Word Wise

Under Cover

I write and edit a lot of business cover letters – you know, those missives that accompany new business proposals and other documents. And I can be especially tetchy when I read those written by others because it so often seems they wrote it while walking to the mail room to drop off the document – in other words, as if it was an afterthought despite it being the first thing that will be read. Remember what they say about first impressions… Begin with something interesting to catch your reader’s attention (hey, procurement employees are people, too!). You may be able to start with something about your industry (or theirs), something about your location (or theirs), a comment about an article you read recently that’s relevant to their business, or to an already-established relationship you have with them. Thanks, but no thanks – avoid starting with a thank you for letting you submit your proposal or document. It is, in one word, obsequious (and just kind of lazy). Keep it simple – use everyday language and avoid fancy words like “tetchy” (it’s a good word, isn’t it?). Whomever you’re writing may be receiving numerous such letters and the easier you can make it for them the better. Keep it to one page – I beg of you, if you take away one thing from this tip, it’s that you keep your letter to one page. Recently I edited a two-page letter down to one by deleting the initial thank you, expunging extraneous information, obliterating the bloviating, tightening the language overall, losing a bunch of needless adjectives and, yes, making the font smaller (though not too small). Lots of white space is more appealing than large blocks of dense type. Use bullets – it’s perfectly acceptable and an easy way to present important points without having to make complete sentences out of them. Plus, if people are merely scanning the letter their eyes are apt to rest on bullet points; if nothing else gets through, at least the information there will. P.S. Speaking of writing for readers who scan, consider adding a postscript at the end of your letter – again, the eyes will rest there when scanning. Include an extra bit of interesting information about your company, your proposal, or something you learned from research you may have done. Get your facts right. Sounds obvious, but if you’re reeling off a bunch of info  about your company it can be easy to exaggerate or just get them plain wrong. Make sure you don’t say you have 86 offices worldwide when you have 84, for example. Spell the recipient's name correctly! 'Nuff said. Include contact information in the letter even if the information is in the attached document.  You don’t want your reader to have to hunt for it later if the letter and the document it’s accompanying get separated. Lastly, PROOFREAD. It’s small things like misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and poor word choice that can really create a memorable – though not positive – impression.

Today's read & other stuff - Finally, Sarah Palin

This is totally nonpartisan: The executive literary editor at Vanity Fair magazine edited Sarah Palin's resignation speech based on the rules of grammar, usage, style, accepted norms of good writing, etc. - oh, and the editor corrected facts, a few of which were wrong. (Edits are in red; fact-checking notes in green.) If you're unfamiliar with what it's like to be edited by a really serious copyeditor, definitely take a look. Maybe it's just me, but I think it's pretty fascinating.

Calling Collect

Summer back-to-basics tip #9: And so it goes Just because two adjectives (or modifiers) precede a noun doesn’t mean a comma has to come between them.   Use a comma (in lieu of "and") if you could use the word "and" between two adjectives without changing the sense of the phrase. Michael's big and preppy wardrobe impressed everyone he dated.   So: Michael's big, preppy wardrobe impressed everyone he dated.     But take a look at this sentence: Smith’s messy blond hair gave her a devil-may-care look.   The second adjective – "blond" – is an integral element of the phrase "blond hair" (grammaroholics would call this a noun phrase; I try to stay away from such technical unpleasantries). You wouldn't write that it's Smith's messy and blond hair that gave her a devil-may-care look because it's not both adjectives which, separately, modify "hair" – instead, "messy" modifies "blond hair," so no comma is used.   Summer back-to-basics tip #10: Calling collect Collective nouns – words that refer to a group of things, such as "total," "majority," "minority," and "number" – can take either singular or plural verbs because sometimes they mean the group as an entity (singular) and sometimes they mean the members of that group (plural).   To figure out which verb form a given word takes, ask yourself whether you’re thinking of the whole (singular) or the parts (plural).   Here’s a hint: "The" before the word (the total, the majority) is usually a clue that it takes a singular verb since "the" implies a single entity, whereas "a" (a total, a majority) usually indicates a plural verb will follow.  The minority is in charge. (The "minority" here is a single group.) A majority of people are unhappy. (The "majority" here comprises the various members of the group.)

Today's read & other stuff - Reuters Goes Head to Head With AP Style; Who's Chicer?

For millennia (it seems) AP Style has been the style guide for journalist - despite lots of publications and others having their own style guides. AP is like the Ralph Lauren or Gucci of grammar - the giant in the room to whom everyone refers (and defers). Now Reuters news service is strutting its stuff down the style runway, publishing its style guide online for free (AP online is by subscription only). You can see it here or download a PDF here. For more, read here what Reuters' Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards, has to say.

Speaking of charging for content online, Bloomberg says that The New York Times is thinking about charging a $5 monthly fee to read its site.

Maybe charging is better than choosing to close? Folio says that according to MediaFinder.com, an online database of U.S. and Canadian magazines, 279 magazines closed down during the first six months of 2009. Of those that closed, the Web versions of 43 of them live on.

Don't Hurt Yourself Doing the Splits

Summer back-to-basics tip # 7: A case of conjunctivitis And so I was saying ... yes, you can start a sentence with a conjunction - words such as "and," "but," and "yet." But, when you do, you don't necessarily have to follow the conjunction with a comma.  Hey (you may be thinking to yourself), you, Dan Santow, just followed the word "but" with a comma. Why? Because the phrase after the conjunction - "when you do" - can't stand on its own. In other words, conjunctions that begin sentences require a comma if what follows can't live and breath on its own. Conjunctions that begin sentences do not require a comma if what follows can stand on its own. And it's Laszlo's favorite symphony! is right because "it's Laszlo's favorite symphony" can stand on its own. And, because it's Laszlo's favorite symphony, he insisted on humming along, much to the dismay of the entire string section is also right since "because it's Laszlo's favorite symphony" can't stand on its own. Summer back-to-basics tip # 8: Splitsville Though there's some disagreement on this, the idea of a "split" infinitive dates back to when people applied Latin rules of grammar to English. See, Latin verbs are made up of one word and English verbs are made up of two. So Ovid couldn't split infinitives (it was, like, a non-issue), but Shakespeare could. To split or not to split, that is the question. The answer? Yes, go bananas, split away if it sounds right to your ear. After all, you'll be in good company: Henry James, Willa Cather, Abraham Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin, among many others, split infinitives and I don't hear anyone complaining.