The AMA Handbook of Business Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Style, Grammar, Punctuation, Usage, Construction, and Formatting

666 Pages·2010·6.96 MB·English

by  Kevin Wilson, Jennifer Wauson

THE AMA HANDBOOK OF BUSINESS WRITING
This page intentionally left blank
The AMA Handbook of Business Writing
The Ultimate Guide to Style, Grammar, Usage,
Punctuation, Construction, and Formatting
KEVIN WILSON
and
JENNIFER WAUSON
AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
New York • Atlanta • Brussels • Chicago • Mexico City • San Francisco
Shanghai • Tokyo • Toronto • Washington, D. C.
Bulk discounts available. For details visit:
www.amacombooks.org/go/specialsales
Or contact special sales:
Phone: [phone]
Email:
C O N T E N T S
INTRODUCTION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
S E C T I O N
1
The Writing Process
Audience Analysis, 3 Proofreading, 19
Brainstorming, 4 Document Review, 22
Research, 7 Revisions, 23
Interviewing, 9 Documenting Sources, 24
Outlining, 10 Footnotes and Endnotes, 24
Writing a Draft, 12 Bibliographies, 26
Business Writing Style, 12 Global Communications, 26
Using Visuals, 13 Collaborative Writing, 28
Page Design, 15 Promotional Writing, 29
Publication Design, 16
Editing, 17
v
vi Contents
S E C T I O N
2
The Business Writer’s Alphabetical Reference
A, An, 33 A.D., 53
Abbreviations, 33 Adjectival Noun, 53
Titles Before and After Names, 34 Adjectival Opposites, 53
Names, 35 Adjective Phrase, 54
Mathematical Units and
Adjectives, 54
Measurements, 35
Placement of Adjectives in a
Long Phrases, 36
Sentence, 54
Words Used with Numbers, 36
Use of Multiple Adjectives, 56
Common Latin Terms, 36
Degrees of Adjectives, 56
States and Territories, 39
Irregular Form Adjectives, 57
Things You Should Not Abbreviate, 39
A-Adjectives, 57
Spacing and Periods for
Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts, 58
Abbreviations, 39
Adverbial Clause, 59
Guidelines for Using Abbreviations
in Your Writing, 40 Adverbial Phrase, 59
Abbreviations for Measurements, 41 Adverbs, 59
Abbreviations for Numbers, 42 Prepositional Phrases Acting as
Adverbs, 62
Above, Below, 43
Infinitive Phrases Acting as Adverbs, 62
Absolute Form of an Adjective, 43
Adverbs in a Numbered List, 62
Absolute Phrase, 43
Adverbs to Avoid, 62
Absolutely, 43 Positioning Adverbs in a Sentence, 62
Abstract Nouns, 44 Order of Adverbs, 64
Accent Marks, 44 Inappropriate Adverb Order, 64
Accept, Except, 45 Viewpoint Adverbs, 65
Access, Excess, 45 Focus Adverbs, 65
Negative Adverbs, 65
Acronyms, 45
Advice, Advise, 65
Action Verbs, 46
Affect, Effect, 66
Active Voice, 52
Contents vii
Affixes, 66 Antonyms, 78
African-American, 66 Any, Either, 78
Age, 67 Any, Some, 78
Agents, 67 Apart, A Part, 79
Agreement, 68 Apodosis, 79
Aid, Aide, 68 Apostrophe, 79
Alike, 96 Appears, Displays, 81
A Little, 264 Appendix, 81
Allegories, 68 Apposition, 82
Alliteration, 69 Appositives, 82
All Right, Alright, 69 Articles, 83
Allusion, Illusion, 69 As, Like, 261
Alone, Lonely, 70 Assure, Insure, Ensure, 184
A Lot, Alot, Allot, 70 Asterisks, 84
Already, All Ready, 71 As to Whether, 84
Altogether, All Together, 71 As Well As, 85
Ambitransitive Verbs, 71 Autoantonyms, 75
American English, British English, 72 Auxiliary Verbs, 85
Among, Between, 91 Average, Mean, Median, 86
Ampersand, 73 A While, Awhile, 87
A.M., P.M., 74 Awful, Awfully, 87
An, 33 Bad, Badly, 88
Anadiplosis, 74 Back-Channeling, 88
Anaphora, 74 Backslash, Slash, 88
And Also, 75 Back up, Backup, 89
And/Or, 75 Base Form of a Verb, 89
Angry, Mad, 268 Basically, Essentially, Totally, 89
Animate Nouns, 75 B.C., 89
Antagonyms, 75 Because, Since, As, 90
Antecedent, 77 Been, Gone, 90
Anti-, 77 Being That, Being As, 90
Antimetabole, 77 Below, 43
viii Contents
Beside, Besides, 91 Cannot, 105
Between, Among, 91 Can’t Seem, 105
Bias, Biased, 92 Canvas, Canvass, 105
Biased or Sexist Language, 92 Capital Letters, 106
Bibliography, 94 Capital, Capitol, 106
Billion, 94 Capitalization, 106
Biweekly, Bimonthly, Semiweekly, Acts of Congress, 106
Semimonthly, 95 Associations, 107
Blind, 417 Book Titles and Their Subdivisions, 107
Railroad Cars and Automobile
Blog, Weblog, 95
Models, 107
Bold Fonts, 96
Churches and Church Dignitaries, 107
Bored, Boring, 96
Cities, 107
Both, Alike, 96
Clubs, 108
Both, Each, 97
Legal Codes, 108
Brackets, 97 Compass Points Designating a Specific
Changes to Quoted Material, 97 Region, 108
Digressions within Parentheses, 97 Constitutions, 108
Brake, Break, 97 Corporations, 108
Courts, 109
Brand Names, 98
Decorations, 109
Breath, Breathe, 98
Degrees (Academic), 109
Bring, Take, 99
Districts, 109
British English, 72
Educational Courses, 109
Bulleted List, 99
Epithets, 110
Bushel, 99
Fleets, 110
Business, Right, 100 Foundations, 110
Buzzwords, 100 Geographic Divisions, 110
By, Bye, Buy, 100 Government Divisions, 110
Historical Terms, 110
By, Until, 102
Holidays, 111
Call Back, Callback, 103
Libraries, 111
Call Out, Callout, 103
Localities, 111
Callouts, 103
Military Services, 111
Came By, 104
Nobility and Royalty, 112
Can, May, 104
Oceans and Continents, 112
Contents ix
Parks, Peoples, and Tribes, 112 Colon, 124
Personification, 112 Emphasis or Anticipation, 125
Planets and Other Heavenly Bodies, 113 Time, 125
Rivers, 113 Titles, 125
Sports Stadiums, Teams, and Terms, 113
Combination, 125
Captions, 113
Comma, 125
Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers, 114 Compound and Complex
Sentences, 126
Case, 114
Introductory Expressions, 127
Cataphora, 115
Other Transitional Words, 127
Causative Verbs, 116
Prepositional Phrases, 128
Caution Notice, 286
Contrasting Phrases, 128
CD, DVD, 116
Nonrestrictive Modifiers, 128
Censor, Censure, Sensor, Censer, 117
Infinitive Phrases, 129
Champaign, Champagne, 117
Designating Dialogue, 129
Check, Control, 117 Repeated Words, 129
Chiasmus, 118 Word Omission, 130
Transposed Adjective Order, 130
Chicano, Latino, Hispanic, 118
Numbers, 130
Choose, Chose, 118
Addresses, 131
Cite, Site, Sight, 119
Titles, 131
Citing Publications, 119
Company Names, 132
Clauses, 120
Common Adjectives, 132
Cleanup, Clean Up, 120
Common Nouns, 132
Cleft Sentences, 120
Company and Product Names, 133
Clichés, 121
Comparatives, 133
Click, 333
Compared to, Compared with, 134
Click and Drag, 279
Complement, Compliment, 134
Click On, 279
Complements, 134
Closed Compounds, 138
Complex Prepositions, 135
Coleman-Liau Index, 123
Compound Nouns, 135
Collective Adjectives, 123
Compound Predicates, 326
Collective Nouns, 123
Compound Sentences, 136
Collocations, 124
Compounding Sentence Elements, 136
Colloquial, 124