APPENDIX I

Words to watch

The words and phrases listed in this appendix are often used incorrectly in correspondence.

ACKNOWLEDGE WITH THANKS or ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF Using the words thank you is a more direct way of expressing gratitude after receiving something.

AFFECT versus EFFECT When used as verbs, affect means “to influence”; effect means “to accomplish.” Both words can also be used as nouns. The noun affect is usually used only in a psychological context, where it means “expression of emotion.” When the construction calls for a noun, and you are not using the word in a psychological sense, you will almost always use effect. Most of the time you can the mnemonic device RAVEN to remember the appropriate usage: Remember Affect is a Verb and Effect is a Noun.

AFORESAID Write “named” or “mentioned earlier.”

AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF Write “after.”

ALONG THESE LINES Another trite expression to avoid.

ALLUDE versus ELUDE Allude means “to refer to”; elude means “to escape from.” You allude to a piece of literature. You elude someone who is chasing you.

ALTERNATIVE Means the choice between two possibilities. In constructions such as “no other alternative,” the word other is unnecessary.

AMOUNTING TO or IN THE AMOUNT OF Write “for” or “of” or “totaling.”

AND/OR Avoid the use of “and/or” unless it is absolutely necessary as a legal term. It destroys the flow of a sentence and causes confusion or ambiguity.

ANYBODY An indefinite pronoun meaning “any person.” Should be written as one word, as should “somebody,” “nobody,” and “everybody.” Only if you are writing about a body that was looked for but not found, would you write: “The investigators did not find any body.” In most business letters such usage would be rare.

ANYONE Best written as one word unless meaning “any one of them,” as in the sentence “He didn’t like any one of them.”

AS OF EVEN DATE HEREWITH Legalese (and pretty much unfathomable). Merely give the date.

AS PER COPY Instead of writing, “We wrote you last Friday as per copy enclosed,” it’s clearer to write, “We have enclosed a copy of . . .,” or “Enclosed you will find a copy . . .”

AS REQUESTED/DESCRIBED/MENTIONED It is a little more personal to write “as you requested,” “as you described,” or “as you mentioned.”

AS SOON AS POSSIBLE Give a specific date whenever possible, but if you really mean “as soon as you can get around to it,” then as soon as possible will do; under no circumstances write “ASAP”—unless you are text-messaging a colleague back at the office.

AS TO Write “about.”

AS TO WHETHER Write “whether.”

AS YET Write “yet.”

AT Do not use after the word where. (“I wonder where he’s at” is a dire no-no. Erase it from your vocabulary, please.)

ATTACHED HERETO Forget the hereto; write “attached.”

AT THE PRESENT TIME or AT THIS TIME or AT THIS WRITING Write “now” whenever possible instead of these words.

ATTORNEY versus LAWYER A lawyer who has a client is an attorney.

AT YOUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE Encourages delay. Whenever possible, be more specific.

BAD or BADLY The adjective bad is used after verbs of the sense—smell, sound, feel, look, taste. For example: “He looks bad.” Or: “It tastes bad.” Badly indicates manner. For example: “He was hurt badly in the accident.” If you say “She feels badly,” you are saying that her sense of touch is impaired; has she burned her fingers?

BESIDE or BESIDES Beside means “at the side of.” Besides means “in addition to” or “other than.”

BETWEEN versus AMONG Where the number exceeds two, use “among” for both persons and things. “Between” is a preposition that takes the objective pronoun (me, him, her, us, them). See Chapter 5 for a complete discussion of objective pronouns.

BIMONTHLY “Every two months” or “twice a month.” Since this word can mean either of these, it’s better to be explicit and write whichever you mean.

BIWEEKLY “Every two weeks” or “twice a month.” As with bimonthly, it’s better to be specific and write whichever you mean.

BOTH ALIKE In this phrase, the word both is superfluous. Write “alike.”

BY MEANS OF Write “by.”

COMMUNICATION Avoid using this word to mean “a letter” or “a conversation.” Use the specific reference. See section on jargon in Chapter 5.

CONTACT Use more specific words such as “talk to,” “write,” or “call.”

DIRECT versus DIRECTLY Direct is both an adjective and an adverb. “The man was sent direct (or directly) to Chicago.” In the sentence “The professional made a direct trip to Chicago,” we are using the adjective direct. The word directly is always an adverb, as in the sentence “We remit directly to a beneficiary if there is no intermediary.”

DISINTERESTED Means “impartial.” Do not confuse with the word uninterested, which means “expressing no interest in.”

DROP IN or DROP A LINE Avoid using these colloquialisms in your letters.

DUE TO THE FACT THAT Write “because.”

ENCLOSED HEREWITH Forget the “herewith”; write “enclosed.”

ENCLOSED PLEASE FIND Write “enclosed is” or “I have enclosed . . .”

EQUALLY AS WELL Drop the as. Write “equally well.”

ETC. Don’t use unless the omitted context is understood. Because the meaning of et cetera is “and so forth,” you would never write “and etc.” or “etc., etc.”

FACTOR This word is overused. Instead of writing “Good salesmanship is an important factor in account management,” write “Good salesmanship is important to account management.”

FARTHER versus FURTHER “Farther” refers to distance. “Further” refers to discourse (“We’ll speak further on this matter”) or to something additional (“Further meetings on the budget will be necessary”). The distinction between these two words is blurred by many writers who also use “further” to refer to distance. Eventually, this usage may become acceptable.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION Usually superfluous.

GO OVER Write “examine,” “look over,” or “read.”

HE/SHE or S/HE Avoid using either of these alternatives. If you cannot rewrite the sentence using a plural pronoun, then write “he or she.”

HOPEFULLY An adverb meaning “with hope” or “in a hopeful manner” (“Let me come too, Lavinia said hopefully”). It is used incorrectly by many writers to mean “I hope.”

HOWEVER Best used in the middle of a sentence. When however is used at the beginning of a sentence, it often means “to whatever extent.”

I.E. versus E.G. The abbreviation “i.e.” stands for id est, which means “that is” in Latin. The abbreviation “e.g.” stands for exempli gratia, which means “for example” in Latin. Both of these abbreviations are set off by commas in a sentence.

IN POSITION Implies “at attention” or “standing around.” Write “prepared,” “ready,” “willing,” or “available.”

IN RECEIPT OF Write “We (I) have received” or “We (I) have.”

IN REFERENCE TO or IN REGARD TO or IN REPLY TO Write “concerning,” “proposing,” “inquiring about,” or “suggesting.”

IN THE LAST ANALYSIS Trite expression. Don’t use it.

IN WHICH YOU ENCLOSED Write “with which you enclosed.” Information is given in a letter. You receive an enclosure with a letter.

IRREGARDLESS versus REGARDLESS “Irregardless” is not a word. The proper word is regardless.

ITS versus IT’S Its shows possession. It’s is a contraction of “it is.”

LIKE versus AS Like is a preposition that introduces a prepositional phrase and is used to compare things: “He looks like his mother.” As is usually used as a conjunction and introduces a subordinate clause (clauses have a subject and a verb): “He acts as his mother did.”

MATTER Too general a term. Use the specific word: “problem,” “request,” “subject,” “question,” or whatever you may be writing about.

MOST Don’t substitute most for almost. Write “almost everyone” instead of “most everyone.”

MYSELF/OURSELVES, HIMSELF/HERSELF/THEIRSELVES, YOURSELF/YOURSELVES (pronouns ending in -SELF/-SELVES) Avoid using any of these as the subject in a sentence. Write “Max and I are approving the purchase,” instead of “Max and myself . . .” Pronouns ending in -self (or -selves) are used for reference and emphasis in a sentence. In the sentence “I approved the purchase myself,” myself emphasizes I (that is, no one else approved the purchase).

NEITHER, NOR and EITHER, OR These correlatives should be kept together.

PARTY versus PERSON Use party as a legal reference only. Person should be used in ordinary reference.

PEOPLE versus PERSONS Use people when referring to large groups; persons for small groups.

PER Use of per is acceptable in an economic context, such as “20 shares per dollar.” Although writers should usually avoid mixing Latin and English (per is Latin), if the construction is made less awkward by using per, use it. Avoid writing “per your letter” or “per my last letter,” however, because this does nothing to simplify your letter.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT Avoid this wordy construction. Just give the information without the long windup.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE The word experience already tells the reader “we have a prior history with this . . .” Write “Our experience with this person,” instead.

PRINCIPAL versus PRINCIPLE Principle refers to a basic truth (“The principles of physics do not allow water to run uphill”). Principal, as an adjective, means “leading” or “chief.” As a noun, principal means either a “person in charge” or, in finance, “capital.”

SHALL versus WILL You may have learned that you should use shall as the future indicative of the verb to be in the first person—I/we shall—and will in the third person—you/he/she/they will—and that to express determination the forms are reversed. You can forget this so-called rule, and just say “will” (“I will go to the show, no matter what you say”) whenever you want.

TAKING THIS OPPORTUNITY Instead of writing “We are taking this opportunity to thank you,” write “We thank you” or “Thank you.”

THAN versus THEN Than is used for comparison. Then is used to indicate time.

THAT versus WHICH A simple rule is to use the pronoun “which” if the clause it modifies can be separated from the rest of the sentence with commas (“The book, which is on the table, is green”). Otherwise use “that” (“The book that I loaned Tim is terrific”).

THEREAFTER Too lofty. Use “after that” when possible.

THIS WILL ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF YOUR LETTER An answer to a person’s letter will let him or her know it was received.

TRY AND versus TRY TO Write “try to.”

UNDER SEPARATE COVER Write “We are sending separately” or “You will receive.”

UNIQUE There are no degrees of uniqueness. “Very unique,” “most unique,” or “extremely unique” are incorrect. It’s just “unique.”

UTILIZE/UTILIZATION Inflated language for the verb “to use.” And utilization? Equally inflated language for the noun “use.” Don’t use either of these terms.

VIA Means “by way of” (geographically) and is properly used as a railroad, airline, or steamship term. Write “by express mail” or “by parcel post.”

WE ASK YOU TO KINDLY Write “please.”

WE WISH TO THANK YOU Write “thank you.”

WRITER Write “I” or “me” when you are referring to yourself in a letter.