Teaching Business Communication

If you can write a catchy sentence using I when the wording really demands me, do you choose I or me? If fewer fits your meaning but less sounds breezier, do you go with the correct fewer or the rhythmic…

If you create newsletter articles, HR policies, forms, reports, or other pieces that touch on current topics and data, you may catch yourself wondering about word choice: transgender or transgendered? Eskimo or Inuit? Survivor or victim? The latest AP Stylebook…

A man recently contacted me about wanting to be successful in his new job. He realized his writing was not what it needed to be. If you have a new job, congratulations! Being successful in a new position requires learning…

I was traveling with my family for six weeks in Guatemala and Costa Rica. In Guatemala, it’s clear that one should not put anything in toilets except what they were made for. But in the more heavily visited Costa Rica,…

Imagine this scenario: Your supervisor emails you with a message that says “Please edit the attachment.” Or perhaps the instruction is “Fix the attached” or “Please give this piece some polish.” What does it mean to edit, fix, or polish…

The standards of writing change. What was once correct in business messages now comes across as old-fashioned–or does it? Take this true-false test to check your knowledge of basic formatting standards for business letters and emails. Note: The questions and…

Do you use the abbreviations i.e. and e.g. in your business writing? Do you use them interchangeably, or does each expression have its place? How would you define them if a child asked you what they meant? To think about…

I got an email yesterday from the organizers of a literary festival I’m going to attend. It shared reminders about parking and registration. I knew where to park, but I needed to know where registration was. So I went directly…

The other day my fitness coach went online to pay a $250 deposit on her daughter’s high school trip. She found the website and the correct trip, clicked the link to pay $250, and then faced a cell marked Amount….

Do people tell you that your writing is choppy or difficult to follow? Do they say it doesn’t flow? Or maybe you’ve noticed that your team’s writing doesn’t flow. Good flow in writing is method, not magic. When writing doesn’t…