CONTENTS FEATURE: Prepare to leave cohesive voice-mail messages GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions NET NOTES: Captivating Web sites FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: Be prepared to leave concise, cohesive voice-mail messages      With the summer travel season at its peak, chances are greater than normal that your phone calls will be answered by a voice-mail system. Likelihood is correspondingly high that people you're trying to reach may retrieve their messages by cell phone while on the move at airports, in hotel lobbies, riding in taxicabs or other noisy locations. You can make certain that your messages slice through that din and stand out by being prepared and attentive. Here are eight tactics to use when your call is intercepted by voice mail. First, listen carefully. Pay attention to the voice mail message to make sure you've called the right number. That may seem obvious, but even though the EditPros answering message clearly identifies our business, we periodically receive messages from people inquiring about automobile glass. A glass company has a phone number that is similar to ours, but some apparently distracted callers who misdial fail to listen to our recorded message. Be ready. Each time you make a phone call, anticipate the probability of being connected to voice mail and plan precisely what you want to say. Don't ramble; get right to the point. Far too many messages left by callers begin, "The reason I was calling you was because...." Unless the caller is referring to previous calls, use of past tense is incorrect. Speak in terms of the present: "Mr. Ellis, I'm calling about equipment for your company's break room..." Enunciate. Avoid mumbling or slurring. Don't rush; take time to speak slowly and distinctly. If Mr. Ellis hears, "Hi, this is Curling Nosehair at Expect Itchin' Company," he won't be able to ask, "WHAT?" Your indistinct message may leave him unwilling to call your number and ask, "Do you have someone there named Curling Nosehair?" Namedrop. If the person you're calling doesn't know you or may not remember meeting you, begin with a frame of reference that will make you seem less like a stranger. "Hello, Mr. Ellis. Perhaps Sharon Yamata told you to expect my call. My name is Carolyn Knoester, and I'm with Expert Kitchen Company." Or, "Hello, Mr. Ellis. This is Carolyn Knoester again. I enjoyed meeting you during lunch at the facilities planning conference last February. I'm with Expert Kitchen Company, and...." Use phonetic spelling. If the person you're calling doesn't know you, spell your name using the phonetic alphabet. That system substitutes an easily understood word for each letter to avoid misspellings, particularly when one letter may be mistaken for another similar-sounding one—for example, "B," "D" and "V" or "M" and "N" (see "Captivating Internet Resources" below). "Once again, this is Carolyn Knoester. My last name is spelled Kilo-November-Oscar-Echo-Sierra-Tango-Echo-Romeo." If you mention your e-mail address, use phonetic spelling for it also. Sound assuring. End your sentences declaratively and decisively. Many people unconsciously end their statements in a rising tone, as if punctuating each sentence with an implied question: "OK?" That can create the impression that a speaker lacks certainty or conviction, and is seeking validation for each sentence. Let your words speak for themselves. Tilting the concluding tone of a sentence slightly downward conveys finality and self-assurance. Include your phone number. Do so in every message, even those you leave for people who know you but would otherwise have to look up your number. It could make the difference between receiving a return call—or not. Say your number at least twice, perhaps grouping the numbers differently the second time to help your recipient avoid possible transposition of numbers. Speak slowly enough for your recipient to write your number as you announce it. "Mr. Ellis, you can reach me at six three four...(pause) five seven...(pause) eight nine. That's six three four, fifty seven, eighty-nine." Leaving your phone number at the beginning of your message and again at the end is another effective tactic. If after hearing the entire message Mr. Ellis wants to verify your number, he can press "repeat" and he'll hear it at the beginning, instead of having to replay your entire message. Specify when to call. To help avoid playing "phone tag," mention the best times to reach you by phone —or conversely, list dates when you will be inaccessible.      Clearly identifying yourself, explaining the intent of your call and specifying the best way to reach you will help improve your chances of receiving a reply. GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions Kelcie S. submitted this month's question:      "In the following sentence, what are the adverbial and adjectival phrases? 'The view from space shows the oceans on Earth.'" The grammar coach replies:      Distilled to its fundamental elements of subject-verb-object, the example sentence says "The view shows the oceans."      The prepositional phrase "from space" functions as an adjectival phrase because it modifies "view."      The other phrase, "the oceans on Earth," however, is not an adverbial phrase because it is not modifying the verb. It is a prepositional phrase that functions as the direct object of the verb "shows."      Thanks for submitting your question, Kelcie!      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help—at no charge, just for the sport of it. NET NOTES: Captivating Internet resources Phonetic Alphabet      The phonetic alphabet, which uses a set of standardized words to represent the letters of the alphabet, is recognized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and NATO as the standard for aircraft communications and radio communications. This site is maintained through the Mobile Aeronautics Education Laboratory, headquartered at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Purportal.com hoax verification      Is that virus warning that arrived in your e-mail box cause for concern—or is it a hoax? Is that offer of a free MP3 player legitimate—or not? Is that urgent appeal asking you to write to your congressman about some supposedly onerous legislation bona fide—or bogus? This one-stop verification site can help you check purported claims against the databases of the Snopes Urban Legends Archives, the About.com Urban Legends Search, the CIAC Hoax Database, the CERT Computer Security Database and the Symantec Virus Encyclopedia. The site is operated by E-Scribe, a Web design firm in Northampton, Mass. How everyday things are made      From the moment we wake each day until the time we go to bed—and even while we sleep—we depend on items that were created through a manufacturing process. We take most of them for granted without realizing the often surprising ways in which they are made—as this site ably demonstrates. More than four hours of videos (which require a high-speed Internet connection) reveal the processes involved in manufacturing fabrics, candy, internal combustion engines, semiconductors, containers, packaging and other products—as well as manufacturing processes, including injection molding, hydro-forming and forging. This site is maintained by the Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing at Stanford University. FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn a finder's fee of up to $500      Do you know of a friend or colleague whose office can benefit from EditPros services? If you do, EditPros may reward you with a "finder's fee" of up to $500.           EditPros, established in 1993, performs writing, editing, proofreading and publication management services for newsletters, brochures, Web sites, annual reports, research studies, business proposals and other informational and marketing materials. Our office is in Davis, Calif., between Sacramento and San Francisco.      If you recommend our services to a friend or business colleague, and that introduction leads to an assignment for EditPros, we will award you a "finder's fee" equaling 10 percent of the amount we earn on the first assignment for the new client, up to a maximum finder's fee of $500. Naturally, the finder's fee is applicable only to clients for which we have not worked previously.      This offer will remain in effect until further notice. YOUR TURN: Ask the "grammar coach" or subscribe      We invite you to submit your questions to the "grammar coach," and we welcome you to subscribe to this monthly newsletter—which we'll send to your e-mail address at no charge. We respond to all "grammar coach" questions personally, but delays may occur because we must place top priority on assignments from our clients. We appreciate your patience and your interest.      You also can change your e-mail subscription address. For an address change, please indicate your existing AND your new e-mail address. Thank you. OUR PRIVACY POLICY for e-mail newsletter subscribers:      We do not use any commercial e-mail lists or automated mass-mailing programs, and we do not allow access to the list by anyone else for any reason. Our subscriber list is maintained by hand, and it is not for sale. We are protective of confidentiality because many of our readers are also clients of ours. Any accompanying advertising is placed by Yahoo.com in exchange for our use of the e-mail server to distribute this newsletter.