What are common mistakes in business English writing
Искусство общения в бизнесе на английском: ключевые навыки для успеха: What are common mistakes in business English writing
Common mistakes in business English writing include grammatical errors, incorrect word usage, false friends, improper prepositions, redundancy, confusing verb forms, and inappropriate tone or style. Some specific frequent errors are:
- Incorrect translation of words or phrases, e.g., translating “wie” as “how” universally or using “home office” instead of “working from home.”
- Tense mistakes, like using present tense incorrectly for future actions.
- Confusion between similar words such as “since” vs. “for,” “assure” vs. “ensure,” or wrong prepositions like “depend of” instead of “depend on.”
- Using informal contractions (I’m, we’ll) in formal writing.
- Starting sentences improperly with conjunctions like “And” or “But.”
- Misusing business jargon or false friends, for example, “to table something” means to postpone, not to present.
- Redundancy, such as “return back.”
- Errors in punctuation, such as incorrect apostrophe use or comma placement before “that.”
- Writing long, unclear sentences and failing to get to the main point quickly.
- Lack of proofreading, leading to spelling errors and repetitive word use.
- Misuse of gerunds and infinitives, e.g., “look forward to meet you” instead of “look forward to meeting you.”
- Addressing a company as “they” instead of “it” when referring to the organization.
These mistakes can lead to confusion, miscommunication, and a lack of professionalism in business correspondence and documents. 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10