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Communication Lab 2: the secret life of pronouns
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Author : em-admin
Posted : 21 / 11 / 11
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32 minutes
Rob Ashton and Andy White discuss the secret life of pronouns, proofreading tips and why the Freedom of Information Act may have taken all the excitement out of government communications.
Further reading
Hear something you want to know more about? Here are some useful links.
The Planet Word series with Stephen Fry has now finished, but it’s available to buy from Amazon and other bookshops. The episode that Rob was talking about is this one.
Professor James Pennebaker is a social psychologist based at the University of Texas. His book The Secret Life of Pronouns examines how and why pronouns and other forgettable words reveal so much about us.
The tool Rob mentions that analyses your writing is no longer available. But you can test your instincts about pronouns with this quiz and, if you’re on Twitter, have your personality analysed via your tweets.
Americans will be familiar with the Gettysburg address, but for any Brits wishing to brush up, Gregory Peck does a good job of reading it in this video.
Here’s the letter from the civil servant to the Guardian about the Freedom of Information Act making communication in the public sector ‘anodyne, benign and sterile’.
For more tips on proofreading, you might like this post on our blog. And to make sure you never forget to check the headings and furniture, see this collection of newspaper blunders. Finally, test your observational powers with this monkey business: how many times do the players wearing white pass the ball?
Posted by: em-admin
05 / 12 / 11
Subscribe via RSS / iTunes | Download | All podcasts 31 minutes In this podcast, communication strategist David Levin joins Rob Ashton and Andy White to discuss strategies for approaching difficult conversations in the workplace. Further reading Did something in particular catch your interest? Here are some links to what we talked about. Here’s Ben […]
Posted by: Cathy Relf
19 / 12 / 11
Subscribe via RSS / iTunes | Download | All podcasts 40 minutes Listen now to the latest programme, featuring communications expert Sharí Alexander: how to get what you want every time you speak. Further reading If you’d like to know more about any of the topics discussed, try these links. Here are the BBC’s article […]
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