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The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing: 18. E-mails

By: Bryan A. Garner

The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing is a 21-chapter book written by Bryan A. Garner and published in 2013 by the HBR Press. The author presents strategies for developing and communicating a…

• Length: 6 page(s)
• Publication Date: Jan 29, 2013
• Discipline: General Management
• Product #: 7772BC-PDF-ENG

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The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing is a 21-chapter book written by Bryan A. Garner and published in 2013 by the HBR Press. The author presents strategies for developing and communicating a clear message, a model for the writing process, guidance on specific writing skills, techniques to engage the reader, and various forms of business communication. Includes examples and detailed suggestions. Chapter 18, E-mails (6 pages), is the first of four chapters that address specific types of business communication. The author provides practical steps to write an effective email that will inspire the reader to action. He covers the subject line, syntax, style, address list, and signature line. He also presents two examples of good and bad emails.

Learning Objectives

To develop business writing skills

Jan 29, 2013

Discipline:

General Management

Harvard Business Press Chapters

7772BC-PDF-ENG

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HBR Guide to Better Business Writing

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Product Description

Publication Date: January 29, 2013

DON'T LET YOUR WRITING HOLD YOU BACK.

When you're fumbling for words and pressed for time, you might be tempted to dismiss good business writing as a luxury. But it's a skill you must cultivate to succeed: You'll lose time, money, and influence if your e-mails, proposals, and other important documents fail to win people over.

The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing , by writing expert Bryan A. Garner, gives you the tools you need to express your ideas clearly and persuasively so clients, colleagues, stakeholders, and partners will get behind them. This book will help you:

• Push past writer's block
• Grab--and keep--readers' attention
• Earn credibility with tough audiences
• Trim the fat from your writing
• Strike the right tone
• Brush up on grammar, punctuation, and usage

Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

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Book description

• Table of contents
• Front Cover
• Guide to Managing Stress
• When Writing…
• When Revising…
• The Starting Point
• The Argument
• Know Your Audience
• Adopt the Customer’s Point of View
• Follow a Disciplined Process
• Frame the Proposal
• Take Time to Assess
• How to Write E-mails People Will Read
• Is Your E-mail Concise—or Curt?
• Reality Check
• 1. Simplify the Structure
• 2. Stick to Specifcs
• 3. Use Formatting
• 4. Downshift Your Tone
• 5. Cut and Combine
• How to Write Correctly Without Knowing All the Rules
• 1. Never End a Sentence with a Preposition
• 2. Never Split an Infinitive
• 3. Never Begin a Sentence with “And” or “But”
• 4. Never Write a One-Sentence Paragraph

Product information

• Title: HBR Guide to Better Business Writing, 2nd Edition
• Author(s): Harvard Business Review
• Release date: August 2011
• Publisher(s): Harvard Business Review Press
• ISBN: 9781422183366

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HBR Guide to Better Business Writing (HBR Guide Series) Paperback – January 15, 2013

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DON'T LET YOUR WRITING HOLD YOU BACK.

When you're fumbling for words and pressed for time, you might be tempted to dismiss good business writing as a luxury. But it's a skill you must cultivate to succeed: You'll lose time, money, and influence if your e-mails, proposals, and other important documents fail to win people over.

The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing , by writing expert Bryan A. Garner, gives you the tools you need to express your ideas clearly and persuasively so clients, colleagues, stakeholders, and partners will get behind them. This book will help you:

• Push past writer's block
• Grab--and keep--readers' attention
• Earn credibility with tough audiences
• Trim the fat from your writing
• Strike the right tone
• Brush up on grammar, punctuation, and usage

Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

• Print length 240 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Harvard Business Review Press
• Publication date January 15, 2013
• Dimensions 5 x 1 x 9 inches
• ISBN-10 142218403X
• ISBN-13 978-1422184035
• See all details

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Product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard Business Review Press; 41489th edition (January 15, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 142218403X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1422184035
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.5 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1 x 9 inches
• #47 in Business Writing Skills (Books)
• #322 in Communication Skills

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About the author

Bryan a. garner.

Bryan A. Garner (born Nov. 17, 1958) is an American lawyer, grammarian, and lexicographer. He also writes on jurisprudence (and occasionally golf). He is the author of over 25 books, the best-known of which are Garner’s Modern English Usage (4th ed. 2016) and Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (2012—coauthored with Justice Antonin Scalia), as well as four unabridged editions of Black’s Law Dictionary. He serves as Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University. He also teaches from time to time at the University of Texas School of Law, Texas A&M School of Law, and Texas Tech School of Law.

In 2009, he was named Legal-Writing and Reference-Book Author of the Decade at a Burton Awards ceremony at the Library of Congress. He has received many other awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Book Award, the Scribes Book Award, the Bernie Siegan Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Plain Language.

His work has played a central role in our understanding of modern judging, advocacy, grammar, English usage, legal lexicography, and the common-law system of precedent. His books are frequently cited by American courts of all levels, including the United States Supreme Court.

His friendship with the novelist David Foster Wallace is memorialized in Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace and Bryan A. Garner Talk Language and Writing (2013). His friendship and writing partnership with Justice Antonin Scalia is depicted in the memoir Nino and Me: My Unusual Friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia (2018).

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