Write Away e-bulletin

May 2012

University can leave graduates with a convoluted and old-fashioned style of writing. Kick the academic habit shows you how to move to a more direct, persuasive and professional tone. 

And speaking of professional tone, how do you write about brand names such as MORE TH>N, LV=, ASDA and Yahoo! without your prose disappearing into keyboard soup? With a house style is how. Here’s how to develop one.

Also, there’s a 60-second fix to set you straight on different from, different to and different than; and a profession-specific guide to writing skills for chartered accountants.

Over on the blog, test your trademark awareness with our quiz and set yourself altogether straight on all together.

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• Kick the academic habit

  How to get from A to B (academic to business) with your writing.

• How to tackle difficult brand names

  When a brand name breaks the rules of English, do you follow suit or get out the red pen?

• Professional focus: business writing for accountants

  Each profession presents specific business-writing challenges. In this article, we focus on chartered accountants.

• 60-second fix: different from/to/than

  Is different from the only correct usage, or is there a place for different to and different than?