----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BETTER WRITING SKILLS NEWSLETTER, April 2008 By Tim North of Scribe Consulting (http://www.scribe.com.au) http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the April 2008 Better Writing Skills newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE 1. A quick comment about the formatting of this newsletter 2. Should we say "on an as-and-when-required basis"? 3. Is there a simpler alternative to "null and void"? 4. Commas can be constantly confusing. 5. Just for fun Your comments and questions are always welcome. Just send e-mail to: info@BetterWritingSkills.com Cheers, Tim North Perth, Western Australia ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. A quick comment about the formatting of this newsletter ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, folks. Welcome to another Better Writing Skills newsletter. Before we start this month, I want to ask if anyone is having problems with the way the newsletter is formatted? For example: This sentence is preceded by four spaces. The sentence above is indented by four spaces. Is anyone seeing it without the indentation? I ask because a reader wrote in during the month and attached a copy of last month's newsletter. Unfortunately, all of the indentation had been stripped out, and every line was hard up against the left margin. So if you're having any problems with the formatting of the newsletter, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks. Tim. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Should we say "on an as-and-when-required basis"? ----------------------------------------------------------------- My first correspondent this month, Umesh, wrote in with the following question: Is it okay to use "on an as and when required basis"? Well, it's in common enough usage that I'd certainly call it "okay". (Google lists 11,000 pages that use it.) It's rather wordy, though. I'd suggest replacing it with "as needed". For example, compare these two sentences: 1. Supplies will be ordered on an as-and-when-required basis. 2. Supplies will be ordered as needed. Both mean the same, but the second one is simpler and shorter. I'd thus consider it to be a preferable usage. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Is there a simpler alternative to "null and void"? ----------------------------------------------------------------- My next correspondent, Venkat, wrote in asking my opinion on the following sentence: I would like to know whether it is grammatically correct to use the word "shall" in the passive form, for example: The instructions given earlier shall be treated as null and void. Like the example in the previous article, this sentence is grammatically correct, but it too is rather wordy. As a fan of plain English, I'd again recommend something simpler. For example: Please ignore the instructions given earlier. As an added benefit, this avoids any need to discuss the use of "shall" or to worry about the active and passive voices. If in doubt, make it simpler. :-) Hope this helps. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you know someone who'd like this newsletter? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a friend or colleague who'd find the Better Writing Skills newsletter interesting? If so, please feel free to send a copy of this issue to them. Alternatively, please tell them they can browse back issues here: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com/newsletter.html Thanks for helping to make this newsletter so successful! ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Commas can be constantly confusing ----------------------------------------------------------------- My next correspondent, Rosemary, wrote in with a question about punctuation: Hello, can you please tell me if I should include or not include the comma in the following sentence? Download the free white paper, "The Leak-Free Threaded Hydraulic Coupling: Pipe Dream, or Reality?," to learn more. Commas can certainly be a source of confusion. Here's what I'd suggest: 1. No comma is needed after "Dream". In US English, the other two commas are fine. Thus we could rewrite the sentence as: Download the free white paper, "The Leak-Free Threaded Hydraulic Coupling: Pipe Dream or Reality?," to learn more. 2. If you were using British English, the final comma would move outside the quotation mark. 3. Given the differences between US and British English, it may be clearer to replace the commas with brackets, like so: Download the free white paper ("The Leak-Free Threaded Hydraulic Coupling: Pipe Dream or Reality?") to learn more. 4. Another (even simpler?) approach might be: To learn more, download the free white paper: "The Leak- Free Threaded Hydraulic Coupling: Pipe Dream or Reality?". Hope this helps. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Just for fun ----------------------------------------------------------------- I'd like you all to lie awake tonight pondering these deep and important questions about English: * Is there another word for "synonym"? * Shouldn't there be a shorter word for "monosyllabic"? * What's another word for "thesaurus"? * Why can't you make another word using all the letters in "anagram"? * Why do "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing? * Why do we say something is "out of whack"? What's a whack? * Why does "X" stand for a kiss and "O" stand for a hug? * Why is "abbreviation" such a long word? * Why is "dyslexic" so hard to spell? * Why isn't "palindrome" spelled the same way backwards? Deep. Very deep. :-) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like more help with your writing? ----------------------------------------------------------------- On my Better Writing Skills web site, you'll find my range of jargon-free, downloadable e-books that will help you to become a better writer. These e-books will help you with business proposals, report writing, term papers, technical writing, grant writing, creative writing and more. http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com/ebooks.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- REPRODUCING THIS MATERIAL You are welcome to reproduce the articles that are copyrighted by Tim North, but please don't modify or sell them. Also, please provide a clickable link back to: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com Additional freely republishable articles can be found here: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com/free-articles.html FUTURE MAILINGS You can prevent (or receive) future mailings by visiting this page: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com/newsletter.html This is a GENUINE service, and you will not receive any unsolicited e-mail as a result. You have my word on it. -----------------------------------------------------------------