Khaled Al-Maskari - A Practical Guide to Business Writing: Writing in English for Non-Native Speakers

Exciting, informative, directional, and extremely helpful are just some of the words to describe A Practical Guide to Business Writing .

Dr. Clarence Emslie, Senior English Language Teacher, Saudi Development and Training, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This book is a wealth of practical information for any person who must produce short effective documents within the work environment of the early 21st century.

Michael Doherty, Director of Professional Communication Services, United Kingdom

This book is an indispensable aid to anyone wishing to improve his or her performance in the workplace. A must for the serious student of business English and a great guide for those wishing to hone their business writing skills to perfection.

Peter Hardcastle, Curriculum & Assessment Advisor, ADNOC Technical Institute, United Arab Emirates

2013 Khaled Mohamed Al Maskari

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ISBN 978-1-118-41081-3 (pbk) ISBN 978-1-118-41078-3 (ebk)

ISBN 978-1-118-41079-0 (ebk) ISBN 978-1-118-41077-6 (ebk)

About the Author

Khaled Mohamed Al Maskari is an Emirati author based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. With over 16 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Al Maskari has held a number of leadership positions with governmental organizations in the United Arab Emirates in the field of Human Resources development and training. He has always been involved in assisting graduate students develop their business writing skills.

He won the Best Emirati Book Award 2011 for his book A Practical Guide to Business Writing , a helpful Business English guide for non-native speakers of English in the region. He has also been nominated Author of the Year 2011 by the Webpreneur Academy based in Dubai in recognition of his dedication and innovations in the fields of education and entrepreneurship.

He gained a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University, in the United States.

To learn more about Khaleds programs, you can go to his website

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Foreword

Exciting, informative, directional, and extremely helpful are just some of the words to describe A Practical Guide to Business Writing .

The content is clear and concise and, in a nutshell, it gives us some clear-cut guidelines to achieve a more accomplished communicative system in any organization.

This book can help you develop the qualities of an effective communicator, and no matter where you are on the administration ladder in your company, using the examples in this book will make whatever you write and wish to communicate more effective.

It is good very good!

Dr. Clarence Emslie

Preface

This book contains a wealth of practical information for any person who aims to produce short effective documents within the work environment of the early 21st century.

It is not simply a guide to business writing. It does not focus on writing rituals, nor does it compare different uses of the English language for writing purposes. There is no in-depth attention to why our writing should have a certain tone, tendency or technique. There are many works in the market that accommodate such areas of business written English.

What this work offers are sensible, valuable and helpful rules for producing effective short reports, memos, letters and e-mails that are clear, concise and easy to read for the busy manager or supervisor working in the demanding setting of modern industry and commerce.

But it goes further: not only are rules offered to the inexperienced business writer, but models are proposed for various situations: apologizing, complaining, requesting, describing, recommending etc.

How do you:

• Open a document?
• Support your purpose?
• Address different readers?
• Close a document?

The solutions are here.

What are the most common errors people make in business writing and how can the writer cope with these inaccuracies?

The solutions are here.

What form should a written text take? Is there a format, model or template that can be utilized quickly and easily? Of course there is.

The solutions are here.

If your work requires you to produce short effective documents, then you are lucky to have this work on your desk. Read it. Enjoy it. Use it.

Michael Doherty

Introduction

Based on my experience in the field and my intention to assist and train fresh graduates, I conducted research which aimed at identifying techniques and tools to promote effective communication in writing. It was apparent that staff inability to write effective business letters or e-mails was their major impediment to effective communication in the workplace.