Presentations
The next time you are preparing to talk to a group, spare a thought for your written material.
A lot of people find public speaking quite daunting, so they mainly focus on preparing for the verbal part of their presentation. But, if you are going to use a slideshow presentation or handouts, make sure you proofread them. Poor spelling and grammar in your written support material takes the focus away from what you are saying and has a negative impact on the overall presentation.
Make sure all of your written material is spot on, supporting your presentation not distracting from it.
One Space After a Full Stop
Australian English only requires one space after a full stop. American English uses two.
Make sure you only use one space between sentences whenever you are writing for an Australian audience.
Subheadings
A subheading can be a reader’s best friend. Long text can very quickly turn your audience off. If you break it up with subheadings, the document seems more manageable.
Subheadings also serve to draw attention to your key points. If your reader likes to skim through documents, sub-headings act as sign posts highlighting important ideas and encouraging the audience to stop and read more.
Use subheadings to make your documents reader friendly.
Formatting
Whenever you present a written piece of work with multiple pages, headings, and page numbers, make sure the entire document is consistent. It can be useful to have a style sheet that dictates your fonts, heading types, and how page numbers should be displayed. If your company does not provide a style sheet, look at past documents and create one. This will ensure your entire document looks professional and will make it easier to read.
"Alot"
There is no such word as “alot”.
If you would like to refer to something as having many items/facets, the term is:
“a lot”.
If you are writing about allocating something, then the word to use is:
“allot”.
"Alot" is not a word, and care should be taken in writing to ensure it is not used.
The Long and Short of it
All pieces of writing deserve to be proofread!
Often items like banners, shop signs, and advertisements are not given a quick once over and errors are missed. When you are presenting your company to the public, it has to be absolutely spot on.
Take the time to have all of your written material proofread to ensure you avoid an embarrassing mistake. Signage can be expensive, but it is more costly when it needs to be redone, or worse, when you cannot redo it and have to live with errors that people see every day. Presenting short pieces of writing well is just as important as accuracy in longer documents.
Audience
It is important that every document is written to a specific audience.
Before you write anything, decide who your target audience is and what you are trying to achieve by writing the piece.
When your work is proofread, it needs to be reviewed with the audience and purpose in mind. Is the language appropriate? Is the message clear? Make sure that all of your documents are tailored to the results you are looking for.
I Before E, the Whole Story
We have all heard the rule: ‘I before E except after C’.
But, did you know the full rule is:
‘Write I before E
Except after C
Or when it sounds like an A
As in "neighbour" and "weigh"’*
Just remember, as with everything in the English language, there are always exceptions.
Using a Proofreader can ensure that any confusion is sorted out prior to publication of your document.
Australian English versus American English
There is a difference between American English and Australian English. The distinction can be hard for us to pick up because a lot of what we read these days comes from America and follows their conventions. To add to the difficulty, Microsoft Word defaults to American English and will change some basic words to the American spelling automatically. This tends to happen where we would use a ‘s’ but American spelling uses a ‘z’, like: organisation, utilise, and specialise.
Whenever you write something for an Australian audience ensure you are using Australian spelling. Pay special attention when using Microsoft Word, set to the default American spelling, to catch any changes that have been incorrectly made for you. If in doubt, a good Australian dictionary will always be helpful.
Formal versus Informal Writing
Previously, I have written about determining your audience and tone. An important bi-product of this is that it will dictate if you are going to be writing formally or informally. What is acceptable in the English language varies depending on whether it is formal or informal.
If you write an informal piece you can use slang and colloquialisms. You can even get away with incorrectly spelled words if it is appropriate to the work. It can be important in certain documents to leave your spelling and grammar rules behind in order to get your meaning across clearly. Some sales pieces do this very cleverly and accordingly increase their impact.
On the flip side, a formal document needs to adhere to strict English rules. Spelling and grammar needs to be spot on. Formal documents can also use English that is a bit old fashioned. This can be achieved through word choice as well as simple things like not using contractions. In a formal document ‘don’t’ becomes ‘do not’ and so on.
When it comes time to proofread your work, make sure you are clear about whether it is formal or informal. Make sure you do not change an informal document too much because you could lose its flavour. Likewise, ensure a formal document is consistent throughout.
Purchasing a Dictionary
Every office should have a good Dictionary and Thesaurus. There are a lot of them on the market, but it is important that you choose the right one for your needs.
For an Australian audience, look for an Australian English Dictionary and Thesaurus. Macquarie and Oxford both produce a Dictionary and Thesaurus in Australian English.
Ensuring you have the right reference material will help you produce a document that is tailored correctly to your target readers.
Licence versus License
Licence and license are very similar words and their meaning is interrelated, so it is easy to get the two words mixed up.
Licence is a noun and is used to describe the permission slip that you are given to do something, for example, a driver’s licence.
License is a verb and it is the act of giving someone the above licence, for example, I license you to drive after passing your driving test.
Unfortunately, there is no easy trick for remembering the difference, but if you can remember that your driver’s licence has 2 c’s that might help.
Remember Your Name
If your client remembers nothing else after reading something from you, make sure they remember your name!
When you write an article, an advertisement, a corporate brochure, or even the content for your website, don’t forget to mention your name. You do not want to be starting every sentence with your company name, but if you can slip it in at least a few times on each page, you are reinforcing who you are. Perhaps consider bolding the font when you mention your name, or use another formatting method to make it stand out.
At the end of the day, if a client remembers your name and at least the general idea of what you do (in a positive light!), your marketing material has been successful.
For further helpful information, visit my blog at: www.shandelsproofreadingservices.blogspot.com
View my articles on ezinearticles at: Shandel Burns - EzineArticles.com Expert Author