Look Good in Print

Introduction

When you write for business, write correctly. Simple mistakes can embarrass you and cost your company real money. As evidence, read this New York Times article about the million-dollar comma: Lack of an Oxford Comma Could Cost Millions.

In this chapter we'll touch briefly on 22 fundamentals of good writing. We selected these by counting and categorizing the most common mistakes in a large sample of student papers. In other words, our approach is neither comprehensive nor random, but pragmatic. We want to help you avoid the most common pitfalls.

Grammar Rules. Some of the fundamentals are grammatical, reflecting the rules that govern how sentences are constructed in the English language. These rules have fairly definitive right and wrong answers (although grammar rules do evolve; witness the recent acceptance of the singular "they" by some media outlets).

Style Guidelines. Other fundamentals relate to style: preferred constructions that, while not based on grammar rules, represent recommended practice. Many organizations have their own style guides listing particular do's and don'ts.

Always follow your employer's style guide (if available). For purposes of this course, consider sections 2A - 2C your basic in-class style guide. You are responsible for learning and applying the 22 fundamentals contained in these three chapters.

Source: Marriott School of Business, https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/management-communication
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

02A: SYNTAX AND WORD CHOICE

Syntax: the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences

1. Write Complete Sentences

In informal conversation, we often speak in partial sentences, as in the response of Holly below: 

This reply is fine in colloquial speech, but when put in writing, it becomes a sentence fragment. Sentence fragments don't belong in business writing. 

Watch this video to review the three fundamental parts of a sentence. 

The video identifies three building blocks: subjects, verbs, and complements. Subjects are the actors in the sentence; they either "do" or simply "are" something. Verbs describe the action - what is happening. Complements add meaning to the sentence by completing or further specifying the actor and the action.  

If a collection of words ends in a period but does not contain both a subject and a verb, it is a sentence fragment. To avoid fragments, make sure that every sentence you write has both a subject and a verb and can stand alone. 

When the subject and verb work together to express an idea, you've got a clause. Clauses are the basic building blocks of sentences. Phrases (which may have nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech) do not have subjects; nothing is doing the action in a phrase. 

Competent writers need to understand the difference between a phrase and a clause, and between independent and dependent clauses. This video clarifies the differences:

The video shows examples of phrases and clauses and clarifies that dependent clauses leave the reader needing more information to complete the idea of the sentence. Independent clauses can stand alone. 

In the next chapter, we'll examine how phrases and clauses affect punctuation, especially the placement of commas. For now, we'll keep Fundamental #1 simple: Never use a phrase or a dependent clause as a sentence. Make sure all of your sentences contain at least one independent clause. Otherwise, your writing (and worse, your thinking) might appear fragmented.

2. Use Strong Subjects

In sentences, subjects are doing the work; they are doing or being something. Every sentence you write should have a strong subject. In other words, state clearly who or what is doing the action. 

Sounds simple, right? You’d be surprised at how easily weak subjects infiltrate our writing. The culprit is often one of two bad habits: starting your clause with "there" or "it," or starting with a verb that you’ve turned into a noun (a practice known as "nominalization"). 

This video shows how to notice and avoid using "there" and "it" as subjects. 

"There" and "it" are not always off limits as subjects. Your writing will be stronger, however, if you try to rewrite a sentence to give it a stronger subject. Consider the following examples:

Nominalizations can suck the life out of a verb and turn it into a bland, bureaucratic noun. This next video shows why and how to avoid using nominalizations as subjects:  

Not all nominalizations are off limits, of course, but they often weaken sentences - even when not functioning as subjects. Examine these examples of nominalizations and their alternatives. Note how getting rid of the nominalizations makes the sentences shorter:

Nominalizations are especially damaging when they take the place of a strong verb. In the first example (Southwest Airlines . . .), eliminating the nominalization changes the verb from "made" to "opted" - much stronger.

3. Mind Your Modifiers

• Arriving home exhausted
• As the manager
• Compelled to protect her young

Neither example is incorrect, depending on the meaning the writer wants to convey. That’s why you have to think through the placement of "only" in a sentence. Almost all errors with "only" occur when it is placed between the subject and the verb (as in Example 2 above). In spoken English, you can get away with putting "only" between the subject and the verb because your intonation will make the meaning clear. In writing, however, make sure you put "only" exactly where it belongs: immediately before the word(s) you want it to modify. 

For a general review of the placement of adverbs, watch the following instructional video: 

4. Choose the Right Pronoun

Pronouns are stand-ins for nouns. We use them so that we don't need to insert the same noun over and over again in our sentences. To see how pronouns are useful, consider the following two sentences: 

In the first sentence, we get sick of hearing the name "Elon Musk". In the second sentence, the use of pronouns avoids this repetition without compromising the meaning; the use of "he" and "his" clearly refers to Elon Musk. (Note: In some situations, we deliberately avoid using pronouns because the reader can't tell what the pronoun refers to. We'll cover these situations in Fundamental #7: Avoid Ambiguous Pronoun References).

To choose the right pronoun, you need to know whether it's a subject or object in a sentence. We've already learned that subjects do the action in a sentence. Objects, on the other hand, either receive the action in the sentence or come after a preposition.   

With this distinction in mind, which of the two sentences uses the correct pronoun?

First, determine whether the pronoun is operating as a subject or an object. In Sentences 1 and 2 above, the pronoun is doing the action of going to the barbecue; it is the subject. The pronoun needs to be "I" (subjective case), so Sentence 1 is correct.

Now try this pair of sentences:

The "team leader" is doing the action. "Devon" and "you" are the objects of the preposition "with," so the pronoun needs to be in the objective case (me). Sentence 2 is correct. 

Tip: In your mind, leave out the intervening words: "My team leader is going with ___ to the company barbecue". Would you say "I" or "me"? You'll have less difficulty seeing that "me" is correct if you remove "Devon and" from the sentence.  

We've covered situations that call for subjective vs. objective pronouns. We need to introduce a third type of pronoun: possessive. Possessive pronouns indicate that someone possesses or owns something. When referring to the lunch that you brought to school, for example, you wouldn't say "I brought me lunch today" (unless you're deliberately employing a Cockney accent). You would use the possessive pronoun, "my".

Exhibit 2A.1 lists the subjective, objective, and possessive pronouns for each "person" (or potential actor) in a sentence. 

Exhibit 2A.1: Pronouns in the three most common cases

When you pair a pronoun with another noun and you can't determine the proper pronoun case, temporarily remove the noun and read the sentence again (perhaps out loud):

If you ignore the words "Devon and," the correct pronoun is easier to determine: "the sandwiches that were intended for me" is correct. 

To intensify a subject or object, add the corresponding pronoun in the correct case: 

5.  Use Who and Whom Correctly 

Figuring out the correct use of who and whom can give you a brain cramp. Although the use of "whom" is in decline, skilled writers correctly use who v. whom and whoever v. whomever. You already have the tools to understand this idea: "who" and "whoever" stand in for subjects; "whom" and "whomever," for objects.

The main complication arises when "who(m)ever" functions as both the object and the subject in the same sentence. Here’s an example: 

The pronoun is the object of the preposition "to," and the subject of the clause "who(m)ever answers the phone".  In such instances, the subjective case wins. Use "whoever".  

Now consider this sentence:

In this example, "whomever" is the object of the preposition "to" and thus belongs in the objective case.

This MCom video further clarifies the correct use of who and whom. 

6. Agree with Antecedents 

When pronouns are substituting for nouns, they must agree with their antecedent (the noun they are substituting for). 

Notice the domino effect of changing "teammate" to "teammates" in Sentence 2. Because the antecedent noun - teammate(s) - changed, two subsequent words in the sentence had to change. The verb changed from wants to want, and the pronoun changed from his to their. These changes keep the verb and the pronouns in agreement with their antecedent. 

Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in both gender and number. Look at the following sentences. The antecedent is underlined and its pronoun is in blue. 

Both of these sentences are grammatically correct. Note the following style guideline, however: In the first sentence, the antecedent (manager) is singular; so is the pronoun (his). But is each manager necessarily male? The second sentence corrects this problem by making the antecedent plural (managers) so that the gender-neutral plural pronoun "their" can be used. 

You could change the sentence to "each manager brings his/her laptop," but this construction is unwieldy. Use the plural instead.

Try to spot the common error in the following sentence:

In everyday speech, we often use "they" (a plural pronoun) when the antecedent ("customer") is singular. In writing, maintain agreement by using plural antecedents and pronouns whenever possible.  

Is a company singular or plural? A business is a single entity, which means that it takes a singular pronoun:

Is a team (or other group of people) singular or plural? In business, a team is made up of a number of individuals. However, because the team is an entity distinct from its individual members, use a singular pronoun (and verb) when referring to the team as a whole:

Who vs. that. When choosing between "who" and "that" to refer to a team, choose "that". 

The general rule is to use "who" (not "that") when referring to people:

7. Avoid Ambiguous Pronoun References

Make sure each pronoun refers clearly to only one antecedent. This video contains clear advice for keeping your pronouns straight.

The video illustrates why we always avoid using pronouns without specifying who or what they refer to. Multiple nouns in a sentence may leave a reader wondering what exactly a pronoun is referring to.

Ambiguous pronoun references are prone to be misinterpreted, which can have serious business consequences. Make sure you never use a pronoun if its referent is unclear.

8. Create Parallel Expressions

This specific rule is part of a larger principle that we'll call consistency. We'll discuss visual consistency in Chapter 11, where we talk about the importance of repetition. In this chapter, we refer to verbal consistency as parallelism. 

Parallelism means using the same word patterns - the same syntax - for similar parts of a sentence. When these similar elements aren't parallel, they sound awkward and out of place. Writers most often violate the parallelism principle in two situations:  (1) when stating items in a list or series, and (2) when connecting items with what are called parallel connectives. We'll look at each of these errors separately.

Items in a series or list. Items in a series need to be stated in the same grammatical form. The following video explains this use of parallelism:

Here's an example of the lack of parallelism in a series, and an example showing parallelism:

In a bulleted vertical list, the same principle applies:

• Is the client satisfied?

• Were the consultants fully utilized?

• Existence of a follow-on project.  (Wait a minute - the first two bullets are questions; this one's a statement.)

• Is the client satisfied?

• Were the consultants fully utilized?

• Did the project generate follow-on work? 

Parallel Connectives. A parallel connective is a pair of words that joins two ideas together. The five most common parallel connectives (also called "correlative conjunctions") are: 

• Neither/nor   The movie was neither interesting nor uplifting. 
• Either/or     Walmart is going to either lay off a lot of workers or cut their hours.
• Not only/but also   The new consultant is not only a genius but also a gourmet.
• Both/and    Google is both profitable and innovative.
• Rather/or  Would you rather take two weeks off or move to a different team?

What do you notice about the underlined words in the examples above? In all cases, the same part of speech immediately follows the two parallel connectives. In the first sentence, both are adjectives (interesting, uplifting); in the second sentence, both are verbs (layoff, cut); and so on. In other words, the parts of the sentence joined by the correlative conjunctions are parallel. 

Additional examples are provided in Exhibit 2A.2 below.

Exhibit 2A.2: Consistent Wording following Parallel Connectives

To consolidate your understanding of how to use parallel connectives, watch this video: 

9. Choose the Right Word

Have you ever spent time scratching your head over whether to use "affect" or "effect"? If so, you are in good company. Many words are commonly confused. Take, for example, the words "allow" and "enable". Allow means to grant permission. Enable means to make possible. 

Exhibit 2A.3:  Commonly Confused Words in Business Writing

Conclusion

Awareness is the first step toward mastery. In this chapter, we've covered nine categories of common errors relating to sentence structure and word choice. If you struggle with any of these errors, keep studying, practicing, and getting feedback. Your writing (and speaking) will continue to improve until these nine fundamentals are second nature to you.

02B: PUNCTUATION+

Knowing how to punctuate will help you clarify rather than confuse.

In 2014, a group of management communication instructors analyzed a stack of student papers to see which types of errors were most prevalent. Out of 1,187 total errors, 439 - almost 40% - were punctuation related. Every sentence contains at least one punctuation mark; most contain multiple marks. So opportunities to get punctuation wrong are everywhere.

In this chapter, we'll clarify the use of the most problematic punctuation marks, starting with the lowly comma (a frequent offender). We'll also cover the uses of capitalization, and how to incorporate numbers into your lucid business prose.

10. Be Careful with your Commas

If you place commas wherever you feel like the reader should take a breath - or simply because the sentence seems long - you're probably committing comma errors. Instead, take a rule-based approach to place commas precisely and confidently.

10.1 Use commas around nonessential words or phrases.

This keeps your sentences flowing smoothly and helps the reader capture your meaning the first time through.

Consider two additional examples.

You might think the two sentences communicate exactly the same thing. You'd be wrong. The difference is indicated by the commas. In Sentence 1, the commas indicate that "Wayne" is nonessential information. In other words, the author has only one son and his name happens to be Wayne. In Sentence 2, the lack of commas indicates that "Wayne" is essential information. The author clearly has more than one son but is talking about the one (Wayne) who is an econ major.

Have you ever wondered whether to use "that" or "which" in a sentence? Many writers mistakenly use them interchangeably. Furthermore, using "that" and "which" correctly requires some skill with commas.

Here's the rule: "that" is used with restrictive clauses. Restrictive clauses are "must-have" information, without which the reader won't understand the meaning of the sentence. "Which" is used when the clause is non-restrictive: it contains "nice-to-have" information that is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. The following video clarifies the difference:

Notice the presence of commas with "which," and their absence with "that".

10.2 Use commas after introductory words, phrases, and clauses.

Commas prevent the intro act from stealing the show from the main act. Check out these examples:

When a dependent clause is shifted to the end, the sentence no longer needs a comma:

10.3 Use commas to separate clauses.

Some sentences have only one subject and verb (i.e., one independent clause). Others have multiple clauses and a few phrases thrown in.

The following examples show how a simple sentence becomes more complex with the addition of clauses. Note how commas are used to separate the clauses.

The commas are exaggeratedly large in these sentences to highlight their placement. As discussed in 10.2 above, commas are used to separate an introductory dependent clause from an independent clause (see Sentence 3).

Note also that a comma separates two independent clauses (see Sentence 2). In sentences that contain two independent clauses, the clauses are usually joined by a coordinating conjunction. (Semicolons and dashes can also be used to join two independent clauses.) Knowing the seven coordinating conjunctions is crucial to mastering comma placement, as illustrated in this instructional video:

If your sentence starts with a short independent clause - fewer than five words - the comma is optional: I will stay and she will go home to watch TV.

Avoid using a comma to divide a compound verb phrase.

Don't confuse a compound verb ("We took . . . and visited. . . ".) with a compound sentence ("We took . . . and we regretted. . . ".) Look for two independent clauses that need separation and avoid adding the extra unneeded comma between compound verbs that share the same subject.

10.4 Use the "Oxford comma" to separate all the items in a series (including the penultimate item).

(Note: This is a guideline rather than a rule, but it's part of our management communication style guide.) When listing a series of items, include commas to separate all of the items.

11. If You Must Use a Semicolon, Use it Well

Business writers often avoid semicolons, partly because they don't know how to use them. This is unfortunate. A semicolon is uniquely useful in four specific situations.

11.1 Use a semicolon to join independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction.

If you use a comma here instead, you end up with a "comma splice," which is a major embarrassment.

11.2 Use a semicolon between independent clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb.

That's a lot of grammar jargon, but the idea is simple. Conjunctive adverbs are words like however, therefore, furthermore, and nevertheless. In the following examples, you'll see the semicolon placed before the conjunctive adverb and a comma placed after.

The semicolon is needed because the conjunctive adverb comes between two independent clauses. When the conjunctive adverb is interrupting a single clause, do NOT use a semicolon.

11.3 Use a semicolon after an independent clause that comes before "i.e.,"

(which means "that is" or "in other words") and "e.g". (which means "for example") if another independent clause follows.

When the i.e. (or e.g.) precedes a phrase rather than a clause, no semicolon is needed. A comma works fine:

Alternatively, put the full clause or phrase beginning with i.e. (or e.g.) inside parentheses. In this case, the first paren takes the place of the semicolon and requires only a comma to the right.

11.4 Use a semicolon to separate items in a series that contains internal commas.

In these cases, the semicolon acts as "super comma". Examine the following sentence, in which the list of cities and states creates a messy sequence of commas.

12. Use Colons only after Complete Sentences

A colon is used to introduce a list or a series, but it should not be used to interrupt a perfectly good sentence.

Use a colon only when the list or series is preceded by a complete sentence (i.e., subject, verb, and complement). Here's a tip: Look to the left of the colon. If the words to the left of the colon form a sentence that introduces a series or a list, and that series or list appears to the right of the colon, then the colon is being used appropriately.

Let's revisit Sentence 1, rewriting it so that a colon is appropriate:

This rule applies even with a bulleted or numbered list:

1. Help the National Volunteer Services team to increase capabilities.
2. Develop strategies to enhance organizational volunteer engagement capability.
3. Research and make recommendations for expanding volunteer use.

CORRECT

13. Insert Dashes and Hyphens in the Right Places

First, a dash (—) is different from a hyphen (-). The dash is longer—it indicates an interruption or adds stylistic emphasis to your point.

Dashes, commas, and parentheses can all be used to set off nonessential information in a sentence (see #10.1 above), but they must be used in matched pairs. In other words, the principle of parallelism applies to punctuation too. (See #8 in Chapter 2A.) Never set off a clause or phrase using a mixture of dashes, commas, and parentheses.

The smaller hyphen is often used to join two or more words into a compound adjective. The two hyphenated words form a unified description to modify the word that follows.

When the same words combine, but appear after the noun, they are not hyphenated.

Here's an exception: Hyphens are not used when one of the words is an adverb that ends in -ly.

When you're using two or more compound adjectives in a row and they all modify the same noun, the hyphen lets you avoid repeating the noun. This is called a floating hyphen.

Note: Self-esteem, self-confidence, self-awareness, and all other such self-referencing nouns always take hyphens.

14. Know When to Use Apostrophes

The apostrophe is the small mark we use to indicate possession (Darcy's souffle) or contractions (turning cannot into can't). Most native English speakers aren't confused by contractions, with the exception of it's vs. its, so let's handle that one first.

14.1 It's is a contraction of "it is" or "it has". However, its (no apostrophe) indicates possession.

To easily check whether you've chosen the right word, expand to "it is" or "it has" and read the sentence again. If the sentence makes sense, use the apostrophe; if not, no need.

14.2 Use apostrophes to express possession. In simple possession, just add an apostrophe + s.

You can learn about the possession rules for trademarks here.

If the word has an "s" at the end because it has already been made plural, then just add the apostrophe to the end of the word after the "s". (Follow this rule: First form the plural, then make it possessive.)

In some cases, words are made plural differently than adding an "s" (like child to children or man to men). When making these words possessive, go back to the simple rule of adding an apostrophe + s after forming the plural.

When expressing possession with a proper noun, what do you do with names that end in -s, -es, -z, or -x? As a start, ask whether you are referring to one person or a group implying more than one (as when referring to a family). Look at the singular example first and note two correct options for making the trickier endings work.

SINGULAR:  NO: That blue Honda is John Thomases car.

PLURAL:        NO: That blue Honda is the Thomases's car.

For names ending in z (such as Sanchez or Aziz), the rule is the same.

SINGULAR: NO: That blue Honda is Rita Sanchezes car.

PLURAL:       NO: That blue Honda is the Sanchez's car.

For more on how to make names plural and possessive, read the Grammar Girl's post How to Make Family Names Plural

Other terms, like time, can show possession:

In fact, you can add several possessives in a row if needed. For example, if Harry has a wife and his wife has a manager, then the manager is Harry's wife's manager.

When expressing ownership, joint and individual ownership are differentiated by the correct use of apostrophes. If the item is jointly possessed, the apostrophe goes on only the SECOND person's name as in the first two examples below. If they individually possess their own, they individually need their own apostrophe (as in the second set of examples).

Also incorrect is the use of apostrophes to form possessive pronouns. As we learned already with it's, you use the apostrophe for a contraction. Possessives are not contractions, so follow the guidelines in the Exhibit 2B.1.

All of this is pretty easy and straightforward, right? Then why do we so commonly see some of the following incorrect usages?

Just one more reason to sweat the small stuff, so you don't offend any party goers or grammar-loving relatives on your next Christmas card.

Exhibit 2B.1: Correct and Incorrect Possessive Forms

15. Capitalize only when Needed

For the most part, general capitalization rules are the same ones you probably learned in the third grade and feel are easy to remember, such as capitalizing the first word of every sentence and capitalizing proper nouns. The difficulty comes when you're trying to determine which nouns are "proper" and which are "common" enough to not require capitalization.

15.1 Remember to capitalize specific proper nouns, but not nouns that refer to general categories.

Explore the difference in Exhibit 2B.2.

Exhibit 2B.2: Capitalizing Specific Proper Nouns

15.2 Be sure to capitalize proper adjectives,

as in these examples:

15.3 When creating a list, capitalize the first word of each item in a vertical list.

(Reminder: Make lists parallel, as emphasized in Chapter 2a. Note how each of these bullet items begins with a verb).:

• Reduce days in receivables
• Hire a new IT manager
• Slash unnecessary expenses
  
  

15.4 When referring to a title - including book titles, job titles, and degrees - use correct capitalization.

TITLES OF BOOKS, MOVIES, AND OTHER WORKS OF ART: Capitalize the first and last words, and all verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and pronouns, regardless of the length of the word. For all other words - mainly articles and prepositions - capitalize only those that are more than four letters long.

15.5 With direct quotations, capitalize the first word of the quotation when the first word of the quotation begins the sentence.

Read the following correctly capitalized sentences, noticing that in the second sentence, the quote doesn't start with a capital letter, since the quoted material finishes the logical flow of the sentence:

15.6 Capitalize compass points when they refer to a specific place or region

and not when they refer to a general area:

16. Know Your Numbers

Business relies on correctly expressing numbers. The following basic rules are consistent with the Chicago Manual of Style, but consult your particular company's style guide for any differences.

16.1 Generally, spell out single-digit numbers one through nine. Use numerals for double-digit numbers 10 - infinity.

Be aware of the following exceptions to the general numbering rule.

• Spell out any number that begins a sentence

• Avoid starting sentences with large numbers.

• Write large numbers using a combination of decimals and verbal descriptors (million, billion, etc).

16.2 Percentages.

In written text, use the numeral and the percent symbol (e.g., 6%). However, check your company's style guide because some specify that all numbers be expressed as words (six percent); others use the numeral with "percent" written out (6 percent). NEVER express percentages like this: six%.
In passages of text, round the percent to the nearest tenth: 11.57% becomes 11.6%.

16.3 Dates.

Generally use the cardinal (1, 2, 3) number for the date. The ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd) are allowable only if the date precedes the month. Although we often interchange the cardinal and the ordinal forms when we talk, follow this rule in writing.

16.4 Monetary amounts.

Use the currency sign with no decimals for whole numbers ($20). For fractions of dollars (or other currency), use the decimal expression ($20.56).

The basic principle of parallelism suggests that you NOT mix the two in a single sentence.

Instead, make the expressions consistent by using the decimal expression with both:

16.5 Time.

For a round hour without minutes, use the whole number, but when another time expression in the sentence includes the minutes, make both consistent. (This is yet another application of parallelism). Use lowercase a.m. and p.m. to indicate morning or afternoon/evening as needed. In business writing, never use the word "o'clock".

16.6 Fractions.

When expressing fractions, express standalone fractions as words and hyphenate them:

However, use decimals wherever possible.

16.7 Page numbers.

When referring to a page or chapter number, always use numerals:

16.8 Format numbers consistently within sentences.

Despite all of the above-mentioned rules, keep your formatting consistent within a sentence.

Conclusion

Punctuation can be puzzling for business writers. Never underestimate the power of correctly using commas, semicolons, and colons, however. Punctuation marks, though small, make a big difference in the clarity and intelligence of your writing.

02C: VERBS

In the previous two sections, we've examined common errors relating to sentence construction, word choice, and punctuation. We focus on verbs in this final fundamentals section. Verbs give life to your writing; without verbs, nothing happens. 

We'll start with some stylistic advice about verbs: Liven up your writing - even your business writing - by inserting interesting verbs. Bland verbs suffocate our sentences and enervate our emails.  A seventh-grade English teacher, Mr. Coward, has experimented with a total moratorium on the use of verbs like be, go, have, do, and get. His students struggle to write anything without falling back on those overused verbs. 

Although we don't advocate such extreme measures in this textbook, remember that lively verbs make for lively writing - up to a point. Use good judgment. Readers will mock your emails if each sentence sounds like a vocabulary quiz.

DEFINITE NO: I intended to convene our assemblage on the morrow. 

We turn our attention now to six specific rules about verbs. Master these rules and you'll prevent a multitude of errors.

17. Keep Subjects Close to their Verbs

In chapter 2A, we introduced the idea of strong subjects. Sentences usually work better when the actor is clearly identifiable. Strong subjects should also stand close to their verbs. We sometimes refer to this principle as "verb vicinity" - don't let a collection of other words come between your verbs and their subjects.

Look for some great tips in this video:

As the video illustrates, placing a short phrase between the subject and the verb is sometimes permissible. But in general, your writing will be clearer if you place the actor and the action next to each other in your sentences.

18.  Make Subjects and Verbs Agree 

In sentences, subjects always have verbs associated with them. The subject is the actor, and the verb is the action (or the state of being). Writers who've grown up with English usually know what verb form to use because it "sounds right". Two situations can cause confusion, however: intervening prepositional phrases (by far the biggest offender), and other intervening elements.

Let's look at intervening prepositional phrases first. Which of the following two sentences sounds correct?

They both sound OK - in fact, Sentence 2 sounds better to many people. This is because the intervening prepositional phrase, "of the company executives," contains a plural noun. "Intervening" means the phrase comes between the subject ("one" in this case) and the verb ("is/are"). Which form of the verb should you use - singular or plural?

One way to solve this problem is to consult Fundamental #17 about keeping subjects close to their verbs. If we move the intervening phrase to the start of the sentence (making it an introductory phrase), we have the following:

With the verb directly next to its subject, the confusion vanishes. The verb needs to be the singular "is". 

Note that the revised sentence sounds somewhat stilted and awkward, however. In fact, sometimes we don't want to move the intervening phrase; we want to keep it between the subject and the verb. Here is an example:

Repositioning that intervening phrase would require some syntactical gymnastics.

This rewritten sentence not only sounds weird, it's also longer than the original. So just remember that when you use an intervening phrase, your verb needs to agree with your subject, not with the nearest noun in the intervening phrase. Here are a few additional examples:

Why is the verb "were" OK in the "alternative yes" sentence above? The phrase "as well as" does not give equal weight to the elements and therefore does not alter the singular subject, "book". On the other hand, the word "and" creates a plural subject. When in doubt, use the word "and" to create a plural subject - and as a bonus, you'll use fewer words.

19.  Match Indefinite Pronouns and Verbs 

Sometimes, we use relative indefinite pronouns - words like each, many, a lot, nobody - in place of nouns. Which verb should you use with these pronouns? Here's an example: 

The verb should be "is" because "everyone" is always singular. Exhibit 2C.1 lists the indefinite pronouns that are ALWAYS singular. 

Exhibit 2C.1: Indefinite Pronouns that Always Take a Singular Verb

In contrast, the following four pronouns in Exhibit 2C.2 are ALWAYS plural:

Exhibit 2C.2: Indefinite Pronouns that Always Take a Plural Verb

Always singular, always plural - these are the easy ones. Remember, however, that the rules above apply to these pronouns when they are working alone. In Exhibit 2C.1 above, the pronouns "either" and "neither" are marked with asterisks because they require further explanation. Consider the following examples:

However, when paired with a conjunction - as in either/or and neither/nor - these indefinite pronouns get trickier. We call these pairs parallel connectives , and we introduced them in Chapter 2A, Fundamental #8. When followed by a verb, these parallel connectives raise this question: How should the verb be conjugated? Take a look:

The rule is simple: The subject closer to the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural. If both subjects are singular, so is the verb:

If both subjects are plural, the verb is plural:

If one subject is singular and the other is plural, place the plural subject nearer to the verb and make the verb plural:

          (That sounds much better, doesn't it?)

The same rule applies to the construction "not only/but also". The subject nearer the verb determines the conjugation, so when you have both a singular and a plural subject, put the plural one closer to the verb:

Finally, Exhibit 2C.3 lists the indefinite pronouns that can be either singular OR plural, depending on the noun they refer to. Here's a handy tip: If the quantity is countable, then the indefinite pronoun takes a plural verb; if you can't count it, then use the singular verb.   

Exhibit 2C.3: Indefinite Pronouns that Can be Singular or Plural

COUNTABLE QUANTITIES WITH PLURAL VERBS:

NON-COUNTABLE QUANTITIES WITH SINGULAR VERBS:

20. Determine the Right Verb Tense  

The purpose of a verb's tense is to indicate the time frame for an action or state of being. Using the wrong verb tense might create confusion about when something is happening, has happened, or will happen. Experienced English speakers instinctively use the correct verb tense most of the time, but the "perfect" tenses cause headaches for many writers.  Exhibit 2C.4 explains the use of the three most common perfect tenses.

Exhibit 2C.4 Three Most Common Perfect Tenses

Note that each of these sentences contains a "time marker" - three days, twice, six years. Perfect tenses always take time markers.  

Two additional verb-tense rules are worth knowing.

20.1 Use the present tense to express a permanent truth or condition.

Suppose that someone says to you, "What did you say your name was?" Though the person might have been introduced to you last week, if your actual name is the same today as it was last week, the question should be phrased: "What did you say your name is?" Here is an additional example:

20.2 Avoid the temptation to double conjugate

a pair of closely occurring verbs. "Conjugate" means to convert the verb from its base form (called the "infinitive") to a form that is specific to a person, place, or thing doing the action. Here's an example:

Since the verb "would have liked" has already set the event in its time frame, the infinitive form (to + base verb) is correct for the second verb.  

21. Prefer Active Voice

Business writing is known for being direct and to the point. In most situations, you should favor active rather than passive verb constructions. Active voice means that the subject is clearly doing the action:

In passive voice, the subject is either missing or included as an afterthought at the end of the sentence. The object becomes the subject of the sentence, and the verb becomes a form of "to be" + a past participle of the original verb:

In the passive version of the sentence, the award takes center stage rather than the person who won it. In most situations, we would rather feature the winner than the award.

Watch this video for greater clarity on the difference between active and passive voice:

In rare instances - usually when we're trying to avoid throwing someone under the bus - we want to deemphasize the actor in the sentence. Bring out your sensitive side by knowing how to tactfully apply passive voice.

22. Use the Correct Mood  

A sentence's verb can express a variety of what are called moods. The mood indicates how the speaker feels about the sentence. The three most common verb moods in English are the following: 

1. The indicative is the most common mood. It is used to make statements.

2. The imperative mood issues a command. (Note that the subject in imperative sentences is an implied "you".)

3. The subjunctive mood indicates uncertainty. The writer might be articulating a possibility, a hope, a wish, or a hypothetical. This mood presents the greatest challenge to writers. Here are some examples of sentences that call for subjunctive mood:  

In hypothetical statements that use the subjunctive, the "if" condition is presumed to be untrue or unlikely to be true. For example, you can say, "If I were king, I'd wear a crown". But you're not the king; it's an untrue hypothetical. So you wear a baseball cap instead of a crown. 

Note that in subjunctive mood, the correct form of the verb is "were" (e.g., If I were king, . . .) rather than the indicative "was". In an indicative sentence, you would never say, "Back in highschool, I were a nerd".  Without a hope, a wish, or an uncertainty, you would use the indicative:  "I was a nerd".   

Subjunctive mood also is used when describing a "soft" or "implied" command. When the implied command is directed toward a third person (i.e., he, she, or it), the verb is expressed differently than it would normally be expressed. A few examples will help clarify this point.  

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've made it to the end of the writing fundamentals section of this book. We hope you've learned a few rules and guidelines that will serve you well throughout your career. Three short chapters are insufficient to turn you into experts, but that wasn't our goal. Rather, we want to make you aware of the most common errors and give you the confidence to find additional answers online. 

These days, writers have no excuse for not knowing the rules. All you have to do is Google your grammar- or style-related question and thousands of resources pop up instantly. The key is knowing enough to realize that you need to consult them. 

IN CONCLUSION

If you were blessed with an amazing English teacher, this content may come easily. If you weren't that lucky, you'll have to work harder.

This may be your last chance to learn to produce strong, clear writing without errors.

We've done our best to make it relatively painless. You're welcome!