After we posted our first 10 Tips to Better Writing, we received a number of requests for the second installment in the series.  Following on the idea that all writing mistakes are a collection of commonly made errors, here is the new chapter. Some of the suggestions are for better writing; others cover grammatical errors that are not terrible but make writing look uninformed and less credible. To wit:

11. It’s and its.

In the PR Writer blog about poor writing on the Newswire, this mistake was covered extensively. Because of the ease of making a typo rather than a grammatical error, this error appears a great deal. The rule is quite simple: its is the possessive, it’s is a contraction. While contractions are not always recommended in formal writing, they have their place, in dialogue and less rigorous formats:
“It’s a dog. It was its first bath.”

12. Over vs. more than.

This is another one of those formulations that would be perfectly acceptable in everyday speech but in writing should be used correctly. “Therewere more than 20 people in the room” is correct. “There were over 20 people in the room” is not. Over means above something: more than is the comparative and is preferred.

13. Compounds with adverbs that don’t end in “ly.”

Don’t use hyphens to form compounds with these words. They may look like adjectives but are actually adverbs and hence stand alone in a sentence. These include:

• Hard
• Fast
• Little
• Well
• Late
• Very
• Almost
• Quite
• Just
• Too

Hard-fought, fast-paced, little-known, well-prepared are technically incorrect even if the spelling and grammar check in Microsoft Word does not identify them as such.

14. Vary sentence structure.

Too many sentences follow the same format. Noun verb object.They have clauses that could be turned around.  In this sentence, recently drafted for a client, the structure could be:

As long as housing prices were jumping higher almost by the hour, subprime mortgage holders pretty much managed their monthly payments.

Or

Subprime mortgage holders pretty much managed their monthly payments as long as housing prices were jumping higher almost by the hour.

Neither is more correct. It just demonstrates the language’s flexibility in that the sentence could be written either way to vary the reader’s perception. Another way to accomplish this is to split sentences into smaller ones and then follow those by a longer phrase.

15. Avoid repeating words.

This is easy. Comb through your sentences and check whether you’ve repeated the same word. Microsoft Word will pick up two words repeated next to each other but not separated but repeated words. In the heat of composition, we often fall into deploying the same words. Make sure you don’t.

16. Who and Whom

These words separate the amateurs from the pros.

In speech, ‘whom’ almost sounds pedantic.  In writing, incorrect usage is out of place. Simple definition: who is a subject, whom is an object. It’s somewhat like “between you and I” in speech, and between you and me in writing. Whom is used following words like to and for—to whom, for whom (the bell tolls). Him or her also substitutes for it not he and she. Example “Whom will you invite?”(Will you invite him?)

17. Whose and Who’s – a possessive pronoun vs. a contraction.

Here we have a clear distinction that is also often messed up. There was a prize-winning play a few years ago called “Whose Life Is This Anyway.” That was correct. “Who’s here?” That’s also correct.

18. Break it up.

Split up paragraphs.

Use bullet points.

Vary the length of paragraphs.

19. Affect and effect

Affect: cause

Effect: result

Think of that and you won’t go wrong.

Also affect is a verb and effect is a noun.

“The net effect was to affect me.”

20. Able to and can

This falls under the category of eliminating unnecessary verbiage. Many sentences read something similar to:

He is able to come tomorrow.

Why not:

He can come tomorrow.

Or: I am going to come tomorrow vs. I am coming tomorrow.

Barring learning all of this, call in an editor—there’s areally good one at rrotman@prwriterextraordinaire.com

Tags: good writing, Rhetoric, tips to better writing