Author: Kirk

“… 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 …”

“Ten items or less”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler

I was reminded of this common English blunder while reviewing a course for employees.

Problem:
The word “less” is inappropriate here.

Explanation:
“Less failed orders due to increased system checks” was given as a benefit of a software application used by sales agents handling inbound orders from customers.

This reminded me of the common English blunder “Ten items or less” that is often seen in checkout lines at grocery stores and other retailers.

The primary definition of the adjective “less” is to a smaller degree or extent In contrast, the adjective “fewer” means of a smaller number.

So, the adjective “less” is incorrect in “Less failed orders” and in “Ten items or less”.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (with the quotation marks, to avoid variations) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “items or fewer” — 41,600 matches
  • “items or less” — 2,450,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used the incorrect “items or less” versus the correct “items or fewer” by a ratio of 58.9-to-1, which is absolutely dreadful.

I believe that the preference for “less” over “fewer” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis. It is simpler to say or write the four-letter, one-syllable “less” than it is to say or write the five-letter, two-syllable “fewer”.

Some stores still get it right, fortunately.

Solution:
“Ten items or fewer”