The Tenets of Business English

What is the purpose of language generally and business communication in particular if not to convey a message effectively? This question leads to the next: What makes communication effective? I would offer that the answer is clarity. The clarity with which you express an idea is ultimately determined by your ability to use words according to their functions. So, to perfect your business communication, brush up on the following components of language:

1. The foundational blocks of English: Parts of speech
2. Know who’s doing what: Subject-verb agreement
3. Make your references easy to follow: Pronouns
4. Make your descriptions easy to follow: Modifiers
5. Make your connections easy to follow: Parallelism
6. Use the Right Tense
7. Use the Right Conditionals
8. Clarify your comparisons
9. Punctuation matters
10. Business style: Idioms, concision, redundancy, active voice, and more