Month: November 2008

“… separate business at arm’s-length from …”

Hyphens, Nouns, Possessives

I saw this yesterday in a company’s announcement about buying another company.

Problem:
The hyphen does not belong in this phrase.

Explanation:
One company was announcing the pending purchase of another company.

The purchase required approvals by various U.S. federal agencies.

The buyer wanted investors and employees to know that it was legally bound to continue to operate distinctly from the other company until all of those approvals had been secured.

The complete sentence announcing this legal constraint was along the lines of “We will continue to operate as a separate business at arm’s-length from [the company that we are buying].”

The problem with this sentence is that the hyphen does not belong.

The possessive “arm’s” is modifying the noun “length”, but together they are not modifying anything else, so no hyphen should appear between “arm’s” and “length”.

In contrast, a hyphen does belong in a phrase such as “arm’s-length transaction”.

Solution:
“… separate business at arm’s length from …”

“… obtained verbally, in writing, or electronically.”

Adjectives, Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Redundancies

I saw this in a course for customer-service representatives.

Problem:
The list of adverbs contains redundancies.

Explanation:
The expression was part of legal counsel in a company’s course for its customer-service representatives:

“Permission [from the customer] can be obtained verbally, in writing, or electronically.”

Unfortunately, it has become a common English blunder to use the adverb “verbally” when people mean “orally” instead.

The adjective “verbal” refers to both oral communication and written communication.

But many people shy away from “oral” or “orally” when referring to spoken communication and instead use “verbal” or “verbally”, respectively. This is a mistake.

The second problem in the expression is that “in writing” refers to both paper-based communication and electronic communication.

So “in writing” overlaps “electronically” in the problematic expression.

The solution comes from recognizing that “verbally” should be replaced with the clearer adverb “orally” and that “in writing” should be replaced with the clearer “on paper”.

Solution:
“… obtained orally, on paper, or electronically.”
OR
“… obtained by telephone, by mail, or by email.”

“… mirror back (or paraphrase) to the customer …”

Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Self-negation

I saw this in a course for sales agents.

Problem:
The word “back” is redundant in this expression.

Explanation:
The expression was part of advice in a company’s course for its sales agents:

“Once you have determined which of the 4 Ps applies, mirror back (or paraphrase) to the customer what you think the objection is to be sure you are on the right track.”

The word “mirror” means reflect when used as a verb, and the “re” in “reflect” means back.

So one could argue that a “mirror back” action would never reach the intended recipient.

Solution:
“… mirror to the customer …”