Author: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com
About Author: Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. He now teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional. Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com.
Published articles: 47
by Philip Yaffe Growing up in the United States in the 1950s, I was used to such things as inches, feet, yards; ounces (liquid and solid), pints, pounds, etc. Then I entered my first physics class and was bowled over by the metric system. “My God, this is so much better! Why don’t we use …
by Philip Yaffe Part 7 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call “pithy prose”. These short quotations can cover an unlimited variety of subjects: love, …
by Philip Yaffe “Don’t write short texts. Write concise ones.” If you are puzzled by this admonition, it is probably because you have been led to believe that “short” and “concise” are synonyms. They aren’t. My dictionary shows two definitions for “concise”: 1. Brief and to the point 2. Short and clear. If “short” is …
by Philip Yaffe We live in a cynical age where the values of truth, honesty and integrity seem to be in short supply. We are therefore always looking for examples of such values in action, especially with regard to politicians. I would like to offer you such an example from Africa. You have probably never …
by Philip Yaffe Part 7 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call “pithy prose”. These short quotations can cover an unlimited variety of subjects: love, …
by Philip Yaffe William Shakespeare was unquestionably one of the world’s greatest poets and poetic playwrights. Arguably, his mastery of English far surpassed that of anyone else who ever put pen to paper. So what can Shakespeare — a genius at playing the language almost like a violin — possibly teach us about expository (non-fiction) …
by Philip Yaffe “If you don’t know what you are looking for, you are unlikely to find it, even if it’s right in front of your nose.” – Anon We all write in hopes that our readers will understand what we are saying with minimum effort and maximum pleasure. But how can we be certain …
by Philip Yaffe As any teacher knows, saying something once is tantamount to not saying it at all. People may recognize an idea the first time it is presented, but they almost never assimilate it and make it their own until it is repeated. Nevertheless, in expository (non-fiction) writing, repetition seems to be a no-no. …
by Philip Yaffe Ever since it became popular, I have been hearing that writing for the Web is different from writing for print. I have always been skeptical of this assertion and now after years of experience I am certain that it is wrong. To paraphrase poet Gertrude Stein: “A text is a text is …
by Philip Yaffe Part 6 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call “pithy prose”. These short quotations can cover an unlimited variety of subjects: love, …