Press/Articles/Books
Converting Nouns to Verbs has a Long History
Language traditionalists bristle when people use nouns as verbs and vice versa, but such conversions have a long history in English. Just be...
read moreUse Helping Verbs Only When They Help
Helping verbs (is, are, was, were, will be, etc.) often are necessary to express a point in time (verb tense), but you can strengthen your sentence...
read moreCreate Tight, Crisp Writing with a Semicolon
To make your writing a little tighter and more snappy, become friends with the semicolon. The semicolon is a misunderstood punctuation mark. Some...
read moreUsing Correct Punctuation with “because” and “however”
Where to use commas and semicolons can be challenging in many sentences, but how to punctuate around because and however can cause considerable head...
read moreKnow When to Capitalize
Excessive capitalization is widespread in business, particularly in job titles. Know when it’s appropriate to capitalize. People frequently...
read moreCommas are No Small Matter
Many people think that whether to put a comma before “and” in a series is a trivial issue, but two judges disagreed. For decades, people have...
read moreUse a Dash for Emphasis, a Hyphen for Clarity
People often confuse dashes and hyphens. Dashes are used for three reasons, most commonly to mark off information that you want to stress. Hyphens commonly join two or three words that are used together to form one adjective, modifying an adjoining word.
read moreDon’t Underestimate Rhythm, Variety, and Emphasis in Business Writing
Don’t underestimate the power of the clear, direct sentence, but creating rhythm, variety, and emphasis are other ways to make your writing...
read morePuzzling Pairs: Words that Confuse Writers
English has many troublesome pairs that often perplex writers, because many words in English are similar to others but are not synonyms. Here are...
read moreCan Writers Trust Writing-Style Guides?
Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style,” for 60 years a bible of good writing for many students and adults, is still valuable but...
read moreBy Ken O’Quinn
As a contributing author in this book on leadership, Ken offers insights and tips for managing difficult conversations, providing effective feedback, and being authentic. Order here.
Perfect Phrases for Business Letters (McGraw-Hill)
Provides the right words and phrases for any situation - quickly. The book was reprinted in Japanese because of high-volume sales there.
TD at Work — Business Writing for Managers
The Association for Talent Development invited Ken to write this 22-page booklet for the TD at Work series.
Current Blog Post
Persuasion: Make Your Expertise Known
If you are trying to persuade someone on a topic that you are knowledgeable about, convey your expertise up front. …