Words can give you a bad image.
If you spent a few hours making biscuits, do you want to hear:

• These biscuits are nice. 🍪
  

or

• these biscuits are delicious! 🍪 🍪

Words like:

💋 delicious
😋 scrumptious
😍 moreish

give impact and communicate a positive image. If you are asked for your thoughts, don’t say:

❌ I was thinking about…
❌ In my opinion…

… because these weaken your opinion. Instead, give your thoughts and be clear:

💪🏻 I think ..
👍🏽 My opinion is …

Using emotive words can paint a more vivid and precise picture. Words like:

• love
• loathe
• prefer
• confidential
• controversial

Let’s take a bland example:

• I like what you said about the project. I could see people liked what you said.It was nice.

We can be improve by changing the bland words:

• I loved what you said about the project. I could see people were moved by what you said. It was wonderful.

If you want your audience to be more receptive to eating a healthy diet which would be more effective?

1. Your current diet is clearly unhealthy. Your results show you have high cholesterol, excess weight and poor muscle definition. So, you need to eat the following foods.
2. Everyone wants to be healthy. Everyone loves to feel good but not everyone has time to cook. You’re open-minded and willing to try different things. My first easy suggestion to is make a list of all the vegetables, fruit and food you like. I have a list here of those foods which I advise you to eat and would like to see how many on your list match this one.

The second example leaves the listener with a positive impression in their mind; they do want to be healthy but not sure how. Slowly, you start to guide them through the Be healthy message you’re talking about.


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The semicolon may look cute but it’s frequently misunderstood. It indicates a strong connective pause between two clauses.

Not as strong as a full stop and not like the pause of a comma, it's somewhere in the middle.

Like many things, semicolons have rules. Use semicolons:

- to link two independent clauses with a related meaning:

• Some people write on a laptop; others with a pen.

- to separate items in a list, particularly when grammatically complex:

• You may use the hotel facilities for the duration of your stay; access is granted through your keycard; some facilities have opening times and these are stated at the entrance; scan your card at the entrance to the Member’s Club; for purchases, scan your card at PurchasePoint scanners.

Examples

❌ I prefer dogs, however, I don’t like clearing up after them.
✅ I prefer dogs; however, I don’t like clearing up after them.

❓However signals a connection between two independent clauses so a comma cannot be used.

❌ I like cows. Why? They give us milk, which is good for us, they give us beef, which is great for barbecues, and we have leather, which is excellent for shoes and coats.
✅ I like cows. Why? They give us milk, which is good for us; they give us beef, which is great for barbecues; and we have leather, which is excellent for shoes and coats.

❓Semicolons make it clear what is separated by a comma and what is in the list.

❌ Rather than cats, it is the dog who is considered man’s best friend, it is the canine who is loyal, not the proud  independent feline.
✅ Rather than cats, it is the dog who is considered man’s best friend; it is the canine who is loyal, not the proud  independent feline.

❓It’s unclear where the first independent clause ends and the second independent clause begins.


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A well balanced and grammatically equal sentence serves to help the reader.
If two or more parts of a sentence are equal in meaning but not in form, it slows comprehension:

❌ The candidate’s goals include winning the election, a national health program, and the educational system.
✅ The candidate’s goals include winning the election, enacting a national health program, and improving the educational system.

❌ Harry likes to run, swim and go biking.
✅ Harry likes to run, swim and bike.

Properly composed sentences match nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, and phrases or clauses with similarly-constructed phrases or clauses.

A well-written sentence creates a sense of rhythm and balance within a sentence. As readers, we often correct faulty parallelism intuitively because an unbalanced sentence sounds awkward and poorly constructed

Lists can also suffer from faulty parallelism. For example:

❌ Our conclusions
❌ Finally, recommendation

These should read:

✅ Draw conclusions
✅ Make recommendations

The same applies to lists after a colon:

❌ A dictionary is used for the following: word definitions, pronunciation with phonetics, correct spellings, and looking up irregular verbs.
✅ A dictionary is used for the following: definition, pronunciation, spelling, and structure.

In each example, word forms should be consistent. Whether you are using gerunds, plurals or adverbs, balance is important:

❌ The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and in a detailed manner.
✅ The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and thoroughly.

If something is breaking the rhythm in the sentence, change it.


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Adverbs have a habit of reducing impact:

• This house is very expensive.
  

Fortunately, some give strength and life. We can see that [very] adds no extra information; it’s not exactly life giving.

However, there is a little family of adverbs who are perfect for communicating subtleties, imprecision or uncertainty. The modality family are cautious with their words and are invaluable because they add further information:

• This house is definitely worth buying.
  
• She clearly researches her reports.
  

Whereas [very] does not enhance, [definitely] and [clearly] add information.  

So, before you throw out the whole adverb family, remember, everyone has a talent.

Here are a few of members of the family:

• feasibly
• cautiously
• probably
• certainly
• irrefutably
• distinctly
• necessarily
• perhaps

Modality is the difference between a factual assertion and a cautious view:

• This is an expensive watch.
  

versus

• This appears to be an expensive watch.
  

Let words speak for themselves: cultivate the habit of using adjectives and adverbs to make your meaning more precise, and be careful of those you find yourself using to make it more emphatic.


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One way to give examples, although indirect, is to tell stories. This gives information in a way which is easier to understand, which dramatises a situation and makes it more interesting.

Don’t repeat for example every time you give an example. Excite your audience with colour and depth!

🧁 Sample
We use sample to talk about a small part or quantity to show what the whole is like:

• Let me give you a sample of our new product range.

🖥 Instance
We use this when giving a single occurrence of something or for a particular case:

• Here’s a fantastic instance of how our service can help small businesses.

⚓️ Case
Used as an instance of a particular situation:

• In many cases, we help customers when they  need it most.

🖼 illustration
We use this to clarify our example:

• Our standards are not as good as we think. The cleanliness of our public areas is a good illustration.

🛋 a case in point
Used for an instance or example which illustrates what is being discussed:

• Customer satisfaction is a case in point. We need to make improvements as there have been complaints about the quality of our furniture.

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• Giving examples

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