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...
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.)...
‘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...
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....
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...
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...
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? 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...
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...
There’s a memorable conversation in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice asks the Cheshire cat for directions. Unfortunately, Alice doesn’t know where she wants to go, stating that it doesn’t matter where she gets to, as long as she...
Click here to listen to Emphasis CEO Rob Ashton explain how to overcome writer's block. Learn how to: Get started Plan your document Use a reader-profile questionnaire to get your ideas clear (download it here)
Developing your writing skills is key if you want to become a recognised industry expert, says Rob Ashton. If you take a poll to find the world’s top music executive, the chances are that most people will say Simon Cowell. There may be other executives with more...