Welcome to the blog – advice, opinions and musings on how to make words work
Much of what we write often sails way over our readers’ heads. The problem is that we take our own knowledge for granted and assume that everyone else knows it too. As I explained recently, we all know more than we think. Even if you're new to a topic yourself, it’s...
The headline almost leapt out of my screen. It was June 2020. Every day was bringing another batch of harrowing news stories. Yet this one, on the...
One of the biggest killers of great ideas (and even greater careers) has to be impostor syndrome. I've met countless professionals who were held...
I've got a quick question for you. How many people live in the Australian capital of Sydney? Is it two million? Five million? Seven million? The...
A paper to the board can be incredibly powerful. But you have to tell them what you want and make sure they actually read it.
Organisations are full of documents that don't work. The CEO of a London bank recently told me that he'd spent 20 minutes of his last board meeting...
Our newsletter Writing Matters will help you to get your point across, supercharge your writing and make sure you stand out from the crowd. We’ve helped over 80,000 professionals achieve their goals.
If you're putting off writing a tricky email or text right now, you're not alone. According to a recent poll by YouGov, almost one in three adults...
Getting someone to read a document is often a bit like pushing a car that won't start. You have to overcome a ton of inertia at first. But it then...
People read your documents until they can stop. Then they do. But that's not because we have limited attention spans. The truth is that we can focus...
One of the biggest business-writing myths has to be that shorter is always better. 'Less is more,' say those who claim to be in the know. Keep it...
Whether the message is good, bad or indifferent; now is no time for silence, says Rob Ashton. During the ancient wars, if you wanted to...
For such a tiny punctuation mark, the apostrophe has an enormous tendency to confuse and irritate people. The reaction to this all-too-common...
Expert trainer Kathy Gemmell explains how to use design to create easy to read, high-impact documents. Learn how to: Make a document look readable...
Someone once said that writing is easy. You just sit at your keyboard and wait – till the beads of blood form on your forehead. For anyone who...
The power of language is often harnessed to persuade. And love them or hate them – it’s usually one or the other – advertisements...
Last month we announced the launch of our index tracking the use of the words ‘green shoots’ and ‘recovery’ in the...
The meeting room is booked and you’re waiting for your clients to arrive. The reception is strangely quiet and no-one turns up. It’s a...
The police often have a hand in giving out long sentences. Now they’re writing them. A potentially record-breaking 102-word single sentence...
Ever seen the TV game show Supermarket Sweep? The premise is pretty simple. After answering a series of questions, the contestants are instructed to...
Am I the only one who is taking the decision to ban the ‘i before e’ rule a little too much to heart? It’s been deemed too...
The results are in ... for Britain’s top ten most frequently misspelt words. And the winners are: 1 Definitely (Definately) 2 Sacrilegious...
Which came first: the newspapers or the news? This seemingly silly question – while not quite as mystifying as the whole egg-versus-chicken...
Get your own PDF copy of The Write Stuff, the definitive guide for everyone who writes at work.