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How Not To Write A Letter

Just yesterday I was asked to review a letter that had been written on behalf of an organization with which I am involved. Sadly, if I was grading it, I would have to give it a mark of 6 out of 10, at best. This particular letter was addressed to a major company; and in my professional opinion it was poorly drafted. Needless to say I had to revise it extensively. The disturbing thing is that the draft letter was actually prepared by a university graduate!

This is not an isolated case! Through my various websites and my Quick Edit Service I receive numerous letters (and other docs) that many well educated people have drafted but want me to review, revise and finalize for them. Over time, I have noticed that there are a number of common errors that many people make when drafting letters in particular. (This article is a revised and updated version of one I first posted on the same subject seven years ago).

Below are what I have observed to be “The 7 Common Errors of Letter Writing”:

1. Too Long
Most people have a tendency to draft their letters too long. Letters involving business (personal or corporate) should be concise, factual and focused and should not normally exceed one typical single-spaced page of 350 to 450 words. If you can’t get your point across in 4 to 5 short paragraphs you probably haven’t done enough preparatory work prior to drafting the letter. If necessary, phone or e-mail the recipient to clarify any fuzzy points and use the letter to summarize the overall situation.

2. Weak Opening
Many letters I receive launch straight into the details of the subject without setting things up to provide a clear context. The introductory paragraph of your letter should be one or two short sentences that state the specific reason for the letter and specify what the primary focus will be.

3. Lack of Focus
Many letters I receive for editing are all over the place, in terms of subject. In other words, it is often not at all obvious to me what the main point or the desired outcome of the letter is. Prior to drafting the letter you should decide on a number of specific points that you want to focus on and what the bottom line of your letter needs to be. Ask yourself what exactly you want the letter to achieve in terms of an action or a response from the addressee.

4. Too Confusing
People often jump straight into their letter without first organizing their thoughts in some sort of logical order. Even if you have a clear idea of the points you want to cover, it is important that when you present them, one point should flow naturally and logically into the next. It is always worth the few minutes it takes to jot down the logical sequence of your letter in sequential point form before starting to write the letter. This practice will invariably result in an improved final product.

5. Poorly Formatted
If your letter isn’t properly formatted, in terms of layout, it will look unprofessional which will diminish its credibility and thus its impact. Once you have your words finalized, make sure you clean up the format of the letter in terms of margins, paragraph breaks, address blocks, signature blocks, etc., before sending it. A very common error that I see these days is when people add their own extra space after a period at the end of a sentence. This is NOT necessary since word processing programs automatically insert some extra space at the end of each sentence. This practice is a carryover from the days of the typewriter (Anyone remember those?) and is no longer necessary.

6. Weak Closing
Frequently I see closing paragraphs that don’t clearly sum up what went before and what is supposed to happen next. Similar to the opening paragraph, the closing paragraph should also be short, comprised of one or two sentences. One sentence should briefly summarize the overall conclusion that can be drawn from the points presented in the letter; a second sentence should clearly state what you will do next and/or what you expect from the addressee as a result of them receiving the letter. Depending on the situation, the final sentence can also provide contact info such as phone number and/or e-mail address.

7. Too Many Errors
You would be amazed at the number of spelling and/or obvious grammatical errors I see in the letters submitted to me. That’s fine if you are asking a professional to edit your letter. However I have the impression that many people send their letters out riddled with these types of errors. Sending your letter in such a condition is a serious credibility destroyer and will definitely hurt your reputation as a professional in the eyes of any knowledgeable recipient. Make sure you use the spell checker feature of your word processing program and if you aren’t sure of your grammar get a professional to edit your letter before it goes out.

As I said above, I see these kinds of errors on a regular basis. If you are a business person or a professional, it just takes one sloppy and/or unprofessional letter to cause serious damage to your personal credibility or that of your business.

I strongly recommend that after you have drafted your letter, you read it out loud to yourself. I find that if something doesn’t sound right when I read it aloud, it’s usually something that needs to be corrected or revised. If you still aren’t sure, seek professional editing help if you need it.

Common Irregular Verbs (5)

This is the final post in my series about the proper use of common irregular verbs in English. The previous post I did on this subject was back in March of this year. To find the others, just enter the term “irregular verbs” into the Search Box which is located on the top right corner of this blog page. So, here’s the fifth and final installment on this subject:

The English language is famous (or infamous!) for its many irregular verbs. For irregular verbs, most dictionaries list all of the irregular forms along with the base form of the verb. If you aren’t sure whether a verb is regular or irregular, and the dictionary only lists the base form, you can assume it is a regular verb. Following is a list of some of the most common irregular verbs (beginning with the letters “s” through “w”), along with a usage example for each tense.

For each verb, the three forms listed are: Base Form, Past Tense, and Past Participle.

stand, stood, stood
– When he enters the room you are to stand at attention.
– They stood waiting in the rain for many hours.
– I would have stood there all night if necessary.

steal, stole, stolen
– He plans to steal the laptop as he leaves the room.
– He stole it as he left the building.
– At first, we didn’t realize it had been stolen.

sting, stung, stung
– Be careful, or that bee will sting you on the hand.
– She was stung on the lip while eating an ice cream cone.
– I would have run faster, had I not been stung on the leg by a wasp.

strike, struck, struck or stricken
– As soon as the troops are in position they will strike the enemy.
– He struck out every time he was at bat today.
– She would be here had she not been struck/stricken by the measles.

swear, swore, sworn
– I plan to swear to it when I am questioned.
– He swore that it would never happen again.
– I could have sworn that she was at the meeting.

swim, swam, swum
– He plans to swim in the lake a soon as he gets there.
– After the boat capsized they swam to safety.
– She would have broken the record had she swum a little faster.

swing, swung, swung
– After supper the monkeys will swing from the trees.
– I held on tight and swung there for dear life.
– Had I swung to the left I would have been killed.

take, took, taken
– I will take my files when I leave the office.
– He took that course of action as far as he could.
– She could have taken it when she left, but she forgot.

teach, taught, taught
– He will teach us how to move properly during the second session.
– I taught him everything he knows about that subject.
– Given more time, I would have taught them more advanced techniques.

throw, threw, thrown
– I have been asked to throw the first pitch at tonight’s game.
– Jake threw the first pitch at last week’s game.
– With more practice, I could have thrown it harder.

wake, woke or waked, woken or waked
– Typically, I wake up at the crack of dawn.
– We woke up suddenly as soon as the thunder struck.
– They were waked by the sound of the truck backfiring.
– Had I been there I’m sure I would have woken/waked up when that happened.

wear, wore, worn
– They will wear their uniforms to the office every Friday.
– She wore her best formal gown to the gala.
– I should have worn better padding to protect my shins.

wring, wrung, wrung
– After washing the car, please wring out the cloths as dry as you can.
– I wrung it out as well as I was able to.
– Had she wrung it out more thoroughly, it would have worked very well.

write, wrote, written
– I intend to write a new resume from scratch.
– They wrote their exams last week.
– He should have written to them sooner.

The above simple examples are provided to show how these verbs can be used in typical life situations using the base form, the past tense, and the past participle.

You can see my previous blog posts on common irregular verbs as follows: March 2014 (letters “a” to “c”), August 2014 (letters “d” to “g”), November 2014 (letters “h” to “r”), and March 2015 (letter “s”). Or, enter the phrase “irregular verbs” into the Search Box at the top right of this page.

Writing Practice – Do Your Own Photo Stories…

Over the years I have received many e-mails from visitors to my writing help websites asking me something like, “How can I improve my writing in English?” My standard answer has always been “… practice, practice, and more practice.” I still think that is the best advice, but the problem for many people is “… on what to practice?”

Well, I think I have a very practical answer now that applies to just about anyone, and involves something that figures into just about anyone’s life. Actually, it’s an activity that I just started doing this past year. I call it a “photo story”, and here’s what it’s all about.

I’m sure you must know what it’s like to receive dozens of photos as e-mail attachments, or a link to a photo viewing website, from a friend or relative after they have returned from a trip or a special event. It’s happened to me many times, and I’m sure I’m not alone on this one! In most cases, you click through and see a bunch of random photos with little or no explanation about what they are supposed to be depicting, or what was going on at the time. Absolutely no explanation or context provided! It’s a waste really.

So this year, since I travelled a little more than usual, I started doing something a little different. When I got back from a couple of my trips, I decided that, if I was going to send any photos at all to friends and family, I was going to make whatever I sent meaningful. That’s how I came up with my photo story idea. Here’s how you can do one yourself.

7 Steps To Write Your Own Photo Story

1. When you return from your trip sort through all of the photos you took and delete any that are poor quality or redundant.

2. Make sure you organize them in your viewing software into some sort of logical order; usually chronological.

3. Using your sorted photos as your guide, open up your word processing program and start writing the story of your trip. You DO NOT have to be an accomplished writer to do this; just tell the story in your own words, using a conversational style. Just imagine yourself sitting next to a friend or relative while talking them through your photos, one by one.

4. Using your word processing program, you can copy and paste your photos right into your story, or you can provide hyperlinks to them instead. I tend to paste a few photos directly into my photo story and then I provide clickable hyperlinks to the others. The main reason I do this is to keep my document shorter and to let the reader choose what in particular they would like to see.

5. To be able to provide clickable hyperlinks to your photos, you will need to upload them to a website or a photo sharing service.

6. In addition to your photos, copy and paste hyperlinks to any websites of interest that relate to the photos in your story and provide additional info and background.

7. Once your story is written, save it as a pdf document and send it to everyone you would like to share it with.

As I said, I think a photo story is a great way to practice your writing while at the same time creating something meaningful that you can share with others. It’s also a great record of your trip that you can always refer back to many years later.

These photo stories are not difficult to write because you are essentially telling a story in the first person as you describe your own trip to your friends and relatives through the photos you took.

To get you started, I’m going to give you a link here to a photo story that I recently wrote when I returned from my trip to New York City earlier this month. Okay, mine might be a little long-winded! I do tend to get carried away with something like this; but it’s a good example to explain the concept and get you started.

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