We understand that being able to write in a clear and professional style is important to your business. That is why we have developed the Business Writing Institute and the Effective Business Writing workshop. This practice-driven business writing workshop will significantly improve your ability to write in English, so that your readers will receive a clear, concise, effective message. Most professionals spend at least 15-20% of their time writing for business; emails, memos, business letters, reports and other business correspondence. Our customized approach guarantees an improvement in business communication skills that will increase your productivity, success and job satisfaction.
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Benefits of business writing training workshops:
- learn how to write a business letter
- discover the skills of writing a business letter
- learn to create clear business correspondence
- understand the difference of writing for business
- improve overall business communication
Business Writing Workshop: Write it Right - Punctuation
It's amazing what a little blob of ink can do in business writing. If this the golden age of fountain pens, these oft-misplaced blobs would almost make sense. They did have a bad habit of dripping. However, this is the electronic age so why is there such a problem with these blobs of ink otherwise known as commas and apostrophes?
I'll start with an example from the old days (pre-cell phone and cheap international calls). These were the days when each character cost money. Long distance business communication was by telegraph, and not often by telephone.
A company representative was sent by his boss to South America to check out stock prices (on the hoof or futures). He wired the price back to his boss and received the reply, No price too high. The boss was too cheap to say what he really meant.
When the employee returned home he found his boss selling pencils on the corner of what used to be his building. Why? Because he meant to say, No, price too high.
This may not be a true story, but it illustrates the point. Either way, that comma was expensive. But what does a comma mean?
As we speak, we set words off with a slight pause. The telegram could have read: "No, price too high" thus setting the word no apart as the negative it was meant to be. We use commas to separate words or phrases. "Bob bought a phone, camera, and some tape." Bob did not buy a phone camera - although many phones do come with cameras.
Let's move the comma to the top of the word. It is now an apostrophe and is used wrong more times than not. Is it the boys hat or the boy's hat? It is only one hat so the apostrophe is needed to indicate one boy and one hat. Our little upwardly mobile blob of ink is used when a singular word is modified. For example: a hat's place is on a man's or woman's head.
The seven most common uses of the apostrophe are: (Yes, there are a few lesser known applications).
1. To make a singular noun possessive. Example: A man's hat. For a plural noun, the apostrophe follows the s, example: The boys' toys.
2. As an indicator of time. Example: In two days' time.
3. It shows the omission of figures in dates, such as the winter of '08.
4. It indicates missing letters like a cat-o'-nine-tails (a whip), or in contractions: it's not a good idea to eat a lot of candy.
5. It occurs in some names, like O'Reilly or d'Arc.
6. The apostrophe shows the plural of letters: There are two T's in Scott.
7. It shows the plural of words. For example: Remember your do's and don't's.
As you can see, correct usage of the comma and apostrophe makes your business writing more precise and clearly understood. The rules given here are just the basics. Combine these rules with the other rules of punctuation to be more professional and to be better understood in your business writing.
Source: Ron Berry link
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business writing workshop