5 Easy Ways to Write Better

It’s amazing how many people who aren’t professional writers are required to write as part of their profession. While it may not be your job to write, your writing is a reflection of your abilities on the job. So why not make an effort to put your best prose forward? Especially when it can be as easy as making sure to pay attention to the following:

1. Its vs. It’s

These look-alikes mean entirely different things. That apostrophe makes a world of difference.

The possessive “its” never needs an apostrophe. This possessive pronoun would be used in a sentence like, “The chair lost its wheel” because the wheel belongs to the chair. If you’re talking about possession, you don’t use an apostrophe. Note that you could not substitute the phrase “it is” in the above sentence. “The chair lost it is wheel” does not make sense.

The contraction “it’s” always requires an apostrophe. If you have a sentence where you could substitute “it is” for “it’s,” then you need the apostrophe. The apostrophe indicates that “it’s” is a contraction. “It’s raining outside” can be written as “It is raining outside” and therefore requires an apostrophe.

2. Active vs. Passive

If you’re a sports fan – or even if you’re not – you’d probably rather watch someone run down a field than watch them sit in the chair. Something active is more interesting than something passive. The same is true in your writing.

For example, these are passive sentences:
“Product A was profitable.”
“The account was closed by Maria.”

They are not as engaging as these active sentences:
“We made a profit selling Product A.”
“Maria closed the account.”

When you have a choice, choose to convey information in active sentences. Your reader will be more engaged.

3. Less vs. Fewer

Many people find this rule tricky, but a good rule of thumb that should get you pretty far is: use “less” with things that are singular and use “fewer” with things that are plural. For example, you might bring one less banana (SINGULAR) on your picnic, but in general you might want your diet to have fewer bananas (PLURAL) in it.

If you ever get confused about whether something is singular or plural, try using it in a sentence. For example, ten thousand dollars is a lot of money – it is more than one dollar, but it still isn’t plural. Here’s how you can tell: in a sentence, you would say:

“Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money.”

You would NOT say:

“Ten thousand dollars are a lot of money.”

When you find yourself using “is,” you can be sure it’s a singular noun. As such, you would say, “I will not accept less than ten-thousand dollars for this project.” If you say, “I will not accept fewer than ten-thousand dollars for this project,” you’d better believe it will be a moot point. They’re not hiring someone who doesn’t speak or write correctly!

4. Real words vs. Made up words

While you may have heard someone use them once, “irregardless,” “conversate” and “unthaw” are not words. “Regardless” on its own means “without regard.” You don’t need to add anything to it. You can converse with a friend, or have a conversation, but no one has ever conversated. To thaw something is to unfreeze it. If unthaw were a word, it would mean to freeze something. So use “freeze” when you want to freeze something and “thaw” when you want to unfreeze something.

5. Google

In this day and age, there’s no excuse for not using correct spelling, grammar or vocabulary. If you ever feel uncertain, Google your question. There are so many reliable resources out there, from the Grammar Girl website and podcast to university resources, like UNC’s Writing Center’s handouts, to the Merriam-Webster dictionary app you can keep on your phone. If you have the choice, instead of making a mistake, make a good impression.

Written by DSD Business Systems