The AMA Handbook of Business Writing
The AMA Handbook of Business Writing
Editor/Author
Wilson, Kevin and Wauson, Jennifer
Publication Year: 2010
Publisher: AMACOM, Publishing Division of the American Management Association
Price: Core Collection Only

ISBN: 978-0-81-441589-4
Category: Language & Literature - Composition (Language arts)
Image Count:
178
Book Status: Available
Table of Contents
Arranged alphabetically and cross-referenced for easier use, the book presents clear examples of how to (and how not to) create winning materials every time. The authors' step-by-step instructions begin with an overview of the writing process, from preparation and research right through to final review and publication.
This book is found in the following Credo Collections:
Table of Contents
- INTRODUCTION
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- SECTION 1 The Writing Process
- Audience Analysis
- Brainstorming
- Research
- Interviewing
- Outlining
- Writing a Draft
- Business Writing Style
- Using Visuals
- Page Design
- Publication Design
- Editing
- Proofreading
- Document Review
- Revisions
- Documenting Sources
- Global Communications
- Collaborative Writing
- Promotional Writing
- SECTION 2 The Business Writer's Alphabetical Reference
- A, An
- Abbreviations
- Abbreviations for Measurements
- Abbreviations for Numbers
- Above, Below
- Absolute Form of an Adjective
- Absolute Phrase
- Absolutely
- Abstract Nouns
- Accent Marks
- Accept, Except
- Access, Excess
- Acronyms
- Action Verbs
- Active Voice
- A.D.
- Adjectival Noun
- Adjectival Opposites
- Adjective Phrase
- Adjectives
- Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts
- Adverbial Clause
- Adverbial Phrase
- Adverbs
- Advice, Advise
- Affect, Effect
- Affixes
- African-American
- Age
- Agents
- Agreement
- Aid, Aide
- Alike
- A Little
- Allegories
- Alliteration
- All Right, Alright
- Allusion, Illusion
- Alone, Lonely
- A Lot, Alot, Allot
- Already, All Ready
- Altogether, All Together
- Ambitransitive Verbs
- American English, British English
- Among, Between
- Ampersand
- A.M., P.M.
- an
- Anadiplosis
- Anaphora
- And Also
- And/Or
- Angry, Mad
- Animate Nouns
- Antagonyms
- Antecedent
- Anti-
- Antimetabole
- Antonyms
- Any, Either
- Any, Some
- Apart, A Part
- Apodosis
- Apostrophe
- Appears, Displays
- Appendix
- Apposition
- Appositives
- Articles
- As, Like
- Assure, Insure, Ensure
- Asterisks
- As to Whether
- As Well As
- Autoantonyms
- Auxiliary Verbs
- Average, Mean, Median
- A While, Awhile
- Awful, Awfully
- Bad, Badly
- Back-Channeling
- Backslash, Slash
- Back up, Backup
- Base Form of a Verb
- Basically, Essentially, Totally
- B.C.
- Because, Since, As
- Been, Gone
- Being That, Being As
- Below
- Beside, Besides
- Between, Among
- Bias, Biased
- Biased or Sexist Language
- Bibliography
- Billion
- Biweekly, Bimonthly, Semiweekly, Semimonthly
- Blind
- Blog, Weblog
- Bold Fonts
- Bored, Boring
- Both, Alike
- Both, Each
- Brackets
- Brake, Break
- Brand Names
- Breath, Breathe
- Bring, Take
- British English
- Bulleted List
- Bushel
- Business, Right
- Buzzwords
- By, Bye, Buy
- By, Until
- Call Back, Callback
- Call Out, Callout
- Callouts
- Came By
- Can, May
- Cannot
- Can't Seem
- Canvas, Canvass
- Capital Letters
- Capital, Capitol
- Capitalization
- Decorations
- Degrees (Academic)
- Districts
- Captions
- Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers
- Case
- Cataphora
- Causative Verbs
- Caution Notice
- CD, DVD
- Censor, Censure, Sensor, Censer
- Champaign, Champagne
- Check, Control
- Chiasmus
- Chicano, Latino, Hispanic
- Choose, Chose
- Cite, Site, Sight
- Citing Publications
- Clauses
- Cleanup, Clean Up
- Cleft Sentences
- Clichés
- Click
- Click and Drag
- Click On
- Closed Compounds
- Coleman-Liau Index
- Collective Adjectives
- Collective Nouns
- Collocations
- Colloquial
- Colon
- Combination
- Comma
- Common Adjectives
- Common Nouns
- Company and Product Names
- Comparatives
- Compared to, Compared with
- Complement, Compliment
- Complements
- Complex Prepositions
- Compound Nouns
- Compound Predicates
- Compound Sentences
- Compounding Sentence Elements
- Compound Words
- Comptroller, Controller
- Concord
- Concrete Nouns
- Conditional Perfect
- Conditionals
- Conjunctions
- Conjunctive Adverbs
- Conjuncts
- Connote, Denote
- Considered to Be
- Consonants
- Continuous Verbs
- Contractions
- Contranyms
- Control
- Convince, Persuade
- Cooperate
- Coordinated Adjectives
- Coordinating Conjunctions
- Copula Verbs
- Copyright
- Correlative Conjunction
- Could of, Might of
- Council, Counsel, Consul
- Count Nouns
- Credible, Credulous
- Cross-Reference
- Cut-and-Paste
- Danger Notice
- Dangling Modifiers
- Dangling Participles
- Dash
- Data
- Dates
- Deaf or Hard of Hearing
- Deal
- Decimals
- Declarative Mood
- Declarative Sentence
- Defining Relative Clause
- Definite Article
- Defuse, Diffuse
- Degree Adverbs
- Degree Titles
- Deixis
- Demonstrative Adjectives
- Demonstrative Pronouns
- Denominal Adjectives
- Denote, Connote
- Dependent Clauses
- Descriptive Writing
- Desert, Dessert
- Determiners
- Device, Devise
- Diacritic
- Different from, Different than
- Diffuse, Defuse
- Dimensions
- Direct Objects
- Disability
- Disc, Disk
- Discreet, Discrete
- Disease Names
- Disjuncts
- Display, Monitor, Screen
- Disyllabic
- Ditransitive Verbs
- Ditto Marks
- Do, Does, Did
- Dollars and Cents
- Don't, Doesn't
- Do's and Don'ts
- Dot-Com
- Double Negatives
- Double Possessives
- Double-Click
- Download, Upload
- Downtoners
- Drag-and-Drop
- Due to the Fact That
- DVD
- Dynamic Adjectives
- Dynamic Verbs
- Each Other, One Another
- Each, Their
- Effect, Affect
- Eggcorn
- e.g., i.e.
- Either, Neither
- Elicit, Illicit
- Ellipses
- Elliptical Clauses
- Email
- Embedded Questions
- Em Dash
- Emigrate, Immigrate
- Eminent, Imminent, Immanent
- Emoticons
- Empathic Forms
- Empathy, Sympathy
- En Dash
- Endnotes
- End Result
- Endophora
- Engine, Motor
- Enough, Not Enough
- Enquire, Inquire
- Ensure, Assure, Insure
- Enthuse, Enthusiastic
- Entitled
- Envelop, Envelope
- Epanadiplosis
- Epanalepsis
- Epistemic Modality
- Epistrophe
- Epizeuxis
- Equally as Important
- Equations
- Ergative Verbs
- Essentially
- et al.
- etc.
- Euphemisms
- Everyday
- Everyone, Every One
- Every Time
- Except, Unless
- Excess, Access
- Exclamation Point
- Exclamatory Sentence
- Exclusive Adverbs
- Existential There,
- Exit
- Exophoric
- Expect
- Expletive Constructions
- Expository Writing
- Extranet
- Extraposition
- Factitive Verbs
- Faint
- Fair, Fare
- FANBOYS
- Farther, Further
- Faze, Phase
- Feint, Faint
- Female, Woman
- Fewer, Less
- Few, A Few
- Figuratively
- Figure of Speech
- Figures
- Finite Verbs
- First Conditional
- Fix, Situation
- Flair, Flare
- Flesch-Kincaid Index
- Flier, Flyer
- Focus Adverb
- Fog Index
- Font, Typeface
- Foot, Feet
- Footnotes, Endnotes
- Forego, Forgo
- Foreign Words and Phrases
- Forever, For Ever
- For, Fore, Four
- Formatting
- Formulas
- Forward, Forwards, Foreword
- Fractions
- Fragments
- Full Time, Full-time
- Further
- Fused Sentences
- Future Perfect
- Future Perfect Progressive
- Future Progressive
- Gage, Gauge
- Gender
- Genitive Marker
- Gerund
- Gigabyte
- Gigahertz
- Glossary
- Gone, Went
- Good, Well
- Got, Gotten
- Grammatical Hierarchy
- Gray, Grey
- Guess
- Handicap, Disability
- Hard Disk, Hard Drive
- Headings and Subheadings
- Helping Verbs
- Hendiatris
- Heteronyms
- Highlighting
- Hispanic, Latino, Chicano
- Hit
- Homographs
- Homonyms
- Homophones
- Hypallage
- Hyperbaton
- Hyperbole
- Hyperlinks
- Hyphens
- Hyphenated Compound Words
- Hyphenated Numbers
- Hyponyms
- Hypophora
- Hypothetical Questions
- Hysteron Proteron
- Idiolect
- Idioms, 230i.e., e.g.
- If, When, Whether
- Illicit, Elicit
- Illusion, Allusion
- Illustrations
- I, Me, Myself
- Immanent, Eminent
- Immigrate, Emigrate
- Imperative Mood
- Imply, Infer
- Inanimate Nouns
- Inaugurate
- Inchoative Verbs
- Indefinite Articles
- Indefinite Pronouns
- Independent Clauses
- Index
- Indicative Mood
- Indirect Objects
- Indirect Speech
- Inductive Antonomasia
- Infinitives
- Inflection
- Inherent and Noninherent Adjectives
- Initialisms, Acronyms
- Innuendo
- In Order to
- Inquire, Enquire
- In-Sentence Lists
- Inside of, Within
- Insure, Ensure, Assure
- Intensive Pronouns
- Interjections
- Internet, Intranet, Extranet
- Interrogative Pronouns
- Interrogative Sentences
- Intranet
- Intransitive Verbs
- Introductory Modifier
- Invite
- Irony
- Irregular Plurals
- Irregular Spelling
- Irregular Verbs
- Isocolon
- Italics
- Its, It's
- Jargon
- Job Titles
- Joint Possessives
- Jr., Sr.
- Kenning
- Keyboard Terminology
- Kilobyte
- Kilohertz
- Kind, Kinds
- Kind of, Sort of
- Latino, Hispanic, Chicano
- Latin Terms
- Latitude, Longitude
- Lay, Lie
- Lay Out, Layout
- Lead, Led
- Learn, Teach
- Leave, Let
- Led, Lead
- Lend, Loan
- Lessen, Lesson
- Less, Fewer
- Let, Leave
- Lets, Let's
- Lexical Density
- Liable, Likely
- Lie, Lay
- Lighted, Lit
- Like, As
- Line
- Linking Verbs
- Lists
- Literally, Figuratively
- Lit, Lighted
- Litotes
- Little, A Little
- Loan, Lend
- Log On, Log Off, Logon, Logoff
- Lonely, Alone
- Longitude, Latitude
- Loose, Lose
- Lost, Lost Out
- Lots
- Mad, Angry
- Margin Notes
- Mass Nouns
- Mathematical Equations
- Maybe, May Be
- May, Can
- May, Might
- Mean, Median, Average
- Megabyte
- Megahertz
- Meiosis
- Me, Myself, I
- Metaphor
- Metonymy
- Mfr., Mfg.
- Might Could
- Might, May
- Might of, Should of, Would of, Could of
- Minimal Pairs
- Misplaced Modifiers
- Mixed Conditionals
- Mixed Metaphor
- Mnemonics
- Modifiers
- Monitor
- Monosyllabic
- Mood
- More Than, Over
- Morpheme
- Most of All, Almost
- Motor, Engine
- Mouse Terminology
- Multicolumn Lists
- Myself, Me
- Names
- Negative Adverbs
- Negative Formations
- Negative Pronouns
- Neither, Either
- Neologism
- Never
- Nominal Adjectives
- Nominative Absolutes
- Nominative Case
- Nominative Possessives
- Noncount Nouns
- Nondefining Relative Clause
- Nonfinite Verbs
- Noninherent Adjectives
- Nonrestrictive Clauses
- Notices
- Noun Case
- Noun Clause
- Noun Phrase
- Noun Plurals
- Nouns
- Nouns of Address
- Number Abbreviations
- Numbered List
- Numbers or Words
- Object
- Object Complement
- Objective Case
- Off
- Offline
- On Account of
- One
- One Another, Each Other
- Online, Offline
- Only
- Onomatopoeia
- Open
- Open Compounds
- Ordinal Numbers
- Over, More Than
- Oxford Comma
- Oxymoron
- Page Breaks
- Page Numbering
- Palindromes
- Paragraphs
- Parallel Construction
- Paraphrasing
- Parentheses
- Parenthetical Elements
- Participle
- Participial Phrase
- Parts of Speech
- Party
- Passed, Past
- Passive Voice
- Past Perfect Progressive Tense
- Past Perfect Tense
- Past Progressive Tense
- Past Simple Tense
- People
- Per
- Percent
- Percentage
- Perfect Aspect
- Perfect Infinitive
- Perfect Tense
- Period
- Person
- Personal Pronouns
- Personification
- Persuade, Convince
- Phase, Faze
- Phatic Speech
- Phrasal Verbs
- Phrases
- Phrases and Words to Omit
- Pidgin
- Plagiarism
- Pleonasm
- Pluperfect
- Plurals
- Plurals of Numbers
- Plus
- P.M.
- Point in Time
- Polyptoton
- Polyseme
- Polysyllabic
- Possessive Adjectives
- Possessive Case
- Possessive Pronouns
- Possessives
- Posted, Informed
- Postmodifier
- Precede, Proceed
- Predeterminers
- Predicates
- Preface
- Prefixes
- Premodifier
- Prepositional Phrase
- Prepositions
- Present Infinitive
- Present Participle
- Present Perfect Tense
- Present Progressive Tense
- Present Simple Tense
- Press, Type, Click, Strike, Hit, Select
- Previous
- Principal, Principle
- Problem Pronouns
- Proceed, Precede
- Progressive Verbs
- Pronouns
- Pronouns and Antecedent Agreement
- Proper Adjectives
- Proper Nouns
- Protatis
- Quantifiers
- Question Mark
- Question Types
- Quitclaim
- Quit, Exit
- Quotation Marks
- Raise, Rise
- Rational, Rationale
- Real
- Reciprocal Pronouns
- Recur, Reoccur
- Redundancy
- Reflexive Pronouns
- Regard, Regards
- Regular Verbs
- Relative Adverbs
- Relative Clauses
- Relative Pronouns
- Reoccur
- Reported Speech
- Restrictive Clauses
- Resultative Adjective
- Resumptive Modifier
- Rhetorical Question
- Rhyme
- Right, Business
- Right-click
- Rise, Raise
- Roman Numerals
- Root, Rout, Route
- Run
- Run-On Sentences
- Same
- Sarcasm
- Satire
- Screen
- Screen Terminology
- Second Conditional
- Select
- Semicolon
- Semiweekly, Semimonthly
- Sensor, Censor
- Sentence
- Sentence Fragments
- Sentence Subject
- Sentence Types
- Sentence Variety
- Setup, Set Up
- Sexist Language
- Shall, Will
- Shape
- Should, Must
- Should of
- Should, Would
- Shut Down, Shutdown
- Sic,
- Sign In, Sign Out, Sign On, Sign Up
- Simile
- Since, Because
- Singular
- Sit, Set
- Site, Sight, Cite
- Slang
- Slash
- Small Caps
- So
- Software Menus and Commands
- Solidus
- Some, Any
- Sometime, Some Time
- Sort of, Kind of
- Spaces After Periods
- Split Infinitive
- Sr., Jr.
- Stative Adjective
- Stative Verb
- Subheadings
- Subject
- Subject Complement
- Subjective Case
- Subjective Pronouns
- Subject-Verb Agreement
- Subject-Verb Inversion
- Subjunctive
- Submittal, Submission
- Subordinate Clause
- Subordinating Conjunctions
- Suffix
- Summative Modifier
- Superlative
- Syllable
- Symbols and Special Characters
- Sympathy, Empathy
- Synecdoche
- Synonyms
- Table of Contents
- Tables
- Tag Question
- Take, Bring
- Tautology
- Teach, Learn
- Telephone Numbers
- Temperature
- Tense
- Terabyte
- Than I, Than Me
- Than, Then
- That, Which
- There, Their, They're
- Third Conditional
- Time
- Time Zones
- Titled, Entitled
- Titles
- Tmesis
- To, At
- Tone
- Topic Sentence
- Totally
- Toward, Towards
- Transitions
- Transitive Verb
- Try and, Come and, Be Sure and
- Type, Enter
- Typeface, Font
- Unbiased Language
- Uncountable Noun
- Underlining
- Understatement
- Until, By
- Upload, Download
- Uppercase
- URL
- U.S.
- Used to
- Utterance
- Vain, Vane, Vein
- Verbal Phrase
- Verb Complement
- Verb Forms
- Verb Group
- Verbiage
- Verb Mood
- Verbose Expressions
- Verbs
- Verb Tense
- Versus, vs.
- Vertical Lists
- Visually Impaired, Blind
- Voice
- Voice Mail
- Vowels
- Wait On
- Wander, Wonder
- Web
- Weblog
- Web Pages, Web Site
- Weights and Measures
- Well, Good
- Went, Gone
- When, Whether
- Where
- Whether or Not
- Which
- Who's, Whose
- Who, Which
- Who, Whom
- Will, Shall
- Within, Inside of
- Woman, Female
- Wonder, Wander
- Word Classes
- Words or Figures
- Wordy Expressions
- Would of
- Would, Should
- Xmas, Christmas
- Yes/No Questions
- Zero Article
- Zero Conditional
- Zeugma
- Zip Code
- SECTION 3 Sample Business Documents
- Abstracts
- Acceptance Letter
- Acknowledgment Letter
- Adjustment Letter
- Announcement Letter
- Annual Report
- Application Letter
- Brochures
- Business Letter
- Business Plan
- Collection Letter
- Commendation Letter
- Complaint Letter
- Cover Letters
- Directives
- Email
- Endorsement Letter
- Forms
- Fund-Raising Letter
- Grant Proposals
- Instructions
- Introductions
- Inquiry Letter
- Job Descriptions
- Job Offer Letter
- Meeting Agenda
- Meeting Minutes
- Memorandum
- Mission Statements
- Newsletters
- Notices
- Permission Letter
- Policies, Rules, or Guidelines
- PowerPoint Presentations
- Press Releases
- Procedures
- Progress Reports
- Proposals
- Questionnaires and Surveys
- Reference Letters
- Refusal Letter
- Reports
- Request Letters
- Research Report
- Resignation Letter
- Résumés
- Sales Letters
- Seasonal Correspondence
- Specifications
- Speeches and Oral Presentations
- Summaries
- Termination of Employment Letter
- Training Manual
- Trip Report
- User Guide
- Warning Letter
- Web Sites
- White Papers