Tips & insights

Frequent use of incomplete sentences (or sentence fragments) is a style that many Dutch writers and readers like: […]...

It seems so simple. You have a message in Dutch, and you need it in English. You just […]...

A very common error is to suppose that logic governs English spelling. Yes, the number 40 does have […]...

Should you write Please, send me your comments or Please send me your comments? The version without a […]...

Don’t be confused by the fact that ’s is used for the possessive of nouns (the book’s cover, […]...

When used with a noun, the phrase as much/many/little/few as possible needs to ‘surround’ the noun, rather than […]...

Neither! It’s a trick question. We don’t use to congratulate or congratulations in connection with birthdays in English, […]...

English spelling is notorious for being confusing. For example, which of these is – or are – correct: programme, program […]...

If you don’t like a certain idea, what would you say? I think it’s not a good idea or […]...

In English, one of these days means ‘possibly sometime in the future’. It does not mean the same […]...

Which is more polite: ‘Please sit down’ or ‘Sit down, please’? If you put please at the beginning, […]...

It’s powerful – one l, not two, despite the fact that full as a word on its own […]...

If you said of, you can learn something today! After a superlative like biggest, tallest, most famous, and […]...

Many Dutch people are led astray here by the fact that the equivalent verb in Dutch takes met […]...

It’s a good idea to use softening expressions such as ‘I’m afraid’, ‘sorry’, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ regularly […]...

Dutch commissie is sometimes committee in English and sometimes commission. What’s the difference? A committee is a small […]...

What are the special days at Easter time called in English? The first day, i.e. Witte Donderdag in […]...

Need a short article written quickly but haven’t got time? Just got a news item in that really […]...

Since 2007, Baxter Communications has been working with Teijin Aramid to create awareness of the diverse applications of […]...

Communication trends for 2015 show some familiar ones still going strong (social media use is still rising) and […]...

In de moderne, internationaal georiënteerde organisatie is het Handboek zakelijk Engels, geschreven door Andy en Astrid Baxter, een […]...

The English abbreviation of number is no., and the plural is nos. Do not use nr. – this […]...

What’s the difference between a price and a prize? A price is the money you pay for something […]...

In almost all words in English whose spelling ends in -mb, the b is not actually pronounced. So […]...

Perspectives are not ‘future opportunities’, but ‘ways of looking at things’: The report offers some good perspectives on […]...

Her office is beside (= next to) mine. Besides (= in addition to) products, the company also provides […]...

Don’t make the common spelling mistake of writing exciting without its -c-. If you do, you’ll end up […]...

Be careful not to give something your approval when you don’t mean to. In English, good always expresses […]...

These two expressions look very similar, but it’s important not to confuse them, because their meanings are quite […]...

Clued-up about Christmas Songs and Carols? Try this quiz and complete the missing words! _____ King Wenceslas looked […]...

It depends! Be careful to use the right word: The government must control the rate of inflation. (= […]...

Interference from Dutch leads many Dutch speakers to get the preposition wrong in the above phrase. It’s not […]...

Be careful to make phase and face sound different! The vowel in phase is longer than that in […]...

Always put respectively after the items being related – not before, as in Dutch. Compare these examples: Dutch: […]...

Before an -ing form (like talking), do you need the possessive form of the personal pronoun (my, your, his, […]...

The list of what is contained in a book is not the Table of Content but the Table […]...

If you can’t think of a word, ask: What do you call that in English? or What is that […]...

Andy and Astrid have just published a new book: Better at business English. It’s designed to help people […]...

These two phrases look very similar, but it’s important not to confuse them, because their meanings are quite […]...

They look alike, but they have subtly different connotations! Both adequaat and adequate derive from Latin ad (‘to’) […]...

Don’t misinterpret the word invaluable. It looks as though it should mean ‘not valuable’, but in fact it means […]...

Although both deduce and deduct are related to the noun deduction, they mean different things. Deduce means ‘conclude […]...

The &-sign — or the ampersand, to give it its proper name — is often used by Dutch […]...

The verbs rise and raise are easily confused, but rise means ‘to go up’, whereas raise means ‘to […]...

Do not use according to me if you mean to say volgens mij. Use instead I think…, I […]...

Be careful not to confuse careless and carefree! If someone is careless, they do not pay enough attention […]...

The English verb to inform and the Dutch verb informeren both have to do with the transfer of […]...

If you mean ‘able to be reached’, then it is accessible. Accessible is one of those words in […]...

The word interview is a false friend for Dutch speakers of English. The word was adopted into Dutch […]...

English broad and Dutch breed are false friends. In Dutch, breed can refer to a physical or a […]...

A Dutch miljard (1,000,000,000 or 109) is a billion in US English. A Dutch biljoen (1,000,000,000,000 or 1012) […]...

The paired phrases on the one hand… (but) on the other hand are used in English to present […]...

Busy and bezig are false friends in at least two ways. First, they behave slightly differently in terms […]...

Watch out! In English, unlike Dutch, almost all nouns that end in the vowels a, i, o or u form their plural by […]...

Electric is usually used before the name of a specific appliance: an electric drill, an electric iron, an electric toothbrush, an electric shaver. Your car […]...

The correct form is: I look forward to hearing from you. We look forward to meeting you soon. […]...

A tricky pair, especially if they sound the same to you! Advice is a noun (something you give), […]...

Despite what many non-native speakers of English think, the only correct word to slot in here is to: […]...

Don’t confuse shortly and briefly. Shortly normally means ‘soon, in a little while’, as in: We will shortly […]...

If something is of the highest class of its type, suggesting or establishing a standard, then it’s classic: […]...

A common mistake among Dutch users of English is to use start with rather than start. There is […]...

Arab (pronounced ARR-ub) is the adjective used in relation to the race, culture and politics of the people […]...

There’s something not quite right with the sign mensware, recently seen in a department store with bilingual signs. […]...

Which is correct? The cost of the campaign is too high. The costs of the campaign are too […]...

There are certain types of emails that tend to frustrate the recipients. One type is from the “too […]...

In a nutshell, good project management means first working out what needs to be done and then making […]...

Flight attendants beware! Fasten is often mispronounced, because the spelling is deceptive. The t is not pronounced. In […]...

Look around at Schiphol at this time of year, and you’ll see all sorts of “X-mas special offers” being […]...

Dutch users of English often include hereby or herewith in the opening sentence of their business letters or […]...

Using the right preposition (voorzetsel) with the right word is difficult at the best of times, but it […]...

Economical has a narrower meaning than economic. It means ‘not wasteful or extravagant; designed to save money (e.g., […]...

To many people’s surprise, in ‘normal’ (i.e., non-mathematical) English, the preposition used here is to, not of or […]...

Do you ever use the word expertises in your English? I often see it in Dutch people’s English […]...

In an interview article, it’s important that readers are never in any doubt as to who said what: is […]...

What courtesy title should you give a woman in English these days? It depends on whether she is […]...

You may have noticed – and perhaps been puzzled by – the variant spellings of the past tense and past […]...

The Eskimos may (or may not) have many different words for snow, but according to a recent survey […]...

When you’re finishing a letter or e-mail, how should you capitalise the final phrase (or ‘complimentary close’, to […]...

It’s a euro. The rule for using a or an is that we use a before a consonant […]...

You’ll find that the UK spell checker on your computer allows both practice and practise. Does that mean […]...

Are you just back from holiday – or vacation? At first sight, holiday and vacation might seem to mean the […]...

Should we treat social media as a singular or a plural noun? The Latin scholars among us will […]...

  Going social? The best social media platforms bring people together and provide smart tools for sharing and […]...

  At Baxter Communications, we all have a special place in our heart for everything British, but our […]...

According to Aristotle, all arguments boil down to just three issues: Blame, Values and Choice.  For example, “Who […]...

How did you do? The present is a good time to present the present. PRESent (“now”) and PRESent […]...

Working with new clients – immersing ourselves in their business and doing our best to prove our value […]...

It’s annual report time again, when companies release what is often considered their showcase document. Before beginning production, […]...

It’s always nice to feel like a winner! Last year, Baxter Communications received a 2012 APEX Award for […]...

If you’re a Dutch speaker writing in English, you can take great care in getting spelling, grammar and […]...

Just a few years ago, Corporate Social Responsibility reports were ‘nice to have’. Slowly but surely, they’re becoming […]...

Speech! The idea can make even a highly competent businessperson nervous. But whether you’re someone who is at […]...

If you have asked colleagues to contribute material, either as input for copywriting or to be edited, it’s a […]...

Writing in a corporate context is usually a collaborative and iterative process. You brief us on what you […]...

Producing a piece of communication is a bit like painting a painting. At a certain stage it’s perfect. […]...

An internal newsletter can be so much more than a bulletin board. For example, it can support engagement, […]...

How to fill your newsletter Oh, it sounded so good at that first meeting. “Let’s launch an internal […]...

Managing expectations Newsletters often depend on contributions from people within the company. But sometimes the information submitted needs […]...

A tip for anyone commissioning an article that requires the writer to interview someone: don’t underestimate the amount […]...

A tip for magazine editors: it can save time (and money) if the approximate word (or character) count […]...