methodically the university’s report to manage our technology needs. Note
that both examples read awkwardly.
Positioning the adverb in front of the infinitive results in another awkward
sentence: You ought methodically to evaluate the university’s report
to manage our technology needs.
But note that splitting the infinitive works well: You ought to methodically
evaluate the university’s report to manage our technology needs.
Notice that the sentence reads naturally and your meaning is clear.
The three questions we’ve addressed thus far—starting sentences informally,
ending sentences with prepositions, and splitting infinitives—are
examples of business writing’s drift toward informality and a conversational
style. Using the professionally spoken word as your standard, you
will create conversational text that’s both accessible and appropriate.
POLITICALLY CORRECT WRITING
It’s easy to become distracted from your purpose in writing by worrying
that you’ll offend various people or groups. The good news is that
maintaining an appropriate tone is easier now than it used to be since
gender-neutral terms such as firefighter (instead of fireman) and letter
carrier (instead of postman) have become common in our language.
But we still lack a neutral pronoun, so you need to decide how you’ll handle
references to men and women in your writing.
Rewrite Sentences to Avoid Misusing Their
The fourth question is May I ever use their as a neutral pronoun? The
answer is no. Even though many people use the word their as a genderneutral
pronoun in business conversation, employing this usage in writing
should be avoided; it is considered too informal. There’s no question
that English lacks a gender-neutral pronoun and that it would be handy
to have one. The question is what to do without it. Consider, for example,
this sentence: