WRITING IS AN ART #21

ARE YOU BEING TOO FAMILIAR?

 

The style you adopt in your writing should reflect your target audience. For instance, some high-powered businesses prefer a very formal, factual style of writing. Others like to more informal (addressing the reader as ‘you’, for example).

 

Recently, some large corporates have moved over to an even more relaxed, conversational style of writing. For instance, the success of ‘Innocence’ smoothies could at least be partly (if not mainly) attributed to the very friendly and informal text on their products. Other companies are now following suit, even moving from the ‘Dear Mrs Bloggs’ letters to ‘Hi Jenny’.

 

This informal approach can be very effective, making your company seem more approachable. However, other customers may feel that a more formal approach denotes more respect.

 

Puttin’ on the style

There is a place for all of these styles: just make sure that you know which one is most likely to appeal to your existing and potential customers. If you adopt a more colloquial style, you can break some of the rules of grammar without seeming unprofessional – but be careful of going too far. Some older customers, in particular, are likely to object to being addressed as ‘Fred’ or ‘Gladys’ (especially if that’s not their names – but that’s another story!)

 

Happy writing!

 

Phil

 

Freelance copywriter

 

Web: http://www.phila

Email: info@phila.co.uk

 

WRITING IS AN ART #20

A SINGULAR PROBLEM

 

In the past couple of blogs, I’ve been talking about the importance of grammar.  Now, I don’t want to get into this in too much detail as there are plenty of good books on the subject. The main danger is that if you become too prescriptive, it can cramp your natural writing style. You need to maintain a sense of balance.

 

However, there is one subject that I would like to mention briefly. Many people seem unaware of when to use the singular or plural of a verb. This particularly applies to collective nouns. One of the tests of a good copywriter is how they deal with company names.

 

A company is a collective noun and therefore should be treated as singular. For instance, ‘Blogg Widgets IS a specialist component manufacturer’. Because the second part of the name is plural, most people would tend to write, ‘Blogg Widgets ARE a specialist component manufacturer’ (although the ‘a’ should be a clue that this is wrong!) 

 

In fact, I find that some businesses mix singular and plural in a way that makes them look ignorant: ‘Blogg Widgets are a specialist component manufacturer that uses the latest technology’. Aaarghh!

 

A similar principle applies to ‘team’ – another collective noun that should be treated as singular. The only exception is when you are writing more colloquially, when the rules can be bent more easily without giving offence. But more about that in my next blog….

 

Take care

 

 

Phil

 

Freelance copywriter

 

Web: http://www.phila

Email: info@phila.co.uk

 

 

WRITING IS AN ART #19

THE ANNOYING APOSTROPHE

 

Why ‘annoying’? Because so many people still get it wrong! I still see many examples of aberrant apostrophes – those that are wrongly inserted into plurals, or those that are incorrectly omitted.

 

Let’s get a couple of things straight. Apostrophes are used either to denote possession (the boy’s football) or missing letters (don’t). There is an exception (as always!) By now, most people know that “it’s” is only used as a shortened version of “it is”. For the possessive version (its hair stood on end), there is no apostrophe. I hope that’s cleared that up!

 

Stamp them out!

However, a much more common (and almost as annoying) mistake is the use of an apostrophe in plurals. Most people will have seen some appalling examples of this (e.g. “carrot’s sold here!”). However, many, many people still use an apostrophe in other less obvious plurals, such as the 1960’s. No no, no! (Am I getting carried away here? Perhaps I should be!) I suppose they think that there’s a missing letter, but there isn’t really.

 

For the record, it’s 1960s and 70s and 80s. Similarly, there is usually no apostrophe in the plural of abbreviations (therefore Dr becomes Drs; ASBO becomes ASBOs; TV becomes TVs). Ah, I feel better for getting that off my chest!

 

So, watch out for those apostrophes. Don’t let the little blighters creep in where they don’t belong!

 

All the best

 

Phil

 

Freelance copywriter

 

Web: http://www.phila

Email: info@phila.co.uk

WRITING IS AN ART #18

THE COMMON COMMA

 

The comma is (to my mind at least) an under-used punctuation mark. To a certain extent, when and where you use one can be a bit subjective. As a very rough rule of thumb, if you read a sentence out loud, a comma should be inserted whenever there is a slight pause (denoting a slight change of direction).

 

One company I worked for insisted that commas should NEVER be used before ‘and’ or ‘but’. Rubbish! Lynne Truss’s book, ‘Eats, shoots & leaves’ shows the nonsense of that. Commas (and other punctuation marks) should be used whenever they help the reader to understand the sentence more easily.

 

Are you going in the right direction?

For instance, compare these three sets of directions:

 

1. Turn left and right across the street from the church is the entrance to the hotel
2. Turn left, and right across the street from the church is the entrance to the hotel
3. Turn left and right; across the street from the church is the entrance to the hotel

 

The first set, without any punctuation, is ambiguous. Sets B and C use punctuation to show two possible interpretations. So, to reiterate what I said in my previous blog, grammar is important!

 

Phil

 

Freelance copywriter

 

Web: http://www.phila

Email: info@phila.co.uk

WRITING IS AN ART #17

PUNCTUATE YOUR REMARKS!

 

If grammar is the cement of good writing, holding it all together properly, then punctuation is the water within that cement. It infiltrates every aspect of it but mustn’t be under-used or over-used.

 

Punctuation can make a huge difference to the meaning of a sentence. One rather amusing article (currently doing the rounds on the Internet) focuses on its potential power in changing the meaning of words:

 

An English professor wrote the words, ‘A woman without her man is nothing’ on the blackboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

 

All of the men wrote: ‘A woman, without her man, is nothing.’

 

All of the women wrote: ‘A woman: without her, man is nothing!’

 

(Now, I wonder whether that example was dreamt up by a man or a woman?!) Here’s another Internet example of the difference punctuation can make:

 

“I hate compulsive liars – like you, I find them detestable.”

 

“I hate compulsive liars like you – I find them detestable!”

 

Remember these little examples next time that you’re tempted to think that punctuation is relatively unimportant.

 

In my next blog, I’ll look more closely at one item of punctuation that I think is often sadly overlooked – the humble comma.

 

 

Phil

 

Freelance copywriter

 

Web: http://www.phila

Email: info@phila.co.uk