Thursday, March 19, 2020

5 Great Tips for Business Writing - Proofeds Writing Tips

5 Great Tips for Business Writing - Proofeds Writing Tips 5 Great Tips for Business Writing Business writing includes everything from dry internal reports to snazzy website copy. But while different situations call for different writing styles, we have a few tips that apply to any type of business writing. Check them out below to find out how they could benefit your company! 1. Tailor Writing to an Audience As mentioned above, business writing is a broad category. This means you should always write for a specific audience. So whether it is a technical report for those in the know or a light-hearted press release for the public, think about who you are writing for and adapt the tone and language to suit. 2. Beware Buzzwords and Jargon Business buzzwords and jargon are not necessarily bad. Sometimes you need to use technical language to communicate something complicated. But take care not to go too far! Packing your writing with jargon will make it difficult to read, especially if you aren’t writing for a specialist audience. And buzzwords can be alienating. It is far better to keep things simple by using everyday language wherever possible. And if you need to use jargon, explain exactly what it means when you introduce the term. 3. Help Your Reader Find Key Details Life is busy. And sometimes that means you don’t have time to read the small print. If you want to make sure your readers don’t miss important information, then, you have to make it easy for them. If you are writing for an internal audience, you may want to include an executive summary. This lets you summarize key details in an easy-to-read fashion, while giving full information in the rest of the document. If writing for a wider audience, use formatting (e.g., bold or italics) and headings to help your readers find the most important information even while skim reading. 4. Keep It Short Write concisely wherever possible. After all, if time is money in the business world, you can’t assume everyone will read the entire 283-page report you sent. So keep it short where you can. If you are writing a longer document, though, always give the main points first. This will ensure that even busy readers see what you need them to. 5. Always Proofread! This is quite possibly the most important tip of all. And we’re not just saying that because we offer an outstanding business proofreading service. Whether or not you choose to work with us (you should), checking your business writing for errors is essential all of the time. Errors in business writing will give a bad impression to customers, clients, and colleagues alike. They can even cost a lot of money if you’re unlucky! And this makes proofreading worth the effort.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Romanticism and the Supernatural in Edgar Allan Poes Ligeia

Romanticism and the Supernatural in Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia Although the movement began more than 130 years ago, readers today are still trying to define the highly complex genre known as  American Romanticism. Understanding the meaning of the literary period is challenging. Romanticism in America consisted of several common themes that questioned earlier ideas of  literature,  art, and philosophy. This feature will discuss Edgar Allan Poes Ligeia (1838) to demonstrate how one writer uses  supernatural themes than the more traditional, classical themes of the 18th century. Ligeia's Unusual Beauty Not only does Ligeias unusual beauty represent a reoccurring theme throughout the story, but the text portrays Poes method of rejecting the ordinary, a common theme in past literature, while still promoting the ideas of Romanticism. One example of this is how Poe repeatedly points out how flaws in the classical appearance of Rowena, the fair-haired, the blue-eyed, by comparing her to Ligeia whose features were not of that regular mould which we have been falsely taught to worship in the classical labors of the heathen. Poe explains through the narrator how more exalted and meaningful Ligeias beauty is specifically because she exhibits more natural features instead of the classical features. Poe clearly rejects classical beauty by killing off Rowena and having Ligeia, the heroine and the personification of Romantic beauty, live on through Rowenas body. The narrator describes his beautiful spouse almost like a ghost: She came and departed as a shadow. He also thinks her beauty, more specifically her eyes, as a strange mystery. Her eyes make her seem unreal or superhuman because of her large expressive eyes that the narrator cannot explain except that they are far larger than the ordinary eyes of our own race. The rejection of the classical values and the welcoming of the supernatural through unusual, mysterious beauty indicates Poes bias towards Romantic themes particularly since the narrator describes her eyes and voice further as which at once so delighted and appalled meby the almost magical melody, modulation, distinctness, and placidity of her low voice. In this statement, Ligeia almost frightens the narrator because of her grotesque and supernatural qualities. He cannot explain what he sees, but in Romanticism, many times the writers threw out the rational and replaced it with the irregular and unexplained. When Did We Meet? Another contradiction of the narrators relationship with Ligeia is how he cannot explain how he knows her, or when and where they met. I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia. Why is it that Ligeia has taken away his recollection? Consider how unusual this episode is since most people can remember the smallest details of meeting their true love. It seems that she almost has control over him. Then, her love for him demonstrates more Romantic themes of the supernatural since she returns from the dead through Rowena. Often, Romanticist literature tried to disconnect itself with past literary styles by adding a theme of unusual remoteness concerning time and space. For example, Ligeias identity has no clear beginning or end. This fact clearly demonstrates another example of this excessive, irregular, and unexplained style of writing commonly found in Romanticist literature. We never know how the narrator meets Ligeia, where she was after she dies, or how she is capable of resurrecting herself through another woman. All of this is in strict defiance of Restoration literature and a rejection of 18th-century writers philosophies. By challenging what 18th-century writers labeled as appropriate themes, Poe writes Ligeia to promote his belief in Romanticist theories and ideas. His originality, specifically the use of the supernatural, is a consistent example of the innovation projected throughout Romantic literature.