How do you vanquish writer’s block? Some say to just start writing, even if you later have to delete half of what you’ve written. Some say to begin with the middle and add the introduction and conclusion later. Some say to make a list. We say: grab some paper and a...
When you've just finished slaving over a report, it can be hard to achieve the distance you need to proofread it effectively. Watch Emphasis CEO Rob Ashton demonstrate five techniques for proofreading any document to perfection. Proofread like a pro: video transcript...
Blog reader Annemarie asks: For a while now, I have been wondering whether I should write ‘I look forward to [doing something]’ or ‘I'm looking forward to [doing something]’. In all my English lessons, the first option was clearly the correct one. But lately, I have...
Nelson Mandela once said, ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.' Business letter writers may not have been his target demographic when he said it, but – if that’s your job...
Subscribe via RSS / iTunes | All podcasts Click the icon above to hear this interview (36 minutes) Our guest in this special episode of Communication Lab is Ryan Holiday, who dropped out of college at the age of 19 and went on to become global marketing director of...
Most students are familiar with that morning-after feeling. But academic life can leave you with another kind of hangover you’ll want to shake off before heading off to work: an academic writing style. When your key reader is more likely to be found in a boardroom...
For accountants, effective writing skills can be as important as the ability to crunch the numbers. Your professional development and competitive edge depend as much on your ability to communicate what you’ve found as the findings and recommendations themselves....
For a writing-training company, we run surprisingly few grammar and punctuation courses. To be more precise, we run few courses that focus solely on grammar and punctuation – even though more people come to us asking for training in just this area than in...
Most of us have felt the limitations of the typical grammar- or spell-check at some point. And who hasn’t stared in bewilderment at one of Word’s seemingly random squiggly lines and cried: ‘What do you want from me?’ So far, no program has received much higher praise...
What is 'singular they'? Singular they is the use of they, their or them (plural pronouns) with a singular antecedent (the word the they, their or them refers back to). And singular they is typically used to refer to a noun that could be either gender (such as client,...
It would be easy to imagine that these words represent an evolution: two words becoming one. In fact, they have distinct meanings. Here’s how to keep each in its place. Altogether can mean entirely, utterly or completely; on the whole; or with everything...
You may have a vague memory of once being told to use I shall for formal occasions, but is it too formal? Too old-fashioned? Will people point and laugh? Or are shall and will simply interchangeable? Let’s explore, shall we? Modal (helping) verbs Shall and will...