BizWritingTip response: I also remember learning this rhyme years ago. But there are many exceptions to the rule: beige, codeine, deify, deity, deign, dreidel, eider, eight, feign, feint, feisty, foreign, freight, heifer, heigh-ho, heinous, heir, heist, neigh, neighbour, peignoir, rein, Rottweiler, science, seine, seismic, seize, sheik, society, sovereign, surfeit, their, veil, vein, weight, and weir.

Unfortunately, you were not taught the last few words of the rhyme:

” i before e, except after c,

or when sounded like ‘a’
as in neighbor and weigh.”

But there are even exceptions to this rule: seize and seizure and also leisure, weird, height, either, forfeit, and neither.

Frankly, instead of trying to defend the guideline — “i before e except after c” — why don’t we all agree that it’s a dumb rule and just let it go?

However, I realize there a number of people – for a variety of reasons — who prefer an electronic version. That’s why I asked my BizWritingTip readers to tell me their favourite, free online dictionaries. Here are the more popular sites along with my comments.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org

I liked this site. Cambridge Dictionaries Online is clean, easy to use and does not overwhelm you with information or advertising. The variations in spelling are US and UK. There is also access to audio pronunciations and a thesaurus.

http://www.merriam-webster.com

The Merriam-Webster site is easy to navigate, but the site is so visually busy that it takes time to find the information you want. Canadian and UK spellings are listed as variants of words. I found the pop-up advertising distracting.

http://nhd.heinle.com/home.aspx

Newbury House Dictionary of American English has a site that is easy to use and attractive. It gives information on parts of speech, definitions, and how to use the word in a sentence. You can also browse other words. Their name is correct. It is a great site for American English. If you try “colour,” it asks whether the word is misspelled.

http://dictionary.reference.com/

This site provides all the information you need in a dictionary and more. You can obtain puzzles and crosswords, related searches for words, and even translations in other languages. I spent longer than I intended on this site because there were so many other intriguing offerings. My only complaint is that all the advertising on the site is distracting. However, this is a free service, and they have to pay their bills.

http://www.answers.com/

This site claims it is “your best source of information on everything — offering entries from the world’s leading reference publications along with Q&A from our community.” It truly does offer a lot of information — as well as advertising. The site is useful both as a dictionary and an encyclopedia, and it lists spelling variations.

Many thanks to all the readers who took the time to share their recommendations.

BizWritingTip response: I prefer a hard copy dictionary because in looking up one word I often glance at surrounding words and in helps to keep my English “fresh.” (Online dictionaries seldom show other words.) And I just like the feel of paper. My favourite source is the Oxford Canadian Dictionary.

But I realize my views on this topic may now be passé so I decided to search for a good, online source I could recommend.

There are a number of sites to choose from. However, there is a cost associated with some of them, and other sites require that you download the dictionary itself – which I am loath to do.

Frankly, I liked the MSN Encarta site at http://encarta.msn.com/ as it also provides an encyclopedia and an atlas. The dictionary itself is also part of my Word 2007 package.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary site at www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary is also good. Although it is not a Canadian source, the dictionary did not reject the Canadian spelling of certain words. For example, it accepted both travelling and traveling. (Doubling the “l” in words with a suffix is a Canadian thing.)

I would love to hear from any readers who have a favourite source they may want to pass along. It must be free, easy to access, and preferably Canadian. Remember we are looking for more than a site that just provides synonyms. We want to be able to understand the meaning of word, its pronunciation, and its usage.

By the way, when carrying out this research I found an October 3 news release announcing that the entire staff of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary has been laid off because of declining sales.

Apparently, the company will continue to publish the Canadian Oxford Dictionary with the assistance of Canadian freelancers and the lexicography department in Oxford, England.

Yes, I must definitely get with the times.

Unfortunately, today we receive much information by radio, TV, and other multi-media sources. Yet none of these mechanisms have the ability to improve our reading skills. In addition, in the workplace we have so much to read we often skim documents without actually forming the words in our minds. We pick out what we want to read – until our eyes are distracted by spelling and grammar errors. And this is where the problem lies.

I was recently asked to work with a man in his early 30s who has almost all the tools to climb high within his company. However, his manager is concerned about promoting him because of his poor writing skills. Even though he uses a spelling and grammar check, his emails appear sloppy: wrong verb endings, missing words, and run-on sentences.

The manager believes – and rightly so – that this man’s emails present a poor image of him and also reflect badly on their company, which brands itself as a highly professional organization.

In case you are wondering, English is not the man’s first language. But he did graduate from a Canadian high school and university.

My first step was to ask the young man to print out his emails and to read them aloud to me. He found it difficult. He wasn’t used to reading this way. Like many writers in the business world, he can’t catch his own errors because he just can’t see them. I am beginning to think this may be a problem facing many of today’s writers.

People do not read carefully anymore. Another man who was attending one of my grammar workshops professed his strong desire to be totally fluent in English. But when I asked what he read he said he only liked to read in his native language. He was too busy to read an English newspaper.

If you don’t read, you won’t be comfortable with sentence structure and word choice. If you want to be a good writer, you must read. Read anything: newspapers, billboards, cereal boxes. And try to read aloud – to anyone who will listen.

That’s how we’ll create better writers in the workforce.

BizWritingTip response: I was taught that when the first verb is a strong request the second verb should be in the infinitive form (to + a verb). Therefore, the phrase should be “try to.”

However, according to the Oxford Dictionary, “try to” is considered formal and “try and” is the informal version. Both are now correct.

Examples
Please try to complete the report by Friday. (considered formal)
Please try and complete the report by Friday. (informal)

Remember, grammar rules are not written in stone. They are temporary conventions that help us to communicate. They change with custom or style.

BizWritingTip response: This question deals with a number of grammar issues. First, although you often see and hear the phrase “on behalf of myself,” it is a grammar error. “Of” is a preposition; it must always be followed by an objective pronoun. This means you can only say “on behalf of me.”

Second, it has always been considered poor etiquette to put “me” or “I” before the other person or group. Parents are always telling their children never to say, “Me and Susan went to the store.” The same thing applies here. It should be “on behalf of the group and me.”

Now let’s get down to the thought process surrounding the phrase.”Behalf” comes from “bi-halve” meaning “on the part of.”

If you say, “On behalf of the group and me, I would like to thank you for … ,” it emphasizes that you are part of the group and that you agree wholeheartedly with the consensus. It is fine to use it this way.

However, I think it is unnecessary. I much prefer “On behalf of the group, I would like to thank you for ….” It is much cleaner. The underlying assumption is that you are part of the group.

On behalf of my readers, I would like to thank Graham for this question.

BizWritingTip response: The expression “I could care less” has caused a great deal of criticism for many years. The original phrase “I couldn’t care less” was a British creation. It was first seen in print in 1946 as the title of a book by Anthony Phelps regarding his experiences during World War II. The phrase migrated to North America in the ‘50s.

No one is quite sure when the inverted form, “I could care less,” came into being. However, it is common in North American slang today.

If you look at the phrase logically, “I couldn’t care less” means there is no interest whatsoever. “I could care less” means there is a little interest.

Regardless, when someone says either of these phrases, you still get the same meaning because of the inflection they put into the words. They are being sarcastic. They really don’t care.

In writing, there is no voice inflection. The inverted phrase just sits there looking weird. I strongly suggest that, if you feel the need to use the expression in written form, you use the older form “I couldn’t care less.” This does not require a pause for interpretation.

Trust this helps those who do care.

BizWritingTip response: According to the Oxford dictionary, the noun bunch refers to “a cluster of things growing or fastened together.” Therefore, you can talk about a bunch of grapes or flowers growing in bunches.

The dictionary also lists a secondary meaning for bunch: “a group or a gang.”

Example (correct but informal)
I am not happy with her bunch of friends.

However, this secondary meaning is regarded as informal. I agree with the BizWritingTip reader who finds the phrasing awkward. So although it could be used in certain circumstances, I do not recommend using bunch when referring to people in the business world. I prefer the word “group.”

Example (correct)
I am not happy with her group of friends.

Another informal definition of bunch is “lots.”

So thanks a bunch for the question.

BizWritingTip response:  Yes, both sentences are correct. However, they express slightly different ideas. Up on means to move in an upward motion onto a surface. Upon just means on a surface.  In fact, the prepositions — on and upon — are often interchangeable although on is usually preferred. Upon is considered more formal.

Examples (correct)
The dog jumped up on the roof. (The dog moved itself upward onto the roof.)
The dog jumped upon the roof. (This is formal way of stating that the dog moved onto the roof.)
The dog jumped on the roof. (This is considered a less formal way of saying the dog moved onto the roof.)

On and upon are also used with the verb based.

Examples
The book is based on the life of Lady Duff Gordon.
The book is based upon the life of Lady Duff Gordon. (This is a more formal statement.)

There are, however, a few expressions that require you to only use upon.

Examples
Once upon a time
Row upon row of seats
Summer is almost upon us.

BizWritingTip response: Here is another area where styles have changed. Today, if a letter is addressed to two or more people at different addresses, the individual address blocks may be placed under each other with 1 blank line between. Alternatively, you can place the address blocks side by side.

Example (correct)

Mr. Robert Smith                  Mr. George Brown
Finance Manager                 Vice President of Sales
Starbrite Industries Inc.      Glorious Enterprises
234 Street Name                     567 Street Name
City Province Postal Code    City Province Postal Code

If the letter is addressed to two or more people at the same address, list each name on a separate line. There is no need to include their positions unless the titles are very short and can be placed on the same line as the name. Also, leave out the department name unless both people are in the same department.

Mr. Robert Smith
Ms. Georgia Brown
Starbrite Industries Inc.
234 Street Name
City Province Postal Code

Use separate envelopes and give the full address for each individual; omit all reference to other names.

As for the salutation line — if the letter is addressed to two or more men, you have three options:
Dear Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown:
Dear Messrs. Smith and Brown: (formal)
Dear Robert Smith and George Brown:

If the letter is addressed to two or more women, you have four options:
Dear Mrs. Smith and Ms. Brown:
Dear Mesdames Smith and Brown: (highly formal)
Dear Mses. Smith and Brown: (formal)
Dear Claudia Smith and Georgia Brown:

If the letter is addressed to a man and a woman, it is quite simple:
Dear Ms. Smith and Mr. Brown:
Dear Claudia Smith and George Brown:

Note: In selecting Miss, Mrs. or Ms., always use the woman’s preference. If you do not know the preference, use the title Ms. (Ms. merely indicates a female. It does not indicate marital status.)