Helen Cunningham - The Business Style Handbook: An A-to-Z Guide for Effective Writing on the Job

Praise for The Business Style Handbook

The Business Style Handbook is a very useful reference for my international business students who have been taught British English and are unfamiliar with American English in the U.S. workplace. The book also provides helpful explanations and examples for its alphabetized entries in addition to basic American writing guidelines. Its a wonderfully concise and easy-to-use book!

Wendy Vierow, Ph.D., State University of New York, New Paltz

I use this book in my basic business writing classes because it is so user friendly. It has an A-to-Z guide, so you dont have to know the categories youre looking for. My participants give it rave reviews, and lots of them give it to their high-school and college-aged kids to help them too.

Nancy Hatch Woodward, business writer/editor/teacher

As a dining service company with clients in business, the arts, academia and the public sector, we pride ourselves on the meticulous attention we pay to the quality of our food and service. Its essential to project that same image in our written communications. Many of the professionals throughout all of our departments consider The Business Style Handbook an indispensable tool in their daily activities from proposals, presentations and press releases to marketing materials, menus, our social media platforms and trade show presence. This book is a great tool to help our people meet our high standards for all forms of professional communication.

Thomas Eich, president & COO, CulinArt, Inc.

Cunningham and Greene cover the most critical components of writing (business or otherwise) clearly and succinctly. The Business Style Handbook is an effective learning tool and a must-have reference for business professionals.

Kerry Fina, M.A., Doane College, adviser and adjunct faculty

As a professor and business consultant, I find The Business Style Handbook to be an excellent reference. The book is well organized and easy to use for both students and professionals. It contains invaluable tips to help you thrive in todays business world.

Holly G. Green, The Human Factor, Inc., managing director

Copyright 2013 by Helen Cunningham and Brenda Greene. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-180011-2
MHID: 0-07-180011-5

The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-180010-5, MHID: 0-07-180010-7.

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TO OUR FAMILIES

TO UPDATE THE SECOND EDITION, we again surveyed Fortune 500 communications professionals (from Fortune magazines 2010 list). Their expertise greatly enhanced the second edition. We are indebted to Aetna, Scot Roskelley, communications director mid-America region; Aflac, Glenn E. Wells, editorial consultant; Bemis Company, Inc., Kristine Pavletich, public relations specialist; Dana Holding Corporation, Jeff Cole, director of marketing communication; Franklin Templeton Investments, Cynthia Hanson, senior copy editor; Masco Corporation, Kathleen Vokes, director of corporate communications; Owens & Minor, Duriechee Friend, director of communications; Progress Energy, Linda Wootton, proofreader; Southern Company, Marc Rice, corporate communication account executive environment; Union Pacific, Tom Lange, director of corporate communications. Seven other individuals from Fortune 500 companies also participated this time around but asked us not to list their names or companies. Glenn Wells, Jeff Cole and Marc Rice also participated in our 2001 survey.

In addition, we thank the 50 communications professionals from the Fortune 500 (1999 list) who participated in our 2001 survey. So much of the information they provided in 2001 is still relevant today, so we kept much of the material they provided.

The 2001 survey consisted of 33 questions for corporate communications departments at the Fortune 500. Professionals at 50 companies participated in the survey, providing information on their standards, the standards within their departments and the writing style of their employees in general. At that time, those 50 companies all combined represented more than 3.6 million employees.

As time has passed, some of the companies have merged, been acquired or no longer rank among the Fortune 500. Some individuals, meanwhile, have moved to other companies or have been promoted. Our list, for the most part, reflects the status of companies and individuals at the time we received responses to both surveys.