Guide to Good Business Communications 5e by Bennie

Guide to Good Business Communications 5e by Bennie is the 5th edition of the Guide to Good Business Communications: How to Write and Speak English Well in Every Business Situation book authored by Michael Bennie and published by How To Content, A division of How To Books Ltd, Oxford, United Kingdom in 2009.

• Adjective. A word that qualifies a noun, e.g. little, brown, round.
• Adverb. A word that qualifies a verb, adjective, preposition or other adverb, e.g. well, clearly, very.
• AIDA. A formula for remembering the order in which an advertisement or sales letter should be written. Stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
• Ampersand. The symbol & an abbreviation for 'and'.
• Appendix. A section of a report or book that usually gives full details of matters not discussed in detail in the main part.
• Bar chart. A method of presenting figures visually. Particularly useful for comparing two or more sets of figures at a particular time.
• Bcc. Typed only on copies of a document to indicate that a copy is being sent to the person named – a 'blind copy'. Used instead of 'cc' when you do not want the document's addressee to know that you are sending a copy to a third party.
• Cc. Typed on a document to indicate that a copy is being sent to the person named.
• Charting. A method of writing an outline for a document, involving making a chart of ideas you want to express.
• Circumlocution. A phrase or clause that uses more words than are necessary to express an idea.
• Clause. A group of words within a sentence that has a subject and a predicate.
• Cliché. An expression that has been used so often that it has become hackneyed.
• Colloquialism. An expression that is common in speech but is not acceptable in written English.
• Complex sentence. A sentence that contains a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
• Complimentary close. The ending of a letter. Usually 'Yours sincerely' or 'Yours faithfully' in business correspondence.
• Compound sentence. A sentence that contains two or more clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.
• Compound complex sentence. A sentence that contains two or more main clauses and one or more subordinate clauses.
• Conjunction. A word that links two words, phrases or clauses, e.g. and, but, however.
• Co-ordinating conjunction. A conjunction that joins two clauses of equal weight.
• Deduction. A method of reasoning from one premise to another to reach a conclusion.
• Edit. To check a piece of writing for spelling, grammatical and stylistic errors.
• Emotional buying trigger. An appeal to an emotion or instinct in selling or advertising.
• Enc. Typed at the bottom of a letter to indicate that something is enclosed.
• Four Ps. A formula for remembering how to write a sales letter. Stands for Promise, Picture, Proof, Push.
• Freewriting. A method of writing an outline for a document, involving writing freely as ideas occur to you.
• Fyi. For your information. Typed on copies of correspondence sent to third parties to indicate that no action is expected from them.
• Graph. A method of presenting figures visually. Particularly useful to show a trend over time.
• Hanging participle. A participle that introduces an adjectival phrase with no noun to qualify.
• Indexing. A method of standardising the presentation of figures so that different fields can be compared. Usually involves giving the figures for Year 1 a value of 100, and relating subsequent years' figures to that.
• Induction. A method of reaching a conclusion from one's own experience or observation rather than by reasoning from one premise to another.
• Inside address. The name and address of the person to whom you are writing, which appear at the top of a letter.
• Jargon. Language that is specific to a particular group or profession.
• Listing. A method of writing an outline for a document, involving listing the points you want to make.
• Minutes. A formal record of discussions and decisions at a meeting.
• Noun. A word that is used to name a person, place or thing, e.g. letter, Harriet Cornish, London.
• Object. The person or thing that has the action of the verb done to it. Must be a noun or a pronoun.
• Parentheses. Another word for round brackets.
• Phrase. A group of words within a sentence that does not have a subject and a predicate.
• Pie chart. A method of showing figures visually. Particularly useful for showing the segmentation of a total figure.
• Pp. Typed or written by a signature, when the signatory is signing a letter on behalf of someone else.
• Predicate. The part of a sentence that describes what the subject did or was. Must contain a verb.
• Preposition. A word that describes the relationship of one person or thing to another, e.g. by, from, for.
• Pronoun. A word used instead of a noun, e.g. she, him, your.
• Salutation. The opening of a letter. Usually begins 'Dear ...'
• Sentence. A group of words complete in itself. Must contain a subject and a predicate.
• Simple sentence. A sentence containing only one clause.
• Subject. The person or thing a sentence is about. Must be either a noun or a pronoun.
• Subordinate clause. A clause that is dependent on the rest of the sentence for its meaning or relevance.
• Subordinating conjunction. A conjunction that joins a subordinate clause to the rest of the sentence.
• Tautology. Saying the same thing twice in different words.
• Topic sentence. A sentence that indicates the topic of a paragraph.
• Unique selling proposition. Something that makes a product or service unique.
• Vague qualifier. An imprecise adjective or adverb that adds nothing to the reader's understanding.
• Verb. A word that describes what is done by or what happens to the subject of a sentence, e.g. agree, have written, will decide.