"No-one buys great grammar," says an article about business writing. Poor grammar and spelling can hurt, however, and can make you question both the writer's expertise and the company's credibility. Take the source of that quote about grammar, for example: Business Writing – 7 Ways To Transform Mediocre Writing How many spelling, punctuation and grammatical … Continue reading “No-one buys great grammar,” but sloppy work can kill a message
Category: Prose Doctor
Use the right words for the greatest impact
A headline's purpose is to catch the reader's eye and interest. A poorly written headline can have the same effect. Bark beetle kill has little affect on fire danger Of course, it would have little affect (while it might be expected to have an effect or maybe an impact). Curious about what else I might … Continue reading Use the right words for the greatest impact
A writing and editing challenge for National Grammar Day
This might not be everyone's idea of fun, but SmithWords may not be able to resist. Check out the National Grammar Day Contest over at Copyediting. Enter if you dare. By the way, every day is Grammar Day for the Prose Doctor.
Powerfully awful wording diminishes impact
A real-life phrase that fouled our TweetDeck feed over the weekend: ...powerfully impactful visual demonstrations... Visual demonstrations can be powerful. Some might even be called "high-impact." Please, though, don't ever use the dreadful impactful. (So what if it turns up in journalism and academia? So do all sorts of other bastardizations and monstrosities.) Your visual … Continue reading Powerfully awful wording diminishes impact
The Smith Compound 