A web page devoted to news and views on WordTask training courses and on good writing practices in general. FEEDBACK | PREVIOUS ISSUE | HOME PAGE INDEX OF ARTICLES | LIST OF WEBNOTES ISSUES April, 2000 IN THIS ISSUE-- NEWS BRIEF | COURSE NOTES | WORD PLAY | COURSE PROFILES NEWS BRIEF Web-based pre-course questionnaire now available In its continuing efforts to provide the best service possible to our participants, WordTask has now placed an easy-to-use questionnaire on the Web that assesses participants' improvement areas prior to their attendance in our courses. In addition to providing detailed course objectives in all of its sessions, WordTask now lets participants tell us what they want to gain from the session before it starts. The web-based survey will be made available to all our participants in in-house courses that WordTask conducts. The questionnaire, which takes only minutes to complete and submit, asks participants to identify problems in their writing process that they would like to see addressed, in addition to specific improvement areas in grammar and style. A useful time-saver, the survey allows the WordTask instructor to get a profile of the needs in the course and then to tailor the standard course materials accordingly. The feature is free to all registrants in our in-house sessions, as part of our Service-Link commitment to our customers--before, during, and after their WordTask writing courses. COURSE NOTES Excellence in Business Writing II: Techniques for the advanced writer In addition to our basic business writing course, Excellence in Business Writing I, our second-level course gives advanced writers the sophisticated rhetorical devices they need. Excellence in Business Writing II offers participants a writing process specially geared to documents that must have a persuasive edge. The course gives practical tips and techniques for writing documents according to specific models, such as description, causal analysis, and evaluation. An advance over the more conventional business writing courses that focus on letters and memos, this course looks at strategies for developing solid arguments. The course also contains guidelines for writers editing not only their own work, but also that of their colleagues. WORD PLAY This is the fourth installment of our monthly survey of potential trouble words. The others have appeared in previous issues of webNOTES. unique This word cannot be qualified. It means one of a kind. So something cannot be "somewhat unique," nor "relatively" unique, nor even "utterly unique." If something is unique, it's in a class of its own. For different reasons, the following adjectives also cannot be qualified: "excellent," "committed," "innovative," and "new." interface (used as a verb) Although fashionable, the use of this word as verb generally doesn't stand the scrutiny of a good editor. "Interface," as a verb, is a poor substitute for more common and usually more precise verbs such as "connect to," "communicate with" or "link to." Definitely avoid its use when describing human activities, as in "John, I want you to interface with Mary on this issue." What's wrong with "meeting," "discussing," or "contacting"? verbiage Properly used, "verbiage" carries the negative connotation of wordiness, unwanted text. It does not mean mere "words" in the neutral sense. amount/number These words are used incorrectly even in the media, where they ought to know better! Use "amount" with nouns that can't be counted (non-count nouns), as in "amount of time," "amount of money." Use "number" with nouns that can be counted (count nouns), as in "number of times" (where "times" means instances or occasions), "number of people." The following sentences contain the incorrect use of these words: A high amount of cars were in the ditch after the blizzard. (Correction: "A high number of cars") Make sure you use the correct number of broccoli in the soup recipe. (Correction: "the correct amount of broccoli") COURSE PROFILES THESE ARE ONLY THREE OF OUR MORE THAN 15 WRITING PROGRAMS TO CHOOSE FROM DOCUMENTING PROCESS & PROCEDURES (2 days) From corporate policies and procedures to quality control manuals, we can help you improve your process documents. USER GUIDES THAT GET USED! (3 days) A comprehensive guide to the process of writing an effective user guide--one that readers will really use! EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS WRITING, LEVEL I (2 days) The basics in the writing of letters, email, minutes, and short reports. FEEDBACK | PREVIOUS ISSUE | TOP OF PAGE | HOME PAGE | INDEX OF ARTICLES | LIST OF WEBNOTES ISSUES © 2000 WordTask Information Strategies