TheWritersBag.com

E-mails have come to play a huge role in modern life. Let’s make the world a little more pleasant for everyone by using proper e-mail etiquette. Here are some tips:

Don’t forward an e-mail without permission.

Forwarding an e-mail that was only meant for you is a breach of trust. Get permission or don’t do it.

If you can’t respond fully to an e-mail in a timely manner, send an acknowledgement.

People resent being ignored. When you don’t have time to respond to an e-mail, send a standard reply, such as: “Thanks for your e-mail. I can’t respond right now, but I’ll get back to you soon. I appreciate your patience.”

Don’t make the recipient dig through a long string of messages for a needle in a haystack.

Don’t write, “Yes, let’s go ahead with the sixth option,” and make the reader search through 10 pages of previous e-mails to find out what the sixth option is. Be kind. It’s easier for you to copy and paste the relevant material into your current message.

DON’T USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Capital letters SCREAM. No one likes to be screamed at.

Don’t mark it “URGENT!” unless it really is urgent.

Fight the temptation to be like the little boy who always cried “Wolf!” just to get attention. Remember, when a wolf really came to eat him, everyone ignored his cries.

Don’t clutter inboxes unnecessarily.

Is your e-mail necessary, important or useful? If not, don’t send it. That includes unnecessary replies, such as “Okay, thanks,” or “Take it easy.”

Don’t copy the wrong people.

Let’s say you have to e-mail a work associate about a mistake he has made. If you “Cc” the president of your company, that associate is going to be embarrassed, at best. At worst, he’ll assume you’re trying to undermine him and will stay awake nights plotting your destruction.

Personalize for clarity.

Unclear e-mails that impose unnecessarily on other people’s time are not polite. The following e-mail is an example:

To: Jill Nye; Bill Todd; Jane Smith
Subject: The report is due today
The monthly report is due today at 5 p.m.. Please review the attached draft. We need to verify that the profit figures are right, finish the graph on page four and proofread the entire report.

Do you see what’s wrong? The e-mail doesn’t specify who is supposed to do what. The one that follows solves this by pinning everything down….

To: Jill Nye; Bill Todd; Jane Smith
Subject: The report is due today
The monthly report is due today at 5 p.m. Please review the attached draft.
Jill: Please verify that the profit figures are right.
Bill: Please finish the graph on page four.
Jane: Please proofread the entire report.

Have you ever been writing along with fluid lucidity, the words virtually spilling onto the page, when suddenly you come to a screeching halt because you’re not sure whether you should use “further” or “farther”?

The difference between “farther” and “further” is just one little vowel. “No big deal,” you may be thinking. (Really? Tell that to words like “shut,” “hull” and “batch.”)

But it is a big deal! And I’ll tell you why: It’s because running into a stupid little rule you don’t know when you’re in the flow of writing is like running into a glass door you don’t think is there when you’re sprinting out to a swimming pool. Not only is it embarrassing, but it stops your forward momentum.

There is another reason why you should be very careful not to break the rules of writing. You probably don’t know this, but the world is filled with English teachers who spend their spare moments scouring printed materials for mistakes. When they find slip-ups, they perform ritualistic curses against the writers who are responsible. This is a little-known fact, but I happen to know it’s true. Have you ever wondered why so many writers end up as drunks, lunatics and suicides? Now you know.

Hopefully, you are now motivated to learn the proper use of “further” and “farther”….

• “Farther” refers to an actual physical distance.
• “Further” refers to an extension of time or a degree. It means “to a greater extent or degree.”

Based on those simple definitions, fill in the following sentences with either “further” or “farther.”

He hiked _______ into the desert.
She promised to look _______ into the dispute.
After playing the Ouija board night after night, Marcus fell _______ into madness.
Charlie’s farm is two miles down the road. Mac’s farm is a mile _______.
I can’t talk now, but I’d like to discuss your idea _______ tomorrow.

The answers? You should have used “further” for sentences 2, 3 and 5, and “farther” for sentences 1 and 4.

Here are a few more examples:

• The hike to camp was farther (in physical distance) than we expected.
• Let’s talk about this further (to a greater extent or degree) when we go home.
• His house is eight miles farther (in physical distance) down the road than mine.
• I’m going to investigate this matter further (to a greater extent or degree).

An easy way to remember this is to think of the sentence, “The town is far away.” Obviously, “far” refers to physical distance in that sentence. So simply equate “far” with “farther” and you’ll own this rule for life! Compared to what I call the “well/good conundrum” and other much stickier issues in the English language, this is a relative no-brainer. So master it. Never again let it slow down your writing, embarrass you or draw curses down on your head.

Special Note: Send Me Your Problems!

Some of you have asked if I could help you with specific writing issues. My answer is yes. Send me a comment with a piece of text you have written (nothing too long, please) and tell me what has you stumped or doesn’t seem right. I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of it and we’ll invite others to comment with their ideas or suggestions. Let’s make this a valuable, interactive learning experience. To contact me, click here.

Let’s start with a quiz. Which of the following sentences is correct?

1. I did a good job.
2. I did the job well.

Actually, both sentences are right. To understand why, let’s look at the rules:

Use “good” as an adjective (to describe a noun or pronoun).
Use “well” as an adverb (to describe a verb).

In the first sentence, “good” is an adjective that describes the noun “job.” In the second sentence, “well” is an adverb. It describes the verb “did.”

Can it really be as simple as that?

Of course not. This is English, remember? In fact, the well/good conundrum can be mind-numbing if you drill too deeply into it. For example, although the rule books say “good” should not be used as an adverb (as in “Emma Sue did good in the spelling bee”), they flip-flop when it comes to expressing how you feel. Look at the following two sentences:

1. I feel good.
2. I feel well.

Which is correct? According to the rules we just mentioned, “I feel well” should get the gold star. This is because both “good” and “well” are used here as adverbs, and “well” should be used as an adverb – not “good.”

But no. “I feel good” is perfectly fine in this context. The rule-makers rationalize this with two arguments. First, they say “I feel good” is really like saying, “I am in good health,” where “good” is in fact an adjective.

For those of you who feel that this reasoning is more than a bit of a stretch, their second argument is not much better. “‘I feel well,’” they say, “could be interpreted as meaning that your sense of touch is good.”

Let me subject you to one more quiz. Which of the following sentences is correct?

1. I did good.
2. I did well.

The answer? Both sentences can be either correct or incorrect depending on the meaning. If, by “I did good,” you are implying that you are going to get 100 percent on the test, then you are using “good” as an adverb to describe the verb “did.” And as we all know by now, using “good” as an adverb is a no-no, except for the exceptions – and this isn’t one of them. So it should be “I did well.”

On the other hand, if you are trying to say “I did something that will benefit mankind forever,” then “I did good” is correct because “good” is a noun. Or it could be an adjective to an implied “something,” as in “I will do something good.”

Brilliant.