1 Write With Style and Grace Grammar & Style Dos and Don’ts J. Kulbel Business Information Technology Edmonds Community College

2 What Will We Cover?  Style Don’ts  Style Dos  Rules Have Changed  Style Suggestions  Guidelines

3 Style Don’ts In accordance with your request as to my intentions with regard to attendance at the November 21 grand opening, as made in your recent invitation, I would like to extend my most sincere appreciation of your invitation, but must regretfully decline as I am otherwise engaged on the evening of your grand opening.

4 Style Don’ts...  Leave out “that” if the sentence is clear without it. At this point in time owing to the fact that it is necessary to be in closer to the airport, I would like to recommend that we should make exploration of new sites.

5 Style Don’ts...  Avoid there – it weakens the beginning of the sentence. There are three reasons why I deserve a raise. Vs. I deserve a raise for three reasons.

6 Style Don’ts...  Avoid using parentheses.  Avoid underlining or use it judicially.  Avoid gender specific language. Use gender neutral words.

7 Style Don’ts...  Don’t write to impress—it will fall flat  Don’t rely on the spell or grammar checker.  Don’t use a preposition at the end of the sentence if it is a useless word. Where’s the store at?

8 Style Don’ts  Don’t use the first name and a comma in a letter’s greeting.  Don’t use his/her too much. It is awkward. A teacher who does not have the respect of his or her students should resign, and he or she should look for another line of work.

9 Style Don’ts  Don’t use their to replace he or she unless the subject is plural.  Don’t misplace modifiers. My boss returned to the hospital where she underwent surgery in 2001 in a local fire company’s ambulance.

10 Style Don’ts  Don’t use passive voice unless writing negative messages. John wrote the memo. NOT The memo was written by John.

11 Style Dos  Remember FANBOYS = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so  Two independent clauses set apart by a FANBOY gets a comma.

12 Style Dos  Semi-colons separate two independent clauses.  Semi-colons are used stylistic to show a direct connection between ideas.

13 Style Dos  A sentence with four pieces of punctuation flags a run-on sentence.  Use verbs more than nouns.  Commas are used after new idea transitions – although, therefore

14 Rules Have Changed  We can now end a sentence with a preposition. These are the children I will be taking care of. Less awkward than... These are the children of whom I will care.

15 Rules cont...  Sentences may begin with because.  Use a colon after “Dear” in a business letter. This is now business standard.  Block style formatting is standard in today’s business.

16 Style Suggestions  Use this simple rule for whom/who: If you can substitute a “him” use whom. If you can substitute a “he” use who. Who [he] is going to be famous? Who [he] is responsible? He is going with whom [him].

17 Suggestions cont...  Numbers under 10 are written out.  Be aware of parallel form.  Balance short and long sentences.  If you opened directly, end softer. If you opened softer, end strongly.

18 Suggestions cont...  Use bullets for lists under six.  Use numbers in any list where the items should be prioritized.  Formatting in business writing is as important as the word choices.

19 Suggestions cont...  Paragraphs should be four-five lines long with transitions.  Sentences should be about seven to eight words long.  Use size font for business writing.

20 Suggestions cont...  Use the word “you” more than “I” or “we.”  Remember the writer is the reader’s servant.  As you write be sure to ask who, what, why, when, where and how.

21 Guidelines  Messages should be brief and succinct.  Limit the message to 25 lines or less. The entire message should fit on the screen.  Use file attachments for longer documents.

22 s cont...  When sending a file attachment, give a brief description of the document.  Use bullets or numbered lists.  Salutations and closings are omitted to keep length short.

23 s cont...  Use standard capitalization rules. All caps is considered shouting.  s are not private. If the message is confidential, set up a meeting.

24 Use a Style Guide!  Use a style guide!

25 Did I say use a style guide? Yes – I thought I did! Now, go out and write right!