By The Prompt Copywriting Team

May 21st, 2012

Prompt Grammar Tip: Active or Passive?

Prompt Grammar Tip: Active or Passive?

Writing in an active voice rather than a passive voice is actually a choice, not a strict grammatical rule. But if you’ve ever worked as a journalist or short form writer, or undergone fast-track media training, you could easily get the impression that passive is simply bad form.

In its most basic sense, an active voice focuses on a subject performing an action. In our industry, this might be: ‘Acme Industries launches product’. In a passive voice, that subject is instead acted upon, resulting in ‘The product is launched by Acme Industries’.

The passive voice is not wrong, and can indeed be preferable in some circumstances. But it does have some downsides that lead many editors, trainers and teachers to frown upon it. The verb structure in a passive sentence is lengthier, and generally lacks the clarity, simplicity and punch of an active construction. Spoken out loud, passive sentences often sound ‘clunkier’ and interrupt the flow and momentum of writing.

Once you’re aware of the distinction though, the passive voice definitely has its uses. Succinct headlines are often written in the passive: ‘Acme CEO Fired’ or ‘Acme Software Infected’, for example. Generally speaking, if you’re consciously using the passive tense to emphasize the action over the subject, then go for it. But if you’re just falling into a passive voice as you get tangled in the subject matter, then get active, and simplify that sentence structure.

To subscribe to Prompt’s weekly newsletter, which includes grammar, PR and marketing tips, please complete the form below, or email: newsletter@prompt-communications.com

 

By PromptBoston

May 18th, 2012

Are you sitting comfortably? Here's 'The Story of Send'

Are you sitting comfortably? Here's 'The Story of Send'

Google and its products split opinions and loyalties. But whether you’re a big fan and avid user, or have reservations about some of the corporation’s policies, you surely have to be impressed with its technologies from time to time? Perhaps it’s just hard to connect the tiny start-up that gave us its first no-frills search engine back in the late 90s, with the huge behemoth powering the cloud of services we see today?

When Google went public in 1998, it did so under the mission statement: “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. Which I guess is part of the reason that it’s still devoting effort to producing superbly executed branding and marketing projects like ‘The Story of Send’, which you’ll now find waiting to be clicked under Google Search.

The Story of Send is an animated tour of the journey of an email through Google infrastructure. It was developed and designed by Google Green, and unashamedly promotes Google’s data centre security and energy conservation credentials. Along the way you can stop off to look at galleries or watch videos that show you how Google’s data centres operate, what steps are taken on the server floor to protect data, and why some Google employees have to go to work wearing shorts.

Google says the project was an effort to show people how the journey of an email really works, because although it’s something that takes just seconds, it’s also something that has to work smoothly billions of times a day. Now, I’m assuming you probably knew that already, and also have a fair idea of the basic journey your messages have to take from your desktop to their destinations. But that’s no reason not to spend a few minutes watching The Story of Send. It’s great.

If you’ve ever worked with writers and illustrators to try and develop a simple, fun way of conveying dry, complex concepts, you’ll know that what ultimately looks simple, can prove quite a challenging task. This story though is slick, interesting and fun, and well worth the effort. The only thing I’m still trying to work out is, how do the plesiosaurs and vampires help..?

By Potato

May 16th, 2012

Potato/Patattah…‘swimming cossie’

Potato/Patattah…‘swimming cossie’

I’ve discovered that Americans can show an element of hilarity if you ask them if they own a ‘swimming costume’. Somehow it evokes images of chicken suits, or similar get up for a costume party. Note: I was going to say ‘fancy dress’ party, but it turns out that’s another phrase that isn’t used in America. But in Britain you can even shorten costume to ‘cossie’, as in: ‘Do you have your cossie with you?’

Instead of the potentially hilarious ‘costume’, Americans use the far more conservative and formal-sounding word ‘suit’, as in ‘bathing suit’ or ‘swimsuit’. I’m not going to say that one is correct over the other. But with the Olympics coming up, I can’t help thinking about Michael Phelps (who does look a bit Spiderman-esque in the pool; surely that counts as a costume?). Phelps and his team are heading to London equipped with ‘a revolutionary new system’, about which a Speedo scientist doctor said: “These are the fastest suits ever made”.

I still think it would have sounded so much cooler if Speedo’s scientist had said: “These are the fastest cossies ever made.”

By The Prompt Copywriting Team

May 9th, 2012

Prompt Grammar Tip: Is it ‘further’ or ‘farther’?

Prompt Grammar Tip: Is it ‘further’ or ‘farther’?

‘Further’ is always used when not referring to physical distance, for example, “He had to investigate further to find the answer.” But ‘farther’ is preferred when describing actual, measurable geographic distance. “He needed to travel farther to find the waterfall in the woods.” A good way to remember this is to note that farther has an ‘a,’ just like the word ‘atlas’, with an atlas representing physical distance.

To subscribe to Prompt’s weekly newsletter, which includes grammar, PR and marketing tips, please complete the form below or email newsletter@prompt-communications.com.

 

By Potato

May 8th, 2012

Potato/Patattah… The word 'homely'

Potato/Patattah… The word 'homely'

Homely is one of those confusing words because it is used on both sides of the Atlantic, yet has quite different meanings.

In the UK, it’s not a bad thing – I would genuinely use it to describe my parents’ house as somewhere I feel at home, and which is adorned with childhood memories. And my mum would be glad to hear me say that.

In common American parlance (and I have learnt this from painful experience), ‘homely’ is an insult, a way to describe something or someone unattractive or plain. If you want to describe something as welcoming or as evocative of a home-like atmosphere in the USA, the word you are grappling for is ‘homey’.

So if you meet Martha Stewart and want to congratulate her on her presentation of polenta shortbread, her art nouveau floral table decorations or her honey parchment glass light settings, the word you are looking for is homey. Or perhaps not.