I thoroughly enjoyed my first trip to India in November. What do you think of the beautiful saree I bought there? I couldn't resist showing it off at the head of this newsletter!

My friends from my publishers Pearson Education (see photo on left) were great hosts, as were EMPI Business School.

Thanks to everyone at Oxford Bookstore in Mumbai for inviting me to do a talk there, and to EMPI Business School in Delhi for asking me to speak at their annual function.

You can see more photos from my India trip in a special India section on my Photo Gallery.

Many thanks to everyone who has kept in touch with me since my India trip, and I certainly look forward to a return visit soon.

In last month's newsletter I continued lookiing at my A-Z of Bloopers, Blunders, Common Errors and Clichés. Here I'd like to present the D's and E's.

Dated
When replying to a letter, do not say "Thank you for your letter dated on 24 November". The correct expression is "Thank you for your letter dated 24 November." or "Thank you for your letter of 24 November". We should not say 'dated on'.

Discuss
It is not grammatically correct to say "I want to discuss about". The word discuss means "to talk about", so if you say discuss about, you are really saying talk about about. Cut out the about!

Due to the fact that
This is a wordy expression and can simply be replaced by As or Since or Because.

Enclosed herewith please find
The only word we really need in this cliché is Enclosed. It's so redundant to use herewith - if it's not herewith, where the heck is it? Please find implies it's like a game asking the reader to find something that's hidden. For 21st Century writing, throw out all the unnecessary wording.

Equipment
The word equipment is an uncountable noun and it should never end with an 's'. For example:
We need some extra equipment for our new offices.
All the new equipment has arrived. (use a singular verb)
This equipment - the LCD, OHP and DVD - is needed in the Training Room.

Similar mistakes are made with words like luggage, baggage, furniture, information, clarification.

Everyday/Every day
Everyday is an adverb. Every day are adjective and noun. For example:
Making your bed is an everyday chore.
I get the bus to work every day.
Having to write e-mails every day is an everyday task.

As it's Christmas, I thought I'd end the year on a humorous note.

I've used this article before, but I hope you will enjoy it here again.

RULES FOR WRITERS

1. Shun and avoid the employment of unnecessary, extra, excess words.
2. Make certain all sentences are full and complete. If possible.
3. At all costs, avoid cliches as you would the plague.
4. Take panes to spel and, punctuate corectly:"
5. BE Consistent.
6. Don't approximate. Always be more or less precise.
7. Sedulously eschew obfuscatory hyper-verbosity or prolixity.
8. Avoid pointless repetition, and don't repeat yourself unnecessarily.
9. Observe, in all written expression, it is, of the foremost qualification - if not, certainly not or less than - at least definitely secondary then, the importance, of whenever possibly trying, so that when, except where it cannot be avoided and/or in further necessary development it becomes imperative to omit, yet, remember without fail, to be brief and clear.

If you've seen similar Rules in the past, you'll notice that one rule is missing:

Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.

NB: I cannot recall where I found this article, so if anyone knows where this came from please let me know and I will be happy to acknowledge the source in a future edition of Shirley Says.

That's your lot then for 2004. A new year is around the corner, and I hope it's going to bring you all good health, good luck and lots of love. Enjoy the festive season, and I'll see you again next year!

Love from Shirley xx

PS: You may reprint this newsletter or forward it to your customers and colleagues. However please keep this copyright and contact information intact:

Copyright Shirley Taylor 2004. Shirley Taylor is author of several popular books on effective communication and business writing. She lives in Singapore and works as an international trainer, seminar leader, professional writer and conference speaker.