Happy holidays!
In the spirit of the holidays, I’m sharing this infographic from Oxford Dictionaries. Thanks for reading Pros Write, and peace (in whatever language you prefer) to you all!
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In honor of labor
Our US celebration of Labor Day today made me reflect on the idea of work — especially work that qualifies as “labor.” At thirteen, I got my first job for an employer outside my family. For a few weeks in the summer of 1973, I worked with some of my friends detasseling corn for a seed company in Fremont,…
What happens when passive voice is banned?
I’ve said before that advice to ban the passive voice counts as a platitude. A recently published study corroborates my point. The authors of that study wrote, [Advice to ban the passive voice] implies that the active and passive voice can be used interchangeably and, where grammatically possible, the active voice should always be favoured. Their results show…
What’s the difference between “defective” and “does not perform to design”?
In case you missed it, you really should watch John Oliver making fun of GM‘s attempts to control the language of those discussing their millions of defective (in their prescribed words, “does not perform to design”) vehicles. Last week, USA Today picked up on the Detroit Free Press piece titled GM’s banned words: What’s wrong with using…
Why new grads don’t get the job
My colleague, Saul Carliner, shared this slide deck from Mark O-Toole about why new grads don’t get hired. See if you can locate one of the eleven reasons that isn’t caused by (or couldn’t be fixed with better) communication. Congratulations Graduate! Eleven Reasons Why I Will Never Hire You. from Mark O’Toole Here’s my analysis….
Friday fun with malapropisms
I’ve written about malapropisms before. If you want a diversion that involves word play with malapropisms today, try this game from Oxford Dictionaries. Example: The muscles around the stomach are known as the abominable muscles. Answer: Abdominal (‘abominable’ means ‘detestable’). A prospectus is someone who searches for gold. After a long air flight, it is reassuring to get your feet back…
What is the dullest, most vital skill you need to become a successful manager?
It’s the ability to write. I wholeheartedly agree with the author of this piece found on LinkedIn so I’m sharing it with Pros Write readers. Walter Chen uses three mega-successful business leaders to make his point. Ben Horowitz, co-founder of the venture capital company, Andreessen Horowitz; Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel; Jeff Bezos, CEO of…
