Welcome to PwC S&CC

Hello and welcome to Grammar to Go.

This is the website that answers all your questions about grammar, punctuation, professional language and editing conventions. You have access for six months as a member of PwC's Sustainability and Climate Change group. The period runs from 21 July 2010 to 20 January 2011.

You can look up confusable words, test your understanding of apostrophes or the passive voice, find out whether to use which or that and much more. Youcan even ask your own questions in confidence. Why not log on now and give it a try? Did you ever wonder if it was OK to put a comma before 'and'? Well, type 'comma' into the search function and wonder no longer!

Log on Instructions

Dedicated PwC S&CC link

To log on, use the link above to get to the form where you complete your details. Don't worry about the billing address - you need to fill it in but you won't be billed! When you get to question 5, enter the coupon code you were given at the Unleashing Potential event on 21 July. In case of difficulty, email

Welcome to PwC Business Recovery Services | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Welcome to PwC Business Recovery Services

Hello and welcome to Grammar to Go.

This is the guide that is always by your side to help with business writing questions from grammar and punctuation to editorial convention such as when to use capital letters. Sign up now, bookmark it and use it next time the grammar checker confuses you.

The answers to the quiz in April TechFocus

1. Which is which of compliment and complement?

Compliment is the correct spelling when you say something nice to someone and when you send a compliments slip.

Complement means to complete (which has an e in the same place to help you remember) as in 'her skills complement those of the rest of the team'.

For more like this, sign in to Grammar to Go and visit the 'confusable words' section.

2. Which is correct? a) one weeks’ notice or b) one week’s notice or c) one weeks notice

What this means is notice of one week - in the same way that Michael's line manager means the line manager of Michael. The apostrophe therefore comes after week and b is correct.

There are plenty of clear examples and a quiz about apostrophes in Grammar to Go if this is a weak point for you.

3. What is wrong with this? Management is supportive of the purchase option and want us to work with them on the due diligence process.

'Management is' shows that you are thinking of management as a single item ('it is' rather than 'they are'). On the other hand 'want to work with us' shows that you are thinking of management as a group of people ('they want' rather than 'it wants'). You can consider management to be either single or a group, but preferably not in the same document, and certainly not in the same sentence!

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Package for IT Leaders | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Package for IT Leaders

Package includes:

1. A short workshop on a topic that will bring out important issues. For example: executive summaries that get straight to the point; structures that leave no doubt about the right recommendation to follow; getting technical content across to non-technical directors.

Jane Penson will facilitate a discussion using her knowledge of the approaches taken by other companies and will lead towards an agenda for change that can ripple out far beyond the group taking part. For information on costs, length of sessions and other options, please contact us.

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Almost there… | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Almost there…

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Corporate subscribers | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Corporate subscribers

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17 Days to Better Grammar | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

17 Days to Better Grammar

Which old teacher's rules are you following? Are they still right? Are you sure about how to use me, myself and I? Do commas and semi-colons bring you out in spots? Sign up for free help on these topics and more:
• How to keep it positive
• Getting the best out of the grammar checker
• Four rules for commas
• What is the passive and is it wrong?
• The single, fool-proof rule for apostrophes

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Grammar in use | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Grammar in use

If you think your grammar's no good, you can do something about it. Don't just ignore it - because everything you write gives an impression about you to the people who read it. When you are texting a friend it probably doesn't matter because they know you already but what about your blog, emails at work, articles about the subjects you are an expert in, anything that goes on the web... most of all, your CV. Your reputation is affected by the way you write.

Here are some things you can do.

1. Keep your sentences short - a line and a half of a normal page on average. For detail on how to check this, read my blog on the subject.
2. Read through EVERYTHING you write, imagining that you had never seen these words before and make sure they make sense.
3. Look at what the spell-checker (red wiggly lines) says and correct anything that you have mistyped in your hurry. It is very useful for spotting "finger trouble" - for example when you type "comapny" when you meant "company". Never change anything if you don't understand why.
4. Do the same with the grammar checker (green wiggly lines).
5. If the spelling and grammar checker tell you things you don't understand, referring to "passive" and "fragment" for example - Grammar to Go is the source of answers to these questions. If you don't find it, email it and we will send you a personal answer.

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Help with grammar | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Help with grammar

If you think your grammar's no good, you can do something about it. Don't just ignore it - because everything you write gives an impression about you to the people who read it. When you are texting a friend it probably doesn't matter because they know you already but what about your blog, emails at work, articles about the subjects you are an expert in, anything that goes on the web... most of all, your CV. Your reputation is affected by the way you write.

Here are some things you can do.
1. Keep your sentences short - a line and a half of a normal page on average. For detail on how to check this, read my blog on the subject.
2. Read through EVERYTHING you write, imagining that you had never seen these words before and make sure they make sense.
3. Look at what the spell-checker (red wiggly lines) says and correct anything that you have mistyped in your hurry. It is very useful for spotting "finger trouble" - for example when you type "comapny" when you meant "company". Never change anything if you don't understand why.
4. Do the same with the grammar checker (green wiggly lines).
5. If the spelling and grammar checker tell you things you don't understand, referring to "passive" and "fragment" for example - Grammar to Go is the source of answers to these questions. If you don't find it, email it and we will send you a personal answer.

Grammar to Go takes over where the grammar checker leaves you guessing. Choose a payment plan and never look back.

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What is a split infinitive? | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

What is a split infinitive?

The infinitive is a verb with "to" before it. The following sentences contain an infinitive verb:

1. We will have to leave early because it will be busy on the roads at that time of day.
2. I will give you a lift this morning but you will have to walk home this afternoon.

If you put any word between the "to" and the other part of the verb, you have split the infinitive. The following sentences contain split infinitives:

3. You will need to carefully walk between the pots because they tip over easily.
4. He has promised to definitely come before 8 o'clock.

Some people object to split infinitives very strongly, but it can be neater to use one than to avoid it. For example:

5. It is impossible to quietly enter the administration block by the St John's Street entrance late at night.

I think that this split infinitive is preferable to the alternative of putting "quietly" at the end of the sentence where it would be separated by so many words from "enter", the word it describes. There are traditionalists who would not agree with me.

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Compound sentence | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Compound sentence

A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete idea, thought, statement or question. These are complete sentences:

1. The company secretary has resigned.
2. Has the company secretary resigned?

But this is not, because it leaves you waiting for more information:

3. If the company secretary resigns,

You can join two complete sentences together with "and" or "but" to make one longer, compound sentence. Here are two examples:

4. You think that we are underestimating his abilities, but we are not sure that he is ready to be promoted.
5. It will be a relief when the negotiating is over, and I think we are nearly there.

Do not join sentences with "however" like this:

6. You think that we are underestimating his abilities, however we are not sure that he is ready to be promoted.

"However" is not a conjunction and should not be used to replace "but" in this way.

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How to use a semi colon | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

How to use a semi colon

A semi-colon does the job of a comma with more clout. If you have a list of multi-word items and separating them with a comma seems weak, use semi-colons, like this:

1. We have instructed our lawyers to assess the value of the property at the date of purchase; to check the freehold status; to gain as much information as they can about the boundary to the east; and to come back to us a week from today.

Semi-colons with bullets. Some people like semi-colons at the end of each bullet and then a full stop after the last one. Personally, that strikes me as unnecessary, but it is certainly clear.

Semi-colons instead of conjunctions. You can join two short sentences, particularly if they are nicely balanced, with a semi-colon instead of a conjunction. So you can choose between this:

2. Marketing department is now on the top floor of this building; IT has moved to Surrey Street.

And this:

3. Marketing department is now on the top floor of this building and IT has moved to Surrey Street.

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When to use commas | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

When to use commas

There are four correct ways to use commas:

1. To separate the items in a list

The list comma is well known. You need commas except between the last two items where you use "and" instead, like this:
We run seminars on financial planning, tax management, pensions and inheritance tax.

2. In pairs as mini brackets

If you need a bracketed phrase, such as an explanation, you can use a pair of commas instead of brackets as in this sentence.

3. To indicate the break point between sentences joined by a conjunction
4. To indicate the end of an introductory phrase

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Punctuation | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Punctuation

What is punctuation for? Does it matter? Well, sometimes leaving punctuation out can make your writing really difficult to decipher. More often, it just makes it harder to read quickly. Good punctuation is there to give your reader hints about how to read your writing - the hints they would get from your tone of voice if you were talking to them. Here is an example of confusing writing:

Jane will get article over to you soonest will.

This would have been easier to understand:

Jane,
I will get the article over to you soonest.
Regards,
Will

On a forum I read recently, someone made a comment about how recent changes had improved customer service. He wrote:

Not much they could do better

He appeared to be very impressed. Not so. What he meant to say was:

Not much. They could do better.

Three tips:

1. Use exclamation marks very rarely in business writing - and NEVER use doubles.

2. Use commas to break a sentence where you would pause for a moment in speech.

3. Use colons (:) to introduce bullets.

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Colon Punctuation | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Colon Punctuation

Colons and semi-colons often get confused, but only because they look similar. The jobs they do are very clearly different.
The job of a colon is to show you that what is coming next will be examples of, or the complete description or list of, what you have just mentioned. They can be used with or without bullet points. Here are some examples.

1. As a result of our investigation, we recommend that you:
- Increase the number of staff in the unit by at least two
- Train the junior staff in telephone techniques, and
- Identify a team leader to manage shifts

2. He was surprised by several items in the report: the amount of wastage, the cost of casual labour and the response time for complaints.

Used like this, the colon is clear and useful. No other punctuation mark does that job and it does no other job.

A colon does not replace a full stop and should not appear at the end of a sentence. You do not need a capital letter after a colon, unless the word needs it anyway.

3. The company has bought subsidiaries in several countries this year: France, Spain and Canada.

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Inverted Commas | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Inverted Commas

"Inverted commas" is the official name for quotes or quotation marks. The name means upside down commas, although if you look very carefully, you will see that only the ones at the beginning are really upside down.

There are lots of reasons for using inverted commas. They can indicate that words are examples, rather than part of the sentence (as above). They can show the actual words someone said or indicate the title of a book, film, article etc. Always try to use them in a consistent way so your reader knows what you are doing.

You can use singles, like this:

He always calls us ‘juniors' although several of us are older than he is.

Or doubles, like this:

The correct name of the article is "The End of Banking as we Know it".

There are no hard and fast rules about which you should use. The Economist (usually my bible in matters of this kind) prefers doubles, and they have the advantage of being less likely to be confused with apostrophes or exclamation marks.

If, by any chance, you write a sentence that needs a quote within a quote, you should use a different style for each:

The project leader said, "however long it takes, our so-called ‘fast track plan' had better deliver to specification".

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Apostrophe Rules | Grammar to Go - The official grammar site for business professionals

Apostrophe Rules

Apostrophes do two completely different jobs:

Replace missed letters

When we write words like "I'll" instead of "I will" and "she'll" instead of "she will", we are leaving out some letters and the apostrophe is put in their place. Do remember to put these in, because "ill" and "shell" mean something else. If you are writing a formal document like a report, a CV or a letter to an employer, it is better to write the words out in full. This sounds correct and formal:

I am a full-time student now but I will start my job in September.

This sounds more informal:

I'm a full-time student now but I'll start my job in September.

Show possession or ownership

The apostrophe here is only used when something is of or belongs to someone or something. Rewrite the possessive bit in a bracket like this:

The team's competitive spirit (the competitive spirit of - or belonging to - the team)

The apostrophe goes after the last word in that bracket. It may be singular or plural and it may already end in "s".

The waitresses' aprons were bright pink (aprons of the waitresses)
The waitress's apron was bright pink (apron of the waitress)

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When to use commas / What is a split infinitive? / Welcome to PwC S&CC / Welcome to PwC Business Recovery Services / Punctuation / Package for IT Leaders / Inverted Commas / How to use a semi colon / Help with grammar / Grammar in use / Corporate subscribers / Compound sentence / Colon Punctuation / Apostrophe Rules / Almost there… / 17 Days to Better Grammar