October 2004

This is the first issue of Word Smiths' monthly e-zine - WORD POWER. The aim in this and future editions is to keep you up-to-date with what we are doing and share some of our experience in writing, training design & delivery and publishing.

In this issue:

• News of Word Smiths' new publishing venture and of our first product
• Speed Reading for Success audio book
• A short history of speed reading – an essential skill for the information age
• Nick's Grammar Slammer – Part 1: the comma

News from Word Smiths

These are busy, exciting times here at Word Smiths - because we've just launched a publishing company! As many of you know, Jane has been a published author since 1996, and is the author of many successful business books on topics like time management, decision making, planning and Mind Mapping. Click here for a full list of her titles. However, in future her books won't only be published by Blackwell, Kogan Page or Hodder and Stoughton. She - and other authors - will be also appear under the Word Smiths imprint.

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Speed Reading for Success

Our first product is an audio book called Speed Reading for Success. It contains much of the material that Jane uses during her highly successful Speed Reading workshops. This audio course covers both the theory and practice of speed reading.

• How the eyes work to take in information – and how to make them work better and faster.
• The basic speed reading techniques and approaches, with plenty of opportunities to practice them and assess improvements.

Learners don't have to do the course all in one go. In fact, many people find that the best approach is to take it track by track, with a break in between each one. Some people may want to listen to the CD without doing the exercises – maybe in the car or at the gym. But to get the maximum value out of the course, it's important to make time soon afterwards for the practical bits.

More publications in the pipeline

We are keeping the momentum going. Just as Speed Reading for Success is being launched, we are already preparing two other products:

• Time Power: this audio CD sets out to make time management achievable for everyone. Time Power, with music specially written by guitarist Alex Murray, will help listeners to find to find the time to get more done, to have a better life and to turn their dreams into reality.
• Coaching and Mentoring for Success: Jane is writing this book and audio CD with mentoring guru Ann Holloway of Amethyst Learning and Development. It will contain everything that readers need to know to become a successful workplace coach or mentor. Anyone who is working towards NVQ certificates or units in coaching or mentoring will want their own copy of this exciting resource.

Don't forget to read next month's edition of Word Power for news of these new titles.

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A short history of speed reading

An essential skill for the information age

With the mass of reading material pouring onto our desks from the newspapers, through the post, from the bookshops and out of the Internet, it seems that speed reading is a skill whose time has finally arrived.

But the desire to read fast and understand more is far from being a modern one. The history books record the amazing achievements of a scholar called Antonio di Marco Magliabechi who lived in Italy during the 1600s. Antonio was the world's first champion speed reader - he was able to read and memorise entire volumes in a single day.

During the late 1900s, a French ophthalmologist called Emile Javal laid the foundations of speed reading approaches when he discovered that the eyes move in a series of jumps rather than gliding smoothly across the page. His discovery established for the first time that our field of vision is far wider than was previously imagined. People realised that their eyes were capable of taking in several words in one go, and they were able to improve significantly on accepted reading rates.

However it was not until the late 1950s that an American teacher named Evelyn Wood did some serious research into reading and learning methods. She was the first person to observe that her eyes could move more smoothly across the page when they were guided by the sweeping motion of her hand. She combined this discovery with her other related knowledge and developed a revolutionary new method of learning, called Reading Dynamics. She went on to open many reading institutes, and for a long time Evelyn Wood's name was synonymous with speed reading all over the world.

What the history and development of speed reading shows very clearly is that the way people 'normally' read is just a habit acquired over many years. Some approaches are useful, but many more are counterproductive. If you want to learn some new, more useful habits, you must be prepared to undertake structured training and practice regularly and consistently. It's possible to make amazing improvements if you accept that improving your reading speed is something that will take time. Everyone who has mastered this skill believe that the rewards are well worth working for.

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Nick's grammar slammer

Nick is Word Smiths' copy editor. In addition to being able to untangle wordy reports or complex letters in less time than it would take most people to sharpen a pencil, he is also something of a dab hand at the lost arts of grammar and punctuation.

The first few issues of this ezine will include six features dealing with some of the main bugbears of English grammar. This is likely to be of interest to you if your job involves any kind of writing Æ reports, memos, emails, policies or procedures.

It's true that grammarians aren't so picky about the fine detail as they used to be. Some are prepared to boldly go so far as to accept the split infinitive. However, it's still true that getting it wrong will undermine the message you are trying to get across. And poor written communication could tarnish not only your company's image, but also your own professional standing.

Part 1: the comma

In this first issue, Nick looks at that most important and most misused item of punctuation - the comma.

There are four types of comma:

• The listing comma
• The joining comma
• The gapping comma
• The bracketing comma.

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The listing comma is used to make lists as a substitute for the word 'and', or sometimes for 'or'. Here are some examples:

• The Three Musketeers were Athos, Porthos and Aramis.
• Hungarian is spoken in Hungary, in Western Rumania, in Northern Serbia and in parts of Austria and Slovakia.
• Lisa speaks French, Juliet speaks Italian and I speak Spanish.

The joining comma is used to join two complete sentences into a single sentence. It must be followed by 'and', 'or', 'but', 'while' or 'yet'. For example:

• Felix plays great solos, but his violin is often out of tune.
• Turkey has long wished to become part of the EU, and her application has now been approved in principle.
• You state that your client intends to pay compensation, yet no definite sums or arrangements have been offered.

Remember; you cannot join two sentences with a comma unless you use a connecting word.

The gapping comma is used to show that one or more words have been left out when the missing words would simply repeat the words already used in the same sentence. For example:

• Some Norwegians wanted to base their national language on the speech of the capital city; others, on the speech of the rural countryside
• The left side of the brain processes and uses logic and numbers; the right side, imagination, rhythm and daydreaming.

Bracketing commas (also called isolating commas) are the most frequently used type of comma, and also the most frequently misused. To avoid problems, follow this simple rule: a pair of bracketing commas is used to mark off an interruption which does not disturb the smooth flow of the sentence:

• Einstein, for example, often daydreamed about riding through the universe on a sunbeam.
• The Anglo-Saxons, Germanic tribes that inhabited England from the 5th century, were a nation of soul-searchers.
• Our cities, which should be compact communities with everything near to hand, are still suffering the effects of the misguided transport policies of the 1960s.
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, the four planets closest to the Sun, are called the terrestrial planets because they have solid rocky surfaces.

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Notice that, in every one of these examples, the phrase bracketed by the commas could be removed from the sentence and the result would still be a complete sentence that makes good sense.

If you're not sure about your commas, check them by asking yourself these questions:

• Can the comma be replaced by and/or or?
• Is it followed by one of the connecting words and, or, but, yet or while?
• Does it represent the absence of repetition?
• Does it form one of a pair of commas setting off an interruption which could be removed from the sentence?

If the answer to all these questions is `no', you've done something wrong.

As a general principle, keeping your sentences short and simple will help you to avoid many punctuation errors. In next month's ‘Grammar Slammer' I'll be looking at how and when to use the apostrophe.

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If any colleagues or friends would like to subscribe to Word Power,
email us at subscribe@word-smiths.co.uk. You can read this e-zine online at
www.word-smiths.co.uk/ezine-10-04-browser.html.

If you'd like to find out more about our full range of development-related activities, please visit our website, www.word-smiths.co.uk or contact us at info@word-smiths.co.uk

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