How to use english well!

Writing Well in English         Amy Rowe
                                                  April 17, 2006

English and Chinese Grammar
    Chinese has a more efficient grammatical structure than English, which
contains extra cues about number (one or many) and tense (past, present,
future, and gradations of these). English's numerous and redundant cues may
make it faster for native speakers to grasp number and time, but they make
English harder to learn.

Writing for Yourself and Your Readers
    In your first draft, it's fine to let your ideas and words pour out in a
jumble, and fix them later; as long as you understand what you're saying,
that's good enough for now. Subsequent drafts should be increasingly
tailored to your readers' needs. Here are five ways to help readers
understand your ideas quickly: 1. Use the fewest, shortest, clearest, and
most specific words possible to express each idea. Dictionary.com can help
(see "Resources for Writers" below). 2. Use well-edited, large-circulation
publications as your writing style role models (see "Resources for
Writers"). Large-circulation magazines and newspapers often have large,
skilled editorial staffs. Even a magazine with a readership of 100,000 may
have 3-5 editors work on each piece. Google and imitate these publications
to take advantage of their manpower and expertise. 3. Use conventional
grammar to avoid distracting your readers. Google can help (see "Resources
for Writers"). 4. Considerations of sound, rhythm, and idiom will sometimes
override Rules 1-3. To decide when exceptions to Rules 1-3 are justified,
ask yourself which way of phrasing your idea would be clearest and least
distracting for your readers. The resources listed below can help you
decide. 5. Use Bear Stearns house style. Where there is more than one
accepted way to spell or punctuate, Bear Stearns tries to choose the way
that's least distracting for readers. Sticking to house style helps readers
notice your ideas, rather than style inconsistencies. I can e-mail you the
Bear Stearns Editorial Style Guidelines.

    As you clean up sentences to make their meaning clear and get rid of extra
words, it becomes easier to see what your main points are. This will help
you organize your piece for the reader's convenience and avoid repetition.

Resources for Writers
    To write well, I rely on the following websites and publications:
    1. http://www.dictionary.com, http://dictionary.reference.com - these two
addresses get you to the same dictionary website. From here you can click on
http://thesaurus.reference.com. 2. Google.com and websites of well-edited
publications, some of which are listed in the Google section below. 3. The
Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. The latest (fourth) edition of this
95-page book is available from Amazon.com or from me. An earlier (but very
useful) edition of this book is available online at
http://www.bartleby.com/141/
A summary of Strunk and White's rules is available at
http://www.tcnj.edu/~penny/cmsc485/strunk_summary.html 4. "Politics and the
English Language," by George Orwell, is available at
http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html
I can mail you a copy of this 16-page essay.
    5. The Economist Style Guide. Most of this book is available at
http://www.economist.com/research/StyleGuide I can mail you a two-page
summary of this book.
    6. Revising Business Prose, by Richard Lanham. I can mail you a xerox of
Chapter One. A summary of his ideas is available at
http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/concise.html 7. An American
English idioms website, http://www.idioms.myjewelz.com, and a website that
converts British terms to American and vice versa,
http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/dictionary/ 8. Bear Stearns'
Editorial Style Guidelines. I can e-mail you a copy. 9. Presentations for
Bear Stearns analysts by Jane Penner: "Equity Research Writing Seminar"
(Bear Stearns Asia, October 2004), "Writing Effective Research Reports"
(Summer 2004), and "How to Write a Great First Call Note" (Summer 2005).
These presentations summarize how Bear's authors can best serve their
readers. I can mail you excerpts.




Using Dictionary.com
    Use dictionary.com to find the shortest and most precise word available and
to check spelling. (Microsoft's Spellcheck is helpful but rudimentary)
Dictionary.com is based on the prescriptive American Heritage Dictionary,
which tells you what's best, rather than the descriptive Webster's
Dictionary, which tells you how people use words, rather than how they
should use them. Dictionary.com has technical and factual information as
well as definitions of words and some phrases, such as "turn up." Its
companion website, http://thesaurus.reference.com, can help you find the
exact word you're looking for and avoid repeating the same word too often.
Dictionary.com provides the latest accepted U.S. English spellings, some of
which differ from British English. For words with more than one spelling,
use the preferred spelling, which is the one listed first. Many English
words, like fireplace, started as two separate words - "fire" and "place" -
and became one after a period of hyphenation (fire-place). Dictionary.com
gives you the latest information on which new words have become accepted as
standard English. If a word isn't in dictionary.com, don't use it. When you
must use a jargon word, define it at first mention, using words that are in
dictionary.com. To look up a word you're not sure how to spell, you can
search in Google first. Entering a word or phrase in Google's search window
without quotation marks around it will get you approximate matches, which
may include the word you're looking for.

Using Google.com
    Use Google.com to check that you're using conventional, tasteful,
nondistracting grammar and sentence structure. Google is also excellent for
fact-checking, including the punctuation and spelling of proper names (such
as names of corporations and their divisions, products, and employees). To
check grammar, usage, or sentence structure, type (or copy and paste) a
phrase into Google's search window. As an example, let's find out whether
EBITDA is normally treated as a singular (single thing) or a plural
(multiple things). Type into Google's search window: EBITDA was
    Hit the Enter key on your computer or click on the "Google Search" button on
your computer screen and see whether Google finds that phrase (or something
similar). Then type:
          EBITDA were
into the search window, and see whether Google finds that phrase.
    If you don't see anything helpful, type "EBITDA was," then "EBITDA were,"
into Google's search window with quotation marks around each phrase. You can
type or paste a phrase into Google's search window with or without quotation
marks. Without them, Google will find approximate matches and show you
several versions of a phrase. With quotation marks, you will get only that
exact word or phrase, which will help you quickly determine whether websites
use it. You can try it both ways: search for a phrase with quotation marks,
and if you get few or no matches, search for it again without them. Because
Google doesn't require capital letters, you can do four searches as follows:
ebitda was
          "ebitda was"
          ebitda were
          "ebitda were"
    As you search, note whether the websites using a particular wording are for
well-edited publications - such as Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, or (for
brevity and clarity, though not always objectivity or punctuation) the Wall
Street Journal - or well-funded organizations, such as the government of
Hong Kong. Notice whether these sites use British or U.S. English, as some
spellings and punctuation conventions differ (parent company headquarters
location usually dictates which is used). Bear Stearns Hong Kong uses U.S.
English spelling and punctuation. Excellent British publications, such as
the Financial Times and The Economist, can serve as role models for wording
and structure, but check spelling and punctuation against a well-edited U.S.
publication. You will find that websites of respected publications treat
EBITDA as a singular - "EBITDA was," "EBITDA is" - not "EBITDA were,"
"EBITDA are." Although the first word of EBITDA, spelled out, is "earnings,"
a plural, well-edited publications treat it as a single mass of money.
Google is useful for checking idiomatically correct use of prepositions like
"to" and "for," whose definitions are so numerous and overlap so much that
dictionary.com is of little help. Are low barriers to entry a problem to a
company, or for a company? Type phrases like these into Google's search
window: "problem to"
          problem to
          "problem for"
          problem for
          "problem to the company"
          problem to the company
          "problem for the company"
          problem for the company
The phrase "problem to the company" comes up only in contexts like "reporting
your problem to the company." However, Google's first page of search results
for "problem for the company," with quotation marks, includes the following:
That fact could be an essential problem for the company...
That's similar to the idea I'm trying to express about low barriers to entry
being a problem for a company. The website on which that phrase occurs,
American Management Systems Inc., looks reasonably respectable, but it
probably employs a single freelance editor. However, Google's first page of
search results also shows that the phrase "problem for the company" is on
the BBC News website. So I'll write: "Low barriers to entry are a problem
for the company."

Dealing with Idioms
    Grammatical rules and word definitions have at least some logic. American
English idioms probably seemed logical when invented, but they don't now.
"Don't let the cat out of the bag" is an example (though not one you're
likely to use in formal writing). Why a cat? Why does "Don't let the dog out
of the bag" sound insane? Is it because dogs are big? Some dogs are small.
What's wrong with a snake? If you can say, "Don't let the cat out of the
bag," why can't you say, "Keep the cat in the bag," or "Make sure the cat
doesn't escape from the bag," or, Heaven forbid, "Ensure that the parrot
remains in the satchel"? The latter, unlike "Don't let the cat out of the
bag," conforms to Strunk and White's Rule No. 15, "Put statements in
positive form." The idiom, however, trumps the rule. The cat-in-the-bag
idiom is one of hundreds that must be phrased in a specific way to sound
"right." It takes decades of speaking and hearing American English to keep
track of all these things. In the meantime, let Google do it for you, using
the search procedure described above. Also helpful are the idioms websites
http://www.idioms.myjewelz.com (American English) and
http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/dictionary/ (British-to-American
translations and vice versa).

Websites for Fact-Checking and Research
    Dictionary.com has technical and factual information as well as definitions.
Google.com will get you many great sources of data and information, along
with some unreliable ones - check that the sources you use are respected
organizations. For things that would be embarrassing if wrong,
triple-source. I like http://finance.yahoo.com; http://www.nationmaster.com;
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/; http://www.wikipedia.org (if
used in conjunction with other sources), which allows you to search in ten
languages; overseas media in translation; and many other Web sources. To
read foreign-language media in English, type the name of the publication
into your Google search window. For example, type in Die Zeit, the
large-circulation, well-respected German weekly newspaper. In New York, the
first link I get is the Die Zeit homepage, along with a "Translate this
page" link, which provides literal (on the order of "Ensure that the feline
escapes the satchel not") but decipherable English translations. Because
foreign media provide variety in coverage and perspective, the extra effort
required to read it is often worthwhile. I store sources of the information
I cite in a Word document, so that I can quickly find them using my
computer's F5 key, rather than having to search the Web again.

Advice from Great Authors and Editors
    Use The Elements of Style, "Politics and the English Language," The
Economist Style Guide, and Revising Business Prose as writing style role
models and sources of answers to your specific style questions. Copying
these publications' text from websites into a Word document will allow you
to search for answers to your questions using your computer's F5 key.

Reading Your Edited Document
    Language I added or changed is underlined. Reasons for each change
(grammatical rules, word definitions, idioms, precision, conciseness, etc.),
questions from editor to author, and words that were deleted are [italicized
and in brackets]. Unedited Word documents will have"ms0" at the end of their
names (short for manuscript zero, or original manuscript). Edited Word
document names will end with a number: ms1, ms2, etc. Having two versions of
a document open on your computer screen - an edited version and your
original - will allow you to compare them easily.