Welcome to the blog – advice, opinions and musings on how to make words work
Some rules are made to be broken – even ones that I laid down just a few weeks ago. You know how I said recently that it's usually best to put your main points first? Well, there are some times when that's not such a good idea. Obviously it's still true that few of us...
How much do big words and flowery phrases really impress our peers? A lot less than many people think, it seems. I've talked before about the...
Have you ever wondered why you can never seem to get a document written until its deadline is looming? You might have been paralysed by writer's...
I confess that I can be a little paranoid at times. And never more so than when I'm sending important emails. It usually goes something like this....
A client contacted us recently while still recovering from a mild trauma. He was the head of risk at an investment bank and had just finished...
If you ever struggle with writing at work, take comfort in knowing that to do it at all should be impossible. In fact, the whole idea of...
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The strange thing about writer's block is often it's not writing that's the problem at all. It's thinking. 'Thinking is to humans as swimming is to...
Struggling to write is a universal human experience. We all find it hard to some degree, as I've explained before. But if the key word is 'human',...
It's tempting to think that writing comes easily to everyone but ourselves. But if we could see inside their heads, we'd probably find that their...
An embarrassing mishap befell me during my recent summer break. It happened when I was searching for the bathroom in an unfamiliar West Country pub....
Blog reader Helen asks: Can I have some advice on how to use 'whether'? As in 'whether to write something' or 'whether or not to write something'....
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...
A quick question from blog reader Jo, who asks: I recently watched a television interview with David Cameron during which he used the term 'stadia'...
Blog reader Paul asks: I’ve seen ‘fast’ and ‘quickly’ used as though they were interchangeable. Is this correct?...
Blog reader Fritz asks: I realised just recently that I have been using ‘eg’ and ‘ie’ as though they were interchangeable,...
You’ve spent the past three or four years writing essays and reports, and now you're in your first professional job and ready to start writing...
Poor apologies are all too common in business. But the flipside is that, because they're so rare, a good, convincing apology to a client can leave...
Should you write: a) 'Last autumn, I led the Pegasus project', or b) 'Last autumn, I lead the Pegasus project'? The answer is a). Led is the past...
What do data, bacteria, agendas and paninis all have in common? Their ability to ignite a singular vs plural debate. Why so much confusion? Well,...
Annual reports should be focused, well written and dynamic – and, above all, they mustn't shy away from giving a clear and accurate message. A good...
Is it complimentary or complementary? Of course, it depends. This is one of the trickiest homophones to remember, partly because the spellings are...
A book about fonts does sound a little dull on first impression, I’ll admit, writes Gordon MacDonald. Who really cares about the shape of...
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