I recently received an out-of-office reply that read, I and the whole team are at an off-site meeting this week, so checking email is going to be a little difficult.
The writer should have written, The team and I are at an off-site meeting, because you always put yourself last... (Read More)
Ivanka Trump was talking recently about the success of the Administration’s worker retraining program. “15 million lives impacted, 15 million families impacted,” she said.
Ouch.
Impact, traditionally a noun, as in have an impact on, has turned into a verb (one shunned by stylists everywhere), pushing aside more human-sounding verbs,... (Read More)
The head of our Health and Human Services department recently clocked in with a 61-word sentence about the Administration’s decision to ban certain e-cigarette flavors while keeping others. Here’s what he said. See if you can fully grasp it in one quick read:
By prioritizing enforcement against the products that... (Read More)
In this version of Say It Better Say It Right, a Hollywood producer talks about creating a binge-worthy series for Netflix.
Here are two sentences that recently crossed my desk:
In both cases, everyday should be every day.
Everyday is an adjective that is mostly used to describe something routine... (Read More)
Our legacy is built on finding and knowing the essential.
That’s what a leading financial company says on its website. Expertise or reputation would be more accurate than legacy, which is what you’re remembered for after you’re gone.
Or take the magazine executive who said he wanted to be sure... (Read More)
In this edition of Say It Better Say It Right, an executive of a major food company talks about teaching people to snack mindfully, that is to enjoy cookies and candy—responsibly.
Please let us know if you’re aligned to this.
That line appeared in an email about an agenda for an upcoming meeting. Its author should have written, Let us know if you agree with this.
In everyday English, align means to arrange in a line, as in, The pictures look... (Read More)
In both cases, around should be about, which means concerning or with regard to. I don’t know when or why it happened, but people have started... (Read More)
One of the things I edit most are sentences that include lists of points. We cram in too many. Take, for example, this sentence from a fact sheet about a company’s expertise in data analytics for the commercial real estate industry:
Our engagements range from predicting tenant turnover, to demand... (Read More)
