Does anyone write letters anymore? We have e-mail, text messaging, social media web sites, and the soul of communicational brevity, Twitter. With all these other forms of communication, do we still need to know how to write a good letter? Whether you’re seeking employment, trying to sell widgets, or contacting business associates, now, more than ever, a good letter can raise you above the crowd. The quickest way to disqualify yourself from consideration from a world of business opportunities is to not know how to write an effective letter.
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Writing
4 Essential Tips for Writing an Effective Letter
7 Attention-Grabbing Words for the 21st Century
Culture evolves and language evolves with it. Words that worked in 1950 will not necessarily work in the 21st century. The following list of words seize the attention of your audience–whether your audience is sales prospects, potential donors, or voters–and elicit powerful internal responses with American audiences. In the direction our culture is evolving, these words will hold up for decades to come.
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Why Good Writing Doesn’t Matter
When people find out I have a business writing agency, they often smile and nod. Then, invariably they tell me about their wife, nephew, fourth cousin, etc., who’s “a good writer.”
What, exactly, does it mean to be a good writer?
Signs of writing competency
- Vivid storytelling abilities
- Creative, effective syntax
- Mastery of grammar
- Good organization skills
- Smooth transitions
- Strict attention to detail
All of the above technically show writing proficiency, although skilled writers may possess only some of these traits, and in varying degrees.
Top 10 Writing Mistakes Part 2: Today
In Part 1, we examined error studies of writing during three decades of the 20th Century: 1917, the late 1930s, and 1986. We found that the nature of the errors shifted slightly–even though the primary errors were with comma usage, pronouns, spelling/misused words, verb tense–but the incidence of errors held steady, at about 2.1-2.2 errors per 100 words. This indicated that writers were not making more errors, just various mixtures of many of the same errors.
But what about today?
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Top 10 Writing Mistakes Part 1: the 20th Century
Many people speculate that writing is getting worse. Employers lament the ubiquity of text-speak and inappropriate informality in professional communication from new college graduates. Grammarians gnash their teeth at the downturn in writing quality across the board. But is it true? While it is true that technology is changing how human beings interact, the effect on the English language is being played out even now. Language, as well as our use of it, evolves continuously, and the only time a language ever stops evolving is when it dies (e.g., Latin).
Linguistic studies at various years in the 20th century and today reveal some surprising facts about the way college students have used English in previous decades. We can extrapolate about the quality of writing of recent college graduates based on the quality of their college-level writing. As college graduates enter the work force, their employers will quickly discover the level of their abilities.
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Latest from the blog:
Website Traffic and SEO
In this post, I’ll take a closer look at SEO and the process of optimizing websites for better placement within organic search results to improve website traffic.
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