that involves a companion e-book, and so I turned to my faithful Twitter community for some input. I happen to love e-books, but my idea of a comfy read ... Better, Had Better and Should | TheWritersBag.com
One of the following sentences is very informal. One is informal. One is formal. Can you guess which is which? You had better get this right! You should. ... Writing tips for the real world. Nov 22 2008 ... A Guide to Better Travel Writing (Part 1): 23 Essential Tips ...
With the staggering proliferation of blogs in the past few years, more folks than ever are getting into the writing game. One year ago today, we kicked off our A Guide to Better Travel Writing Series with 23 Essential Tips & Habits, ... Investment Writing: Vanguard is using LinkedIn
Investment Writing. Financial writer-editor Susan Weiner, CFA, blogs here about investment and wealth management topics, including tips for more effective written communications with clients and prospects through investment commentary, ... Here about 10 Blog Writing Tips | Have a Information for good ...
Most of the “rules” about writing for e-zines and newsletters apply to writing posts for your blog, but there are some important differences. Keep these 10 tips in mind and you’ll be publishing great blog content that attracts prospects ... Some Tips in Writing a Narrative Essay | Essay-Blog
When you are going to write a narrative essay, it is important that you know how to efficiently structure the contents of the article for better delivery. Let us take a look at what important pointers are necessary in writing an essay ...
|
|
|
