Power Charge Your Professionalism: Use Apostrophes Correctly Many writers throw up their hands in defeat when...

   

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Power Charge Your Professionalism: Use Apostrophes Correctly Many writers throw up their hands in defeat when it comes to apostrophes, feeling that they can't possibly remember the rules. You don't have to! You can use Reference Chapter A or a grammar handbook (in print or online) to help you. But, in truth, the rules are not that hard to learn. You could probably master them in 30 minutes or less. Using your memory or a guide, choose the correct answer in the following sentences. Then explain why you made the choice you did for each one. 1. This report has eight entries in (its/it's/its') list of illustrations. 2. All the (figure's/figures/figures') titles in this report are missing the figure number. 3. The report did not identify (whose/who's) error caused the problem. 4. All of the upper-level (manager's/managers/managers') requested a copy of the report. 5. The reports produced by this research firm are regarded as the (industries/industries'/industry's) best. 6. In some (people's/peoples') opinion, an executive summary should always be in the direct order. 7. The report described (men's/mens') shopping habits. 8. The report represented two (week's/weeks/weeks') worth of work. Using apostrophes correctly is important because... Sometimes a misused apostrophe can cause your reader to take a misstep (until he or she figures out that there's an apostro- phe error). Incorrectly used apostrophes are distracting and convey a negative impression of you as a writer. For further instruction and practice, do the "Apostrophes" activities in Adaptive Learning Assignment under McGraw Hill Adaptive Reading, Grammar, and Research Assignment in the Module "Punctuation and Mechanics." Power Charge Your Professionalism: Use Adjectives and Adverbs Correctly Remember that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns-that is, adjectives say which one, what kind, and how many. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs-that is, they say how, when, where, to what extent, and why. Find the sentences below that use adjectives or adverbs incorrectly and correct them. Use Reference Chapter A to explain your decisions. 1. Using well-designed slides will help your audience get your point quicker. 2. If you do poorly on a talk, just learn from your mistakes and do good on the next one. 3. When you're well prepared, you'll feel good about giving your presentation. 4. Projecting the right ethos will help your audience take your presentation seriously. 5. If your listeners look confused, you might want to go more slow. 6. She felt well about promoting her favorite nonprofit organization in her speech. 7. All the presenters delivered their parts perfect. 8. Getting in an argument with an audience member made Janice look badly. Using adjectives and adverbs correctly is important because ... Adjective and adverb errors will distract your readers/listeners. . This type of error makes you sound uneducated. It can be a credibility killer in a written message or presentation. For further instruction and practice, do the "Adjectives and Adverbs" activities in Adaptive Learning Assignment under McGraw Hill Adaptive Reading, Grammar, and Research Assignment in the Module "Grammar and Common Sentence Problems." Power Charge Your Professionalism: Put Your Editing Skills to Work The following operational message informs employees of a new time-saving routing process for creating a bill of materials (BOM) for manufacturing your company's circuit boards. The BOM includes all resources for making the circuit boards, from purchasing raw materials and parts to assembling and selling the boards, so creating the BOM requires the approval of several divisions within the company. This message is indirect and unclear. In addition, the message contains several sentence errors (sentence fragments, run-on sen- tences, and comma splices), punctuation errors, pronoun errors, subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement errors, hidden verbs, cluttering phrases, and homophone errors. As your instructor directs, revise the message as follows: 1. Correct the sentence errors and fix the hidden verbs, cluttering phrases, and homophone errors. Reference Chapter A: Cor- rectness of Communication and Chapters 2 and 6 can help you identify and correct these issues. 2. Applying what you learned in Chapter 7, indicate how you would revise the message to make it more direct and clear. You can assume the audience requires all of the information in the message, so be sure your edits preserve all of the ideas even as you revise the wording. 3. Retype the message to reflect the revisions you indicated in steps 1 and 2. To: ; From: Ross Gilman Subject: Circuit Boards I initiated and lead a process review for the reduction of the routing time our BOM's, two parts of the process were slowing it down. First, Purchasing's function are in the middle of the process. Which means the purchase order cannot be issued until the three departments before we in the process take up to three days to finish there assigned tasks. Also, once the Purchasing Department places the order, we have to wait five days for the supplier to ship the ISO 9001:2000/AS9100-compliant parts. As you know, at the present time, the BOM's are routed as follows: Accounting, Sales, Scheduling, Purchasing, Accounting, Scheduling, Master Scheduling In the new process we are able get the consolidation of the number of steps from seven to five. Non-value added processes were removed steps were eliminated. So that no department will be effected by long wait times. We have had two jobs that have went through the new process to test its effectiveness, average time from issuance of the purchase order is in the neighborhood of one day. The average total time for creating the BOM are 21 days, down from 28 days. The new process routes the BOMS in the following order: Purchasing, Accounting, Scheduling, Sales, Master Scheduling Please follow the new process outlined above to route any BOM's contact me with any questions or concerns. Ross Ross Gilman, CPM & Senior Buyer Purchasing Department Forward Circuits, Incorporated Office: 715-555-5550 | Cell: 715-555-5551 Good editing skills are important because... Grammar, punctuation, and mechanics impact the clarity and readability of a message. Editing and revising are critical steps to ensuring that you project a professional image. For further instruction on proofreading and editing, please visit the many Grammar and Sentence Problems, Style and Word Choice, and Punctuation and Mechanics modules in Adaptive Learning Assignment under McGraw Hill Adaptive Reading, Grammar, and Research Assignment. Power Charge Your Professionalism: Use Apostrophes Correctly Many writers throw up their hands in defeat when it comes to apostrophes, feeling that they can't possibly remember the rules. You don't have to! You can use Reference Chapter A or a grammar handbook (in print or online) to help you. But, in truth, the rules are not that hard to learn. You could probably master them in 30 minutes or less. Using your memory or a guide, choose the correct answer in the following sentences. Then explain why you made the choice you did for each one. 1. This report has eight entries in (its/it's/its') list of illustrations. 2. All the (figure's/figures/figures') titles in this report are missing the figure number. 3. The report did not identify (whose/who's) error caused the problem. 4. All of the upper-level (manager's/managers/managers') requested a copy of the report. 5. The reports produced by this research firm are regarded as the (industries/industries'/industry's) best. 6. In some (people's/peoples') opinion, an executive summary should always be in the direct order. 7. The report described (men's/mens') shopping habits. 8. The report represented two (week's/weeks/weeks') worth of work. Using apostrophes correctly is important because... Sometimes a misused apostrophe can cause your reader to take a misstep (until he or she figures out that there's an apostro- phe error). Incorrectly used apostrophes are distracting and convey a negative impression of you as a writer. For further instruction and practice, do the "Apostrophes" activities in Adaptive Learning Assignment under McGraw Hill Adaptive Reading, Grammar, and Research Assignment in the Module "Punctuation and Mechanics." Power Charge Your Professionalism: Use Adjectives and Adverbs Correctly Remember that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns-that is, adjectives say which one, what kind, and how many. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs-that is, they say how, when, where, to what extent, and why. Find the sentences below that use adjectives or adverbs incorrectly and correct them. Use Reference Chapter A to explain your decisions. 1. Using well-designed slides will help your audience get your point quicker. 2. If you do poorly on a talk, just learn from your mistakes and do good on the next one. 3. When you're well prepared, you'll feel good about giving your presentation. 4. Projecting the right ethos will help your audience take your presentation seriously. 5. If your listeners look confused, you might want to go more slow. 6. She felt well about promoting her favorite nonprofit organization in her speech. 7. All the presenters delivered their parts perfect. 8. Getting in an argument with an audience member made Janice look badly. Using adjectives and adverbs correctly is important because ... Adjective and adverb errors will distract your readers/listeners. . This type of error makes you sound uneducated. It can be a credibility killer in a written message or presentation. For further instruction and practice, do the "Adjectives and Adverbs" activities in Adaptive Learning Assignment under McGraw Hill Adaptive Reading, Grammar, and Research Assignment in the Module "Grammar and Common Sentence Problems." Power Charge Your Professionalism: Put Your Editing Skills to Work The following operational message informs employees of a new time-saving routing process for creating a bill of materials (BOM) for manufacturing your company's circuit boards. The BOM includes all resources for making the circuit boards, from purchasing raw materials and parts to assembling and selling the boards, so creating the BOM requires the approval of several divisions within the company. This message is indirect and unclear. In addition, the message contains several sentence errors (sentence fragments, run-on sen- tences, and comma splices), punctuation errors, pronoun errors, subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement errors, hidden verbs, cluttering phrases, and homophone errors. As your instructor directs, revise the message as follows: 1. Correct the sentence errors and fix the hidden verbs, cluttering phrases, and homophone errors. Reference Chapter A: Cor- rectness of Communication and Chapters 2 and 6 can help you identify and correct these issues. 2. Applying what you learned in Chapter 7, indicate how you would revise the message to make it more direct and clear. You can assume the audience requires all of the information in the message, so be sure your edits preserve all of the ideas even as you revise the wording. 3. Retype the message to reflect the revisions you indicated in steps 1 and 2. To: ; From: Ross Gilman Subject: Circuit Boards I initiated and lead a process review for the reduction of the routing time our BOM's, two parts of the process were slowing it down. First, Purchasing's function are in the middle of the process. Which means the purchase order cannot be issued until the three departments before we in the process take up to three days to finish there assigned tasks. Also, once the Purchasing Department places the order, we have to wait five days for the supplier to ship the ISO 9001:2000/AS9100-compliant parts. As you know, at the present time, the BOM's are routed as follows: Accounting, Sales, Scheduling, Purchasing, Accounting, Scheduling, Master Scheduling In the new process we are able get the consolidation of the number of steps from seven to five. Non-value added processes were removed steps were eliminated. So that no department will be effected by long wait times. We have had two jobs that have went through the new process to test its effectiveness, average time from issuance of the purchase order is in the neighborhood of one day. The average total time for creating the BOM are 21 days, down from 28 days. The new process routes the BOMS in the following order: Purchasing, Accounting, Scheduling, Sales, Master Scheduling Please follow the new process outlined above to route any BOM's contact me with any questions or concerns. Ross Ross Gilman, CPM & Senior Buyer Purchasing Department Forward Circuits, Incorporated Office: 715-555-5550 | Cell: 715-555-5551 Good editing skills are important because... Grammar, punctuation, and mechanics impact the clarity and readability of a message. Editing and revising are critical steps to ensuring that you project a professional image. For further instruction on proofreading and editing, please visit the many Grammar and Sentence Problems, Style and Word Choice, and Punctuation and Mechanics modules in Adaptive Learning Assignment under McGraw Hill Adaptive Reading, Grammar, and Research Assignment.