Insights archive
Red Pony is a team of writers, editors, Microsoft Office template developers and communications trainers. We have been writing about our areas of expertise since 2009 in our Red Pony Express newsletter.
This collection features a selection of our best articles.
Document exchange services
As a writing and editing business, Red Pony had always relied on email for document exchange and project management, especially since many of our clients are located in other cities and sometimes other countries.
The importance of version control
The release of a new novel by acclaimed US author Jonathan Franzen has served to highlight the importance of version control. Apparently the version of his new novel Freedom launched in the UK earlier this month was printed using the wrong file.
Let me quote you on that
Attention pedants! If you’re looking for a fight, there’s no better field of battle than punctuation. Obviously the apostrophe is the punctuation mark that gets people the most steamed up, but the quotation mark or ‘inverted comma’ runs a close second.
Putting yourself in your client’s shoes
The lesson is this: always try to clarify in your mind who you are writing for—before you begin writing. Avoid making assumptions about the prior knowledge of your readers, particularly when writing for a medium as widely disseminated as a company website.
Fulsome prison blues
Sometimes words betray us; they don’t necessarily mean what we think they mean. We can go for years misusing relatively common words or phrases, getting them ever so slightly (or totally) wrong. It can be quite embarrassing, especially once we find out we’ve been getting it wrong all our lives.
Verbing nouns
But where does experimentation with language stop and gibberish start? A recent article in the Boston Globe tackled the problem of ‘verbing’ nouns. What? Well, when you verb a noun you are – just like it sounds – turning it into a verb.
Five tips for creating a compelling executive summary
Writing the executive summary is generally the most important and therefore daunting task in creating any document. As the name suggests, this section must target the decision makers—and it may well be the only part of the document they read. Therefore it is vital that it provide a concise, accurate and compelling summary of everything that follows.
Spelling traps – licence/license and practice/practise
The closest competitors for the stationary/stationery pairing (one of which, hopefully the correct one, you’ll find in my article above) for the title of Most Confused Spelling are the practice/practise and licence/license combinations.
Etymology corner
Welcome to an occasional feature of the Red Pony Express that will uncover the murky origins of mysterious phrases that have entered everyday idiom but which do not immediately betray their origins. This month: pushing the envelope, which means to exceed or extend the boundaries of the possible (or indeed, the permissible).
Large document, looming deadline: a 4-step survival guide
When faced with a daunting task such as this, it can be tempting to run for the hills, or at least bring forward your annual leave. Here’s a few survival tips to help you deliver.
Document localisation
What’s the lesson? Know your audience. Especially if a document is to have international exposure, it pays to carry out ‘document localisation’, in which the document is edited with specific sensitivity to another English-speaking market. This can involve identifying catastrophic missteps such as ‘bluegum’ but more commonly involves removing local idiosyncrasies that may be confusing or ambiguous to an overseas reader.
Rogue adjectives and adverbs
After wading through the fragrant fields of florid prose that can be the unmistakeable hallmark of some popular fiction, you may think overuse of adjectives and adverbs wouldn’t be such an issue in the drab world of business writing. Well … you’d be right, up to a point.
Writing for the web
While the goal in writing for the web is the same as for any other medium (convey your message clearly to your audience), there are a few differences to keep in mind.
What have the French ever done for us?
What we can say with a fair measure of certainty is that French brought with it a dose of class consciousness that’s never really left the English language. This is unsurprising when you consider that the invaders simply made French the official language of Church, Law and State. Any social advancement would therefore have to be done in French.
Using the comma
There’s an almost limitless range of conditional prescriptions to dictate comma usage, but I’ve boiled them down to a few of the most useful.
Using industry awards for a PR boost
Have you ever considered entering your organisation for an industry award? If not, you may be missing out on a golden opportunity for some excellent free publicity.
Bulleted lists
A bulleted list is an asset when you are supporting your argument. It’s a liability when your discussion is so underdeveloped that you rely on dot points to make your case for you. Only use them once you have already made your central point in the text and simply wish to provide some supporting evidence, examples or instructions.
Writing a tender and living to tell the tale (part 2)
In the first part of this article, we looked at what you need to do before you start writing your tender. In this second part, we look at some tips for developing your response to the request for tender (RFT).
Capital letters
Determining when to use a capital letter would seem to be one of the more straightforward grammatical choices. And so it is when you are dealing with proper names or words at the beginning of sentences. It’s pretty obvious to most of us that names of countries, cities, days of the week and specific individuals take a capital letter. But did you know that a reference to the current Australian prime minister should be capitalised, but that references to previous incumbents should not?
Writing a tender and living to tell the tale (part one)
Tenders present a terrific opportunity to win lucrative new business. They may also require a significant investment of your time and resources, with no guarantee of a successful outcome.