Capital Punishment
By far the most common mistake I see in business writing is the incorrect use of capitals. Even if the spelling and grammar on a document are perfect, unnecessary capitals can mar the look of a piece as well as interrupting the readability.
1. As a general rule, only use capitals for proper names – Currumbin Bird Sanctuary, Andrew Daddo, Katoomba, and Red Write Communication Services.
This becomes particularly tricky when we are dealing with regions. For example, if we are referring to the rainfall in south-east Queensland, there is no need to capitalise the area. If, however, we mention the South-East Queensland Antique Car Club, the region becomes part of the proper name and thus needs capitals.
2. Think twice before capitalising titles. While Managing Director looks acceptable, the Executive Assistant In Charge Of Operations may be a little overdone, with due apologies to the executive assistant.
Also, if we are using a person’s title as a form of address it may be necessary to capitalise each word. When we talk about Prime Minister Kevin Rudd attending an event it can be quite different from local sporting identities, the prime minister and his wife attending. Confused??
3. Thirdly,
What about sub headlines?
Sub headlines are on the increase with the popularity of web content. The use of sub headlines enables readers to scan documents quickly to find the information they are looking for.
However, as with titles above, less is more. You may like to capitalise every word in your headline, such as Capital Punishment, but when it comes to your sub headlines only capitalise the first letter of the first word, What about sub headlines?
Avoid mixing capitals such as Modern Art in the Computer Age for two reasons. Firstly, you are bound to become confused as to which words to capitalise, and secondly it has become outdated by the newer “downstyle” of capitalising only the first letter of the first word.
I hope this short article has addressed some of the more common mistakes in punctuating written texts. Above all, however you decide to format your documents, keep everything consistent and be mindful of the first impressions being created by your readers.