About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarperCollins

ISBN-10015602733X

ISBN-139780156027335

eBay Product ID (ePID)26038290937

Product Key Features

Number of Pages256 Pages

Publication NameYou Send Me : Getting It Right When You Write Online

LanguageEnglish

SubjectBusiness Communication / General, Etiquette, Grammar & Punctuation, Internet / General, Rhetoric

Publication Year2003

TypeNot Available

Subject AreaComputers, Reference, Language Arts & Disciplines, Business & Economics

AuthorPatricia T. O'conner, Stewart Kellerman

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.6 in

Item Weight10.4 Oz

Item Length8 in

Item Width5.3 in

Additional Product Features

ReviewsWhich came first, abominable writing or the computers on which that writing is wrought? Either way, say Patricia T. O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman in You Send Me, "much of what passes for writing in cyberspace is dreadful." Sending e-mail, joining chat rooms, and putting up Web sites is so easy that you might think the writing doesn't matter. Guess again. "When you write well, you connect," say the authors. "When you write badly, you don't." Some of You Send Me--lessons on grammar, punctuation, spelling, and confusing words--applies to all writing; the rest is tailored to online writing, particularly e-mailing. There's advice on writing subject lines, getting to the point, and getting the facts right. The authors recommend politeness and discretion, the use of the Shift key, and the inclusion of greetings and closings. Ask permission before sending attachments, they advise, "don't put anything in an office e-mail that you wouldn't want the whole office to see," "go easy on the Forward button," and "never hit Send in anger." And remember: "The less time you spend thinking about your message," they say, "the more time someone else has to spend reading it.", I give my wholehearted endorsement ... O'Conner and Kellerman ... write concisely ... and charmingly ... about crafting effective e-mail. -- Charles Matthews, The Mercury News (San Jose, CA) A small but powerful volume dedicated to the notion that email can be as tricky as it is time-saving. -- Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) Funny and sure to generate interest.... Their goal: encourage tact, taste, brevity, truth, good spelling and good grammar in e-mail. --Anne Stephenson, Arizona Republic Delivers the goods when it comes to clear writing and the basics of e-mailing.... Most comprehensive guide to e-mail protocol. -- David M. Kinchen, HuntingtonNews.net (Huntington, WV) Plain old fun.... I highly recommend it.... Very helpful ... suggestions and advice delivered in a breezy, conversational style. -- Pam Robinson, American Copy Editors Society A lively and articulate guide to ... the greatest thing to happen to communication since the invention of print. -- Richard Lederer I love e-mail, but my love for it would run even deeper if everyone followed the sound advice given here. -- Barbara Wallraff Before you click 'Send,' read You Send Me. ... Common sense and uncommon humor. -- David Feldman Pat O'Conner ... and Stewart Kellerman make it clear that the future of English (God help us) is in e-mail. -- Leonard Lopate, PRAISE FOR WORDS FAIL ME "This is the other book Bill Strunk would have written if he'd had more of a sense of humor."--SharpWriter.com PRAISE FOR WOE IS I "A cool book."--Garrison Keillor "Lighthearted and funny . . . It's like Strunk and White combined with S. J. Perleman."--Daniel Pinkwater, The New York Times Book Review, In spite of some clever chapter titles, this thin style guide offers little more than commonsense advice about when and how to send e-mails. Whether e-mailing belongs to a new generation of letter writers or to the youngest of conversationalists, we should already know to be electronically polite and cautious as well as to be ever conscious of our present and future audiences, both known and unknown. While sections on avoiding cliches and platitudes are useful reminders of how to become a better writer, why not tackle other stylistic flaws like the overuse of the passive voice, the nominalization of verbs, and the occasional shift from third-person to first-person-plural exposition? While sections on misused and misspelled words are useful, the lists provided by O'Conner (Words Fail Me) and her husband, journalist Kellerman, are limited and sometimes idiosyncratic. Many writers will find that as a usage manual this well-intentioned book is incomplete and as an exploration of the potential for effective communications through e-mail it just begins to "scratch the surface" (a phrase that should be adde d to the section titled "Trite Stuff"). Herbert E. Shapiro, SUNY/Empire State Coll., Rochester Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc., PRAISE FOR YOU SEND ME "O'Conner and Kellerman . . . write concisely (which is very much to the point) and charmingly (which ought to be, too) about crafting effective e-mail."-- San Jose Mercury News "Their concise, lively writing in this book demonstrates the virtues they preach."--Barbara Walraff, author of Word Court, PRAISE FORYOU SEND ME "O'Conner and Kellerman . . . write concisely (which is very much to the point) and charmingly (which ought to be, too) about crafting effective e-mail."--San Jose Mercury News "Their concise, lively writing in this book demonstrates the virtues they preach."--Barbara Walraff, author ofWord Court, PRAISE FOR WORDS FAIL ME "This is the other book Bill Strunk would have written if he'd had more of a sense of humor."--SharpWriter.com PRAISE FOR WOE IS I "A cool book."--Garrison Keillor "Lighthearted and funny . . . It's like Strunk and White combined with S. J. Perleman."--Daniel Pinkwater, The New York Times Book Review --

Dewey Edition21

Dewey Decimal808/.042/0285

Table Of ContentContents Acknowledgments Introduction PART I The Virtual Mensch 1. Protocool: Attitude Adjustment 2. All's Well That Sends Well: Anatomy of an E-Mail 3. To E or Not to E: When Online's Out of Line 4. Accustomed to Your Interface: Keeping the Reader in Mind 5. A Click and a Promise: Getting the Facts Straight PART II Alpha Mail 6. Natural Selection: Conciser Is Nicer 7. The E-Mail Eunuch: Beefing Up Wussy Writing 8. The Trite Stuff: Nipping Clichés in the Bud 1 9. Wired Write: Are You MakingSense? 10. Get a Virtual Life: Operating Instructions PART III Words of Passage 11. Grammar à la Modem: A Crash Course 12. Go Configure: Abused, Confused, and Misused Words 13. Alphabet Soup: Spelling It Right 14. Period Piece: The Perils of Punctuation Afterword Bibliography Index

Intended AudienceTrade

SynopsisPatricia T. O'Conner, the bestselling language maven who charmed legions of readers into civilizing their grammar ( Woe Is I ) and their writing ( Words Fail Me ), now drags proper English kicking and screaming into the Age of E-Mail. Do the old truths still apply? Yes, insist O'Conner and co-author Stewart Kellerman, her journalist husband. In fact, good English and good manners are even more important online. Thanks to the computer, we're writing again, but we'll have to upgrade our lousy language and social skills or suffer the cyber-consequences. With chapters on etiquette (To E or Not to E), beefier writing (The E-Mail Eunuch), deconstructing a message (All's Well That Sends Well), and civilized English (Grammar la Modem), You Send Me delivers everything you need to connect with real people in the virtual world., Patricia T. O'Conner, the bestselling language maven who charmed legions of readers into civilizing their grammar ( Woe Is I ) and their writing ( Words Fail Me ), now drags proper English kicking and screaming into the Age of E-Mail. Do the old truths still apply? Yes, insist O'Conner and co-author Stewart Kellerman, her journalist husband. In fact, good English and good manners are even more important online. Thanks to the computer, we're writing again, but we'll have to upgrade our lousy language and social skills or suffer the cyber-consequences. With chapters on etiquette (To E or Not to E), beefier writing (The E-Mail Eunuch), deconstructing a message (All's Well That Sends Well), and civilized English (Grammar à la Modem), You Send Me delivers everything you need to connect with real people in the virtual world., Patricia T. O'Conner, the bestselling language maven who charmed legions of readers into civilizing their grammar (Woe Is I) and their writing (Words Fail Me), now drags proper English kicking and screaming into the Age of E-Mail. Do the old truths still apply? Yes, insist O'Conner and co-author Stewart Kellerman, her journalist husband. In fact, good English and good manners are even more important online. Thanks to the computer, we're writing again, but we'll have to upgrade our lousy language and social skills or suffer the cyber-consequences. With chapters on etiquette (To E or Not to E), beefier writing (The E-Mail Eunuch), deconstructing a message (All's Well That Sends Well), and civilized English (Grammar à la Modem), You Send Me delivers everything you need to connect with real people in the virtual world., Fresh from charming hundreds of thousands of readers into using good grammar and writing better ( Woe Is I and Words Fail Me ), Patricia T. O'Conner, joined by her journalist husband, tackles the newest challenge to effective communication: e-mail. If you think that e-mail is a breeze, that you are taking full advantage of its strengths and avoiding the pitfalls, think again. You Send Me puts you ahead of the game. From the simplest tips about making your send-alongs a pleasure for the recipient, to subject headlines that make people open your mail, to creating the tone of civility that makes the workplace a pleasure, Patricia T. O'Conner is your friend and guide. We're all communicating more by email than by any other means, and that requires guidance about the ineffables of the new medium and the old truths about clarity, simplicity, and good grammar. All in one bundle, with the charm and good humor that has made Woe Is I a bestseller and Words Fail Me a writer's helper, You Send Me is a joy. If you're reading more on the screen than on the page; if you're communicating more on the web than by voice, and if you long for a way of avoiding misunderstandings and keeping the tone of communications appropriate and civil, this is your book.