Killer Tips for Streamlining Your Copy, Part 1

KILLER TIPS FOR STREAMLINING YOUR COPY, PART 1 As any writer knows, getting that first draft down on paper is only half the battle. Whether you’re writing web copy, a sales email, or a journalistic article, chances are, you and your editing team will go through a few rounds of tweaking and fine-tuning before your work is really done. So, I’ve decided to do a little mini-series to share some of my favorite writing and editing tips. One of the really cool things about writing is, it’s always a work in progress – there are always things you can do to make your writing clearer, or more powerful, or just more interesting. And, if you write every day, you’re constantly honing your craft. From major rewrites to itty-bitty changes in word choice or punctuation, there are about a million things you can do to change, improve, and streamline your work. Here are three of my favorite ways to pack more punch into your prose: 1. Pump up your verbs. Once you’ve gotten a first draft down, go back and examine all of the verbs you’ve used. Do they actually say what you want them to say? Are they big, strong verbs that leap off the page and carry your message loud and clear, or are they timid little things that barely make a squeak? Here’s what I mean: Photo by jmtimagesOriginal: At the press conference, President Obama went to the podium and talked to reporters about the latest financial news. Okay, so maybe he did, but the verbs in this sentence are completely lifeless. Talk about a big, fat yawn. Went? Seriously? Blech. How about this: Better: At the press conference, President Obama strode to the podium and shocked reporters with the latest financial news. See the difference? Stronger, more specific verbs like â€Å"strode† and â€Å"shocked† give the sentence new life – and new meaning. Verbs, after all, don’t just tell what someone did – when used correctly, they also give you a clue about how they did it. This sentence would have an entirely different meaning if we’d used the verbs â€Å"stomped† and â€Å"barked at† or â€Å"crept† and â€Å"dodged.† 2. Steer clear of the passive voice. Even if you’re ever-vigilant about avoiding the passive voice, occasionally, a sentence or two sneaks under the radar and makes itself at home. For some reason, a lot of beginning writers think that the passive voice makes them sound more, I don’t know . . . writerly? But really, the passive voice just sounds funny and stilted. To a reader, the passive voice lacks the sense of action and the â€Å"this-is-happening-right-now-as-we-speak† element. Plus, in real life, we just don’t talk like this. So, unless there is a seriously compelling reason to do otherwise, make sure that all of your sentences are active. Here’s what I mean: Original: The blog was written by Stephanie. Simply flipping the sentence around will give you an active, more immediate sentence: Better: Stephanie wrote the blog. 3. Go easy on adverbs. I was at the bookstore the other day and I saw a book on writing that was called something like, â€Å"If You Catch an Adverb, Kill It.† I haven’t read the book, and I can’t remember who wrote it, but the title alone is a valuable little nugget of wisdom. In general, a strong verb (see tip #1) is WAY better and more effective than almost any adverb. Of course, there are a zillion exceptions to this, and, of course, every writer uses adverbs to some degree. But use too many, and you’ll start to sound silly. A good example of adverb abuse is Danielle Steele – her books are just bursting with characters who are â€Å"sneering menacingly† or â€Å"whipping their raven-colored hair about angrily† or â€Å"sighing longingly.† When you’re finished writing, a good idea is to go back through and try to cut as many adverbs as you can. Bust out your thesaurus and find a good, strong verb to use instead. So: Ramona gazed into Dirk’s eyes dreamily and kissed him sloppily. Becomes: Ramona fixed her aquamarine eyes on Dirk’s. Their eyes met and their lips joined in a passionate kiss. Ick. But you get the idea, right? That’s it for now. Check in next week for more tips, and happy writing! Related articles Better writing: The active voice (billbennettnz.wordpress.com)

Macroeconomic and Microeconomic Analysis of Nestle Nutrition

Macroeconomic and Microeconomic Analysis of Nestle Nutrition Introduction This paper presents a microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis of Nestle Nutrition. The microeconomic analysis will focus on the company and its market.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Macroeconomic and Microeconomic Analysis of Nestle Nutrition specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The macroeconomic analysis, on the other hand, will focus on the macroeconomic factors that are likely to affect the success of the company. Nestle Nutrition is a multinational company that produces and sales nutritional supplements in the form of foodstuffs and drinks (Nestlà ©, 2013). Microeconomic Analysis Demand and Supply Factors The demand factors that affect the sales and profitability of the company include price, competition, income levels, and consumer tastes and preferences. Due to high competition in the market, an increase in the prices of Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s products is likely to decrease their demand, thereby r educing the firm’s sales (Mankiw Taylor, 2011, p. 67). This happens happen when Nestlà © increases its prices above those of its competitors. The large number of firms in the market has caused high competition. This limits the amount of output that Nestle can sale, thereby reducing its profitability. An increase in income levels among consumers usually leads to a rise in demand for the company’s products and vice versa. Additionally, the match between the quality of the firm’s products and the consumers’ tastes and preferences usually leads to an increase in its sales. The supply factors that affect the firm’s sales and profits include the cost of production, technological advancements, and the prevailing market price. A high market price encourages the firm to increase its production, thereby increasing its profits (McEachem, 2010, p. 102). Low costs of production (cost per unit of output) increase the firm’s profits by enabling it to ear n a high profit margin. Similarly, technological advancements enable the firm to lower its production costs in order to increase its profits.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Market Structure Nestle Nutrition operates in a competitive market that is characterized with a large number of producers or sellers and buyers (Nestlà ©, 2013). Due to high competition, the buyers and sellers are price takers. Concisely, the prices of nutritional supplements are determined by the forces of demand and supply rather than individual producers and buyers. Moreover, the firms in the market produce homogeneous products. Concisely, their products have low levels of differentiation because they have more or less the same nutritional values and benefits. Nonetheless, the buyers do not have perfect information about products and prices. Thus, the market is not perfectly competitiv e (McEachem, 2010, p. 112). Sustaining Profitability Nestle Nutrition can continue to operate in the profitable market structure by reducing its production costs. For example, it can use cost saving technologies in the production and distribution of its products. A reduction in production costs will enable the firm to increase its profit margin by selling at the prevailing market price. Moreover, maintaining low production costs will enable the firm to lower its prices below the industry price (McEachem, 2010, p. 134). Thus, the firm’s nutritional supplements will be cheaper than those of its competitors will. The resulting increase in the demand for Nestlà © products will lead to increased sales and profits. Additionally, Nestlà © can advertise its products in order to increase their demand. This is because customers are likely to purchase a particular brand if they have adequate information about its qualities and price. Elasticity of Demand Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s pricing str ategy and competitiveness is likely to be affected by price elasticity of demand, cross price elasticity of demand, and income elasticity. Price elasticity of demand â€Å"measures the responsiveness of a product’s demand to a change in its price† (McEachem, 2010, p. 217). Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s nutritional supplements are likely to have an elastic demand because they have a large number of close substitutes. Furthermore, the buyers of the supplements have low switching costs. Thus, they can easily shift from one brand of supplements to another in the event of a price change.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Macroeconomic and Microeconomic Analysis of Nestle Nutrition specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Cross price elasticity of demand â€Å"measures the responsiveness of the demand of a product following a change in the price of a related product† (McEachem, 2010, p. 230). In this regard, the dema nd for Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s nutritional supplements will increase if the price of their substitutes or competing brands increase and vice versa. Income elasticity refers to the change in the demand for a product that occurs when the disposable income of its consumers changes. Since nutritional supplements are normal goods, their demand will increase if their consumers’ disposable income increases. Resource Utilization The company is utilizing its resources efficiently because it focuses on economy of scale in production. Its production plants, which are located in different counties, enable it to manufacture a large amount of products, thereby reducing the cost per unit produced, as well as, the distribution costs. The company also uses lean production technologies in order to eliminate wastages (Nestlà ©, 2013). This enables it to produce the optimal level of output at low cost. Macroeconomic Analysis The macroeconomic factors that are likely to affect Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s succ ess include economic growth, unemployment, inflation, business cycle, the balance of payment, and the exchange rate. A high economic growth leads to high income per capita and vice versa (Boyes Melvin, 2010, p. 289). Aggregate consumption usually increases when a country’s per capita income increases. Thus, a high economic growth will increase the demand for Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s products, whereas a low economic growth will reduce it. Consequently, the firm’s profits will be high during high economic growth and low during economic downturn. Aggregate demand is usually high in countries with low unemployment rate. This is because consumption rises when a large percentage of the population is engaged in gainful employment (Abel Bernanke, 2008, p. 378). Thus, Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s products will have a low demand in countries with high unemployment rate. On the contrary, the demand for its products will be high in countries with low unemployment rate.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Inflation refers to the percentage change in the prices of goods and services over a period such as a month. Ceteris paribus, an increase in inflation erodes consumers’ purchasing power, whereas its reduction improves consumers’ ability to purchase goods and services (Abel Bernanke, 2008, p. 413). Consequently, a high inflation will increase Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s production costs due to the increase in the prices of its inputs. The resulting increase in the price of its products will lower its sales and profits. On the contrary, low inflation will enable the firm to sell its products at a low price, thereby increasing its sales and profits. The balance of payment (BOP) is a record of the transactions between one country and the rest of the world in terms of imports and exports (Boyes Melvin, 2010, p. 371). A large BOP deficit is an indication that the country heavily depends on imports. In this case, Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s products are likely to face a high competition from imports if the country has a large BOP deficit. An appreciation in the value of the dollar makes USA’s products to be expensive in foreign markets. This will lower the demand for Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s exports in foreign markets. On the contrary, USA’s imports will be cheaper than locally produced goods. Consequently, Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s nutritional supplements will lose their competitiveness. Nonetheless, the products will be more competitive than imports if the dollar weakens. The business cycle has four phases namely, decline, recession, recovery, and boom (Boyes Melvin, 2010, p. 461). Recessions are characterized by very low aggregate demand. Thus, Nestle is likely to make losses due to low demand for its products during a recession. On the contrary, an economic boom is associated with high aggregate demand (Arnold 2010, p. 213). Thus, Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s sales and profits are likely to increase during economic booms. Aggregate demand usually reduces during economic de cline and increases during the recovery phase of the business cycle. In these stages of the business cycle, Nestle can remain profitable if it is able to reduce its operating costs. Conclusion Nestlà © operates in a highly competitive market that has a large number of producers and buyers. It can overcome the competition by reducing its production costs and marketing its products through advertisements. Macroeconomic variables such as inflation, exchange rate, and unemployment have both positive and negative effects on aggregate demand. Thus, the company should take into account the levels of these variables when formulating its pricing and expansion strategies. References Abel, A Bernanke, B 2008, Macroeconomics, Routledge, New York. Arnold, R 2010, Macroeconomics, McGraw-Hill, New York. Boyes, W Melvin, M 2010, Macroeconomics, Palgrave, London. Mankiw, G Taylor, M 2011, Microeconomics, McGraw-Hill, New York. McEachem, W 2010, Microeconomics, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Nest là © 2013, About Us. Web.

Practice reflection essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Practice reflection - Essay Example He is waiting for his endoscopy test. His laboratory test on his clozapine evaluates an alarming low level of concentrations indicative to noncompliance of medication instructions. The patient’s illness and behavior display. David suffers from schizophrenia with chronic positive symptoms and secondary depressive illness to uncontrolled psychotic state that needs high level care and treatment. It was recorded that he had a number of hospital admissions in a period of 20 years. He also attempted suicide in 1980’s. Few years ago he managed to be an outpatient directly under his mother’s care. His new medication, clozapine, was able to sustain him then. Lately, David believes someone is waiting to murder him due to tax he thinks he owes so he leaves his house only to collect medication and benefits scheduled twice a week. He is very sensitive to strong smells and fragrances such as aftershave, alcohol, and soap powder. He eats maximum of twice a day only because he believes someone is trying to poison his food that leads him to settle lesser food intake for mobility’s sake which resulted to detrimental weight loss. Sometimes he throws h is food away of same reason. His mother observes his deteriorating mental and physical health for the past three months and requested minimal viewing of television as this contributes negative effects on him. He is getting disturbed by messages and scenes on television. Aggravated by the absence of social life or zero communications with neighbors and friends, his paranoia continues to lead him to believe death will get him any moment and complains of persistent abdominal pains and nausea which the doctor is currently trying to perform diagnosis. It maybe related to his mood. However there is no presence of illegal substance or alcohol misuse. Healthcare. David has access to services of a Consultant Psychiatrist arranged by his psychiatric Social