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As we’ve just established when it should be program or programme, now seems a fitting time to ask: is it disk or disc? And is this another set up for a US/UK battle for spelling territory?

Um, no. There wouldn’t be much point. Although disk is considered the standard choice in the US and Canada (while disc is in the UK), the ‘k’ spelling – introduced in the seventeenth century – actually predates the ‘c’ version in the English language.

Admittedly, it was US company IBM who made disk the international go-to spelling for computer-related uses. So it’s definitely disk for magnetic storage devices: eg hard disk, floppy disk. But we can hardly fault them for that.

The ‘c’ spelling of disc is still with us where it refers to optical media (that which stores data digitally and is read by a laser, eg compact disc, digital versatile disc).

Should you write ‘the person that’ or ‘the person who’?

Write Now reader Simon Walters, of FD Solutions, wrote in about one of his language bugbears. Namely: ‘misuse of the word “that” when “who” would be more appropriate. It’s so annoying when people say “The person that delivers my milk arrived late”; they should say “The person who delivered my milk…”.’

Thanks, Simon. On the face of it, I would agree: if you’re referring back to a human being, you should use ‘who’ rather than ‘that’, or doesn’t it imply that you think of the person in question as a thing?

However, research proves this isn’t quite the hard and fast rule one might imagine. For example, the indispensible Fowler’s Modern English Usage says: ‘That can also replace who (or whom), especially when the reference is non-specific, as in The person that I saw was definitely a woman.’ And examples of this usage can be found in work by Chaucer, Shakespeare and in the King James Version of the Bible.

Mind you, in any forum where the topic is thrashed out (with vehement defenders on either side of the argument), there isn’t anyone who can truly prove that it isn’t just a case of what sounds better to the writer or speaker.

So, in fact, it’s a case not of right and wrong, but rather of personal preference or style: although if you are referring back to someone specific, it’s advisable to write ‘who’. And, personally, I’ll be choosing to use ‘who’, too.

It’s always good to hear from Write Now readers here at the blog: business writing questions, language bugbears, or any other passions or issues you have with words at work – they’re all very welcome. We’d love to hear from you.

English is, to quote The Economist, the language of global business. You may feel you already have many of the secrets of better business writing at your fingertips, but writing for an international audience can require a new set of rules. Here are five top tips for communication skills that travel well.

1. Make sure your grammar is accurate
Like most foreign-language training, ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) teaching focuses quite heavily on grammar. In fact, it’s not unusual to find that ESOL students have a better grasp of grammar than many UK graduates. So if your writing is ungrammatical, it will be especially baffling or misleading for your readers. They may read grammatical mistakes as deliberate (and confusing) choices, and they will lack the familiarity with common language patterns to work out what you actually meant.

2. Use short sentences
The longer the sentence, the more likely it is that your reader will lose the gist of it. Long sentences tend to have more complex structures and dependent clauses, which can make the main point hard to work out. They will also look intimidating to non-native speakers. If you have long sentences, try splitting them up so that each is no more than 20 words.

3. Limit abstract nouns
An abstract noun is a word that refers to an event, state, quality, concept or feeling: essentially it’s a thing that doesn’t exist physically, eg meeting, consideration, anger, freedom, research, problem and so on. You won’t be able to get rid of them completely, but try not to have too many in each sentence.

Before:
The outcome of the meeting was an agreement to commission research into the subject of Spanish culture to allow for predictions of potential problems.

After:
During the meeting, we agreed to research Spanish culture so we can predict any possible problems.

By turning many of the abstract nouns into verbs (eg ‘predictions’ to ‘predict’) and rewording to eliminate others, you get a more manageable, and much shorter, sentence.

4. Be careful with modal (or ‘helping’) verbs
The main helping or modal verbs are shall and should, will and would, may and might, can and could, and must. They show how the main verb is meant to be read, and are used very naturally by native speakers. Consider the difference between being told you ‘could’ finish your report by the end of the day (where the main verb is ‘finish’), or that you ‘must’ finish it by the end of the day.

However, they are not as clear-cut as they first seem, particularly for global readers. Look out for unclear sentiments. (The potential problem will be obvious to anyone who’s asked the question ‘Can you make me a cup of tea?’ and received the ever-hilarious answer, ‘Yes, I can’.)

For example, ‘You may leave at 4pm’ could mean ‘you are allowed to leave’ or ‘you might choose to leave’. If you find yourself writing ‘the proposal should be submitted on Tuesday morning’, think whether you mean you expect it to be delivered then, or that it absolutely must be.

5. Avoid negatives
Questions phrased in the negative, like ‘You don’t have the research results, do you?’ are harder to follow and could provoke the opposite response than was intended out of confusion. Be straightforward: ‘Do you have the research results?’.

Double negatives are also problematic. Whereas in English they equal a positive, in some languages (including Spanish) they merely emphasise the negative aspect. We read ‘not unlikely’ as ‘likely’; but a Spanish reader, for example, would probably understand it as ‘very unlikely’.

In some cultures, such as Japanese, the word ‘no’ is habitually avoided. Others don’t even have a translatable version of it. Yet others view negative language as insulting.

As with any writing, it’s vital to know your audience before you begin.

Taking the time to proofread your writing – whether it’s a letter, report, proposal or even just an email – shouldn’t be an optional extra. After all, it can mean the difference between sending ‘I’ll definitely be done by five’ and ‘I’ll defiantly be gone by five’.

But proofreading is a skill and it can take a bit of practice. So why not test your ability on our example? Simply copy and paste the text into the comment box below, and correct all of the mistakes. We’ll mark them on Friday, and send the five people who spot the most mistakes a free copy of our style guide, The Write Stuff.

From: Anna Gooding
To: All office staff
Subject: The need for poofreading

Hi eveyrbody

As your probably aware, it’s become apparant that weve recently been sending out a lot of letters and emails wih an umber of typo’s in them Their is no excuse for this this and it really can’t goon, as it makes us look utterley unprofessional. From now on, lets make sure that nothing is snet out with out first being proof read (this includes email.) To begin with, Id like to see how we get on checking each others work. If neccessary, we may look into some traning . If anyone has any question about this, please bring them up at the staff on meeting tuesday.

Many Tanks

Anna