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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Phrasal verbs for business: E
to ease off to reduce pressure on somebody/something: I think you should ease off on this issue or it might be a deal breaker. to calm down: The storm should ease off soon. to eat away/into to destroy slowly: The … Continue reading
Phrasal verbs for business: D
to deal in to do business: John deals in timber. He’s got big business interests in Siberia. to deal with to be about something: The article deals with various tax and foreign exchange issues. to take action with regard to … Continue reading
Phrasal verbs for Business: C
to call (something) off to cancel something: Bob is ill, so we’ll have to call off the meeting. to cancel (something) out to have an opposite effect, causing a return to the original situation: The new tax cancels out the … Continue reading
Phrasal verbs for business: B
Phrasal verbs that include (someone) or (something) are separable. Others cannot be separated, so the object must come after the entire phrasal verb. to back (someone) up to give someone help and support: My old boss would always back me … Continue reading
Phrasal verbs for business: A
to abide by to follow the law, rules or a decision: We’ll have to change our business model in order to abide by the new regulations. to account for to explain or justify: The warm weather accounted for the fall … Continue reading
How to use commas part 4
The bracketing comma Bracketing commas usually come in pairs. They are used to mark information which is not essential to the meaning of a sentence. Such non-essential information is called a “non-restrictive phrase” or a “weak interruption”. E.g.: All the … Continue reading
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Tagged Clear and concise writing, Commas, Participle clauses, Punctuation, Relative clauses
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How to use commas part 3
The gapping comma The gapping comma is very simple. It is used to avoid repetition and to show that words have been left out. For example: The blue files contain invoices from 2012; the red files, from 2013. The words … Continue reading
How to use commas part 2
The joining comma The joining comma is used to join two complete sentences into a single sentence. It must be followed by one of the following conjunctions: and, but, or, so, while, yet. Have a look at this example: The … Continue reading
How to use commas
Following up on the previous post, here’s more on how to use commas in English. There are 4 different kinds of comma. I will look at each in a separate post. 1. Listing comma 2. Joining comma 3. Gapping comma … Continue reading
Is “data” singular or plural?
The answer is – both. The word “data” is a Latin word. It is the plural of “datum”. “Data” means facts or information; “datum” means one fact or a single item of information. “Data” and “datum” are usually used to … Continue reading
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Tagged Countable and uncountable nouns, Nouns, Quantifiers, Singular or plural
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Common Mistakes in Business English 