Grammar tips: don’t be actively annoying
Ever notice how many companies are busy being active? If they’re not actively reviewing their strategy, they’re actively looking for acquisitions or actively considering quitting the UK for tax reasons.
What they’re also doing is actively using redundant words. None of these things can be inactive.
Of course, this use of actively is all about emphasis. Companies want to get across that these are things they’re thinking hard about or that they want to happen. But it’s a dull, lazy and imprecise way of making those points, and we’ve all had enough of dull, lazy and imprecise business writing.
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Tags: adverbs, communication, copywriting, grammar
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by brant@shedfire and Richard Hollins, Richard Hollins. Richard Hollins said: A short and sweet copywriting blog post: Don't be actively annoying http://bit.ly/9A5YRF [...]