business writing Archives - Words by a Pro https://old.wordsbyapro.com/tag/business-writing/ Thu, 06 Oct 2016 01:00:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/cropped-WBP-FAVICON_7-32x32.jpg business writing Archives - Words by a Pro https://old.wordsbyapro.com/tag/business-writing/ 32 32 Just the Facts: Technical Material for a Nontechnical Audience https://old.wordsbyapro.com/just-facts-technical-material-nontechnical-audience/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=just-facts-technical-material-nontechnical-audience Tue, 07 Jun 2016 20:24:52 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1707 There is almost nothing as metaphorically, if not physically, painful as watching two people who don’t know what they’re talking about try to explain something to each other. It’s as if the two come away from the encounter with less collective knowledge than they started with. Writing can be like that, sometimes: You have to […]

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]]> Can the Clichés! https://old.wordsbyapro.com/can-the-cliches/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=can-the-cliches Tue, 08 Sep 2015 19:29:50 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1313 They’re tried-and-true, but they’ve been around the block a few times. They’re shopworn, threadbare, and coming apart at the seams. It’s time to put them out to pasture. Yep, we’re talking about clichés today: those overused phrases and metaphors that somehow, despite your best efforts, find their way into your writing. First, what exactly is […]

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]]> The Dream of a Common Language https://old.wordsbyapro.com/the-dream-of-a-common-language/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-dream-of-a-common-language Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:13:28 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1174 It may be a familiar trope in crime stories, but having a dead body in the trunk is a lousy selling point for an automobile. When Ford launched its ad campaign in Belgium, they wanted buyers to appreciate their excellent manufacturing and came up with the slogan “Every car has a high-quality body.” However translated […]

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]]> A Case for Keeping It Real https://old.wordsbyapro.com/a-case-for-keeping-it-real/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-case-for-keeping-it-real Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:23:07 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1065 Epic fail. Literally the best. The most amazing. The absolute worst. These superlative descriptions are best reserved for, respectively, the sinking of the Titanic, invention of the wheel, the Great Pyramid of Giza and the 1918 flu pandemic. Today, it’s hard to know where you stand when something as minor as burnt toast can be […]

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]]> Is It Libel, or Just Free Speech? https://old.wordsbyapro.com/is-it-libel-or-just-free-speech/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-it-libel-or-just-free-speech Tue, 17 Mar 2015 15:21:02 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1036 It may not have escaped your notice that Americans like to sue each other. One of our great modern thinkers, “Weird Al” Yankovic, even wrote a song about it (in part: “I’ll sue ya, I’ll take all your money / I’ll sue ya, if you even look at me funny!”). One thing that really gets […]

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]]> A Brief History of Advertising, Deception and Why Great Companies Matter https://old.wordsbyapro.com/a-brief-history-of-advertising-deception-and-why-great-companies-matter/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-brief-history-of-advertising-deception-and-why-great-companies-matter https://old.wordsbyapro.com/a-brief-history-of-advertising-deception-and-why-great-companies-matter/#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2015 20:14:41 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=967 Advertising, like language, is no modern phenomenon. Today, we’re so overburdened with ads that advertising has garnered a negative connotation. “Ugh, how can we get ads off of Facebook?” or “Why can’t they skip the ads before the movie starts?” are common 21st century woes. But advertising began not as a way of tricking people […]

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]]> https://old.wordsbyapro.com/a-brief-history-of-advertising-deception-and-why-great-companies-matter/feed/ 1 The Law Is Mightier than the Pen: Staying Out of Copyright Trouble https://old.wordsbyapro.com/the-law-is-mightier-than-the-pen-staying-out-of-copyright-trouble/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-law-is-mightier-than-the-pen-staying-out-of-copyright-trouble Tue, 24 Feb 2015 17:28:15 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=949 A time-honored practice in writing is…let’s call it “borrowing.” You see someone else’s clever turn of phrase, a few words that perfectly describe what you’re trying to convey, a zinger pun, and you decide to use it in your own writing. Maybe you change the words around to fit your situation, or maybe you don’t, […]

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]]> Questions for a Language Ninja: Me, Myself or I? https://old.wordsbyapro.com/questions-for-a-language-ninja-me-myself-or-i/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=questions-for-a-language-ninja-me-myself-or-i Tue, 17 Feb 2015 18:31:51 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=943 The Language Ninja is hoping you are having a splendid middle-of-February, and that your Valentine’s Day was a wonderful celebration of affection between you and the one you love most. For the Ninja, it was a day largely spent weeping. Let’s get started! Q: When is it appropriate to use “I,” “me,” or “myself” in […]

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]]> Fun with Gendered Pronouns: How Not to Alienate Your Readership https://old.wordsbyapro.com/fun-with-gendered-pronouns-how-not-to-alienate-your-readership/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fun-with-gendered-pronouns-how-not-to-alienate-your-readership Tue, 03 Feb 2015 17:09:08 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=929 Remember the neutral male pronoun? In case that sounds like jargon to you, let me provide an example: If a student hopes to earn an A on his final report, he should not only study all the previous course material, but also bring his teacher gifts and perform various other tasks that serve to boost […]

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]]> Risky Business: Taking Risks with Your Writing https://old.wordsbyapro.com/risky-business-taking-risks-with-your-writing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=risky-business-taking-risks-with-your-writing Tue, 27 Jan 2015 16:53:52 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=921 Do you engage in risky writing? Or, more to the point, should you? I’m not talking about Charlie Hebdo-style cartoons, or even the kind of novel that forced Salman Rushdie into hiding for years. I’m talking about garden-variety edginess for rhetorical effect: strong language, subtle references to sex, drugs, alcohol, bodily functions, taboos of various […]

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