Write for Business - Blog

Anxious indicates that one is worrying; eager, that one is gladly anticipating something.

Margarete is anxious about speaking in public, but she is eager to share her new findings with the research department.

(From Write for Business, page 225, and Proofreader's Guide PDF, page 37)

The words who, which, and that belong to a class of pronouns known as relative pronouns. They are called "relative" because they relate a subordinate clause to another word in a sentence. Writers often confuse these three pronouns, but there are specific guidelines for using each.

Who is generally used to refer to people. That and which typically refer to animals, objects, or groups. However, it is also correct to use that to refer to people in the case of a sentence containing multiple relative pronouns. For example, instead of saying Officer Cartwright is the one who spoke to the boy who claimed the wallet, you could reword the sentence in either of the following ways:

Officer Cartwright is the one who spoke to the boy that claimed the wallet.

Officer Cartwright is the one that spoke to the boy who claimed the wallet.

When referring to an animal, object, or group, use that or which. Remember, though, to use the word that to introduce an essential clause - one necessary to the meaning of the sentence. Here is an example:

Ali sold the property that bordered the forest preserve.

The word which, on the other hand, is used to introduce a nonessential clause, usually set off with a comma:

Ali sold the property, which would gain him a commission.

You can learn more about agreement on pages 98 Business and Sales Correspondence and on pages 243-244 and 262 in Write for Business. These works are just two of the many helpful business writing materials from UpWrite Press.

- Joyce Lee

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Any one means "a singular thing or person from a group"; anyone is a pronoun meaning "any person."

Choose any one of the proposed weekend schedules. Anyone wishing to work on Saturday instead of Sunday may do so.

(From Write for Business, page 225, and Proofreader's Guide PDF, page 37)

Don't use and before etc.

Did you confirm prices, costs, profits, etc.?

(From Write for Business, page 225, and Proofreader's Guide PDF, page 37)

Last weekend, one of my daughters asked for advice about writing a letter. She is leaving soon for a year in Germany, under the Fulbright Program, to assist in teaching English to high school students there, and she needed to ask people here to contribute items, photos, and personal stories to communicate what life is like in the U.S.A. She also needed to request help funding her first month over there, until the Fulbright stipend payments begin to arrive. Although she has written thousands of words of literary criticism for her degree, she wasn't sure how to frame this sort of a letter.

I said, "This sounds like a job for the AIDA format," and opened my copy of Business and Sales Correspondence to show her the example on page 44. AIDA organization is great for persuasive messages. It opens by getting the reader's Attention, then communicates ideas of Interest and Desire, before closing with a request for specific Action. Here's the body of the example letter from the book (addressed to Ms. Judy Niles of Brewster's Brew Coffee Shop in Davistown, Pennsylvania):

With that example at hand, my daughter drafted her letter, feeling much more confident about the task. When she finished, I read her draft and said, "Okay, the organization and content are great. But in places the tone still seems a bit formal for the people you want to reach." So I pointed her to "Use Appropriate Formality" on page 88 of the book. Of "Formal," "Moderate," or "Informal," she decided a moderate tone was most appropriate.

After a quick revision, she had a clear persuasive letter in hand, and the process had been relatively painless. I said, "Frankly, every time I have to draft a business letter myself, I open Business and Sales Correspondence and find an example to guide my writing. No reason to reinvent the wheel." She agreed and asked for a copy to take to Germany, as part of the writing materials she plans to use with students there.

What is your own experience like when it comes to writing business letters? Are you sometimes uncertain how to get started? Do you wonder about tone? Do you ever doubt whether your readers will understand the content?

If you answered "Yes" to any of those questions, I know a great little book that can make your letter writing much easier and more effective.

(By the way, I used AIDA format as a guide in writing this blog entry.)

- Lester Smith