Alright, enough prelude. Let’s dive into some common writing mistakes and how to avoid them.
In this section, we’ll discuss:
- Homophones
- Passive voice
- Jargon
- Adverbs
- Glue words
- Readability
- Spelling and capitalization
- Punctuation
1. Mind the homophone
Homophones are words that have the same pronunciations but different meanings. Here are some common examples:
- They’re (the contraction of “they are”), there (an adverb used to indicate a place), and their (the third-person pronoun meaning belonging to them).
- See (a verb meaning to sense with the eyes) and sea (a noun meaning a large area of saltwater subject to tides and waves).
It’s a common mistake to use the wrong homophone when you write quickly – especially in terms of abbreviations. To compound this problem, since homophones are real words, they won’t always get flagged as an error in your average spelling or grammar checker. But, misusing a homophone can make your writing look amateur, leading to fewer customer conversions.
2. Check for passive voice
When you write in the passive voice, you place the object of your sentence before the subject.
Consider this sentence, “The call was taken by Joe.”
In this sentence, Joe is the one doing the action – he’s taking Bolivia Business Email List the call. But, he’s introduced at the end of the sentence.
You make this sentence direct and precise by saying, “Joe took the call.”
Passive voice isn’t technically incorrect. But, it makes your writing clunky and hard to read. You only have seconds to grab your customers’ attention when they open an email; don’t waste it by using an ineffective sentence structure.
3. Limit the jargon
Many writers overuse jargon in their emails. While not technically a grammatical error, jargon can alienate your audience. It can also be hard to spot: often, as writers in a particular industry, we’re so used to a term that we don’t recognize it’s new to our readers.
For instance, did you realize the term “win-win” is jargon? Overusing phrases like these can make our readers less likely to engage with what we’re saying, resulting in fewer customer conversions.
4. Make strong verbs work for you
Verbs are the action words in writing; as such, they should have lots of power. Many writers, however, rely on adverbs to make weak verbs stronger. For instance, instead of saying, “I am thrilled to announce the new sale,” writers may say, “I am very excited to announce the new sale.”
This change might seem small, but relying on adverbs to prop up your weak verbs often diminishes the effectiveness of your writing. While adverbs are not wrong to use, doing so is a UAE Cell Number bit lazy. Your email copy needs to be as strong as possible to get your customer to take action. So, skip the bad adverbs in favor of more powerful verbs that’ll better convey your meaning.
