Dear Direct Response Letter Subscriber:

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A recent newspaper article about a student job fair at a local school had this headline:

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"Students Get First Hand Job Experience"

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The accidental inappropriateness of the headline is easily fixed with proper punctuation.

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As stated in my book "The Elements of Business Writing" (Pearson), the rule is:

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"Hyphenate two words compounded to form an adjective modifier if they precede a noun."

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So, we would write:

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"Students Get First-Hand Job Experience"

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Which gives us more separation between "hand" and "job" to avoid using the unseemly words "hand job."

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It's a good example of using proper punctuation to improve the meaning and sound of your phrasing.

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Even better is to avoid placing the words "hand" and "job" in proximity within any phrase or sentence.

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Instead, rewrite to avoid it altogether:

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"Students Get Close-Up Look at Real Jobs"

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A widely accepted principle of copywriting is to prefer sounding natural and conversational, even if it sometimes means choosing to write like you talk over strict adherence to the rules of grammar.

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For example, a famous ad campaign for cigarettes had the slogan:

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"Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."

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When it first came out, many people were quick to criticize the slogan, pointing out that "Winston tastes good as a cigarette should" would have been more grammatically correct.

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Here's why....

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"As" is the proper conjunction when you're comparing how something is or behaves to how it should be.

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"Like" is traditionally used as a preposition, meaning it should be followed by a noun or pronoun (e.g., "like a cigarette"), not a full clause ("like a cigarette should").

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That said, the version with "like" became famous from the old "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" ads.

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It was catchier, even if grammatically "wrong"—a good example of style winning over grammar in advertising.

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In everyday speech, many people use "like" this way, but in formal writing, "as" is still the safer choice.

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I too disliked the Winston campaign.

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Not because it was bad grammar.

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But because to me cigarettes taste like crap and stink to high heaven.

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Cigars are much better IMHO as far as flavor and aroma.

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Even better: don't smoke at all.

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Regards,

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