Easiest way to improve grammar / writing style.

pollypenny

tomtontom wrote: »

To add to this, where possible leave five minutes (or longer) between typing and re-reading. It gives you the opportunity to step back/ dissociate from what you have written and see it from the viewpoint of the recipient.

This is key. Always check, your writing with fresh eyes, as it's harder to spot mistakes straight away. Read it so you hear your voice in your head.

Keep a dictionary handy and don't be embarrassed about checking anything about which you have a doubt. I looked up 'peer' yesterday as I had a mental block about it.

Make a list of the awkward words and learn the correct spellings.

Definitely worth doing whatever is necessary.

robatwork

pollypenny wrote: »

This is key. Always check, your writing with fresh eyes, as it's harder to spot mistakes straight away. Read it so you hear your voice in your head.

I wouldn't normally pick up on a small grammatical error, but obviously in this case it's relevant.

If polly had applied her own rule, she would have realised the comma after "check" was redundant. Perhaps she put that in there as a little test.....

Another tip - when your email is finished, check the first word of each paragraph. Always looks unprofessional if the first word is the same each time. This happens a lot with "I" & "We".

googler

With all the focus on grammar, and rewriting the request e-mail, it's perhaps worth bearing in mind that there's nothing in the request to specify that each department picks a unique date and time for their visit.

If everyone picks Friday at 2pm, because that's when the whole business is quiet, then the OP will be in a round of re-arranging.....

xapprenticex

im pretty sure even Word would throw up red lines with that sentence. no grammar at all.

(i could do the same in this post, but its not work so who cares)

Poppy9

NewShadow wrote: »

Sorry to edit your (very good) version Poppy, but how's this?

Shorter is better in my book (which has lots of pictures:cool:).

I agree lots of reading and writing, plus asking a second set of eyes to look at typos and 'tone', are great ways of developing the 'style' and quality of your writing.

I would have also asked for specific feedback from my boss - do they think you're too informal? Or perhaps not very concise? or is it basic SPaG?

It's fine. When I started working in office 35 years ago despite having a good O level in English language I really didn't know how to write a business letter. I was very fortunate to work with a few people who had learnt their craft and helped me in a non patronising way. I used to have to collect our group letters from the typist and I used to read them and make a note of style and words I liked. My favourite which I still use to this day is "I would be obliged". I much prefer it to "please will you" or "I would be grateful". I love email in that you can be more informal but not matey if they are not your mate!

Now it's all email and I am totally confident in writing my emails quickly and sending. Only if the person I'm emailing is awkward or the issue is complex or contentious do I read again and maybe let it sit in my drafts for an hour or so. Spell check picks up my typos and dodgy grammar when needed!!

iammumtoone

I feel for you OP as I have the same problem, my spelling and grammar are awful. Luckily at work I seen to get away with it!

One thing you can easily do is make sure you write I instead of i, this is such (even to me) a basic mistake that I think it makes people scrutinise the rest of your emails more than they would if the very basics were right.

ohreally

iammumtoone wrote: »

I feel for you OP as I have the same problem, my spelling and grammar are awful. Luckily at work I seem to get away with it!

..........

27col

For what it's worth.
Never use "i" when it should be "I".
Never use "there" when it should be "their".
Never use "of "when it should be "have."
All of the above will stand out as mistakes as clearly as if they were printed in bold.
Never send an email until you have read through it at least once, and corrected any typo's and spelling mistakes.
Keep a dictionary handy and don't be afraid to use it.

chuckley

READING.

everything from books, trashy mags, newspapers, their online versions, the free papers and mags.

SomeRandomGuy

Pyro. wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

After looking at the online electrical safety register i have noticed that many of our systems are due retesting at around the same time. To capture these items before the end test date i propose we test the equipment in a scheduled order - to prevent all from expiring together.
I will create an excel spreadsheet where i would like you to insert the best possible time for my team to come and re-test all of this equipment.

If we do one department at a time this will help us to capture all of the equipment together and not miss any parts of equipment out.

I don't think that is too bad really. It reads like perhaps you have written it in a rush and missed out the odd word and made a couple of minor errors, but it isn't horrific. I'm sure you can correct it with a bit of study of the links already provided; I found the Bristol improve your writing guide quite interesting and I think it has improved my understanding of the semi-colon.

Edit: I agree with a previous poster in that if easy spellings or the capitalisation of words is wrong you do tend to scrutinise the rest of the email more closely. Do the basics well and you can almost certainly get away with other issues. Reading is a good way to pick up on how good writers structure things, assuming you read well written material like broadsheet newspapers, scientific books and so on.