10 tips for better writing

10tipsforbetterwritingAsaproofreaderofbusinesswriting,Iseemanyofthesameerrorsmadeagainandagain.Errorsinyourwriting(betheyinadvertisingcopy,correspondence,orawebsite)aremoreserious,Ibelieve,thanmostpeoplerealize.Why?Well,thestandardofyourwritinghasalwaysbeenimportant.Today,though,morethaneverbefore,FIRSTIMPRESSIONSCOUNT.Wearebombardedbythewrittenwordinitsmanyforms--books,pamphlets,magazines,signs,e-mail,websitesandmanyothermedia.Weareallsufferingfrominformationoverloadandareforcedtofindwaysofscreeningoutasmuchaswecan.Wethustendtomakequickdecisionsonwhattoreadandwhatnotto.Firstimpressionsincreasinglydeterminewhatwereadandwhatwedon`t,andpoorwritingleadstoapoorfirstimpression.Thefollowinglistoftipsshouldhelpyoutoavoidsomeofthemostcommonslip-ups.1.Capitals:AvoidthetemptationtocapitalizewordsinthemiddleofasentenceJustToProvideEmphasisLikeThis.Ifyouwanttobemoreemphaticconsiderusingboldface,italics,colororlargertext.2.Commas:Themostcommonuseofthecommaistojointogethershortsentencestomakeasinglelongersentence.Wedothiswithoneofthefollowingsmalljoiningwords:and,or,but,yet,for,nor,orso.Forexample:Wehavefinishedthework,andwearelookingforwardtotheweekend.Noticethatthetwohalvesofthissentencecouldeachbesentencesintheirownright.Theythusneedtobeseparatedwithacommaandjoiningword.Inthenextexample,though,wedon`tneedacomma:Wehavefinishedtheworkandarelookingforwardtotheweekend.Thehalvesofthatsentencecouldnotstandalone,sonocommawasused.第12页下一页