Effective Writing Part 2

Quotation Marks

Use quotation marks around words quoted from someone or something. Also use quotation marks around a word you intend to define.

Quote

The president began the meeting with this mantra: "Work hard. Work smart. Take risks. Have fun."

Definition

The brand scored below industry average for "unaided awareness." The unaided awareness score is the percentage of people polled who stated they had heard of the brand when asked the following question: "What brands have you ever heard of in the BLANK category?"

Take Posession

To make a singular noun possessive, add an apostrophe and s, even if the noun already ends in s. For plural nouns that end in s, add an apostrophe.

singular nouns     
Jane    Jane's report
Bess    Bess's report

Plural nouns     
Directors    Directors' stock options

The trouble with it

웬만하면 It를 쓰지 말자

Commonly Misued Words and Phrases

Ensure and Insure

Ensure means "to make certain." Insure means "to protect against loss."

We need to ensure the program's success.

We will insure the company against any liability associated with the summer promotion.

Consensus

Never use general to describe "consensus." "General consensus" is a redundant phrase. A consensus is, by definition, general.

The consensus was to retain the agency for another year.

Style Facilitates Effective Communication

• Be concise

• Be specific

• Use the Active voice

• Avoid Redundacy

Redundant (and grammatically incorrect)

The reason why sales declined is because of poor merchandising.

Better

The reason sales declined is poor merchandising.

Best

Sales declined because of poor merchandising.

Or …

Poor merchandising caused sales to decline.