Composition, Prose, and Rhetoric: Examples from MGT 360 Wayne Smith, Ph.D. Department of Management CSU Northridge ws@csun.edu

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Commas Link a (long, opening) dependent clause with an independent clause with a comma (>= 5 words) Example: “In order to be a successful manager you need to be able to motivate your employees…” Example: “After working so many Friday nights dealing with usually the same parties we were able to work our organizational and management issues out.” Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (i.e., for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so—”FANBOYS”) Example: “The other employee was a young male who was in his early twenties but this employee had very long hair as well as long facial hair.”

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Run-on’s Run-on Sentences (comma splice) “First of all, you can’t leave the job for three people to take care of everything, if the job requires more employees, then it’s in the best interest of the company to hire more employees.” Run-on Sentences (fused sentences) “I was living in Riverside, California it was closer [to] home but I still had to manage my free time the best that I could.”

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Homonyms Heterograph Errors Words that sounds alike, but have differently spellings and meanings Incorrect: “I left orientation knowing two things; they will fire you if your late, and they will definitely fire you if you are rude to guests.” Correct: “I left orientation knowing two things; they will fire you if you’re late, and they will definitely fire you if you are rude to guests.”

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Needed Words English is context-sensitive, so clarity matters “that” is one of most missed and misused word in English Incorrect: “Upper management recognized guests found it confusing to park at [our establishment]. Correct: “Wrong: “Upper management recognized that guests found it confusing to park at [our establishment].”

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Meaning Digital computing does not now, and will not in the foreseeable future, identify this issue “The restaurant was busy. It was really hard to sever all of the customers.”

Professional Writing Conventions Do’s (no points missed, but change for next time) Do use “number” for countable nouns; use “amount” for non-countable nouns Example: “The number of bolts needed is too large to carry safely.” Example: “Black Friday put a large amount of stress on the team.” Do use (usually) “perhaps” instead of “maybe” Example: “Perhaps John isn’t suitable for the new sales position.” Do use “such as” for “like” is overused and misused If appropriate, use as a verb (e.g., “John likes to do annual inventory.” Also, save “like” for similes (e.g., “My smart puppy is like a mentor.”) Do use “its” (singular) for a company (not, “they”) Example: “The owner of the store assured me that its deliveries were always on time.” Do use “American” English rather than “British” English

Professional Writing Conventions Don’ts (no points missed, but change for next time) Don’t use “a lot” as an adjective (it’s often overused) Example: “I thought that I was in a lot of trouble.” Use, perhaps, “many” (for a countable noun) or “much” (for a non-countable noun), or often, just remove “a lot” (it’s a empty phrase; it doesn’t contribute meaning) Besides, “a lot” has a specific meaning real estate (it’s a parcel of land). Don’t use “pretty” as an adjective (leave it as a noun) Again, it’s an empty phrase Example: “That was pretty cool.”

Always elevate your writing (throughout this class and beyond) Employ higher-order composition and prose strategies Use a Quote if you feel it’s appropriate “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”—Unknown “All ye abandon hope who enter here”—Dante You can use a quote in another language (just remember to add an English translation for me)

Always elevate your writing (throughout this class and beyond) Analogy “During my four years working at this [coffee house], I had to deal with my share of good and bad. Customers wanted their free drink, and management wanted their sales numbers.” Metaphor “Working in a pizzeria is all the fun that would be expected, but when the dough rises, so does hell.” Unfortunately, when it rains, it pours. Simile “…there is a breakdown in communication between personal goals and overall team goals. When you walk into our [bank] branch, there is the open area with the desks where the bankers sit, and the windows where the tellers stand. Tellers are separated by a “bandit barrier” to help ensure safety. It seems like this barrier has taken a more literal meaning. Everyone who works on the other side of the bandit barrier is completely separated from the open side. Oftentimes, it feels like we’re two separate countries who have become enemies at war.”

Avoid Logical Fallacies (throughout this class and beyond) Fallacy of Weak Analogy “Here is what didn’t make sense with this [manager]: He claimed to have a degree in chemistry, yet he was working for a failing company in retail. He must not have been very good in the lab.”