Page 117 - How to write effective business English your guide to excellent professional communication by Fiona Talbot

106 How to Write Effective Business English

Mrs Smith explained that candidates were certainly
experiencing problems as the systems had crashed. In her
opinion, it would be better to extend the closing date.

Would he be prepared to authorize this?
You see, punctuation and grammar are aids that help writing to be
understood and help us to communicate clearly. If like most people
you find some aspects challenging, it can be a good idea to ask a
line manager or a mentor if you’re unsure. Ideally, managers should
be encouraged to offer active support to people with dyslexia or
other writing challenges too. Top entrepreneur Richard Branson is
dyslexic yet writes best-selling business books and much-admired
blogs, as we’ve seen. He says he relies on his right-hand people to
check his English before he publishes because he knows that this
matters. That’s an inspirational message. The best leaders encour-
age supportive teamwork so that companies get things right on all
levels.
So, all the topics in this chapter are an essential component in
the word power skills writing system. When you have a good grasp
of the principles, you will feel secure in the knowledge that your
sentences will work because you have designed them to work. And
if you’re not sure about something, you will have the confidence to
ask for help.

Punctuation and other marks

English terms and symbols used to describe punctuation marks
are:
Capital letters or upper case: A, B, C

Lower case: a, b, c
Comma: ,
Full stop (UK English) or period (UK and US English) or dot: .
Speech or double quotation marks or inverted commas: “ ”