----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BETTER WRITING SKILLS NEWSLETTER, July 2008 By Tim North of Scribe Consulting (http://www.scribe.com.au) http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the July 2008 Better Writing Skills newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE 1. The vexing issue of when to use "he". 2. What do "vis-a-vis" and "inter alia" mean? 3. Is your e-mail mistaken for spam? 4. 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. The vexing issue of when to use "he". ----------------------------------------------------------------- Several people have written to me in the past few months asking essentially the same question. That is, is it okay to use "he" to refer to people of both genders? For example: When a student is finished, HE may leave the room. In this case, if all the students were male, there would be no problem. If the students were of both genders, though, opinions vary. Let's look at our choices. 1. Traditionally, English has used male pronouns ("he" and "him") in examples like this to refer to both genders. This is because English doesn't have a suitable gender-neutral pronoun. (Referring to a person as "it" is likely to get you slapped.) For many people, though, this male-dominant attitude is no longer acceptable and is a cause for offence. This brings us to our alternatives. 2. It is becoming increasingly common to use "they" to refer to a single person. For example: When a student is finished, THEY may leave the room. This neatly avoids potentially offensive gender issues. Unfortunately, it seems to be equally offensive to many language purists who roll their eyes, fan their faces and wax lyrical about how English was so much better in their day. :-) At the risk of having offended any language purists who are still reading, my own view is that it is the role of a language to adapt to the needs of the people who speak it. Attitudes towards gender have changed among (most) English- speaking cultures in recent generations, so it seems completely natural to expect our language to change to adapt to this. I have no problem with using "they" in the example above. Should you consider this to be a tree-hugging, wildly liberal position, though, be calm. There are yet more alternatives. 3. One such is to use "he or she": When a student is finished, HE OR SHE may leave the room. While this avoids both of the problems mentioned above, it is longer and can sound awkward if used frequently. 4. Another satisfactory solution is simply to rephrase the text. For example: When students ARE finished, they may leave the room. Here we have replaced "is" with "are", so using "they" is natural and uncontroversial. 5. My final suggestion is to alternate between "he" and "she" in order to give roughly equal time to each gender. For example, in my training manuals I often use examples that have people's names, like so: Q1. Bob has to write a monthly report. HE must ... Q2. Carol is required to write to HER manager with ... Here I'm using specific names ("Bob" and "Carol") rather than generic descriptions like "an office worker" or "a student". This makes the choice of pronoun clear and uncontroversial. In summary, a very great deal has been written about this topic, much of it surprisingly (and unnecessarily) passionate. For more opinions, try this link: http://www.google.com.au/search?q=he+she+they Hope this helps. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. What do "vis-a-vis" and "inter alia" mean? ----------------------------------------------------------------- A while back, Tania wrote in to ask about these two phrases: I have come across the expression "inter alia" in an RFP that we received. From the context, I assume it means "for example", am I right? You are. "Inter alia" is from the Latin "inter" meaning "among" and "alia" meaning "other". It is thus usually translated as "among other things", but "for example" is pretty close. Here's an example of how it might be used: We suggest, inter alia, that further insurance be obtained. Tania also asked: What does the expression "vis-a-vis" mean? How and when should it be used? "Vis-a-vis" is from the French words "vis" meaning "face" and "a" meaning "to". Its literal meaning is thus "face to face". For example: They were placed vis-a-vis across the table. Another common usage, though, is to mean "in relation to". For example: I want to talk to you vis-a-vis the travel arrangements. Note that "vis-a-vis" should be written with the hyphens and is pronounced "vee zuh vee". Both of these phrases are rather obscure. Many native speakers of English are likely to be confused by either or both of them. People who speak English as a second language are even less likely to understand speech that is peppered with Latin. In the interests of plain English then I'd use them infrequently if ever. 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! ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Is your e-mail mistaken for spam? ----------------------------------------------------------------- How many e-mail messages do you receive in a week? How many of these are unsolicited advertising (spam)? If you're anything like me, the answer to both questions is "too many!" An unfortunate side effect of this tide of spam is that many people now delete any message that they suspect to be spam without reading it. This means that a well worded subject line is vital to prevent your e-mail being inadvertently dismissed as spam by some readers. It is even more important when you consider the increasing use of rule-based e-mail filters that use very unforgiving software to classify incoming messages as spam or not-spam. Such filters often give your message a score of one point for every spam-like characteristic it displays. If you reach a certain threshold, say four points, your message is marked as spam and silently deleted unread. Here then are some simple tips to help you prevent your e-mail being mistaken for spam: 1. Don't use money in the subject line; e.g. Can we cut $500 from the budget? Many spam filters assign a spam point to anything with a dollar sign in the subject line. 2. Don't include advertising words like best selling, cash, free, guaranteed, make money, opportunity, order, satisfied, saving or special offer. Such words are frequently used in spam subject lines. Keep in mind that they can easily sneak through: Can we FREE up some MONEY from the budget? That seemingly innocuous subject could easily score two spam points. 3. Don't leave the subject field blank. Not only are you failing to capture your reader's attention, but this is a common spammer technique to trick you into opening the message. 4. Don't send work messages from private addresses like yahoo.com or aol.com. A significant percentage of all spam comes from such addresses. 5. Don't send unsolicited attachments. People have become very wary of them as many are infected with viruses or contain other malicious software. 6. DON'T SHOUT. Don't send a message in which the subject is in full capitals. This is a common sign of spam. 7. Don't use words that may have an inadvertent adult meaning. 8. Ensure that the date is set correctly on your computer as an incorrect or missing date is a common sign of forged e-mail headers -- another common spammer trick. Armed with these tips, your e-mail should get through every time. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Just for fun ----------------------------------------------------------------- This month have a look at the delightfully named "Language Tools for Word Nerds": http://tinyurl.com/4wy8ng This is a link-filled article that promises "some of the best online language tools for word nerds and regular people". Enjoy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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. -----------------------------------------------------------------