Posts Tagged ‘adding clarity with your words’

The Value Of Good Grammar

Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Grammarians celebrate! Some fun tips to help you with your writing.

Today is National Grammar Day. More than just a silly holiday, Grammar Day serves as a good reminder to communicate clearly, using correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. How you write and speak is a reflection of who you are, and giving a presentation riddled with spelling errors or poor grammar can take away from the message you’re trying to impart to others.
Take a look at some common grammar mistakes and how you can avoid them:
Me, Myself and I
Knowing when to use me, myself or I depends on whether you’re the subject or the object of the sentence. An easy way to remember which word to use is to take the other person out of the equation. So, if you’re going to the bank with Mr. Fargo, you’d say, “Mr. Fargo and I went to the bank.” Why? Because if you take Mr. Fargo out of the sentence, you wouldn’t say, “Me went to the bank.”

The word “myself” should only be used sparingly, and only for emphasis. It is not a substitute for “me.” You might say, “I love working for Wells Fargo, myself.” But don’t say, “Myself and Henry Wells ate lunch together.”

Affect vs. Effect
Affect is a verb. To remember this, look at the “a” in affect and think “action.” The movie greatly affected her.

Effect is a verb or a noun. It’s most commonly used as a noun. The movie had an effect on her. As a verb, effect means to bring something about, especially a change. As a general rule, you should always think twice about using effect as a verbyou can usually find a clearer way to communicate if you just think about your words.
Use Your Dictionary!
Often in the corporate world, words are invented, but your dictionary is filled with realwords, so use them. Make sure you’re not making up something new like “solutioning” or “planful” to sound important. Often, using a made-up word has just the opposite effect.
More Than or Over?
Over is a spatial reference. More than is a numeric reference. So, if you’re “over the hill,” you might be “more than 40 years old.” In other words, use “more than” when talking about numbers and amounts, and use “over” when you’re talking about the location of something.
Is it Insure or Ensure?
Insure and ensure are sound-alike words with slightly different meanings. Sometimes even the best writers and editors mix these up. Remembering definitions for each is a way to keep the two straight:
  • Insure means to protect against risk.
  • Ensure means to make certain.
Use “insure” when you’re talking about things that are related to insurance. Use “ensure” in most other cases. And, just to complicate things further, a similar-sounding word—“assure”means to convince someone or make someone confident. Are you still with us?
i.e. vs. e.g.
These two show up frequently in business communications, and many times the terms are used interchangeably. Here’s the difference between the two so you don’t make this mistake.
  • i.e. stands for id est (that is). Use it when you’re explaining something. I like cats and dogs, i.e., animals you can have as pets in your home.
  • e.g. stands for exempli gratia (for example). You can remember this by pretending that e.g. stands for example given. I like big dogs, e.g., Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds.
And, don’t forget to use commas before and after using either one in writing.
Unnecessary Verbiage
According to the dictionary, “verbiage” means “more words than are required for clarity or precision.” When you’re writing or speaking, try to cut down on the words and phrases you use that just aren’t necessary. If something “goes without saying,” then don’t say it. Adding tired clauses or clichés to your speech only helps people tune you out.
Then or Than?
When one event follows another, it’s correct to use “then.” For instance: The machine turned on, then she entered her ATM card. 

When two things are being compared, use “than.” Her credit balance is higher than his.

Writer’s Simulus Plan

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

This is the year for you to begin to use your writing to make money.  Yes, there are many ways for you to do that and I am going to show you where to start. Click Here! This is so easy you just have to get started.  Do it NOW before you change your mind and wait another year or make another excuse.

Make Money With Your Writing

Make Money With Your Writing

Weather To Write About

Friday, January 15th, 2010

The weather is making headlines all over the world.  From very difficult situations to very wonderful situations, we have the opportunity to watch and experience the changes the weather brings to us each day.

For me, it has been much colder than normal and I have been moving things so the extra clothing required to stay warm has been quite interesting. 

As you know, when you are moving and active you are warmer.  When you are still, you are colder.  Adjusting to the level of activity and the amount of clothing needed to remain comfortable while I have been completing this task has been at times funny and at times quite annoying.  Thankfully, I could layer the clothing and monitor the task activity level.

Find a weather event and see if you can write a short story about the details and your experience.

Proper Grammar Is Essential In Your Writing

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

People use your language and grammar to instantly “tip them off” about how educated, competent, and successful you are.

If you need to know details about proper grammar, because it might be keeping you from doing your writing, find out what you can do to improve.

Click Here!

Creative Writing Made Easy With So Many Choices

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Writing is one of the most fun things you can do to record your ideas, stories, adventures and happenings in your life.  You are able to write from your own perspective and share with others how you are moving through the events in your life.  You can never know how many others can benefit from your approach and problem solving abilities.

Often we never consider that how we solved a situation might help someone else.  I am always surprised at the thank your I get from other people when I share.  Underestimating our influence on others can keep you from thinking that what you might say is important and that often leads to not sharing.

If you could just have an idea that what and how much of what you share could help and impact others it might be easier to sit down and write out your story.  Someone somewhere might have made you feel that your ideas were not of value to others so if that is what happened, it might be harder to share your ideas.  Consider that those people are not able to continue to keep you from writing if you really want to share your thoughts.  I would encourage you to begin and see if you can put your ideas down on paper.  I laugh when people talk but do not want to write.  I guess they think that if it is said and someone challenges them they can deny it but if it is in writing they can’t.

The best thing to do if you are nervous that someone might criticize your work is write it down and put it on your shelf.  At least you will have it in writing so you can enjoy it.  Then at some time if you want to share with others you can.  If it really is hard for you to share your work, write under a pen name and that way you will be out of the picture for people to fuss at.

If you are finding you want to write but just can’t get to it, you might be experiencing writers block.

Writing Secrets To Increase Productivity

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

Write in a conversational manner and take frequent breaks while you are in the creative mood.  Your thoughts will be able to bubble to the surface where you can capture them and put them on paper.  Being sure you are breathing and occasionally taking a few deeper breaths will clear your mind and release the tension in your body.  This will allow you to be clearer on what you are writing as well as refine what you have already written in your earlier writing sessions.  The concepts will go together better when you have a few minutes away from the content and things that are inconsistent will be easier to identify.

Save editing your work until later.  For now, just continue to write the content that is pertinent to the topic you are covering.  If you are having trouble following your words, so will you reader so see where you begin to feel bogged down and change the content in that area.

If you are ready to begin writing your final content, you can get the help you need that is in a step by step format by using this resource: http://www.edityourownwriting.com

Writing-The Effect Of Your Words On Your Readers

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Every word you use in your stories has an emotional effect on your readers.  Good writers understand the effect of their words and choose them with laser accuracy in order to elicit the response they want.  One very important bit of information is regarding the use of the word can. 

The word can has no emotional or persuasive force.  It suggests maybe or there is a possibility.  It can also communicate to your reader that your character needs to do something for the result to happen or only if something happens will the character get the result you are suggesting in that part of your story line. 

Yes, your character can do something, but will they.  An even deeper suggestion is it indicates to your reader why should they believe that the character is going to follow through. It sets up a questioning of the outcome which reduces the effect of your story.

For additional help with your writing go to the top of this page and put your name and email address in the opt in space to get started.

Understanding Of Your Explanation Missing?

Friday, February 20th, 2009

People learn in different ways so if the reader is missing the content of your explaination you can explain it in another way.  People are visual learners, auditory learners and kinesthetic (feeling-senses) learners.  Try to include each of these learning methods in your copy so all of the learning styles can connect with your writing.

Someone who is a visual learner will respond to words that are visual like see, look at, watching and observing.  Someone who is an auditory learner will respond to hear, sounds, volume level, audios and talking.  A kinesthetic learner will understand how you feel, want touch, how something feels and texture words like smooth, rough, sharp and cold or hot. 

Try sentences that can appeal to each of them like: Going behind the scenes of this event, you can see that this ice sculpture is very detailed and as you touch it, it is very cold and smooth. You can hear the crackling as the ice sculpture artist is working to meet the event opening and the sounds of the set up for the display as well as those of the tools being used to create this beautiful piece of ice art.  I know the artist is feeling stressed at the moment but will experience immense satisfaction when the event opens and they hear the comments of the viewers of the exhibit. They always take pictures so they have the memories of their accomplishment before the ice melts and the sculpture disappears back to a cold puddle of water.

If you are ready to start writing your story and need any help, you can get step by step directions and help every week.

Using Real Words-Say What You Mean When You Write

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

Doublespeak is a common thing that needs attention when writing so you are communicating clearly and not using it maintains your trust with your reader.  So what is doublespeak?  Words that are deceptive, evasive, jargon, confusing or euphemistic. 

The deceptive word trap appears when you are using words that are not clean when explaining a problem.  If you have a virus on your computer you need to clarify and say so not that your computer is infected.  That causes your reader to question what you are writing and then question the credibility of your whole story when you were referring to the virus as an infection or what I commonly hear – my computer has a problem.

The evasive word trap appears when you are not clear about your topic and the way to present it.  Ex: you might say your character is an insurance specialist and sells insurance.  No one knows what an insurance specialist is or does so just say your character sells ex:life insurance. Don’t embellish to make your character sound more credible.  Doing that is likely to produce the opposite result and may have the reader again questioning your credibility because of the evasiveness.

The jargon word trap appears when you use the jargon commonly found in an industry ex:financial planner.  You can identify this industry jargon when the profit or return on investment is referred to as yield.  Again someone outside the industry who is reading about your character can be confused because they do not understand the jargon. 

The euphemism word trap appears when words are used to soften or hide reality.  Ex: We went from shell shock to battle fatigue to operational exhaustion and now the euphemism post-tramatic stress disorder.  It didn’t change the effect the person was experiencing and depending on what other words are used around the description of the events your character was experiencing it can almost disguise the real experience and downplay it’s impact on the character’s life.

The context of the words you are using and the intention behind the words can move words from good to bad and anywhere along the scale between these two points.  Use words that speak the truth and your reader can connect with your story and quickly understand your outcome or purpose you have in writing it.

For more information on how to use the power of words leave your name and email address so I can notify you of teleseminars that are scheduled.  Having word power can make you a more successful writer and can increase the price people are willing to pay for your written work.