The next Wilkie Webinar takes place next Thursday, February 11 at 2 p.m. EST.  The topic is Helen’s 9 Rules for Excellent Email.

Visit Wilkie Webinars now to find out what you’ll learn, and sign up while it’s at the top of your mind. I hope to have you aboard!

In the first two posts in this three-part series, I talked about the overall structure of your message, the paragraphs and sentences. Today, we look at the details: grammar and punctuation.

Poor grammar can not only create a bad impression of you but can also change the meaning of your message. Look, for example, at these two sentences:

Mary likes John more than me. Mary likes John more than I.

Which is correct? They both are, but they have different meanings. The first one means Mary likes John more than she likes me, while the second says Mary likes John more than I like John.

Grammar is a wide subject. If you’d like to learn more, you might subscribe to my free twice-weekly grammar tips.

Watch those pears — or is it pairs? English contains many pairs of words that look and sound similar but have different meanings. Here are just a few of the most commonly confused:

accept vs except, continual vs continuous, principal vs principle, imminent vs eminent, adverse vs averse.

Oh, you thought I was going to explain them to you? Sorry, you have to find the differences yourself. Fortunately, it’s not difficult — just use your dictionary!

The purpose of punctuation is to make the message clear. Don’t just drop commas in because you have a long sentence and you think it needs a little something! There are many books and other resources that will help you understand punctuation and use it correctly. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is the ultimate authority for English speaking writers everywhere, and it’s well worth buying your own copy.

As I said at the beginning of this short series, self-editing can be tricky, but it’s worth the effort because skillful editing improves even good writing — whether it’s your own or someone else’s.

In the last post I wrote about editing the overall structure of your written message. Today I’ll move down a level and look at paragraphs and sentences.

Think of a paragraph as a unit of thought, with the rule of thumb being “One paragraph, one thought.” Your paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that tells your reader the subject of the paragraph, and every sentence in the paragraph should relate to that subject. For example, let’s say I begin a paragraph with the following sentence: “When I take my dog for a walk, it brings us both joy.” Anything in the paragraph should relate only to the joy of walking my dog. A sentence such as, “I give my dog food that makes his coat shiny and healthy,” has nothing to do with the subject in the topic sentence. Including it in this paragraph would create a disconnection in the reader’s mind, resulting in loss of flow. Any time you introduce a new topic, or even a different aspect of the same topic, it’s time for a new paragraph.

A grammatically correct sentence is a good start, but it’s only a start. An effective sentence has to work hard. It must express your thought clearly and concisely, with no wasted words. Here’s an example of a poor sentence: “It is with pleasure that I write to introduce the services of my company, which has been in the business of widget production for over twenty years.” Remember the old expression, “You can’t see the wood for the trees”? Let’s take away all the fluff and see what’s left: “I am pleased to introduce my company, a successful widget producer for 23 years.” That’s a sentence that gets its message across in just a few words.

Next time we’ll drill down even further and look at the details.

A few people have recently asked me for help with self-editing, so this is the first of a series of three posts on the subject.

Editing your own writing can be a challenge, because you are so familiar with your own style that you may not easily see how it can be improved. Your favourite words and phrases come so naturally to you that you may not notice you overwork them, which reduces their effectiveness over time — and the same problems apply to inappropriate use of jargon. Also, because you know what you are writing about and can easily follow your logic, you assume it will be clear to the reader too — not always the case! Let’s take a look at that last point today.

Start with the big picture by looking at the overall structure of your message. If it’s lengthy, did you break up the text with sub-headings? Sub-headings help your reader follow the story logically, so even relatively short messages can benefit from them.

Now look at those headings. First, do they accurately represent the subject you are writing about in their sections? Make them clear and obvious — your reader shouldn’t have to guess!

Next, does one idea flow naturally and logically into the next? Would the message benefit from reordering the subjects? Here’s an example to illustrate what I mean.

Say you’ve written a report to management recommending purchase of a new software package for your accounting system. Obviously, there is a cost to this, and you will have done a cost/benefit study to back up your recommendation. If your benefits greatly outweigh the cost, put the cost/benefit study right up near the beginning. On the other hand, if the cost is higher than you would like, move the cost/benefit study down so that you can expand on all the benefits before you mention the cost. That’s a valuable tip from the world of marketing, and all it takes is some judicious editing at the “big picture” level.

Next week we’ll move down a couple of levels and see how paragraphs and sentences can improve the impact of your written messages.

When you’re trying to get agreement on something, a good technique is to ask direct, closed questions. Those are questions that can be answered in one word or phrase — preferably yes! Here’s how to craft the questions.

Instead of Now that you have reviewed the contract, please confirm that we can now send it to the purchaser for signature.

Try May we send the contract to the purchaser for signature now?

Instead of I will find out if this process works with a small team like ours so that you can consider trying it.

Try If we can be sure this process works with a small team like ours, will you try it?

We humans find it impossible not to answer a direct question, even if only in our own heads. That’s true, isn’t it? See — you answered my question, didn’t you? See, you did it again! That’s why questions are so powerful.

If you use the direct question approach, the other person must answer in his or her own head and is quite likely to give you the answer too. If you are frustrated by decisions delayed because you can’t get a straight answer from someone, try the direct question approach. You won’t always get the answer you want, but at least you’ll have a decision.

By the way, the first Wilkie Webinar was a great success, with all the feedback being positive. Stay tuned for news of the February webinar, “Helen’s 9 Rules for Excellent Email Etiquette.”