When polishing your sentences, pay attention to the nuances of word order. To my eye (and ear), placing “short” before “long” works best. This applies to both sentences and lists.

Here’s a simple example: “He was well respected and loved in the academic community.” I changed it to: “He was loved and well respected in the academic community.”

Because “loved” is 5 letters and “well respected” is 13, it makes for a smoother read if the longer phrase follows the shorter word. See if you agree.

Another example: “Good leaders don’t waste time, effort, financial resources, or opportunities.” This becomes: “Good leaders don’t waste time, effort, opportunities, or financial resources.” The shift creates a tidy parade of words from short to long. Easier to follow! [Read more…]

Suppose you’re writing a sensitive email, article, or letter—one that’s extremely important in your world. The message must be as clear and concise as possible.

Ask these five questions and follow the examples to make changes that will immediately improve your prose.

A subscriber to my ezine Add Power to Your Pen asked, “Should I put spaces before/after a dash?” Getting on a roll, I answered a different question: when to use a dash vs. commas vs. parentheses to offset phrases in your sentences? The answer will be useful to professional administrators or anyone who writes.

Of these punctuation choices—dashes, commas, or parentheses—how do you select the one to use?