Style guides come in many shapes and sizes, usually focused toward scientific or academic use only. However, business writing is a space occupied by many individuals that has not been given the attention it deserves. The Style Guide for Business Writing, Second Edition, is designed specifically to assist business writers in both the public and private sector, including those publishing with English as a second language; authors of academic papers; business book authors; financial journalists; and writers of reports, proposals or even just e-mail and memoranda.
This book provides a comprehensive guide to clear and precise writing that will help develop basic communication skills for the beginner, and refresh the basics for the experienced business writer. Major topics are arranged alphabetically and the cross references and index enable quick and easy access to information.
Michael C. Thomsett is a market expert, author, speaker, and coach. His many books include Stock Market Math, Candlestick Charting, The Mathematics of Options, and A Technical Approach to Trend Analysis.
Table of Content
A 1
A or an 1
Abbreviation 1
Abridgement 6
Abstracts 6
Accessibility 7
Acknowledgments 8
Acronyms 8
Active and passive voice 9
Adnouns 12
Afterword 12
Agreement 12
Alphabetizing 17
Annotations 21
Annualization 22
Anonymous publication 23
Anthology 23
Antonyms 24
Appendices 25
Appositives 25
Apps 26
Archive 26
Articles 27
Artwork 29
Attribution 30
B 33
Backmatter 33
Baseline 34
Bibliography 36
Blogging 37
Budgets and forecasts 37
Bullet points 39
C 41
Callouts and sidebars 41
Capitalization 41
Captions 44
Case studies 45
Casual assertions and inferences 46
Charts and Graphs 48
Circa (ca.) 57
Circular arguments 57
Citations 58
Clauses 64
Cleft sentences 65
Cliches 66
Coinage of words 73
Colloquialism 73
Compound Words 74
Conclusions 75
Copyright 76
Cross reference 77
D 81
Dangling modifiers 81
Data analysis 81
Databases 85
Data collection methods 85
Data matrices 86
Dates and times 87
Decimals, fractions, and percentages 92
Definitions 96
Denotation and connotation 98
Derivative work 99
Descriptive statistics and inference 99
Desktop publishing 100
Dictionaries 101
Double negatives 101
Dysphemism 101
E 103
Editing and proofreading 103
e.g. and i.e. 106
Electronic mail (email) 106
Electronic mail formatting guidelines 108
Emphasis 109
Empirical approach 114
Endnotes 115
et al. 115
Euphemism 116
F 117
Fact checking 117
False subjects 117
Figure of speech 118
File naming 119
Financial reports 120
Flowcharts 122
Footnotes 124
G 127
Generalizations 127
Gerunds 128
Glossary formatting 128
Graphics 129
H 131
Headings 131
Highlighting in text 132
Homonyms 135
Hyperbole 135
Hyperlinks 136
Hypothesis formulation 136
I 139
Ibid. 139
Idiom 139
Imperative sentences 140
Indexing 141
Introductions, forewords and prefaces 143
Irony 145
J, K 147
Jargon 147
L 151
Legends, titles, and labels 151
Letters 152
Lists 163
M 169
Manuscripts 169
Mathematical symbols 171
Means testing 175
Measurement strategies 175
Memos 177
Metadata 179
Metaphors 180
Money and currency 180
N 183
Nominative, objective, and possessive pronouns 183
Numerals and numbering 184
O 191
Obfuscation 191
Objective and goal statements 192
Online etiquette 194
Op. Cit. 196
Organization charts 197
Outlining 199
P 203
Paradox 203
Paragraphs 203
Parallelism 207
Parentheses and brackets 209
Participles 213
Parts of speech 213
Patents 234
Peer review 234
Photographs 235
Planning documents 236
Possessives 239
Presentations 240
Problem statement 242
Procedures manuals 243
Proposals 246
Punctuation 248
Q 269
Quotations 269
R 273
Redundancy and repetition 273
Relative clauses 274
Reports 275
Rhetorical questions 278
Rhythm in sentences 278
Roman numerals 279
Run-in quotations 280
Run-on sentences and sentence fragments 281
S 283
Salutations 283
Sampling 285
Sarcasm 286
Scaling 287
Scientific method 289
Screen shots 290
Sentences 291
Sexist writing 296
Signs and symbols 298
Similar words 299
Similes 317
Singular and plural 318
Spacing 321
Spelling 323
Statistical references 329
Style and tone 329
Suffixes 332
Summarizing 333
Superscript and subscript 334
Symbolism 335
Synonyms 336
T, U 339
Table of contents 339
Tables 340
Technical writing 341
Tenses 342
Titles 343
Trademarks 344
Transitions 345
Translations 349
V 351
Variable measurements 351
Variable relationships 351
Video best practices 352
W 355
Webinar and conference call etiquette 355
Webpage references and citation 356
Websites 356
Word processing 357
X, Y 361
X and y axes 361
Z 363
Zombie nouns 363
Index 365
About the author
Michael C. Thomsett, Business and Investment Writer, Nashville, Tennessee, USAMore ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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