Spelling and other mistakes to avoid

From Lauraibm

Revision as of 13:56, 30 October 2007

Spelling

• over time vs. overtime.

This is incorrect: 'overtime this group has expanded...'

UK English, rather than American English

• Use hyphens to connect nouns in adjectival phrases.

Americans might say 'board level pressures are making a difference' .

In the UK, it is better to say 'board-level pressures ...' because this makes it clear that pressures (and not board) is the subject of the sentence.

Sentence construction

• Avoid joining two sentences with a comma.

For example, this is incorrect:

Within the UK, IT accounts for 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions, it is vital for CIOs to act now in order to reduce these emissions.

It should be expressed either separately as:

Within the UK, IT accounts for 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions. It is vital for CIOs to act now in order to reduce these emissions.,

or with the use of an appropriate conjunction such as:

Within the UK, IT accounts for 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions, so it is vital for CIOs to act now in order to reduce these emissions.