Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
(OP)
Hullo!
My first language isn't English, but I often get to write formal letters in English as it became a wide-spread trend to use English in business communication throughout Europe (even if I get glared at / not replied to by French. Aw.) Plus, I am horribly picky and hate to recieve anything written with bad grammar / lousy spelling / filthy style. This will demean that person's value (and, consequentally, the value of their firm / possible business relationship) in my eyes; and I feel many other people feel the same, so I am trying my best to "clean up" my English and write as accurately and as properly as I can. However, that has not been easy due to the lack of proper literature that I could use to expand my knowledge... So I'd like to ask for recommendations on books (Cds, ebooks, .pdf files) that you've encountered on this subjects - formal writing in English for business purposes, business conduct (prefferably British, as it's the closest to general European business conduct style), business dictionaries (English - English, prefferably digital form) and such materials that you've found helpful... I'll be very grateful for any help!
Turbo!
My first language isn't English, but I often get to write formal letters in English as it became a wide-spread trend to use English in business communication throughout Europe (even if I get glared at / not replied to by French. Aw.) Plus, I am horribly picky and hate to recieve anything written with bad grammar / lousy spelling / filthy style. This will demean that person's value (and, consequentally, the value of their firm / possible business relationship) in my eyes; and I feel many other people feel the same, so I am trying my best to "clean up" my English and write as accurately and as properly as I can. However, that has not been easy due to the lack of proper literature that I could use to expand my knowledge... So I'd like to ask for recommendations on books (Cds, ebooks, .pdf files) that you've encountered on this subjects - formal writing in English for business purposes, business conduct (prefferably British, as it's the closest to general European business conduct style), business dictionaries (English - English, prefferably digital form) and such materials that you've found helpful... I'll be very grateful for any help!
Turbo!





RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
You wrote: "........Plus, I am horribly picky and hate to recieve anything written with bad grammar / lousy spelling / filthy style..............."
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
Meaning, I don't want to sound like "that" when I write to other people who RECIEVE my mail.
Also... Please don't patronise. My mother used to say "if you can't say anything nice, keep quiet".
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
Your writing is fine(other than a tendency to over do parenthetical expressions / slashed lists / etc.).
A few links for you:
http://www.pnl.gov/ag/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
I have the second edition published in 1981 and I expect that there are some later editions.
Published by Prentice Hall ISBN 0-13-898700-9
Also use the grammar checker in Word and aim for a grade 7 to 10 reading level. (Hard to do in technical writing because of the need for adjectives and polysyllabic words. This post is grade 8.2 level)
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
It was originally intended as a text to encourage British civil servants (who at the time were notorious for their impenetrable prose) to write stuff that could be understood correctly at the first attempt without sending the reader to sleep.
A.
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
Assuming recieve was a deliberate misspell, and the explanation provided by you is cogent, would you be kind enough to enlighten us as to why you twice misspelled preferably?
Proof reading really is, really important, My post was meant to be constructive, certainly not intended to patronise you. Sorry you felt that way.
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
Word can catch 99% of the spelling mistakes, proof reading IMHO is less important than choosing the right words, using the right constructions.
I would like to invite any native English speaker who finds joy in spotting spelling mistakes in other people's documents, to write a formal letter in French and find out how easy THAT is.
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
But back to spelling... It's really difficult, once you get used to spelling something wrong, to correct it - you'll know if you speak any other language beside your own. I have horrible grief with "finally", too, I ALWAYS spell "finnaly" instead... and Word spell checkers and stuff make it worse, they correct it and you don't have to LEARN better. And no, honestly I didn't proof read - as epoisses said, this is a net forum, not formal communication, so I get a bit careless.
But please bear with me, all of you, if I thought my knowledge of English was perfect, WOULD I be asking for books and stuff which will help me learn better...?
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
In future be a little more honest and a little less defensive.
This forum is for fun as well as learning. It is right and proper to be checked for bad grammar and no-one should feel bad about that. Our fearless leader jimbo's slogan for this forum is " Buy a dictionary and use it".
Good luck
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
"i" before "e" except after "c", when the sound is "ee"
I'm sure there are still exceptions.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
http
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091
RE: Good, solid book on grammar/formal writing/business conduct?
I recently downloaded Google Earth, and with it came a toolbar. I was about to delete it when I noticed that it had a web content spell checker on it, and not only that, it spell checks in several languages that I speak or write in.
I recommend it highly.
One comment about spelling errors in other than your first language; (assuming that spelling in your first language is not problematic) it is hard to detect spelling errors in other than ones first language. The eye is just not trained to pick them up. And in my case, I learned at least one language as an oral language, not written and did not learn where to put all the accents and thingies that are needed to be grammatically correct.
TurbulentFluid, I think your English is just fine, but I applaud your attempts to master it grammatically, that is.
Now, I can't wait to e-mail this thread to my Venezuelan son-in-law who has occasional beefs with the oddities of our English language.
rmw
And PS: the google spell checker found 5, count'em 5 spelling errors in the above, not counting TurbulentFluids handle.