There's no getting away from it: research is addictive. And there's a good reason for that – we're all hard-wired to search. It's a survival mechanism, programmed into us by evolution. As hunter-gatherers on the savannah, we needed something that would shake us from...
Rob Ashton
Why we created Emphasis 360™
Our courses are transformative. It's the norm for participants to leave the training room full of confidence and buzzing with ideas. This is true even for people who were initially sceptical. (In fact, they often end up as our biggest advocates.) But even the best...
What happened when we left an error in an email to 7,000 people
I love my job, on most days. We help people with a task that millions find very stressful and problematic. So it's incredibly rewarding to be able to relieve that pain. For me, it's the best job in the world. Most days. Then there are the other (thankfully) much rarer...
How and when do you write etc, ie and eg?
Generally we advise giving Latin a wide berth when it comes to writing work documents or emails. There are exceptions, of course. Lawyers depend on it as a kind of technical shorthand among colleagues. (Some Latin has even entered common usage – alibi, for example.)...
Could this template improve all your documents?
‘What’s the right format for my report (or proposal)?’ is a question we get asked a lot. The short answer is that there isn’t one. At least, there isn’t a standard format that all reports should follow. But that fact can be both a help and a hindrance. On the one...
Should I write ‘compared to’ or ‘compared with’?
There’s a subtle but useful difference between ‘compared to’ and ‘compared with’. 'Compared to’ highlights a similarity between two things. ‘Compared with’ does the opposite: it contrasts them. Confusing the two is way down the list of word crimes and misdemeanours....
Five reasons to ignore your grammar gremlins (for now)
Here's the good news: if you’re worried your documents are not as good as they could be, your grammar is probably not the problem. Don't get me wrong. Grammar matters. Of course it does. Getting it wrong can undermine your reputation (though probably not as much as...
20 surefire tips for using bullets like a pro
Bullet points can bring clarity to an otherwise dense report, delivering quickfire information. But overuse them and you could shoot yourself in the foot – too many can make a document very hard to read. There are 20 bullet points in this article. Take each of them on...
How to beat distraction, the new writer’s block
Writer's block used to mean sitting at your desk, staring into the empty void that was your screen and hoping for inspiration. Ah, those were the days. Now it's not emptiness but a world crammed with tempting morsels that's the problem. Gone is the blank screen. In...
Can you ‘speak to’ the issues?
Can you 'speak to' the issues? Hi Emphasis I love the e-bulletin and have a question for you: in US circles, and increasingly in UK contexts too, I hear the term 'speak to [the issues]' to mean something like 'make reference to [the issues]' – eg 'the report...
Sentence supercharger
Want more business-writing tips? The Emphasis Knowledge Hub is packed with practical advice to help you improve your writing, from writing formal emails to drafting reports. If you'd like to take your business writing to the next level, see our courses.
Tips for breaking through the barrier
You probably have something in common with everyone else who’s ever had writer’s block: you eventually got going. The problem is, that may well have been because your report was due first thing the next morning and the alternative was the Job Centre. But imagine if...