Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts

Monday 13 March 2017

Do You Want a Promotion? Read These 5 Books.

You work hard. You’re excited about your career. Isn’t it about time you had a job promotion?

You’re eager to move up the ladder, but navigating the maze of company politics feels stressful and confusing. If you’re not sure how to ask, when to ask, or what to ask, it may be time to call in the professionals.

Here are five of the best career books that will help you advance faster, have greater success, and make more money.

Monday 6 June 2016

29 Hilarious Halloween Memes and GIFs You’ll Want To Share

Do you live for Halloween?

Whether you’re a fan of kitsch, horror, fabulous style, or coffin-loads of candy, this mischievous and creative holiday has got a spell for you.

In celebration of this hallowed season, we’ve cracked open the crypt and unleashed twenty-nine of the best Halloween memes and GIFs for you to haunt the Internet with your bone-tingling obsession.

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Persons vs. People vs. Peoples—What’s the Difference?

Most of the time, people is the correct word to choose as a plural for person. Persons is archaic, and it is safe to avoid using it, except in legal writing, which has its own traditional language. Peoples is only necessary when you refer to distinct ethnic groups (for example, within the same region).

“People” vs. “Persons” as Plurals

Person and people both derive from Latin, but from different words.

Wednesday 3 April 2013

What’s the Difference Between Grammar Correction and Grammar Trolling?

Prescriptive English grammar seems to be one of those things that either impassions you or inspires some level of dread. Lovers of English grammar and usage are energized by mastering the rules of a messy and disorganized language. For the rest of us, our feelings run the gamut from indifference to loathing as we muddle through a seemingly arbitrary organizational system and apply it to something as individual as language.

Friday 8 June 2012

For All Intents and Purposes—How to Use It

  • “For all intents and purposes” means “in effect.”
  • Don’t confuse this expression with the eggcorn “for all intensive purposes.”

If you conduct business, you have probably run across the phrase “for all intents and purposes.” What does this expression mean? Understanding the sense of the words will help you avoid a common but costly mistake.

The Bits and Pieces of Intents and Purposes

The first step is to understand the key elements of the phrase.

Thursday 11 August 2011

Capital vs. Capitol

  • Capital can be a noun or an adjective. Capital can refer to uppercase letters, accumulated wealth, or the city that serves as the seat of a country’s or state’s government.
  • A capitol is a building in which the legislative body of government meets.
  • In the United States, the Capitol is a building in Washington in which the US Congress meets.
  • Capitol Hill is a metonym for the US Congress, but also a neighborhood in Washington DC.

Thursday 4 March 2010

How to Write Nowhere, Somewhere, and Anywhere?

There’s only one way to write nowhere, somewhere, and anywhere, and that is as one word. If you write them as no where, some where, and any where, you’re making a mistake.

He was no where to be found.
Tony tried to build his own business, but it went nowhere.

More Examples

Some where over the rainbow there’s candy waiting for you.
He lost his key somewhere on his route home.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Disinterested vs. Uninterested—Are They the Same?

  • Disinterested means “without a vested interest.”
  • Uninterested means “not showing interest.”

The words disinterested and uninterested are sometimes used as if they have the same meaning. But there is a difference, and to avoid confusion, you should be aware of what that difference is.

What Does Disinterested Mean?

When someone doesn’t have a vested interest in a matter, or doesn’t have a horse in that race, we can say that this person is disinterested.

Friday 16 November 2007

5 Memos That Went Terribly Wrong

In the world of digital communications, pretty much everyone can relate to an email experience going terribly wrong at work. Ever hit “reply all” and sprayed a private message to a group of co-workers and lived to regret it?

Writing internal business communications shouldn’t be fraught with peril, but for these unfortunate executives, things went terribly wrong. From the ridiculous to the tragic, take a look at these five truly terrible business memos.

Wednesday 14 February 2007

POLL: What is the “scariest” writing issue that you see in professional emails?

All of us know that business emails should be professional, meaning they should be free of basic spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. Often, however, business emails are filled with errors. For better or worse, those errors make the writer seem not only unprofessional, but often also unqualified.

What do you think? 

Let us know and cast your vote!

Wednesday 1 June 2005

6 Unique Ways to Say “Sorry” When You Make a Mistake

What do you say when you make a mistake? If you use sorry often, the expression may lose a little of its power. Here are six other words for saying sorry.

1. My Apologies

My apologies is another word for “I’m sorry.” It’s rather formal, so it’s fine for business contexts. Commonly, people use it to decline an invitation or express regret at not being able to fulfill a request.

Tuesday 9 September 2003

8 Ways to Hack Your Email (With Fun)

You’re not likely to count emailing as one of your top ten favorite pastimes. But you might change your mind after you read this article! Here are eight amazing ways to make your email experience enjoyable.

Challenge Your Friends to a Game

According to Chess.com, the very first correspondence chess game might date back to a competition between the Byzantine emperor and the caliph of Baghdad in the ninth century.

Monday 17 March 2003

Work Jargon We Wish Would Disappear

Every office has its own sort of language—vocabulary that people frequently use when they’re at work but probably wouldn’t use that often otherwise. We’re used to office jargon, but we’d like to take a minute to review some of the business-y words that do the job while kind of driving us crazy at the same time. Jargon varies from office to office, but here are five of the words and phrases that make us cringe.

Friday 6 July 2001

Is it “Preferably” or “Preferrably?”

There’s only one way you can spell the adverb preferably. You can’t add another “f,” “r,” or “l”—there’s really no need to do it.

Let’s be honest here—mistakes happen to the best of us. We’d have a hard time finding a writer who, at some point, didn’t miswrite “the” as “hte” or “teh.” In haste, it might also be possible to mistake “to” for “too,” or “their” for “they’re.” And that’s perfectly fine, as long as you go over your work, notice your mistakes, and fix them.

50 Awesome Holiday Words to Know This December

The holidays are upon us, and these winter celebrations with their many traditions each have a rich and varied vocabulary. ...