Composition, Prose, and Rhetoric: Examples of Recurring Errors from MGT 360 Wayne Smith, Ph.D. Department of Management CSU Northridge

Superior, Contemporary Writing Reduce basic composition errors over time –Remember that it’s important –Remember that it’s difficult Sentence Style Word Choice Grammatical Sentences ELL Challenges Punctuation Mechanics

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Spelling The most misspelled word on this assignment is manager. –In general, students used the word manger instead. –Slow down, be careful, review your draft after at least one full day, and run your work by someone else. Also, don’t make up words (you aren’t Shakespeare…yet) –Incorrect: “…he was able to argue for her vetrancy, knowledge of the company, and the customer service department simply because she has been there [longer] –Correct: “…he was able to argue for her longevity status, knowledge of the company, and the customer service department simply because she has been there [longer]

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) –Example: “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.” Either make it two sentences (use a period instead of a comma), or Connect the two clauses with a semi-colon (”;”) instead of a comma (“,”) Run-on Sentences (fused sentences) –Example: “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.” Either make it two sentences (use a period instead of a ), or Connect the two clauses with a semi-colon (”;”) instead of a comma (“,”)

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Homonyms Heterograph Errors –Words that sounds alike, but have different 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.” –Incorrect: “…would have to be applied elsewere.” –Correct: “…would have to be applied elsewhere.” –Incorrect: “……worse boss of the century.” –Correct: “……worst boss of the century.”

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Inflections Agreement –In Subjects and Verbs, and –in Antecedents and Pronouns Verbs (conjugation) –Incorrect: “My duty as facilitator is to managed and plan the sessions…” –Correct: “My duty as facilitator is to manage and plan the sessions…” Nouns (declension) –Incorrect: “I had to follow these two session and modify them…” –Correct: “I had to follow these two sessions and modify them…” Be very careful with your listening skills—contemporary phonology (especially in music) is slightly de-emphasizing the last syllable (it sounds “cool”, so we occasionally miss the inflection when we write…(argh!)

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Needed Words With respect to clarity, English is a context-sensitive language –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].” –Incorrect: “He also explained to me in the letter how his family from Armenia had persecuted…” –Correct: ““He also explained to me in the letter how his family from Armenia had been persecuted…”

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Meaning Digital computing does not now, and will not in the immediately foreseeable future, identify this issue –Example: “The restaurant was busy. It was really hard to sever all of the customers.” Sometimes, the meaning is unclear or ambiguous –Example: “…she has [extreme] depression after her husbands’ death…” Sometimes, the meaning is exactly opposite –Example: “Throughout my working career I have always strived to be apart of a management team.”

Examples of Writing Anomalies — Miscellaneous Compound Nouns (you need to look them up—e.g., ) –Incorrect: “…else where…”, “work place”, “sea food” –Correct: “…elsewhere…”, “workplace”, “seafood” Adjectives and Adverbs –Incorrect: “If so, will they take it personal?” –Correct: “If so, will they take it personally?” Sentence fragments –Incorrect: “Leading to everyone doing everything they wanted and how they wanted.” –Correct: “This leads to everyone doing everything they wanted and how they wanted.” Extra Word[s] –Incorrect: “…were willing to to pick up some more shifts…” –Correct: “…were willing to pick up some more shifts…”

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.”

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.” (emphasis added)