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Sharpening Your Writing Skills - Duncan Kent & Associates Ltd.

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1. If you choose to use these abbreviations use lower case and separate the abbreviation from the following text with a comma e g like this Acronyms Minimize the use of acronyms as much as possible They confuse novices and sometimes even experts forget what they mean When you do use them spell them out the first time for example Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP Use small caps to format acronyms To form the plural of an acronym add s for example PCBs Example We felt the effects of the stock market crash Among and between Use between to describe the direct relationship or comparison of two or more items Use among when the relationship is less direct In other words use between when the relationship of the items is individual use among when the relationship is collective 110 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Example You can choose between steak chicken and fish John was among the candidates chosen And or And or is often used in legal applications Avoid using it where either and or or will do Because and since Avoid using since to mean because it s ambiguous Use because to refer to a reason Use since to refer to the passage of time Example You can submit the form upon completion Correct You may submit the form upon completion Implies t
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3. Module 6 Punctuation Matters 79 Colons and semicolons Use colons to introduce lists of items whether in paragraph or bullet list form Example Bring the following items pen pencil ruler and eraser Bring the following items pen pencil ruler eraser Use semicolons to separate two independent clauses not joined by a conjunction such as and or but Think of semicolons as light periods In most business and technical writing you can use two sentences instead Examples It is nearly 4 30 p m we cannot meet the deadline Work hard when you work play hard when you play i et e NOTICE I R D Jones have NO SMASHED IT Don t call 555 0707 as the telephone has been disconnected I have NOT been but she quit a sewing machine for sale I 1 carrying on with Mrs Kelly Until yesterday she was my housekeeper N 80 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Punctuating lists There are three options for punctuating lists Option 1 If the introductory phrase and the listed items are meant to be read as one complete sentence then use the same punctuation and capitalization you would use ina paragraph Option 3 When the listed items form complete independent sentences then capitalize each sentence and place a period at the end Example Option 1 Punctuate lists by e
4. MODULE 1 Good Business Writing Style You don t need to be a genius with words or have a degree in English to be a good business writer You just need to have good ideas be able to figure out what your readers need to know and be able to express yourself clearly At its best business writing is simple and straightforward It s what you write about that can be complicated Good writers write plainly so that the meaning comes through clearly Good writing does not draw attention to itself Instead of Wow this person has a great vocabulary your readers should be saying Wow that s a great idea Or simply Yeah I understand But many people have different ideas about what is good business writing We ve all been influenced by different people over our lives our parents our teachers our friends our bosses They ve all helped shape the way we write and a lot of other things too And we ve been exposed to many different writing styles in our reading both good and bad In this module you ll learn about different writing styles good and bad and decide for yourself what is appropriate writing style If you re like most people you ll agree that it s plain English also called plain language And that s what this workshop is about learning to express yourself clearly using plain English 4 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Over the top style An aspiring writer sent me his w
5. Example Where are you going to Considered incorrect by some To where are you going Awkward Where are you going Better Old fashioned Preferred formulae formulas appendices appendixes addenda addendums indices indexes Prepositions A preposition links a noun or pronoun to another word or phrase Prepositions often express relationships for example with to since at and so on Presently Avoid using presently as it s often p y taken to mean now rather than its actual meaning soon Pronouns A pronoun is a word that represents a noun for example he it who they and so on The noun a pronoun represents is its antecedent Use pronouns sparingly When used too often or incorrectly they can be ambiguous and can slow reading speed because the reader has to go back to see which noun they represent Make sure pronouns agree with their antecedents If pronoun references are not clear repeat the noun or restructure the sentence 118 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Examples Thank the writer for their interest Incorrect Thank the writer for her interest Correct Thank the writers for their interest Correct If you drop the plate on the glass table it might break Ambiguous If you drop the plate on the glass table the plate might break Clear If you
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7. Abbreviated scientific style Don t drop articles or other words even in procedures Remove unnecessary words for conciseness but don t remove words that are essential to the meaning This telegraphic style is simplistic irritating and occasionally ambiguous Example When creating new file ensure code not assigned to existing file Avoid When you create a new file ensure the file name has not been assigned to another file Better Exercise 2 Add back the missing words If oil pressure under 40 lb loosen right hand banjo screw Exercise 3 Top 10 list of attributes of good business writing Prepare a list of the 10 most important features of good business writing j ee Se e e e N e m Sharpening Your Writing Skills Say it in plain English WRITE THE WAY YAH SPEAK WELL SORTA In the last exercise you listed the 10 most important features of good business writing Here s a list of some of the important features of plain English See how your list compares to this one While plain English means different things to different people there s general agreement about these features Plain English guidelines 1 10 Write to your readers as though you were talking to them in a friendly straightforward manner often called conversational style Use the same short everyday words that you use with friends and co workers avoid bi
8. File RA Use flow diagrams to outline a process Module 3 Writing Strategies 31 Edit for clarity Editing is carefully reviewing a document to verify that it meets appropriate language usage and formatting standards While you can edit your own work it s usually better to have someone else do it we are often blind to our own errors Many business writers have an arrangement with another person to edit each other s writing The longer and more complex the document the more important and more structured editing should become Editing someone s letter may take only a minute or two editing their manual could take weeks Tips e Don t try to catch everything on one pass Go through several times looking for different things each time e Once you notice a problem look specifically for that problem elsewhere e Use but don t rely on computerized spelling and style checkers e Don t edit exclusively on the screen some problems are easier to spot in print Things to check e completeness and accuracy e appropriate organization of information e information presented graphically where appropriate e consistent point of view and writing style text written in plain English clear and descriptive headings correct spelling and grammar accurate page references such as table of contents and cross references e appropriate conventions for numbers and units
9. a i ji SATENNS your writing skills A WORKSHOP FOR BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL WRITERS lf DUNCAN KENT Copyright 2002 Duncan Kent amp Associates Ltd All rights reserved No part of this publication covered by the publisher s copyright may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher Written produced and distributed by Duncan Kent amp Associates Ltd Table of Contents iii Table of Contents Ti troduction sessissssssssssssccccvssssssssscsesssse 1 Module 4 eta Words and Sentence ssseeee 35 odule 1 bas What s the fog index 00 eee 36 Good Ets tape Waung Pty es Fog index calculation 0066 37 Over the top style ceeeeeeeeeeeees 4 Writing points of view cscceeeeeee 39 Legal style legalese 0 0 0 cess 5 Sentence length ccccceeseeeeseeees 42 Bureaucratic style cccccesesseeeeeeees 5 Types of sentences c ccccsseceeeseeeee 42 Excessive Courtesy s es 6 Word Choice siisisccicscesiceesstsueessrcssceses 44 Abbreviated scientific style 7 Sentence order cccccccsscssssssesseeees 49 Say it in plain English 0 8 Active and passive verbs 00 50 WONG nan dig anuated busta 9 Use strong Verbs cccccsceeseseeeeseeees 52 Styleguides a
10. 78 Sharpening Your Writing Skills 4 To enclose parenthetic phrases and clauses Parenthetic remarks are explanations or afterthoughts that are inserted into sentences that are grammatically complete without the insertion Never use a single comma always use two noun separately and are called cumulative adjectives Don t use a comma to separate an adjective from the noun that follows it Examples The taxes which are unreasonable will not be paid The tax audit started on April 20 2001 and will be finished within one year Example She is a strong confident independent woman Coordinate adjectives which can be joined by and and can be jumbled Four small red shapes emerged from the fog Cumulative adjectives which can t be joined by and and can t be jumbled 5 To separate consecutive adjectives that can be joined by and and whose order can be jumbled These adjectives each modify the noun separately and are called coordinate adjectives Don t use a comma to separate adjectives that can t be joined by and and whose order can t be jumbled These adjectives do not modify the 6 To separate adverbs such as accordingly further however thereafter indeed instead next similarly and finally from the text that follows Example However some revisions may be needed
11. Sometimes there isn t a good reason to organize information in a particular way In this case organize it randomly The most common form of randomly organized information is the bullet list Other than bullet lists information is seldom organized randomly Top down Descriptive information and introductions to new topics are usually organized top down that is they begin with broad general statements and finish with the details describing the forest before describing the trees Use this method when you want to introduce a new topic explain a process or persuade the reader about something Your high school essays were probably organized top down if they began with a general introduction your thesis then moved into the details your arguments Paragraphs are organized top down if they begin with a topic sentence which describes the general content of the paragraph followed by specific details Topical When you write you may want to group related information together under headings that describe the topic Organizing information topically ensures that your reader will find all related information together in the same place rather than scattered throughout the document As the author you decide what the topical groupings are but they should make sense to your readers Other methods of organization can also apply to information that is grouped topically because you ll have to decide the appropriate se
12. application of blind rivets We also inquired into compensation scales in companies comparable to the Pops operation 67 words Module 4 Words and Sentences 39 Writing points of view You can choose from three different points of view in your writing first person second person and third person a First person l and we Write reports and correspondence in either first person singular T or plural we Maybe you were told at some point to avoid using yourself as the subject that this wasn t objective Much routine business writing is now written in the first person It s straightforward shorter and lets the reader know who performed the action Don t avoid first person writing Addressing the reader as you is not only commonplace now but almost universal in instructional writing anywhere you want to tell your reader to do something It s concise and makes clear what actions the reader needs to take Don t avoid second person writing This book is written in the second person Example More information can be found in the appendix Passive You ll find more information in the appendix Second person Example The situation has been reviewed and the following problems have been found Passive longer I have reviewed the situation and found the following problems First person shorter Second person you Writ
13. reports design documents manuals white papers journal articles or routine letters and memos and want to get your message across quickly and clearly If you re already a good writer the workshop will sharpen your skills and give you valuable insights into your writing style And you ll get a quick refresher on some of the important rules of grammar punctuation and usage that often cause problems for writers What does the workshop cover In this workshop you ll learn e what plain English is and why it s the best style for business writing e why writing styleguides are important and the best ones to buy e important steps in planning what you re going to write e the things you want to know about your readers e how to brainstorm ideas e ways to organize your document e strategies for writing faster and better e ways to present information graphically e how to write simple but powerful sentences e the importance of choosing everyday words e 20 rules of plain English e where to put commas and other tricky punctuation e how to design pages that stand out and are easy to read In the Appendix you ll find suggested answers to the exercises and a short business writing styleguide You ll also find the Dictionary of Plain English which lists overblown words clich s and overly formal phrases and their plain English equivalents Sharpening Your Writing Skills Module 1 Good Business Writing Style
14. with the exact and the concrete Mud the gyproc with a thin layer of filler then wait for awhile before sanding To ensure that the deadline can be met the draft must be finished quickly Some staff experienced computer problems Turn the bolt until it s quite tight Avoid unnecessary expenditures Be aware of suspicious transactions 66 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid clich s Clich s are time worn phrases that have lost their original freshness and can usually be replaced with one or two simple words Many of the more colourful clich s such as let s not beat around the bush have lost their original literal meaning While readers know this clich means let s get to it most could not explain the significance of the bush or the act of beating Exercise 21 Replace the following clich s with everyday words please feel free to call between a rock and hard place in connection with with regard to six of one half a dozen of the other with respect to easier said than done as already stated pursuant to your letter all things considered enclosed herewith is to say the least to explore every avenue in the neighbourhood of to a certain extent as a matter of fact suffice it to say hit the nail on the head the fact of the matter is we beg to acknowledge avoid clich s like the plague
15. RE Beebe ees use the fullest possible extent mostly completely utilize employ cccceceeesesesesseseeeseseeeeeeees use the manner in Which cccceeeseeeeeeeeeeeees how VEL DOS eatarra visa vosteleadegedbuessees vied bss wordy the only difference being that except that VIB Dei decsed ee TETEE EE EEE Aa vied possible the present time ccccceeeseseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees now VISUALIZE AEEA imagine the question as to whether whether VOLUMINOUS ccccccccececcececececeseceeeeeeeeeeeeeess bulky the question WALL OSS iia ati dees aa waiter server there is no doubt but that doubtless no doubt watchman cccceseeeesseeseeseeeees security guard this is a person who ccceceeeeeees this person weatherMman ccc0ececeees weather forecaster this is a subject that ccccceees this subject meteorologist this is a topic that ccccccceeeeeeees this topic WIth amp VIEW tO cccccecesesesssseeseeseseseseseeeeeeeseeees to this is an instance case situation which with reference to for about concerning this omit with regard to 006 for about concerning through the use Of cccceeesesseccceceeeesssseeeeees by with respect to cccccccccccceeeeeeenees for on about thusa ulaen e ee so that way with the exception Of cccccccccceceeeeeeees except LODE SUTE 2 ie h iced Eee ede ANS of course
16. Why English is Some reasons why English is hard to learn The bandage was wound around the wound The farm was used to produce produce The dump was so full it had to refuse more refuse We must polish the Polish furniture He could lead if he would get the lead out The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert Since there is no time like the present he thought it was time to present the present A bass and a bass were painted on the base of the bass drum When shot at the dove dove into the bushes hard to learn The insurance was invalid for the invalid There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row They were too close to the door to close it The buck does funny things when the does are present A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer The wind was too strong to wind the sail After a number of injections my jaw got number Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear I had to subject the subject to a series of tests How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend Module 7 Designing Effective Pages 89 MODULE 7 Designing Effective Pages Good page and screen design not only enhances the visual appeal of your writing but improves its legibility readers will be able to locate information on the page faster using skimming and scanning techniques and once they start to read will read the text faster Many of the pag
17. about your documents Without them you d have to remember all of the decisions you make And if you have several people working on the same document style sheets are essential Often a style sheet is just a sheet or two of paper pinned to the bulletin board and added to as you encounter issues and make decisions Module 1 Good Business Writing Style 11 Some good styleguides A Canadian Writer s Reference Diana Hacker ISBN 0 17 604211 3 Not just a great styleguide of Canadian English but a book of essential grammar focusing on typical problem areas with lots of examples Editing Canadian English Freelance Editors Association of Canada ISBN 0 88894 624 4 A relatively compact about 200 pages book prepared by and for professional editors working in book publishing and other industries focusing on the problems that Canadian editors face Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications Microsoft Press ISBN 1 57231 890 2 Microsoft s own internal styleguide for its software manuals Microsoft has set the industry standard for Windows based software and this guide sets the standard for technical publications A must have for all manual writers Read Me First A Style Guide for the Computer Industry Sun Technical Publications ISBN 0 13 455347 0 Originally the in house styleguide for technical publications at Sun Microsystems Now one of the best known styleguides for writers of end user manuals for t
18. ago and I haven t had any relief since Unless I get some money soon I will be forced to lead an immortal life You have changed my little boy toa girl Will this make any difference I have no children yet as my husband is a truck driver and works day and night In accordance with your instructions I have given birth to twins in the enclosed envelope I am very much annoyed to find you have branded my son illiterate This is a dirty lie as I was married a week before he was born Please find for certain if my husband is dead The man I am now living with can t eat or do anything until he knows Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 55 MODULE 5 20 Rules of Plain English Now that you ve mastered the basics of plain English you ll want to learn more of the rules This module covers 20 of the most important rules to remember as you write These are the rules that most writing styleguides agree on Of course rules are meant to be broken and these are no exception The rules are meant to provide you with useful guidelines to help you make writing decisions not to be followed slavishly 20 key rules write in parallel ways keep related words together use prepositions with care distinguish which from that avoid surplus nouns avoid noun and modifier strings use pronouns with care avoid slang be gender neutral be specific avoi
19. be broadest to narrowest most important to least important or chronological depending on the nature of the information If appropriate replace paragraphs with bullet lists they re easier for readers to scan Avoid including more than three list items in a paragraph If the items are steps in a procedure use numbers instead Exercise 8 Editing challenge If you don t have a professional editor available your best writer will have to do Or consider contracting the services of a professional editor an editor s services can be worth their weight in gold Writers should not edit their own writing because they are often blind to their own errors After an edit the editor and writer should review the changes together This will help the writer understand the reasons behind the changes A styleguide should be used to sort out differences of opinion 102 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Exercise 9 Calculate the fog index Sample 1 20 Average words in sentence 100 words 5 sentences 17 of hard words 17 hard words 37 Subtotal X 0 4 Magic multiplier 14 8 Required reading level Sample 2 13 4 Average words in sentence 67 words 5 sentences 16 42 of hard words 11 hard words 29 82 Subtotal 0 4 Magic multiplier Il gt lt 11 92 Required reading level Exercise 10 Put I and we in your writing 1 We made errors in processing the payroll 2 Thad to edit an
20. be the most readable Increasing the line spacing or leading will give the text a more spacious or relaxed look and is often used in magazine and book publishing Decreasing the line spacing will make the text more difficult to read Use extra line spacing to separate paragraphs Avoid indenting the first line of a paragraph this convention is not commonly used in business publications Additional line spacing is often used to set off headings from the text above and below them Look at the spacing above and below headings in this workbook Justification Justification refers to how the lines of text line up at the left and right margins All text is left justified all lines start at the left margin But text can also be fully justified lines can line up at the right margin as well This paragraph is fully justified Magazines and newspapers are almost always fully justified but business documents are usually not Fully justifying text often results in awkward word spacing which affects reading speed Magazines and newspapers can often avoid some of these problems by hyphenating words or using sophisticated typesetting equipment to automatically kern words on a line kerning refers to adjusting the letter spacing of words Since most word processors can t kern in the same way and hyphenating words slows reading speed avoid fully justifying text A ragged right margin makes it easier for the reader s eye
21. contractions page 68 Example Examples of contractions Taxpayers rights e he s Children s rights e she s e doesn t e it s Singular possessive Add s to any word to form the singular possessive even singular words that end in s It s acceptable to use only an apostrophe if adding s makes the pronunciation awkward Example Bob s dilemma is Lewis s opportunity Sophocles books are hard to understand Acceptable because Sophocles s would be awkward to pronounce The possessive form of it is its no apostrophe 82 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Parentheses Parentheses set off remarks that explain or comment on the sentence but are not directly related to the theme of the sentence Parenthetic remarks are disruptive to the reader so avoid using them in business writing If the remark is important integrate it into the sentence or create a new sentence If not omit it It s okay to use parentheses for spelling out acronyms and where the parenthetic remark is short The following example from the Manual of the American Psychological Association shows the rules for punctuation and parentheses Example Students must return all materials these include sample manuals and textbooks to the instructor Disruptive avoid Students must return all materials such as sample manuals and textbooks to t
22. e tocombine an initial capital letter with a word for example U turn When using compound terms in headings capitalize the word after the hyphen if it s a noun or proper adjective or if the words have equal weight Do not capitalize a second word that modifies the first word for example Follow up Procedure Module 6 Punctuation Matters 85 Em dashes and en dashes Em dash Use an em dash to enclose or set off parenthetic expressions or abrupt changes in thought when commas and parentheses aren t strong enough Use an em dash to expand on a phrase in the main clause of the sentence or where a sentence is introduced by a list Or use it to set off concluding remarks for emphasis But don t overuse em dashes they become annoying after awhile Don t put spaces on either side of an em dash The em dash is not on your keyboard it s a special character that you must insert into your document En Dash Use an en dash to indicate continuing or inclusive numbers such as dates times or reference numbers Don t put spaces on either side of an en dash Like the em dash the en dash is not on your keyboard It s a special character that you must insert into your document Examples June July 1922 10 00 a m 5 00 p m pages 19 24 Examples To further develop these ideas this may be our last chance we decided to meet at the begin
23. executive stayed past in the office while the staff picket present No inconsistent The executive stayed past in the office while the staff picketed past Yes consistent It is present our policy that once you have received past perfect the report you will be able to future submit review comments Yes because it reflects actual time relationships 54 Sharpening Your Writing Skills These sentences are actual examples taken from letters received by a welfare department I am forwarding my marriage certificate and six children I have seven but one was baptized on a half sheet of paper Mrs Jones has not had any clothes for a year and has been visited by the clergy regularly T cannot get sick pay I have six children Can you tell me why I am glad to report that my husband who was missing is dead This is my eighth child What are you going to do about it In answer to your letter I have given birth to a boy weighing ten pounds I hope this is satisfactory I want my money as quick as I can get it ve been to bed with the doctor for two weeks and he doesn t do me any good If things don t improve I will have to send for another doctor Examples of unclear writing I am forwarding my marriage certificate and three children one of which is a mistake as you can see My husband got his project cut off two weeks
24. fingers don t fing grocers don t groce and hammers don t ham If the plural of tooth is teeth why isn t the plural of booth beeth One goose two geese So one moose two meese One index two indices Doesn t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend You can have noses that run and feet that smell a crazy language If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them what do you call it If teachers taught why didn t preachers praught If a vegetarian eats vegetables what does a humanitarian eat Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down you fill in a form by filling it out and an alarm goes off by going on English was invented by people not computers and it reflects the creativity of the human race which of course is not a race at all That is why when the stars are out they are visible but when the lights are out they are invisible Module 6 Punctuation Matters 75 MODULE 6 Punctuation Matters PUNCTUATION matters Omitting a Not all punctuation is used frequently in business writing Some such as elli
25. free ipso facto thereby est la vie that s life tout fini all finished savoir faire know how je ne sais quoi indefinable something Appendix 1 Answers to Exercises 107 Exercise 23 What Latin words do these abbreviations stand for e g exempli gratia 1 e id est etc et cetera Exercise 24 Translate these numbers IX 9 M 1 000 CM 900 XC 90 MCMXCIX 1999 MM 2 000 Exercise 25 List 10 types of things that should be capitalized personal names days of the week organization names provinces document titles states form titles cities political parties planets and heavenly bodies some acronyms and abbreviations department names position titles months of the year 108 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Exercise 26 Should these be capitalized Audit of Financial and Management Practices Kootenay Regional District the regional district referring to above district management staff the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act the Act or act Lower Mainland Greater Vancouver northwestern British Columbia we audited three ministries the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia the Corporation or corporation the Board or board heard three submissions the Manager Human Resources the manager of human resources Exercise 27 Punctuate the following As an experiment take any randomly selected paragraph and copy it making no changes other th
26. have knowledge of make a proposal hold a meeting Module 4 Words and Sentences 53 Verb tenses These are the basic verb tenses Verb tense Example past I wrote present I write future I will write past perfect I had written present perfect I have written future perfect I will have written Use past tense for e investigative reports We found that e performance reviews Joe performed his job well e results of tests and experiments The questionnaire showed that e references to other documents The annual report documented e other backward looking documents Use present tense for e policies Applicants are evaluated e procedures and instructions The clerks process the form e most letters memos and emails Tm happy to tell you that e scientific facts and other truths Water freezes at 0 C e data within a report The frequency increases with education Use future tense for e plans The company will open two new branches e other forward looking documents Most business writing uses either past present or future tense The perfect tenses are used less frequently You may have been told in school not to mix verb tenses Actually you can as long as you use tenses consistently and they reflect the actual time relationships Examples The
27. in a basically linear flow completing one idea or sentence before beginning the next one After all it wasn t easy to rearrange sentences With a word processor you can write as you please You can leave an idea unfinished and go on to another idea Or you can skip around writing different ideas as thoughts occur to you You can write the concluding paragraph first and the introductory paragraph last And when you re finished you can shuffle the paragraphs around Take advantage of this flexibility when you write While writing with a word processor is easy page layout and formatting can be tricky If you find yourself spending a lot of time trying to get the page to look right consider having someone else format it If you ve got someone with strong word processing skills that person can probably lay out the pages faster and with fewer mistakes than you can Tips for faster and better word processing e Use your word processor the way it was designed to be used fudged work arounds can take more time in the end e Create a document template to speed formatting and ensure consistency e Use the styles feature don t apply formatting directly to elements of the text It s faster and way easier to change e Learn to touch type if you don t know how to already you should be able to type faster than you can think e Use understandable file names for your documents and place them in
28. informal e silly insulting e sincere informative e stiff objective e subjective officious e threatening Guidelines for achieving a friendly helpful tone e Write in the first person T and we or second person you Avoid the third person he or the customer which is cold and impersonal e Write the way you would speak to a friend and use the simple everyday words that you would use in normal conversation minus the slang and other bad habits of speech e Avoid long and convoluted sentences that are usually only found in writing keep them short and to the point e Avoid passive sentences which don t mention the real subject Instead of Your application has been reviewed write We reviewed your application Formality Some documents are more formal than others The most formal are usually legislation legal documents and policy statements The least formal are usually memos emails and in house training and instruction manuals Of course the formality of these documents will vary depending on the author the reader and your organization s culture The trend over the past few decades has been towards greater informality in all but a few types of documents Are your documents more formal than they have to be 10 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Styleguides and style sheets All types of writing require you to make a variety of decisions particula
29. number of words in a sentence to the percentage of hard words Treat the percentage as a whole number for example if it s 14 add 14 4 Multiply by 0 4 Formula A P x 0 4 fog index A Average words in a sentence P Percentage of hard words A Average number of words in a sentence Bro Percentage of hard words 38 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Exercise 9 Calculate the fog index Sample 1 During the study information on the Pops Rivet operation and certain aspects of the fastener market was gathered and processed with a view of giving detailed consideration to those aspects most closely related to the needs of a sales compensation plan The company sales pattern both historically and current was analyzed and summarized A field survey relating to blind rivet application company policies and personnel including some general observations was then conducted Statistics on the total fastener market were collected A study was made of the industry compensation scale for salesmen comparable in abilities and background to present Pops salesmen 100 words Sample 2 During our study we considered the needs of a sales compensation plan at Pops Rivets We studied both the Company and the total fastener market Within the Company we examined policies personnel and sales patterns both past and present We surveyed the fastener market gathered statistics and looked into the
30. that is they may not need something but may still want something Example If you need to confirm receipt of your application call the branch office Select the books you want and sign them out in the register 112 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Different Use different from rather than different than when the next part of the sentence is a noun or pronoun that is two things are being compared Example Form 123 is different from Form 124 Effect See Affect and effect Ensure and insure Ensure means to make sure Insure refers to insurance Example Ensure that the applicant has completed the necessary forms before continuing You can insure your house up to its market value Fractions Express fractions in words or as decimals whenever possible When you do use fractions use figures for fractions greater than one for example 0 25 litres 3 3 metres 2 days Spell out fractions less than one that are used alone for example one third inch three quarters finished But use figures when fractions are part of a compound term for example inch bolt Gender inclusiveness Avoid specifying gender Here are some guidelines e Use gender neutral titles when referring to people for example use chairperson or chair instead of chairman Use generi
31. tos iiaia eiti a i a under 6 6 Bi 1 sete ee ee oe n ai ae bind range all the way from 06 range from ODN AON 32 8 ens ecieh id elated eae debt receipt Of insni anann ie iii receive Opta aein ee re ne R get refer Of 6 Rene eee on refer OCCASION AS A VELD oo eeeeeeeeeseseteteteteteteeeees cause regarding eiensunn iei a aiii about of a technical nature cccceeeeeees technical remburse un anai a dec E Uedacse repay of no mean ability cece ceceeeeeeeees capable relative to 23 Aichi ee about Of the OPINION 2 0 cceceeeessceeceeeeeserseeees believe remainder veel sei ras coeds a soet tates rest on a daily basis ccseseseeereees daily every day remuneration 5 pay wages salary fee on a few OCCASIONS cceesssseeeeees occasionally rondeta nan a a a make give on a weekly basis 5 weekly every week VEPAILMAN ceeeeeseeeeereees repairer technician ON ACCOUNL Of 0 enian caan aeii because reported to the effect ccccccccceeeeees reported on an ongoing basis s0s0000000000 continually PEPLESCNUS es cee avcde cs caves cavernbakeeseeeen ER ie is on and after July 1 eee after June 30 PO QUIN inene i enti Gob SP btw Webel suede iatis need on behal CoE osser pea E ine hin for POSING E OAT A I E E AAT T live on his her own application at his her request residenten ainoina et aas ia tens home on or before June 30 0 ccceee befor
32. view and stick with it Example We have decided not to upgrade our computer system Use the you point of view which emphasizes the reader when giving advice or instructions For example when writing a procedure manual use the second person and the imperative form that is tell the reader what to do Point of view See Person Possessives and plurals Form the possessive case of singular nouns by adding an apostrophe and 6699 an s even if the word ends OO 99 in an s Example e the Ministry s responsibility e Burns s poetry Example Complete the form then submit it to your supervisor Use the third person which emphasizes the subject when describing what other people have done or should do For plural nouns ending in s form the possessive case by adding an apostrophe Examples e Workers Compensation Board e ministries budgets Appendix 2 Writing Styleguide 117 For plural nouns not ending in s form the possessive case by adding an oO 9 apostrophe and an s Examples e children s stories e women s programs Although some writers avoid dangling prepositions sometimes they help avoid awkward sentence constructions Instead of using old fashioned Latin style plurals use English style plurals The Latin style plurals are not wrong just a bit stuffy
33. what happens to the four copies of the bill of lading forwarded to the sales order and billing departments however this will not affect the clerk s ability to assess a proposed recommendation about internal control We find the division of business into accounting systems a convenient structure for evaluating internal control although management may view its business differently perhaps in terms of areas of functional responsibilities Exercise 13 Break up very long sentences Our proposal indicates the general approach we would take if we were awarded the contract to write and produce the annual report However it does not specifically address the time and costs that would be required to complete the project Not enough substantive information was provided in the request for proposal that was sent to us on January 2 Exercise 14 Use everyday words the start date is August 1 we will have to pay you the method is under review they used the photocopier she got the forms they found that he knew that after our meeting she said yes it cost about 50 104 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Exercise 15 Use active verbs The committee has not selected an option The appendix lists error messages I discovered omissions when I word processed the report You have to provide the subject since it was missing from the sentence We did not intend to disrupt service during the transition Again you
34. words Bolding Normally used to emphasize headings Avoid using to emphasize key points if you photocopy the text you may lose the bolded effect Instead make it into a note Note Make a note for key information that needs to be emphasized particularly if it s more than a word or two Enclosing it ina box draws the reader s eyes Italics Normally used to identify emphasized or new words We ve used italics in this workbook to introduce new terms or identify terms that are being defined Italics can also be used for document titles such as the title of a form or publication Underlining Commonly used when working with typewriters but not used much anymore Avoid underlining UPPER CASE Often used with typewriters for headings because of the lack of other available heading attributes All upper case letters however slow reading speed because of the loss of characteristic word shapes words in mixed case have a shape that aids in their recognition Avoid using all upper case headings except for acronyms and abbreviations SMALL CAPS If acronyms and abbreviations are set in full capital letters like this SPCA they are too dominant and will jump out visually It s better to put them in small caps like this SPCA usually two points smaller than the text to give them about the same visual dominance as other words in the text Headings When deciding on th
35. Instead of Use Instead of Use by the use Of nesrin ta n g by L e SOONE ETE A alee EEE laches make by virtue Of natsese niiet istis by under effectuate cccceeeees bring about carry out by way of illustration 000 for example elect ae re choose pick Calculates ivccentiiastiak ER compute CLUIMINAEE eee ecccceeeceeeeeeeeees remove strike out CAME tO a SCOP s sssssesesososssssrsrererrrrsrss stopped elucidate siensia teini anis siais explain CALC POLY snenie enia ia kind class group employment ssssssssssesssesesesesesessssssrsrsreree work cause it to be done sssesessseessesssseee have it done ENCOUNTET ostort a a eaa teehee meet E E O A ANE O T stop CNCOULAGE uuna nena E urge chairman ssssssssssssoseseseseseseses chair chairperson endeavour verb sssssssesesssssssssesesesesssssssee try check Intonen eia check CIS UNG 32 ssa ia riene EAEE EE REEE EE following COQTIIZANCE ssepe i o eE a Sas knowledge CTISULE SEEE A AS follow come to an end s ssssosssosesosesesessssseseseseseseeee end enter on a form essssssesssssssssseresrssssssrereee write COMMENCE neiii iisisti eati begin start enter into a contract with contract with CoOmMMmItMent sssssssssssssessosesesrsrsrsrsrsrsrers promise equivalent rnin i a equal communicate write tell talk telephone VINCE erea eha e ed hoc bacated ties show COMPENSATION seenen i an i pay excessive number Of
36. LSONNE eeeeeeeeecccceceeeesssseeeeees people staff stewardess cccccccceceeeesssteeeeees flight attendant pertaining to oe eceeecccececeeeeseesssseceeeeeees of about Strateg ize cceccccccccccesssssnsccecececcsessnsnseneeesecs plan OE AO E E E E E read SU DENI ites E EE o aie cieliivvess give send POLICEMAN cccccceccccecsessssnteeeeees police officer subsequent tO 0 0 eeecceeeestceeeseeeeeenens after later PORMON a css A tan ae part SUDSCQUENE ce n n EATER next POSSESS aeto atsara anai a a itae have SUDSEQUENE LY ececececececececcceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees later prepared to offer cc ceeeeees can offer offer substantial big large great significant PLESENELY 225 6 Biches al ke el ees soon sufficient number Of ccccccceeeeeeereees enough Appendix 3 Dictionary of Plain English 127 Instead of Use Instead of Use SUPCIOM tas cso snide atic Masia TE enough transmit SUMMON netista esni send for call transpire Susta bae den ot tee ces notes sans suffer keep going under circumstances in which although terminate ha T EE end stop even though that Sto SAY ashen i nis that is under the provisions Of ccccccceeeeseees under the fact that es 0icssccaissesees Gessesiesteecvaedesvecs asst omit until such time 8 00 0 cececeesessececeeeeeesennees until the foregoing cccccceccsceseceeeesees the this that utilization e203 Sci BA
37. Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 67 Place modifiers carefully Watch where you place modifiers such 99 66 99 66 99 66 as only almost already even Just nearly merely and always Consider how the placement of one of these small words can alter the meaning of the sentence Example The company wants to negotiate the union s offer Only the company wants to negotiate the union s offer The company wants only to negotiate the union s offer The company wants to negotiate only the union s offer The company wants to negotiate the union s only offer The company wants to negotiate the union s offer only Examples They just wanted a time extension No They wanted just a time extension Better They almost spent five days writing the report No They spent almost five days writing the report Yes Try one The annual report only provides year end figures From Monday s classified ads a ec FORE SALE R D Jones has one sewing machine for sale Phone 555 0707 after 7 p m and ask for Mrs j t Kelly who lives with him cheap d Se Ti i Gy ss ea From Tuesday s classified ads LO A r n i os NOTICE We regret having erred in R D Jone s ad yesterday It should have read One sewing machine for j sale Cheap Call 555 0707 and ask
38. N but will not stay UP unless the UP button has been pressed DOWN The UP button on the other hand will not remam DOWN and returns UP when pressed DOWN Should the UP button stick DOWN press ing the DOWN button DOWN may possibly cause the UP button to release from DOWN and return UP Ifa situation exists in which both the UP and DOWN buttons are neither UP nor DOWN but the UP button is halfway DOWN and the DOWN button is halfway UP then pressing the UP button will cause both the UP and DOWN buttons to come UP This appendix continues for several more paragraphs inthe same vein All instances of the words up and down throughout the appendix are capital ized adding to the confusion Per sonally we would love to hear some one explaining this to a training semi nar THIRD PRIZE 25 00 Resumes are another rich area for entries We ve been tempted to run a contest to find a resume which uses the word use Try it you ll find it s always utilize Our third place entry from Barbara Stafford goes beyond the normal doubletalk and into the metaphysical OBJECTIVE I desire a responsible inno vative position as an Electronic Engineer ing Technician in which my abilities are utilized fully and effectively with oppor tunities for growth and space for life to interject my visions when appropriate and when actualization is possible Conse quently my desire for fascination can be endl
39. a or is so widely used that everyone will know what it stands for such as USA Never create acronyms for your own convenience When you do use acronyms spell them out the first time with the acronym in parentheses following then use the acronym after that Example This heating ventilating and air conditioning HVAC distributor has designed a software program for its HVAC engineers Signs and Notices From Around the World Budapest Zoo Please do not feed the animals if you have any suitable food give it to the guard on duty Czechoslovak Tourist Agency Take one of our horse driven city tours we guarantee no miscarriages 46 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Frank Lingua the nation s leading purveyor of buzzwords and catch phrases interviewed by Business Finance contributing editor Dan Danbom Danbom Is being a clich expert a full time job Lingua Bottom line is I have a full plate 24 7 Danbom Is it hard to keep up with the seemingly endless supply of clich s that spew from business Lingua Some days I don t have the bandwidth Danbom So it s difficult Lingua Harder than nailing Jell O to the wall That s why I have to circle back to partner and expose the key learnings Danbom Give us a new buzzword that we ll be hearing Lingua Enronitis could be a next generation player I also like criticality Danbom Do people und
40. a noun The noun that it refers back to is its antecedent Here are some common pronouns e J e they e it e you e which e this e he e them e that e she e their e one Pronouns force readers to remember the antecedent In some cases the antecedent may not be clear Personal pronouns Don t be afraid to use personal pronouns particularly I we and you They give your writing a natural human quality See Person page 115 Some writers get confused between subjective and objective cases of pronouns Example The manager s expense reports were incomplete and were beyond the per diem rates set out in the Superintendent s policy guidelines This prevented them from being processed Antecedents not clear The manager s expense reports were incomplete and were beyond the per diem rates set out in the Superintendent s policy guidelines The lack of completion prevented the reports from being processed Clear Example I gave him the file but he gave me nothing Okay Bob and me went over the figures together No Bob and I The above example is confusing because of the compound subject Bob and me In this case you can check the pronoun me by temporarily omitting Bob List of personal pronouns Subjective Objective Possessive First person Singular I me my mine Plural we us our ours Sec
41. a grade 12 level to read it easily Some people believe strongly in the fog index and have used it to measure the clarity of different types of documents including popular magazines One grade school reading level required to comprehensive study tried the formula on a variety of popular magazines see results below Fog index of various magazines Fog Index Reading Level Magazine 17 Graduate studies Very few popular magazines 16 Fourth year university are this difficult 15 Third year university 14 Second year university 13 First year university 12 Grade 12 Atlantic Harper Fortune 11 Grade 11 10 General public is considered to read Time Newsweek 9 in this range Reader s Digest 8 Tabloids Module 4 Words and Sentences 37 Fog index calculation Here s the formula for calculating the fog index for a sample of writing It can be used on any sample of writing of any length A few typical paragraphs are usually enough Review the formula then try it on the writing samples 1 Divide the total number of words by the total number of sentences to determine the average number of words in a sentence 2 Calculate the percentage of words with three or more syllables the hard words Don t count capitalized words combinations of small words verb forms such as created technical words 3 Add the average
42. able as butchery or blacksmithing And just as a butcher learns skills and begins his apprenticeship I too have learned the basics I too am ready to apprentice Where I stand you stood The gulf between us consists of time and experience but can be bridged by your wisdom my desire and your willingness to risk your time and some writing assignments on me I realize I ask more than I dare but only because you have stood here You know the agony of waiting for that Yes which I now hope to hear Will you sir say Yes Sincerely Write down the words that best describe the writing style of this letter Module 1 Good Business Writing Style Legal style legalese Avoid writing like a lawyer even if you are one No laws or rules require this hackneyed style It may be true that certain legal language has been interpreted by the courts and has specific meanings under the law but it has no place in most business writing Bureaucratic style Some people think that business writing must be passive and use big words While on the surface this style of writing may sound impressive it actually conveys less meaning because it s ambiguous Example Enclosed please find our response pursuant to your inquiry of Wednesday last We hereby advise you as per your request that we will be forwarding said refund in due course under separate cover Legalese We received your letter written last Wednesday W
43. al to the sentence clauses could be put into parentheses and could not be placed in or removed entirely without altering parentheses it is not preceded with a the essential meaning of the sentence comma Use that for restrictive Example clauses clauses that narrow or restrict the meaning Such clauses are always integral to the sentence and could not be put into parentheses or We rejected the last proposal which was sent by fax The rejected proposal happens to have been removed entirely without altering the faxed essential meaning of the sentence We rejected the last proposal that was sent by fax But not necessarily the Which and that are punctuated last proposal differently Because which introduces a clause that could be placed in Exercise 18 Which and that Review each sentence and decide if which and that are used correctly The manager plans to take us to the new Thai restaurant that is in our old office building Penticton which lies within the Okanagan Valley is shown on the attached map The proposal which we liked best was from Acme Printing and Binding The Committee reviewed the best plans that were submitted We could not find the digital file which was missing 60 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid surplus nouns Avoid nouns that don t add meaning or precision Watch out for Example They were interest
44. an removing all punctuation marks You probably will find it confusing with sentences and thoughts running together without any indication of where to stop and pause The absence of punctuation marks leaves you with no clue for your inflections and without inflections the string of words is meaningless You must separate words group them before they make sense To bring order out of chaos is to separate Separating is the first step toward understanding and the first function of punctuation marks is to serve as separators Exercise 28 Punctuate this That that is is that that is not is not Is that it It is Appendix 2 Writing Styleguide 109 APPENDIX 2 Writing Styleguide Abbreviations Avoid abbreviations except where the abbreviated form is more commonly used than the full term for example a m and p m For common abbreviations such as e g 1 e and etc use English equivalents Affect and effect The verb affect means to influence or produce a change while the verb effect means to bring about Example The changes to the Act will affect three departments They effected many changes in the organization Abbreviation English equivalent e g exempli for example gratia 1 e id est that is and so on and so forth etc et cetera Effect is usually used as a noun and means the result
45. and so on and so forth Minimize the use of acronyms as much as possible They confuse novices and sometimes even experts forget what they mean When you do use them spell them out the first time for example Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP Use small caps to format acronyms To form the plural of an acronym add s for example PCBs The verb affect means to influence or produce a change while the verb effect means to bring about Example The changes to the Act will affect three departments They effected many changes in the organization Effect is usually used as a noun and means the result Example We felt the effects of the stock market crash Use between to describe the direct relationship or comparison of two or more items Use among when the relationship is less direct In other words use between when the relationship of the items is individual use among when the relationship is collective Example You can choose between steak chicken and fish John was among the candidates chosen End the page at an appropriate spot Don t leave single lines 92 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Highlighting for emphasis If you want to emphasize certain words or passages you can use bolding notes italics underlining UPPER CASE or SMALL CAPS But use these effects sparingly they all slow reading speed if used for more than a few
46. appropriate folders so you can find them e Save your document regularly e Ifyou run into problems look in your manual or help system Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid alliteration Always Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do Employ the vernacular Eschew ampersands and abbreviations etc Parenthetical remarks however relevant are unnecessary Remember to never split an infinitive Foreign words and phrases are not apropos One should never generalize Eliminate quotations As Ralph Waldo Emerson said I hate quotations Tell me what you know Comparisons are as bad as clich s Don t be redundant don t use more words than necessary it s highly superfluous Be more or less specific Understatement is always best One word sentences Eliminate Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake Some tips for proper English The passive voice is to be avoided Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms Even if a mixed metaphor sings it should be derailed Who needs rhetorical questions Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement Don t never use a double negation capitalize every sentence and remember always end it with point Do not put statements in the negative form Verbs have to agreed with their subjects Proofread carefully to see if you words out If you reread your work you can
47. at least three times before they re happy Writing is a process of rewriting rewriting and rewriting The strategies that you use can be critical to the quality of your writing This module gives you some strategies to help produce well written drafts quickly These are the same strategies used by professional writers people who have to write well everyday Some indications your writing process is flawed Writing is a constant struggle nothing comes out easily and you don t enjoy it You often have to go back and reorganize your work Other people always want to change what you ve written You often make embarrassing mistakes that you should have caught It takes you too long to write 26 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Write faster and better Some people struggle over every word while others write quickly with little apparent effort Here are some tips to help you be a more productive writer Tip 1 Prepare an outline To write well you need to know where you re going Your outline see page 23 is your map Without one youre lost Tip 2 Write then edit Don t try to write and edit simultaneously these tasks should be done on different passes If you re constantly going back to make changes or correct errors you re editing as you go which can be disruptive to your writing Many writers find that it s better and faster to write first without tryi
48. ation Of ccccccccsccseeeeeenees during customary practice cceesessecececeeeenees practice for the purpose of cccccsccccecceeeesenseeeees for to GOI s cesses erian Aa aate aaa consider think for the reason that ecce since because demonstrates ressar piaia es aE a show foreman iieiea ienasi yaa supervisor lead f ES i SEA AAA A E AE want formulate eeen work out devise form despite the fact that although even though forth with peryatna ahei immediately detailed information cccccccseeseestees details LOR WAR AEEA E ATA EEE ET send determine seeesesssesesssseseeressssesseecesessssesrreee decide frequently enine n eaan a a often dialogue ccccceesseeeeees discussion conversation from the point of view Of cccccesseeeeeees for disclose ri iiaa show from time to time cccccceceeeeeees occasionally dISCOntinUe sssssssssssessssesesesesesesesesesssesessseseo stop give authorization sssssssssssssseses authorize disseminate 00 cecccececeeeeeees send distribute handyman ccccsseeeeeeeee caretaker repairer does not operate tO ccccccccececeeeeeeeeees does not NOTICE ies E AEE ss coecord doko awk estar tested Gheeee so GON ATE Hic cscsibidebesihectebstiatieds Liestect eects aiaei give hereafter cccccceccceeees after this takes effect draw to a close 0 ccececeeessseceeeceeeesenteneceeeeneees end MORO L I iat as ortn aia Sa aeaa iaaea here due
49. because e the budget was not prepared e Two major cost items were not identified e staffing not approved e other errors Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 57 Keep related words together Keep related words together otherwise confusion and ambiguity may result Examples She noticed a cigarette burn on the desk that was right in the centre No right in the centre of what She noticed a cigarette burn on the centre of the desk Yes He wrote three pages on how to use the computer for the user manual No not just for the computer manual He wrote three pages for the user manual on how to use the computer Yes Try one The president said she hoped all employees would give generously to the charity at a staff meeting today 58 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Use prepositions with care Prepositions are words that connect or relate nouns and pronouns to other words They can relate things spatially in time or figuratively Some common prepositions e about e according to e at e across e beneath e down e by e for e of e into e on e next to e through e on top of e to e over e with e up For years many students were told not to end sentences with prepositions a dangling preposition This is a rule that you should ignore English has always had sentences that end with prepositions was That is the sort of English up with wh
50. breviation English equivalent e g for example or for instance 1 e that is or that is to say etc and so on or introduce the list with such as Avoid Roman numerals many of your readers will get confused Avoid Latin abbreviations Most of your readers won t know the words that these terms abbreviate In particular many people confuse e g and i e Exercise 23 What Latin words do these abbreviations stand for e g i e etc Exercise 24 Translate these numbers Ix M CM XC MCMXCIX MM Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 71 Capitalize properly Capitalize proper nouns only names Exercise 25 List 10 types of things of people objects and entities Don t that should be capitalized capitalize a word because you think it s important or you want it to stand out 1 Capitalization helps readers distinguish the names of things from the descriptions of things Some capitalization varies depending on local practice For example some organizations usually capitalize the following words e Board e Act e e J ile O eile oo IRS Corporation Company m S Exercise 26 Should these be capitalized Review the following and decide if they re capitalized correctly e Audit Of Financial And Management Practices title of report Kootenay regi
51. c nouns when referring to specific groups for example use managers to include both male and female managers e Avoid gender specific pronouns for example his her he she You can address the reader as you repeat the noun for example managers drop the pronoun altogether make the noun plural and then use they or their which are gender neutral use a passive verb and omit the noun and pronoun rewrite the sentence e Avoid phrases that make assumptions about gender For example delegates and their wives are invited to attend the breakfast meeting implies that all delegates are male e Avoid always putting men first in phrases such as men and women boys and girls his or hers Alternate the word order in phrases like these so that neither women nor men always go first Appendix 2 Writing Styleguide 113 e Avoid using language that is not parallel such as men and ladies use men and women women and men man and wife use husband and wife wife and husband and Mr and Mrs John Doe use Mr John Doe and Mrs Jane Doe or Jane and John Doe e Never refer to adult women as girls gals or ladies in situations where you would call men men e Don t use lady woman or female as adjectives for example lady
52. ce information e How is this type of information And just because one part of your usually organized document is organized a certain way doesn t mean it all has to be One section could be organized top down to explain things easily while the following sections could be organized topically or even alphabetically for easy reference e How do my readers expect me to organize this information Signs and Notices From Around the World Hong Kong Dentist Hong Kong Tailor Thai Donkey Ride Paris Hotel Would you like to ride your own ass Leave your values at the front desk Module 2 Planning to Write 21 Organize your document Alphabetical Sometimes it s best to organize information topically provide a keyword heading then sequence the headings alphabetically just the way I ve organized this section This allows readers to find information quickly which is why many reference manuals are organized alphabetically Of course if you only have a few headings it s not much of an advantage since readers can scan all of the headings quickly But alphabetically organizing information prevents any logical progression from one heading to the next so it s a poor way to explain things Bottom up The results of scientific experiments lab tests or anything done by objective analysis are usually presented bottom up that is the details are presented first and broad conclusions or general stateme
53. ce the required spacing Appendix 2 Writing Styleguide 119 Since See Because and since Spacing Don t use hard spaces the space produced when you press the space bar to centre or position text use tabs indents or centred alignment Use a single space to separate the end of one sentence from the beginning of the next As a general rule you should never have two consecutive spaces in a document Spelling and usage When writing for a Canadian audience use Canadian not American spelling for example colour not color centre not center If in doubt refer to The Canadian Oxford Dictionary That and which That introduces a restrictive clause a clause that must be there for the sentence to make sense A restrictive clause often defines the noun or phrase preceding it Which introduces a non restrictive parenthetical clause a clause that could be omitted without affecting the meaning of the sentence Use who or whom rather than that or which when referring to a person Their and there There is an adverb used to indicate a place or position other than here Their is the possessive form of they Use the plural pronoun their only when the noun it s representing is plural Examples Your manual is over there Their manual needs to be updated Contact each employee to clarify their
54. chnical illustrations photographs graphics icons Information is most commonly presented in narrative form paragraph after paragraph Although narrative text forms most of what we read and is a necessary part of most business documents it s more difficult to scan for information than most other presentation methods Good documents use a variety of methods of presenting information The result instead of narrative text is termed structured text When you prepare documents think of yourself as a communicator not a writer don t automatically write paragraph after paragraph Non technical graphics can be used to provide visual interest but graphics should relate to and reinforce the theme of the text Graphics should always be placed as closely following their reference in the text as possible You can get many kinds of graphics from clip art sources Try and use graphics created in a similar style More complex graphics or graphics on specific subjects can be custom developed by graphic artists 96 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Tioson usin raphics Here are some examples of a P g grap checklist a step by step procedure e Use graphics to visually enhance and an If Then table the document and break up the text Always choose graphics that reinforce the message of the text Editing Checklist Grammatical and spelling errors eliminated e Ifusing graphics of people make
55. ct verb object order In business writing you re usually trying to communicate and not to impress so you should avoid the more complicated words and sentence structures that are available in English Back in high school you may have been encouraged to demonstrate your growing vocabulary and mastery of sentence syntax in your writing Doing this correctly would usually improve your mark and maybe your final grade In business writing however your goal is almost always to communicate quickly and clearly to a broad range of readers and sometimes to people whose first language is not English In this module you ll learn about the importance of word choice and sentence length to communicating clearly You ll also learn about the fog index a formula that you can use to measure the clarity of a sample of writing based solely on word choice and sentence length 36 Sharpening Your Writing Skills What s the fog index The fog index was developed years ago as a way to quickly evaluate the clarity of a sample of writing While it only measures word choice and sentence length the results are worth considering because these two aspects of writing are widely considered to be good indicators of writing quality One of the reasons for the popularity of this formula is that the resulting number equates to the minimum read the writing easily In other words if the result is 12 it means that you have to be reading at
56. d clich s place modifiers carefully avoid unnecessary qualification use contractions be concise avoid foreign words capitalize properly abbreviate with care write numbers consistently ignore some old rules 56 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Write in parallel ways Parallelism means being consistent in how you structure your writing Once you establish a pattern use it Parallelism makes reading faster and easier Keep items in a list parallel Each item should be constructed in a similar way and start with the same kind of word such as a noun or verb If one item is a whole sentence they all should be Examples Parallel sentences Originally writing was taught by analysis while now a synthesis approach is used Not parallel Originally writing was taught by analysis now it is taught by synthesis Parallel The evaluation report was written outlining the case study and witha list of contributors Not parallel The evaluation report was written outlining the case study and listing the contributors Parallel Example Not parallel list Students must bring the following items e styleguide e bring pencils and pens e You should bring a word processor Example Parallel list Students must bring the following items e styleguide e pencils and pens e word processor Exercise 17 Make the last three items parallel to the first The plan is deficient
57. d convert the report to HTML before it could go on the intranet 3 The arbitration was not going well so we called in the best negotiator Exercise 11 Put you in your writing 1 Before you complete the report check the cross references for accuracy 2 You must give staff enough time to review the document 3 You can t easily modify the annual report once it has been printed 4 Analyzing the information needs of staff may let you change the way you distribute manuals Appendix 1 Answers to Exercises 103 Exercise 12 Shorten long sentences Divide the following compound sentences at the slash Note the words that follow but and yet however although These are conjunctions which are used to join ideas together Avoid using them to join independent clauses together We are prepared to cooperate with your consultants in the preparation of a schedule but we insist on maintaining complete control of the work as outlined in Article 12 of the General Conditions of the Contract and any such schedule must be prepared in a manner and form suitable to use as a tool and guide to management for all construction operations on the site The facts clearly indicate that motor cars with faulty brakes are being driven on our streets and highways yet government officials have not taken action to protect the responsible motorist and the general public The shipping clerk may have only a vague notion of
58. d to last item this comma is commonly referred to as the serial comma In other types of writing the serial comma is often not used In some writing situations particularly with compound list items using the serial comma prevents possible confusion Example The company changed its policy and the number of complaints dropped immediately Don t use a comma before a clause that cannot stand on its own as a complete sentence Example The president said that a public meeting would have to be held before the department would consider changing its policy Example computer monitor and keyboard 2 To separate two independent clauses complete sentences joined by a conjunction such 3 To set off introductory phrases or conditions If the interruption to the flow of the sentence is slight you can omit the comma as and but for or nor yet still Example The financial records of the company went up in smoke and the general ledger cannot be reconstructed Don t use a comma if the two independent clauses are short and closely related Examples Walking slowly up the hallway he saw the crowd gathered around the coffee machine If the float is out by less than 10 ignore the difference In 2000 we decided not to file an income tax return Comma omitted because interruption is slight
59. de Yow re just insignificant It s a thankless job but I ve got a lot of Karma to burn off And your crybaby whiny butt opinion would be Do I look like a people person This isn t an office It s Hell with flourescent lighting I started out with nothing and still have most of it left About the Author Duncan Kent has worked as a journalist technical communicator documentation consultant and writing instructor since graduating with a Master of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in 1976 In 1990 he was awarded the designation of Certified Management Consultant CMC by Canada s governing body of management consultants Duncan is a founding member of the Canada West Coast chapter of the Society for Technical Communication STC and has served as the chapter s President For more than 12 years he has taught technical writing at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver British Columbia and is a member of the Advisory Board to the university s Writing and Publishing Program His writing workshops have been offered in almost every province and territory in Canada and in house to more than 50 government and private sector organizations Since 1990 Duncan Kent amp Associates Ltd has provided a full spectrum of technical communication services With specialists in writing editing document production instructional design and web site creation the firm has guided the developm
60. de or maintain The whole comprises the parts rather than the reverse Never use comprised of Don t use a contraction with a noun to replace is for example our network s connected Don t make a contraction from a noun and a verb for example the supervisor ll review your work Dates Avoid using abbreviations for months Don t use th or nd after a date Only use a comma when the day is included Example The department comprises several workgroups Correct Several workgroups comprise the department Incorrect The department is comprised of several workgroups Incorrect Example Nov 10th 1997 Avoid November 10 1997 Preferred November 1997 Preferred Contractions Contractions are contracted forms of words with the missing letters represented with an apostrophe such as you ll and don t They give your writing a more conversational tone to the reader they sound more like natural speech Contractions are widely used in most business writing Because they are a mark of informal writing you may want to avoid them in formal documents Be consistent in substituting an apostrophe for deleted letters Avoid uncommon contractions and don t create any new ones of your own Desire wish need and want Use need instead of desire and wish Use want when the reader s actions are optional
61. doctor woman lawyer unless gender is relevant If gender is relevant use the noun woman for example she is the first woman to walk on the moon or the adjective female for example she is the first female astronaut to walk on the moon e Avoid stereotypical words and phrases for example like a 99 66 man women s work and ladylike Insure See Ensure and insure Italics Use italics when referring to document titles and section references and when introducing new terms Its and it s Use it s as a contraction for it is for example it s the right thing to do Use its as a possessive pronoun for example the store is known for its low prices Me myself and Use the pronoun I as a subject Use me as an object Use myself when the person receiving the action is the same as the person doing the action Examples John and me share the computer Incorrect John and I share the computer Correct It was a valuable experience for her friend and I Incorrect It was a valuable experience for her friend and me Correct I cut myself Correct The waiter gave my sister and myself some good tips Incorrect The waiter gave my sister and me some good tips Correct Measurements When writing for a Canadian audience express measurements in metric unless imperial or
62. drop the plate on the glass table the table might break Clear The plate might break if you drop it on the glass table Clear Example Applicants subject appreciate verb honesty object Try not to start sentences with it and there these constructions are often vague and wordy and can usually be restructured to be much more direct See also Gender inclusiveness Sentences Keep sentences short and simple Try to limit them to one idea The longer the sentence the more difficult it is to grasp If it s longer than 30 words consider rewriting it Don t link unrelated ideas together with and or use semicolons Structure your sentences using a simple subject verb object sentence order By sticking to this order you avoid using the passive voice use fewer words and your sentence is easier to understand Examples It was not our intention to break the rules Avoid We did not intend to break the rules Preferred There may be resistance to the plan Avoid Some people may resist the plan Preferred There are several options in this proposal Avoid This proposal presents several options Preferred Spacing after a period Usea single space to separate the end of one sentence from the beginning of the next Word processors automatically put in the required spacing at the end of sentences Pressing the space bar twice will result in twi
63. dule 2 Planning to Write 13 MODULE 2 Planning to Write A lot of writers just start writing without a lot of thought about where they re going For short documents like emails and memos this isn t usually a problem But for longer documents such as short reports or proposals or worse for manuals or long reports the lack of a plan can force you to make major revisions to your document once it s been drafted Not only is this more time consuming but often the end result suffers Planning begins with asking questions about the purpose objectives and intended readers of your publication Why am I writing this document Who s going to read it and what information do they need It s important to know the answers to these questions before you get started All writers from time to time suffer from writer s block an inability to make significant progress with their writing task Some writers just give up hoping it ll be better the next day Business writers however usually don t have that option they ve got to produce because their job depends on it Fortunately there are time tested techniques for making sure this doesn t happen to you techniques like clustering and outlining In this module you ll learn how to plan your document and why the more you know about your readers the better off you ll be You ll also learn some techniques for generating and organizing ideas and how to t
64. e July 1 YESPECEING norisei iian ea les a TE about on the basis of c0 by from because of Ao Fh Fae a a aa Neas keep on the grounds that cccceceeeeeeeereee because revise downward lower decrease ON the part ofo isiratesr nents tten enan by said same such ccecce the this that once in a while 0 0 cece ceceeeeesenereeeee occasionally salesgirl saleslady sales clerk person ONGOING ASEPE ONEA TT continuing representative OPtIMUM ssssssssssssssssssssesese0o best greatest most SALESMAN cece ceeccceeeeeeeeeeeeeees sales clerk person or in the alternative cececeeeeseteteteeees or representative OUP UE oeseri renea a ea product sections 20 to 94 inclusive sections 20 to 94 owing to the fact that eeeeeee because Seldom if ever ecceceessssecececeeeesssssceeeeeees rarely parameter 0 0 cee eseseseseseseseeereees boundary limit SIV AU MY sleccen edd coke sas ceca cd esheavos A Sowa AE will parti ipatesos iilii ia take part shows a preference for ccceeeeeneees prefers POTN Enner e e k hace aa until since the time that s sssssssssssesesosessseseses since per annum per day per foot a year a day OEI D E ee aati only a foot specified inoan onia iaeia named per ce t M ainina percent SPOKESMAN ceeececececeeeeeceeeeeeeeees spokesperson period of time cc ececeeeeesseeees period time started off With ccceeeeeee started with PE
65. e agree that you are entitled to a refund and will mail it to you in a few days Plain English Example It has been recommended that the organization prioritize its strategic management objectives before decision options are quantified and the distribution network is regionalized Bureaucratic We recommend that the company decide its business objectives before trying to rate the various possible locations for its regional distribution centres Plain English 6 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Excessive courtesy Avoid inauthentic expressions of friendship courtesy or caring Honesty is refreshing Most of us have heard too much of this marketing drivel to think that it s genuine Example It has been a pleasure to serve you and we trust that if we can be of any additional assistance in the future you will not hesitate to call upon us Excessively courteous I enjoyed working with you Call again if you need more help Plain English Exercise 1 Make this sentence more believable You ve reached the offices of A to Z Manufacturing Unfortunately all of our operators are busy at the moment but please be assured that we value your business each of our customers is very special to us Please stay on the line and the next available operator will be right with you Again we value your business and look forward to serving you Module 1 Good Business Writing Style 7
66. e design and typographic conventions that we see in business publications today evolved because of the limitations imposed by typewriters One example is the use of Courier a non proportional typeface With Courier every letter and character on the keyboard uses the same amount of space whether it s an T or an m While it made the typewriter easier to design it s considered slower to read because of the unnatural word lengths that result Now that we use word processors and laser printers we can drop some of these typewriter conventions and go back to standard typographic conventions In this module you ll learn how to create a great page design what typefaces work the best how to highlight for emphasis what information headers and footers should contain how to present information graphically and ways to get the most from your word processor Real Resume Bloopers Insufficient writing skills thought processes have slowed down some If I am not one of the best I will look for another opportunity My intensity and focus are at inordinately high levels and my ability to complete projects on time is unspeakable 90 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Page design and layout An attractive and legible page design will encourage your readers to use your document and will make it easier to find information and faster to read Line length Keep your line lengths short If y
67. e instructions in the second person you Many people avoid addressing the reader as you Particularly outside North America it s sometimes considered to be too direct too personal The alternative however is usually either passive with no subject or third person he they or worse one The imperative style is written in the second person but without using you It s direct and concise Each sentence normally begins with a verb such as type or complete Imperative is typically used in procedure writing when addressing the reader as you would be repetitive Example To join the society complete the application form and send a copy to national headquarters Attach a cheque for your first year s fees Imperative 40 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Try one Rewrite in the imperative In order to see a list of assigned access codes it is necessary that you type FIL at the command line Third person he and they Write in the third person when neither you nor the reader are involved in the action For example use the third person if you are writing to one person and discussing another person But never write in the third person when you re talking about the reader it s impersonal and bureaucratic Example Clerks must process contractor invoices within 30 days If they have any questions they shou
68. e population Examples The department is responsible for creating annual reports budgets and financial planning Not parallel The department is responsible for creating annual reports budgets and financial plans Parallel White space is important for the following reasons e breaks up visual impact e visual separation of sections Not parallel e visually separates sections Parallel e focusing attention Not parallel e focuses attention Parallel e content is broken into smaller chunks Not parallel e breaks content into smaller chunks Parallel Person Person refers to the point of view or perspective you take when writing first person T or we second person you or third person he she or they This styleguide is written in the second person because it addresses the reader as you 116 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Singular and plural forms of personal pronouns Person Singular Plural first I me my mine we us our ours second you your yours you your yours third he him his they them their theirs she her hers it its Use the IT or we point of view which emphasizes the writer when writing correspondence or reports about personal experience for example when describing your group s actions or ideas Example Writers should decide on a point of
69. e typeface and size of headings in your document make sure that the reader will be able to easily distinguish one level from another Look at the headings in this book The first level headings the module headings are 36 point Eras Medium flush left The second level headings the section headings are 24 point Eras Medium flush left The third level headings are 14 point Eras Medium also flush left When determining the attributes of your heading levels make sure e the size runs from biggest to smallest as you descend the hierarchy e at least three points of type size separate each level of heading for example 18 points 15 points and 12 points otherwise readers may be unsure of what level they re looking at e the typeface runs from boldest to lightest as you descend the hierarchy Module 7 Designing Effective Pages 93 Keyword headings We ve used another type of heading in this book that we call keyword headings like here They are not fifth level headings because they can be used at any level in the hierarchy On the Web the user s browser often determines the typeface and type size of each heading level found in a file Each of the major browsers has a default but these can be reset by the user For more information about headings also see Design a hierarchy page 27 Line spacing Leave the line spacing set at the default on your word processor This is the setting considered to
70. ed in the e approach e location decentralized decision making e e area environmen concept No e concept e situation l i e condition e type They were interested in decentralized decision making Yes Try one The meeting was delayed by the courier shortage situation Avoid noun and modifier strings Avoid stringing nouns or modifiers together Even two word strings can be taken in several ways How many different meanings can you think of for management option Instead unstack strings to make the meaning clear Before you use strings ask yourself if all your readers will know what yov re talking about Instead of Write component reference designators designators for referring to components marketing plan analysis analysis of the marketing plan long range failure prevention program long range program for preventing failures typical user interface problem area areas where users typically have problems Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 61 Exercise 19 Rewrite the following noun and modifier strings so their meaning is clear problem responsibility changes ad hoc report generation utility obsolete cardholder file operator induced failure rate increase problem non literate personnel manager 62 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Use pronouns with care A pronoun is a word that represents
71. eenees first Majority Ofosu aneao etae a aita most in the instance Of ccccceesessececeeeeceeeensrsees for make application t0 cccccccccccceceesesseeeees apply in the interest Of cccccccccceeeeeseessseeseseeeeees for make contact With ccccccccseeeeeeeeeeee see meet in the majority of instances usually generally make the acquaintance Of cccccceeerees meet in the matter Of cccccccccceseesssseceeeeeeeenes about man AS a verb ooo cece eeceesesseceeeeeees staff operate in the nature Of c cccccccceseessssseceeeseeeeeenees like man men as a noun humans people in the near fUture ececeeseccececceeeeeentreees soon individuals in the neighbourhood Of cccccceeeees about man days hours 00005 worker days hours in the possession Of ccceesseseeeeees has have mankind people humans humankind in the proximity Of cc00 about nearly man made synthetic artificial hand made in the vicinity of around near close to MANNE ise hase cede way IN this CA S ideann tne ai kinia here MANPOWEF 0000000 workers workforce staff in view of the fact because employees WAGICATE irs sede seeeeialahaneseie can ses aaea anessa show materializem aisant einna appear IN OPI PET EAEE AAE T T tell maximum most largest longest greatest Taa A Ee d hohe A TETEA S E A first middleman
72. elate to any of these purposes Examples of implicit purposes to generate trust to persuade to deflect blame to establish your professional credibility to demonstrate your objectivity e to generate business Module 2 Planning to Write 15 Decide on your objectives Sometimes business documents will have objectives there s something specific that you want to happen If your document has specific objectives write them down Once you ve finished you can go back and see whether the document achieved its objectives or not Establishing specific objectives is one of the ways we use to measure the success of our documents Examples of specific objectives e be awarded a contract for proposals e geta job interview for a resume and cover letter e allow people to complete a task successfully without help a procedure e allow a technician to diagnose and repair a piece of equipment within a limited period of time a repair manual e allow people to find something they re looking for a set of directions Warning Label Jamboree text found on actual warning labels On the bottom of a box of Tesco s Tirimisu Dessert On a Korean kitchen knife On a Japanese food processor On Sainsbury s Peanuts On a Swedish chainsaw On Marks amp Spencer Bread Pudding Do not turn upside down Warning Keep out of children Not to be used for
73. em e never coin any of your own e avoid abbreviations of foreign words such as 1 e e g and etc use the English equivalents e spell them out the first time you use them Did you know Though the term abbreviations is used here to cover abbreviations acronyms and initialisms the following are definitions of each Abbreviation a shortened form of a word such as ft Acronym composed of the initial letters or parts of a compound term that is usually read as a single word rather than letter by letter such as scuba self contained underwater breathing apparatus Initialism composed of the initial letters or parts of a compound term but usually read letter by letter rather than as a single word such as rpm revolutions per minute Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 73 Write numbers consistently Guidelines for using numbers in text e spell out numbers from one through nine e use figures for 10 and greater except numbers rounded to millions for example 10 million Ignore some old rules Here are some of the rules of English usage that you can safely ignore in business writing e don t use personal pronouns such as I we or you except in informal documents see Writing points of view page 39 and Use pronouns with care page 62 e don t use simple everyday words use your thesaur
74. ent of more than 180 manuals courses help systems and web sites Duncan Kent amp Associates Ltd Suite 507 1200 West Pender Street Vancouver British Columbia V6E 2S9 Tel 604 683 3136 Email duncan techcommunicators com Web www techcommunicators com
75. ers this is a universal typographic convention Page breaks Page break refers to where you end a page of text The standard rule is to never leave a single line of text at either the bottom of a page an orphan or the top of a page a widow Most word processors have a widow and orphan feature which automatically guards against single lines However for documents that typically use lots of headings bullet lists and other methods of presentation this feature doesn t work well Once the text is finalized go through the document and decide where the pages should break Follow these guidelines for page breaks e Don t separate headings from the text that follows e Avoid leaving major headings close to the bottom of the page e Don t separate introductory lines from the lists they introduce e Don t separate tables from their titles e Leave at least two lines of a paragraph at the top and bottom of a page Module 7 Designing Effective Pages 95 Using graphics Different types of information lend themselves to different methods of presentation By using the most appropriate methods of presentation you will help readers find and understand the information they need faster and more easily Methods of presenting information bullet lists checklists text boxes sidebar text tables step by step procedures flow diagrams decision trees form illustrations screen illustrations te
76. erstand your role as a clich expert Lingua No they can t get their arms around that But they aren t incented to Danbom Did incomprehensibility come naturally to you Lingua I wasn t wired that way but it became mission critical as I strategically focused on my go forward plan Danbom How do you stay ahead of others in the buzzword industry Lingua Net net my value proposition is based on maximizing synergies and being first to market with a leveraged value added deliverable Danbom Do you read Dilbert in the newspaper Lingua My knowledge base is deselective of fiber media Danbom Does that mean no Lingua Negative Danbom DOES THAT MEAN NO Lingua Our research shows your consumer mindset is tilting on a negative axis Let s circle back and discuss this offline Danbom I hate you Lingua Take it and run with it Module 4 Words and Sentences 47 Buzzword generator This popular buzzword generator can create thousands of meaningless terms Be careful that your writing doesn t sound like it came from one To use choose a word from column A another word from column B and a final word from column C Column A Column B Column C integrated management options total organizational communication structured monitored security parallel reciprocal mobility functional digital programming responsive logical software optional transitio
77. es of sentences Avoid complicated sentence structures when a simple one will do The simplest sentences are the easiest to read Simple sentences Simple sentences consist of a subject a verb and an object Avoid using semicolons to join related independent clauses In business writing they re seldom needed And most of your readers will not understand the meaning of a semicolon Use two sentences instead Compound sentences Compound sentences consist of at least two independent clauses often joined by a conjunction Example I fired him Subject verb object Example I fired 28 employees this year and next year I hope to fire even more employees Complex sentences Complex sentences consist of a main clause independent clause and a subordinate clause dependent clause Compound complex sentences Compound complex sentences consist of least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause Example Because I hired him I had to fire him Example I fired 28 employees this year independent clause and next year I hope to fire even more employees independent clause because that s part of my job dependent clause Module 4 Words and Sentences 43 Exercise 12 Shorten long sentences Divide the following sentences into two or more shorter sentences We are prepared to cooperate with your consultants in the preparation of a sc
78. essly fulfilled within any field as long as temporal limitations are not placed upon it I humbly feel my assets would be a worthy addition to your ardent firm Thanks again to our prize winners and to all our entrants RULES 1 All entries must be original non proprietary and non copyrighted Entries become the property of Right Soft Inc RightSott retains the right to use any entries in promotional and product literature 2 Entries not received by the press date for a newsletter will automatically be entered into the contest for the next newsletter 3 Entries will be judged on the basis of verbosity and likelihood of occurrence All entries must have actually been used in real life 4 Entries may be of any length from a single phrase to a multiple page docu ment We will print only excerpts from longer passages 5 You may enter as many times as you wish 6 No purchase is necessary to win 7 Entries may not be obscene or vulgar 8 Please include your entire name We hate to refer to people by their initials Tell us uf you do not want your name published Module 3 Writing Strategies 25 MODULE 3 Writing Strategies Most writers even professionals can t write perfect polished prose on the first go through Maybe like you they find themselves struggling having to go back through their draft several times before they get it right In fact most writers will go through their draft
79. f the paragraph This type of opening sentence is often referred to as the topic sentence The sentences that follow should flow from the first sentence and provide supporting details Organize paragraphs into a logical sequence This sequence might be broadest to narrowest most important to least important or chronological depending on the nature of the information If appropriate replace paragraphs with bullet lists they re easier for readers to scan Avoid including more than three list items in a paragraph If the items are steps in a procedure use numbers instead Module 3 Writing Strategies 29 Use informative headings Headings tell readers about the information that follows Particularly for readers who are skimming and scanning for information having lots of descriptive headings is important Use topical headings Use headings that describe the topic not the type of information If the section relates to a task use the ing form of the word for example Printing Your Document Use lots of headings Aim for two or three headings on each page It s usually better to have too many headings than too few If you ve got a page without any headings go back and see if you could insert some headings to group and identify the paragraphs You may have to move paragraphs around The only exception might be letters memos or emails that are a page or two long Keep headings short Limit the n
80. fferent types of information lend themselves to different methods of presentation Don t automatically write paragraph after paragraph Most people prefer graphic information instead of written information Look at your own preferences Would you rather look at a picture or read paragraphs of text Would you rather read a paragraph or scan a bullet list illustration or photograph however you may need some help Think of yourself as a communicator not a writer Graphic information is usually e less intimidating to the reader e easier to scan to find information e easier to understand and act on Use photographs to show readers what things look like As you re drafting decide which parts of the information would be better presented as a graphic If you decide that a bullet list table or numbered procedure would be better you can probably create these yourself If it s a graphic or icon you might be able to use clip art If it s a technical Ways to present information bullet lists checklists text boxes sidebar text words pulled out into a wide margin tables numbered lists usually a procedure flow diagrams decision trees form or screen illustrations clip art graphics warnings cautions and notes photographs Consultant Finance Department Prepare Purchase Order 1 Purchase Purchase Order Order _ ay a N fice S
81. find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing A writer must not shift your point of view Place pronouns as close as possible especially in long sentences of 10 or more words to their antecedents Appendix 1 Answers to Exercises 99 APPENDIX 1 Answers to Exercises Here are some suggested answers to the exercises presented in this book In many of the exercises there are other possible correct answers Exercise 1 Make this sentence more believable You ve reached the offices of A to Z Manufacturing All of our operators are busy at the moment We value your business please stay on the line and the next available operator will be with you shortly Exercise 2 Add back the missing words If the oil pressure is under 40 pounds loosen the right hand banjo screw Exercise 3 Top 10 list of attributes of good business writing Use a conversational style Use short everyday words Use first person and second person point of view where appropriate Use short sentences in subject verb object sentence order Prefer active verbs Use strong verbs Be concise Be gender neutral Oe Bh OY SY ee Se Er Use contractions where appropriate 10 Avoid slang and clich s 100 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Exercise 4 Writing tone Most good business writers strive for the following tones in their writing e casual e honest e courteo
82. first option costs 1 50 the second costs 2 and the third costs 0 75 Preferred Note that amounts less than 1 are expressed as 0 75 not as 75 Paragraphs Keep paragraphs short no longer than four or five sentences if you can Longer paragraphs are visually intimidating to the reader Try to limit each paragraph to one topic unless you are linking related points Start a new paragraph when you change topics or shift your focus Leave a space between paragraphs Avoid indenting the first line of a paragraph this convention is not commonly used in business publications Appendix 2 Writing Styleguide 115 Parallelism If two or more ideas are parallel express them in parallel form Balance single words with single words phrases with phrases clauses with clauses Example Frequent absences can result in suspension or even being terminated Not parallel Frequent absences can result in suspension or even termination Parallel Passive voice See Voice Percent Spell out the word percent Use the symbol in tables on business forms and in statistical or technical information Be consistent don t mix the word percent and the symbol In sentences that begin with a percentage spell the number out Balance parallel ideas in a series or items in a list Example Price reductions range from 20 to 50 percent Forty percent of th
83. follow another without any intervening text e Don t skip levels don t have a Heading 1 followed by a Heading 3 28 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Paragraph frequently Paragraphing visually organizes related information together This is one of the ways writers chunk information When you move to the next topic start a new paragraph The average number of sentences in a paragraph in a business document is only three or four Avoid long paragraphs they intimidate readers And never have an entire page consisting of one paragraph If you want to break up a paragraph read it through carefully looking for a change in the topic You may have to move a sentence or two Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence Place the most general sentence first then go into the details most paragraphs have a top down structure It s okay to let paragraphs break across pages just avoid single lines at the top or bottom of the page Exercise 7 Break up this long paragraph Limit paragraphs to a single topic or idea If you find yourself covering several topics you probably need several paragraphs It s better to have too many paragraphs than too few Don t let paragraphs get too long Most professional writers will average only three or four sentences in a paragraph Ones that span large areas of the page intimidate readers Make sure that the opening sentence introduces or summarizes the content o
84. for Mrs Kelly who lives with him after 7 p m a a agent ee w 68 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid unnecessary qualification Don t qualify words that don t need to be qualified totally committed completely devoted utterly rejected perfectly clear entirely finished quite precise radically new totally compatible somewhat unique relatively precise partially committed Use contractions WE RE SOMEWHAT COMPATIBLE THAT S RELATIVELY PRECISE Contractions are words formed by Common contractions joining two words together and dropping some letters Use can t cannot contractions to give your writing an don t do not informal conversational tone Without rd I would them your writing will sound formal Pil I will and maybe a bit stilted Pm Iam it ll it will You may want to avoid using it s it is contractions in formal documents such she d he d she would he would as legal contracts or annual reports or she ll he ll she will he will where you want to emphasize the she s he s she is he is words For example You will go to the theres thereais doctor they ll they will they re they are were we are won t will not you ll you will you re you are Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 69 Be concise Remove all unnecessary words to keep your writing as short as possible You may find that you
85. for this purpose You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers artists and writers are buried daily except Thursday Yugoslav Hotel Copenhagen Airline Ticket Office The flattening of underwear with w e take your bags pleasure is tho job or ths chambermaid and send them in all directions Module 3 Writing Strategies 33 Review and approvals Most business writing is collaborative that is you work with others to prepare review and approve your documents Having other people review edit and approve your work is part of the normal writing process in business For letters memos and other short documents reviews and approvals may be quick and simple But for longer documents such as long reports and manuals the technical review and approval process must be carefully planned to ensure that it s thorough and doesn t delay completion of the document Review options Think about the pros and cons of these different approaches e Send reviewers a print copy to mark up and return e Give reviewers access to the word processor file and let them make their changes themselves e Invite reviewers to a meeting to discuss their comments on the draft e Invite reviewers to a meeting to introduce the draft and carefully walk them through the contents Tips for successful reviews limit the number of reviewers provide reviewers w
86. from a person working tor a major city government There was no cover letter just a note with the person s name on it So we as sumed it was a bad writing contest entry and sent out our normal ac knowledgement letter It turns out the person wanted us to sign the affidavit and return it Sorry about that THIS ISSUE S WINNERS FIRST PRIZE 100 00 First prize goes to Donald L Red mond This entry received extra points because Mr Redmond admitted it was his own letter written early in his career Most people send letters written by their boss According to Mr Redmond he did not know how to answer the question and so wrote the following Dueto Company s integrated organ izational mobility we should through our functional policy programming be able to provide compatible third generation hard ware or increased loading However with our responsive management concept we may desire sther sustemized monitored options or possibly balanced digital capability In turn it would then be necessary to utilize the total reciprocal flexibility wnicn is essential to logistical compatibility SECOND PRIZE 50 00 Many entries come from user manu als and instruction books Some of them are simply unintelligible Others appear simple but are a little hard to follow Take for example our second prize entry from Joseph Christie APPENDIX B A WORD OF CAUTION The DOWN button when depressed will remain DOW
87. g fancy words Use first person I or we or second person you point of view where appropriate they re shorter and more direct than using the third person he or the clerk Use short sentences in normal subject verb object sentence order Prefer active rather than passive verbs for example I wrote the report instead of the report was written Use strong verbs for example analyze instead of conduct an analysis of Write concisely removing all unnecessary or redundant words Use gender neutral terms for example firefighter instead of fireman Use contractions such as can t and you ll to make your writing more conversational Avoid slang clich s and other bad habits of speech Module 1 Good Business Writing Style Tone The tone of your writing is the feeling that it leaves with the reader and results from the choices you make as you write Look at the list of words that describe tone Which tones are you striving for in your writing Exercise 4 Writing tone Circle the words that best describe the tone that you strive for in your business writing e abrasive e courteous e aggressive e demanding e assertive e distant e authoritative e earnest e blunt e engaging e bureaucratic e formal e casual e forthright e condescending friendly helpful e personal honest e polite impersonal e sarcastic
88. gistered mail on January 2 44 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Word choice Word choice is critical to reader friendliness and is one of the two aspects of writing measured by the fog index If you use the same everyday words that you use in normal conversation you ll be writing in plain English The English language has a large vocabulary the Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines 120 000 words Yet so many of these words are not in day to day use For every common word there are usually a half dozen or more synonyms with essentially the same meaning Avoid words that are e not used regularly in conversation obfuscate e legal sounding pursuant to e too big for the job contemporaneous e clich s despite the fact that e from foreign languages ipso Technical terminology When choosing words carefully consider the needs of new employees and those using English as their second language Before using a technical term consider your readers Will they understand it Technical terminology has its place it speeds communication between people who share the same technical background and expertise For others however technical terms are just meaningless words The more expert you become at a subject the more likely you ll be tempted to use technical terms Here are some technical terms from different areas facto Legal Med
89. han it needs to be While most good writers prefer active sentences they will naturally alternate back and forth between active and passive sentences Reasons to use passive sentences e the subject is already well established e you don t want to point the finger of blame at someone e you want to focus on the action not who did it Example A serious accounting error was made Appropriate use of passive Notice in the above example that the writer has not named the person who made the accounting error This might be very prudent Module 4 Words and Sentences 51 Exercise 15 Use active verbs Rewrite the following sentences in the active voice No option has been selected by the committee Error messages are found in the appendix Omissions were discovered during the word processing of the report The transition is intended to produce no disruption of service 52 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Use strong verbs Strong verbs are usually weakened when they are made into nouns In most cases you can strengthen the sentence and cut out unnecessary words by simply letting the original verb function as the verb Exercise 16 Avoid weak verbs Instead of Use give an answer to reach a conclusion do an inspection raise an objection send an invitation to provide a solution form a plan conduct an analysis make a distinction
90. hat you have permission to submit the report Use may only when you really need to be tentative Example If you submit the form within two weeks you may receive approval faster Example Because we installed a new system we can quickly respond to the public Since we installed the new system our response rate has improved by five minutes Between See Among and between Can and may Use can to describe actions or conditions that are possible Use may only to describe situations where permission is being given If either can could or may apply use can because it s less tentative Clich s A clich is an expression that has lost its originality and impact through overuse Examples of clich s include busy as a bee light as a feather with regard to and all things considered Avoid clich s like the plague Colloquialisms Colloquialisms are conversational or slang expressions like cutting edge technology Avoid them as much as possible If the slang expression is acceptable don t enclose it in single quotation marks just use it If the expression is not acceptable avoid it altogether Appendix 2 Writing Styleguide 111 Example It was cutting edge technology Avoid It was cutting edge technology Preferred Comprise Comprise means to inclu
91. have to provide the subject Exercise 16 Avoid weak verbs Instead of Use give an answer to answer reach a conclusion conclude do an inspection inspect raise an objection object send an invitation to invite provide a solution solve form a plan plan conduct an analysis analyze make a distinction distinguish have knowledge of know make a proposal propose hold a meeting meet Exercise 17 Make the last three items parallel to the first The plan is deficient because the budget was not prepared staffing was not approved other errors were made two major cost items were not identified Appendix 1 Answers to Exercises 105 Exercise 18 Which and that The manager plans to take us to the new Thai restaurant which is in our old office building Penticton which lies within the Okanagan Valley is shown on the attached map The proposal that we liked best was from Acme Printing and Binding The committee reviewed the best plans that were submitted We could not find the digital file that was missing Exercise 19 Rewrite the following noun and modifier strings so their meaning is clear It s not possible to identify the correct meaning of these phrases because they all have several possible meanings That s the point of this exercise Exercise 20 Revise these sentences to replace the general and the inexact w
92. he instructor Preferred Example If the parenthetical item falls in the middle of the sentence such as this the comma follows the parenthesis If a complete sentence like this one is enclosed in parentheses the period is placed inside the final parenthesis The period follows the parenthesis that falls at the end of a sentence like this Module 6 Punctuation Matters 83 Quotation marks Use quotation marks to indicate that you re quoting exact words from a person or publication If the quotation has a quotation within it use single quotes for the inner quote In Britain this convention is reversed single quotes go on the outside and double quotes if necessary go on the inside Use curly quotes sometimes called smart quotes rather than straight quotes Most word processors have a smart quotes feature you can turn on Place lengthy quotations consisting of a paragraph or more in a separate indented paragraph Commas and periods go inside the closing quote Colons and semicolons go outside Example The dictionary defines harassment as any conduct comment gesture or contact that causes offence intimidates or humiliates another He said I prefer typewriters to computers this surprised us Where exclamation marks and question marks go depends on whether they are part of the quotation or part of the whole sentence Exam
93. he present tiMe sesesesesesesesesesesesssssss now ACMI Of f5 neiesiicis inn a ad tied de n allow atthe rear ofeina te AAA i behind ER a A OEE E ENE A E E SARS refer at the time that ssicerrenin erao when BOVIS EREE EE EEE EA write tell at this time at this point in time now ALFITMALIVE reneisseneo ta aia yes at which time sssssessssssssssssssseessssssesrrrreseses then afford an opportunity cee allow permit attains the age Of cceecsseeeesteeeeees becomes afforded eieiei nesen a a tai given attempt as a verb esssssssesssrssseserrrrssesses try ENAA SA UT EOE total based on the fact that due to because all of a sudden c cccccccceessssceeeeeees suddenly beyond a shadow of doubt 006 no doubt allot thesis ohana het aie all the bottom Line aes a a E result allocate niorir nnns give divide bring to a conclusion ccceceeceeeeeees conclude along the lines Of reccsenicesinaniainis like brought to a sudden halt ee halted AILEPNALIVES oscil cdcsi teno eia anais choices businessman businessperson professional AMELIOV ACEC eceeceseecececeeeessseceeeeeeeees improve bycMCans Of ceeds rsa ees tiae S ETTER by Anticipa t k i eiretier eeii expect Dy reason of sssssessseessssssesesrrssssssese because of apparent carier s atena EAA TAEAE clear by the time that ccccecccccccececeeeeeeeeeees when 124 Sharpening Your Writing Skills
94. he software industry Science and Technical Writing A Manual of Style Philip Rubens ISBN 0 415 92551 7 A modern reference of North American conventions that focuses on scientific and technical writing a must for engineers who write and all writers of technical manuals and reports Style Guide for Business and Technical Communication Franklin Covey ISBN 0 9652481 1 9 A comprehensive styleguide intended for the general business writer one of the best general styleguides around The Canadian Press Stylebook The Canadian Press ISBN 0 920009 10 7 The styleguide used by many Canadian journalists These are the conventions used in most of our papers and magazines so are the ones most familiar to the general public The Chicago Manual of Style Editorial staff of the University of Chicago ISBN 0 226 10390 0 One of the best known most respected and at over 700 pages most comprehensive styleguides around a definitive reference focusing on book and academic publishing The Elements of Style Strunk and White ISBN 0 20530902X One of the oldest and best known styleguides and a model of the style that it preaches it belongs on every writer s shelf Words into Type Marjorie Skillin ISBN 0 13 964262 5 A classic comprehensive reference source covering the fine points of grammar usage style and production methods Last updated in 1974 but it stands the test of time 12 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Mo
95. hedule but we insist on maintaining complete control of the work as outlined in Article 12 of the General Conditions of the Contract and any such schedule must be prepared in a manner and form suitable to use as a tool and guide to management for all construction operations on the site The facts clearly indicate that motor cars with faulty brakes are being driven on our streets and highways yet government officials have not taken action to protect the responsible motorist and the general public The shipping clerk may have only a vague notion of what happens to the four copies of the bill of lading forwarded to the sales order and billing departments however this will not affect the clerk s ability to assess a proposed recommendation about internal control We find the division of business into accounting systems a convenient structure for evaluating internal control although management may view its business differently perhaps in terms of areas of functional responsibilities Exercise 13 Break up very long sentences Rewrite the following 62 word sentence into several shorter sentences Our proposal while indicative of the general approach we would take if we were awarded the contract to write and produce the annual report does not specifically address the time and costs that would be required to complete the project because not enough substantive information was provided in the request for proposal which was sent to us by re
96. hen you read to learn such as reading a course textbook you usually start at the beginning and read progressively through the book even re reading if you don t understand it And you typically don t go on to the next section until you ve mastered the previous one since the later sections are often based on the earlier ones Not so for most business documents particularly longer ones like big reports and manuals Very few readers will start at the beginning and very few will read them cover to cover Most will skim and scan through them looking for topics of interest For manuals they re usually looking for information to solve a problem answer a question or complete a task Even for shorter documents few people have the time to read them thoroughly Think about all the things that you haven t read yet How do you read business documents Don t ignore this difference in reading styles design your documents to make it easier for skimmers and scanners MY THAT WAS A GOOD READ Techniques to help skimmers and scanners e Organize related information together in the same place referred to as organizing topically e Divide the text into logical chunks sometimes called chunking e Label each topic with a descriptive heading up to three headings per page e Create a table of contents and if the document is more than 50 pages an alphabetical index as well e Use presentation techn
97. hey agree with the topics you re planning to cover and how you re going to organize them For short documents identify sections For slightly longer documents identify subsections as well For long documents consider outlining the sub subsections Example of a document outline Here s the outline for the first two modules of this workshop Module 1 Good Business Writing Over the top style Legal style legalese Bureaucratic style Abbreviated scientific style Say it in plain English Tone Styleguides and style sheets Module 2 Plan to Write Decide your purpose Decide your objectives Understand your readers Reading at work Clustering Organize your ideas Organize your document Outline before you write 24 Sharpening Your Writing Skills BAD WRITING CONTEST We are searching for the worst ex amples of business and technical writing Sendin your favorite example of wordiness or doubletalk A new contest starts with each newsletter The prizes are First Prize 100 cash Second Prize 50 cash Third Prize 25 cash As the number of submissions grows the job of picking the worst examples becomes more difficult We only wish we had room to print more Unfortunately some of the worst submissions aren t submissions We continue to receive them as part of our regular mail This can lead to some embarrassing situations For example we received a sure winner in the form of an affidavit
98. i e a to itis EN Os AUbY 5 cess incon ika will in Other words c ccccccceeeeeeeserseeeees or that is it shall be lawful cece ccceceesensrseees may in POSSESSION Of ccececeessceceesseeeeesstteeeesesaes have it will be necessary cccceeeseeteees will need to in reference tO ccccccceceeees about concerning it would appear that cccccee apparently in regard tO cceccccececececeeeeees about concerning keep AN eye OD cccecececeeeceeseseeeseeeeeeeeeeeees watch in relation tO cccccceceeeseeeees about concerning last Ot alleecscesa ic E Ata ee last in respect to cceeceececeeeeeeeeees about concerning law passed ccccccccsssssesseseeeeeeeeeeeees law enacted In Short SUPPLY ce tiocrsisieandi teriris scarce loan as a verb ssssessssessssesrressessssesereess lend in such a manner AS t0 sesesssesssesssesesesesessssss to locality inene ieee Bee eis es place IN CEL S OL aed sie aa eae in of locate Acca hea teas fos a aa meee find in the absence Of cccccceeeesssseeceeeeeees without LOCATION erei noris etiain E aE a tet tees place in the amount Of ccceee cece cccseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees of for Mailman eese iaeei ae letter carrier in the course Of cc ccccccseeeeeeeees during while MAINCENANCE i eoret astie upkeep in the event that should if when major portion Of eeeeeeeeeeecceceeeeeeseneees most of in the first place ccccccceessesseceeeeeeee
99. ical real property contusion conveyance haemorrhage plaintiff radius licensee infarction Computer Accounting window accrual RAM trial balance interface debit credit user ID ledger Instead of Use approximately about compensate pay disseminate send distribute pertaining to of about prior to before shall will subsequent after under the under provisions of utilize use verbose wordy Even if your readers will likely know a term define it the first time you use it It doesn t have to be a formal definition Module 4 Words and Sentences 45 Example of informal definition of technical term The radius the thicker and shorter of the two bones in the forearm is Notice in the above example that the word radius is in italics This is the normal way to indicate that you are discussing or defining a word and not using it Longer technical publications also benefit from a glossary a dictionary like listing of technical terms and their definitions Even if your readers don t see the definition in the text they can always turn to the glossary Acronyms Acronyms consist of the initial letters of compound terms like DOS for Disk Operating System Avoid them when you re not sure that all of your readers will know what they stand for The only exception would be when the acronym is more commonly used than the full term such as scub
100. ich I will not put His reply pokes fun at the awkward sentences that often result if you try to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition Examples of bad fixes That s an area into which we don t want to get He s the consultant about whom you spoke This is the styleguide about which they referred Examples That s a behaviour we can t put up with That s an area we don t want to get into He s the consultant you spoke about This is the styleguide they referred to If your sentences sometimes sound like these are you avoiding placing a preposition at the end Many writers do but don t realize that s what they re doing Omit prepositions if you can without changing the meaning In the following examples the underlined prepositions are unnecessary and can be omitted Winston Churchill was once corrected by a senior army officer for ending a sentence with a preposition His reply Examples All of the managers went to the meeting We moved the files off of the server The study area is too near to the cafeteria We began at about 9 00 a m Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 59 Distinguish which from that Use which to introduce non parentheses it is preceded with a restrictive clauses clauses that don t comma But because that introduces narrow or restrict the meaning Such a clause that s integr
101. if appropriate and the sequence of topics what goes first what goes next Then you ll be ready to write Try creating a cluster diagram and see if it works for you Most people find that it s worth the few minutes that it takes to create one Coustbhia Cki Cpe et ne wr r dintastred Module 2 Planning to Write 19 Exercise 6 Create a cluster diagram for a personal style sheet Imagine that you do a lot of business writing and want to prepare your own personal style sheet of conventions and standards that will apply to the documents you typically write See how many possible topics you can identify that might be part of your personal style sheet If you re unsure of what style sheets are go back to page 10 on style sheets Give yourself seven minutes style Shee 20 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Organize your ideas Before you can write you must decide e How will my readers use this the order of the topics While information for example to clustering can help identify topics that complete a task need to be included it won t tell you fina Gooreanize thea Are readers already familiar with this information or does it need to be carefully introduced and To decide the best method of explained organization consider the following e What is the logical relationship e How will the information be used belween different pars of ke read thoroughly or used as 9 relerea
102. ion She instructed When you omit words in quoted material use a series of three spaced periods to indicate the omission Slash Don t use a slash to indicate an either or choice for example he she employees contractors or to replace and for example close lock the door Use either and or or whichever is appropriate Use a slash to express a combination for example employer employee relationship on off switch Module 6 Punctuation Matters 87 Exercise 27 Punctuate the following As an experiment take any randomly selected paragraph and copy it making no changes other than removing all punctuation marks you probably will find it confusing with sentences and thoughts running together without any indication of where to stop and pause the absence of punctuation marks leaves you with no clue for your inflections and without inflections the string of words is meaningless you must separate words group them before they make sense to bring order out of chaos is to separate separating is the first step toward understanding and the first function of punctuation marks is to serve as separators Exercise 28 Punctuate this Try to punctuate the following line of words when punctuated correctly it makes perfect sense That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is 88 Sharpening Your Writing Skills
103. iques such as bullet lists numbered steps tables and diagrams to communicate information more easily e Highlight key words and ideas 18 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Clustering Clustering sometimes called mind mapping is a long practiced technique for generating ideas Many writers find it valuable during the early stages of planning as a stepping stone toa first draft It can help you identify the topics for your document and think about the best way to organize them Start with a clean sheet of paper Write the topic that you need to write about in the centre and draw a circle around it Now sit back and focus on the topic You may want to close your door and put your phone on call forward When an idea occurs to you don t be critical write it down draw a circle around it and link it to the centre word After a while if youw re like most people you ll have jotted down lots of ideas Keep going until you can t think of anything else Now you can sit back Cuck s and look objectively at your ideas sorting them out and thinking about how they could be organized Before those ideas were drifting around in your head Now they re down on the page where you can evaluate them Of course it would be difficult to write using your cluster diagram at this point because the ideas aren t organized yet The next steps are to decide on the document hierarchy sections and subsections
104. ith clear instructions give reviewers a reasonable deadline follow up to ensure reviews are done keep the size of the document small large documents are seldom reviewed carefully Longer documents should probably go through at least three rounds of reviews before they re finalized initial technical review with primary subject experts section by section general review with stakeholders final review of completed document with key staff 34 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Pan By Stephen Ward The Independent LONDON Britain left behind steam railways architecture and a constitution when its rule in India ended half a century ago A British emissary has just arrived in Madras to help clear up another unwanted legacy from the Raj convoluted colonial language Martin Cutts who runs the Plain Commission a pressure group campaigning for clearer Eng lish was invited by the Federation of Consumer Organizations of Tamil Nadu to clarify the wordy archaisms of English as it is still written in the Subcontinent Cutts 41 went on a preparatory visit last year and collected exam ples from B K Anantharaman gen eral manager of the Madras tele phone company Company docu ments refer to telephonic mes sages rather than phone calls And instead of saying reminders will go out three weeks after phone bills they state Notice regarding the intimation of outstanding bills
105. ith the exact and the concrete Mud the gyproc with a 3 millilitre layer of filler then wait for 2 hours before sanding To ensure that the deadline can be met the draft must be finished by 10 00 a m Monday The accounting group was unable to connect to the server Tighten the bolt to a torque wrench setting of 125 pounds Only equipment and payroll expenditures are permitted Report any transactions of more than 10 000 106 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Exercise 21 Replace the following clich s with everyday words please feel free to call call between a rock and hard place difficult situation in connection with about with regard to about six of one half a dozen of the other the same with respect to about easier said than done difficult as already stated omit pursuant to your letter about your letter all things considered after considering enclosed herewith is I ve enclosed to say the least omit to explore every avenue explore all options in the neighbourhood of about to a certain extent partially as a matter of fact omit suffice it to say omit hit the nail on the head you re correct the fact of the matter is itis we beg to acknowledge we acknowledge avoid clich s like the plague avoid clich s Exercise 22 What do these foreign words and phrases mean pro bono for free gratis for
106. l or not Module 3 Writing Strategies 27 Design a hierarchy If youre writing a letter memo or email it wort have a hierarchy Even if it has headings which is okay if it runs longer than a page or two the headings will simply identify the main sections you won t need subsections If youre writing a longer document however it will likely have a hierarchy that is you ll probably divide it into sections and subsections and maybe even sub subsections Without a hierarchy readers will find it difficult to form a clear mental model of the document and will take longer to find information A clear and logical hierarchy is essential for all kinds of longer business documents Don t be tempted to create more complicated hierarchies most professionally prepared documents seldom go deeper than three or four levels Any deeper and you ll start to confuse the reader To make the heading hierarchy apparent to the reader you ll want to make the section headings look different than the subsection and sub subsection headings Readers should be able to tell at a glance the level of the heading by its typographic attributes Headings should be formatted using your word processor s styles feature Heading hierarchy Heading 1 Heading 2 Heading 3 Rules for logical heading hierarchies e Avoid single headings within a section always have two or more headings e Avoid having one heading
107. ld contact the cost centre manager Exercise 10 Put and we in your writing Rewrite the following sentences using either I or we as the subject 1 Errors were made in processing the payroll 2 The report had to be edited and converted to HTML before it could go on the intranet 3 The arbitration was not going well so the best negotiator was called in Module 4 Words and Sentences 41 Exercise 11 Put you in your writing Rewrite the following sentences addressing the reader as you and make them plain English 1 Prior to the completion of the report it is important to check the cross references for accuracy 2 In the solicitation of review comments it is necessary to allocate an appropriate period of time 3 Modifications to the annual report are not easy to facilitate once it has been printed 4 Analysis of the information requirements of staff could conceivably impact the current methodology of technical manual distribution 42 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Sentence length Long sentences are tough to read Most readers prefer short sentences particularly skimmers and scanners typical business readers Some writers use a rule of 25 to 30 words Others simply avoid joining independent clauses complete sentences together usually with a conjunction Instead they create two sentences Typ
108. lint at least a dozen times reaching over and picking it up examining it then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance DISCONFECT dis kon fekt v To sterilize a piece of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it assuming this will somehow remove all the germs ELBONICS el bon iks n The actions of two people manoeuvring for one armrest in a movie theatre FRUST frust n The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he or she finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug LACTOMANGULATION lak toe man gyu lay shun n Manhandling the open here spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the illegal side PEPPIER pehp ee ay n The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want ground pepper 64 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Be gender neutral Don t make assumptions about gender If youre talking about all managers don t use he or she or his or hers unless you know that it will always be one gender or the other Avoid gender specific nouns Many new gender neutral nouns have entered the language in the last few decades Here are just a few Example The manager antecedent must submit his pronoun budget to head office Gender specific The managers must
109. ly two typefaces a serif typeface such as Times Roman for the text and a sans serif typeface such as Arial for The normal type size for text is from 10 points to 12 points This is the size your readers are most comfortable reading and therefore they ll read it the fastest If you are writing for the visually challenged younger readers or where the text may be read ata distance you may need to increase the type size of the text to 13 points or 14 points Type smaller than 10 points is much harder to read and noticeably slows down readers Module 7 Designing Effective Pages 91 Sans serif typefaces work well for headings because they stand out Bold for emphasis Use a 10 point to 12 point serif typeface like Times New Roman for easy reading Use plenty of headings to Abbreviations gt Acronyms break up text Two or three Affect and Effect per page is typical Use lots of white space to make the page reader friendly and to let headings stand out Solid text intimidates readers gt Among and Between Writing Styleguide Avoid abbreviations except where the abbreviated form is more commonly used than the full term for example a m and p m For common abbreviations such as e g i e and etc the English equivalent is preferred Abbreviation English Equivalent e g exempli gratia for example i e id est that is etc et cetera
110. nal time phase synchronized 5th generation projection compatible incremental hardware balanced analog firmware gravitational HARD COPY copy file manager vertebral brace va fidt PPFI WINDOW ARRAY random access information manifold RAIM HMWA is a sedentary mode ergonom ic workstation for interruptible se quential bio optical scanning psycho motor actuated text generation and arithmetic operations featuring visu ally discriminable nonvolatile off line storage with prehensile data retrieval and operator resident processing protocols for alphanumeric graphic inputs and outputs z task motivating cellulose media somatic compressed contoured ischiadic platform CIP vault CCMV positioner TMSP 48 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Exercise 14 Use everyday words Replace the underlined words with simple everyday words the commencement date is August 1 we will have to remunerate you the methodology is under review they utilized the photocopier she obtained the proper forms they ascertained that he was cognizant of the fact that subsequent to our meeting she replied in the affirmative the expenditure was approximately 50 If Dr Seuss Wrote Technical Manuals for C omputers If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort and the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort then the s
111. nan ffortto mets ae he aa ae a aiea to 1S Authorized tOo aniar aeai may IN AS MUCH A8 ccceceseseeeeeeeeeees since because is binding UPON cccseseseseseseeeeeeseeeeeeees binds TW pack Ofercie nde a iaa behind is denned ASci in E yasi is na e E A EAEE Bat esti E aagck wee if is empowered to sssssssesssssssssseserresssssseeees may in close proximity seeseeeseessseseeeeeess near close TS Ont bled res senne aseni she aanse ieas is called in connection with with about concerning 1S UNAD E tO ui a E EA ER cannot in consideration of the fact 06 because ISSUE r AT EA E late aAA aa give INGICALE seniri nia show tell say it is apparent that c ccccceeeeeees apparently in excess Of ooo eececeesssseceeeceeceeeenteneees more than itis Clear that ccccccceeeseseeseseeeeeeeeees clearly BTL PAV OUT Ole 20 Ses Snes ste ceRe cess fosters dees e ee Susae tees for IETS directly Ave eecstsos videses E eves E A will Itat iia tonne haia ke ias begin it is evident that ccccccceeeseeeeeeeees evidently in lieu Of eeceeeeeeeee instead of in place of it is MY intention tO eee ceseceeeeseteees I will in light of the fact that eee because itis obvious that arenie obviously in MANY CASES eare a o a o often it is often the case that cccccceesseeeeenees often I MOSt CASES a iost niie Ea aa usually it is probable that cccccceeeeeeeeeees probably order Oneni se
112. nd style sheets 10 Verb tenses ccccccesecccsssssessssscesseees 53 Module 2 Module 5 Planning to Write cccccssseees 13 20 Rules of Plain English 55 Decide on your purpose s s s 14 Write in parallel ways eeeeee 56 Decide on your objectives 15 Keep related words together 57 Understand your readers 16 Use prepositions with care 58 Reading at Work cccccccccceeeeees 17 Distinguish which from that 59 COTUISbETIN G8 fscrtic festa eS 18 Avoid surplus nouns c ccccceseseeeeees 60 Organize your 1d a3 ccccccceeeees 20 Avoid noun and modifier strings 60 Organize your document 4 21 Use pronouns with care 62 Outline before you write 23 Avoid slang recsiysccdesevsceverscecsweriesenees 63 Be gender neutral cccccccseeeeees 64 Module 3 BE Specie ve eter ao eho aati 65 Writing Strategies seseesseseeseeeseesee 25 Avoid clich s ssssssessssssssseesssseeeeee 66 Write faster and better 0 26 Place modifiers carefully 67 Design a hierarchy ccccccccceeeee 27 Avoid unnecessary qualification 68 Paragraph frequently 6 28 Use contractions cccccccceeeeeeeeeees 68 Use informative headings 29 Be CONCISE misina saateatntcaaetssetedtiandes 69 Present information graphically 30 Avoid foreign Word
113. ng to make it perfect then go back later to edit That way you won t keep derailing your train of thought Tip 3 Write revise and edit Plan to go through your document three times before it s ready The first pass is to draft it Research and gather the information you need then get started Many writers find that they write best when they write fast so don t worry about making your document perfect you can clean it up later The second pass is to revise your document Focus on the big problems poor organization missing or incorrect information problems of clarity and significant style faults You may want to rewrite sections or reorganize information On the third pass pay careful attention to grammar writing style usage and punctuation If all goes well this should be your final pass Tip 4 Give yourself a day or two between rewrites You may find that it s difficult to edit something that you ve just written This relates to your short term memory If you try to edit immediately after writing you ve still got all that information circling around in your head But if you give it a day or two you ll have lost much of that short term memory and you ll find it easier to revise and edit Tip 5 Read out loud When you re close to finished read your document out loud and listen to it Your ear will tell you if problems remain It s also a great way of telling whether it s conversationa
114. ning of next month Article 111 2 article 111 3 and article 119 all will influence this decision Use small caps for acronyms for example GVRD Keyword headings Also use an en dash in keyword headings like here to set the keywords apart from the text When using it in this context put spaces on either side 86 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Other marks of punctuation Exclamation marks You hardly ever need to use exclamation marks in business writing except perhaps in personal correspondence to friends Not even in copy writing Brackets Use brackets to indicate that you have substituted your own words in a quotation to suit your context Example Our firm has many years of experience Shouting Our firm has many years of experience Better Example Our investigation indicates that Bob Smith Contracting was negligent Our investigation indicates that the contractor was negligent Ellipsis Use an ellipsis three spaced periods to indicate an omission from a quotation The ellipsis is not on your keyboard it s a special character that you must insert into your document If you insert three periods in a row your word processor will insert the correct character automatically Example She instructed When you omit words in quoted material use a series of three spaced periods called an ellipsis to indicate the omiss
115. nts are presented last This reflects one of the principles of scientific work that we should not begin our evaluations with foredrawn conclusions Investigation reports feasibility studies and analytical reports are usually organized bottom up findings first conclusions last One problem however with putting your conclusions last is that the end of your documents particularly longer ones is often more poorly read than the beginning So to make sure that even your busiest readers see the conclusions repeat them at the front in an executive summary Chronological If the sequence of events is the most important aspect of the information then organize it chronologically in the order that events occurred or steps need to be done Most documents that describe past events such as investigative reports are organized chronologically Procedure manuals and other instructional documents also organize information chronologically because procedure steps usually have to done in a set order Most important to least important Imagine receiving a letter that begins with trivial matters and concludes almost as an afterthought with something important For short documents like letters memos and emails you ll want to begin with the most important topic first to get straight to the main point Then in the space remaining you can address related but secondary issues 22 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Random
116. ocket packet pocket has an error to report If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash and the double clicking icon puts your window in the trash and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn t hash then your situation s hopeless and your system s gonna crash If the label on the cable on the table at your house says the network is connected to the button on your mouse but your packets want to tunnel on another protocol that s repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall and your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss so the icons in the window are as wavy as a souse then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang cause as sure as m a poet the sucker s gonna hang When the copy of your floppy s getting sloppy on the disk and the macrocode instructions cause unnecessary risk then you have to flash your memory and you ll want to RAM your ROM quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom Module 4 Words and Sentences 49 Sentence order Subject verb object sentence order works best because it e is easiest to understand subject first action second and object of the verb last e minimizes the number of words e uses active verbs Example Consultants appreciate respect Subject verb object Respect is appreciated by consultants Object verb subject While subject verb object is the preferred sentence order all sentences
117. of measure e consistency throughout e conciseness with redundant and unnecessary words removed e proper formatting and word processing 32 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Editing etiquette e Offer constructive suggestions don t criticize e Suggest changes where possible don t just say this is wrong e Only change errors or things that can be improved don t simply substitute your wording Have a reason for every change e Point out positive aspects of the writing too Gee I really liked the introduction e When you re being edited don t take offence and challenge the editor Exercise 8 Editing challenge Can you find the 12 errors in the following paragraph If you don t have a professsional editor available you re best writer will have to due Or consider contracting the services of a professional editor their services can we worth their wait in gold Writer s should not edit their own writing because they are often blind to their own erros After an edit the editor and writer should review the changes together This will help the writer understand reasons behind the changes A styleguide should be use to sort out differences of opinion Signs and Notices From Around the World Moscow Hotel across from a monestary Zurich Hotel Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom it is suggested that the lobby be used
118. onal district the Regional District referring to above district management staff the transportation of dangerous goods act the Act referring to above lower mainland greater Vancouver Northwestern British Columbia we audited three Ministries the insurance corporation of British Columbia the Corporation referring to ICBC the Board heard three submissions the Manager Human Resources the manager of human resources 72 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Abbreviate with care Abbreviations acronyms and initialisms referred to here simply as abbreviations are just code to those who don t know them so use them with care While they may make for quick communications among those in the know they re a problem particularly for newcomers and novices Example The ADM cc d the Mgr ISD on the email to the dept reps re the LCDs and attached the SOP on PDFing POs e form the plural by simply adding an s don t use an apostrophe unless it would be confusing for example CRTs but GI s e generally drop periods unless it would be confusing or it s accepted practice BC IBM COD ft e always use periods for Mr Mrs Ltd Co and Dr it s accepted practice Form 223 Avoid spell them out Tips on using abbreviations e use as few as possible and only when readers will understand th
119. ond person Singular you you your yours Plural you you your yours Third person Singu Masculine he him his lar Feminine she her hers Neutral it it its Plural they them theirs theirs Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 63 Avoid slang Avoid slang also known as colloquialisms words or uses of accepted words that are not generally considered proper Many commonly accepted words began as slang but have come into general use When you decide that a word is acceptable will depend on how liberal or conservative you are with the language and how formal your document is Examples of slang It was cutting edge technology Cursor over to the right of the screen His presentation was totally radical Hey dude look at these figures Some writers will use slang but place it in single quotes Here s what Strunk and White authors of The Elements of Style have to say about this practice If you use a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase simply use it do not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks To do so is to put on airs as though you were inviting the reader to join you in a select society of those who know better New words to consider AQUADEXTROUS ak wa deks trus adj Possessing the ability to turn a faucet on and off with your toes CARPERPETUATION kar pur pet ua shun n The act when vacuuming of running over a string or a piece of
120. options and rights Incorrect Contact all employees to clarify their options and rights Correct Then and than Then refers to a time in the past or the next step in a sequence Than is used for comparisons Time When referring to specific times use numerals and the abbreviations a m and p m with lower case letters and periods Example The car was travelling at a speed that would endanger lives The car which was travelling at a speed that would endanger lives swerved onto the sidewalk Examples 3 30 p m 9 00 a m 4 45 p m 120 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Underlining Use underlining sparingly it slows reading speed Don t use it to emphasize parts of the text If something is very important give it a separate heading put it in a text box or create a note see Notes Verbs Use the active voice and strong verbs whenever you can Make sure the verb agrees with the subject of the sentence Voice Use the active voice whenever possible Using the active voice helps maintain the preferred subject verb object sentence order You also avoid introducing the auxiliary verb required by passive verb forms Example The applicant will complete the form Future tense The applicant completes the form Present tense Complete the form Imperative form present tense The applicant completed the form Pa
121. ost as a general rule generally a number Of ccc seers several many some as a matter of fact in fact or omit a period of several weeks several weeks asia MeANS OF feel nits alee eee to a small number Of ccccceessceeeesteeeeeenees a few AS OF MO Weceibonc sci enccdeetahitdetelandacith ona setiviacterays now a sufficient nUMbEY cccccccceeesertees enough as to whether cceceesseeeeees about whether ACCOMPLISH esane a a Ea aaa tabate ess do AS TO EA I EAE about ACCOPAE MEEA A AE given ascertain ne on e A aia find out according to the law cccceeeeeseeeseteeeeee legally assist ASSISTANCE 0 eee eeeeeetetetetesetererereees help ACCOPGINGLY cc siii EEEE EAEE EE so at a later dateren ireann i later ACCUMULATE wontena ae asn ie ties gather At all time sisi inerea iu e atasi always acguaint n a Sees ear oreeneee de tell at an early date oo ccccccecsseeseseteeeteteteteeeees soon ACQUILG eei erei io i a e T eS get at haida ieee a a a Et here ACTIVELE eanet e a ie begin start at presentino ieie ni now add an additional ccccscscccceceeeeeeessneeees add at regular intervals of time regularly AAAI ONAL vis fe esl eenn n foaceesws eoteeeed dees added at that point in time eeeeseteeeeeee eee then adequate number Of ccssccecesseeeeeees enough at the conclusion Of ccccceee at the end of administer ooo eee eeseseseseseteterereees manage give at t
122. ou use the full width of the page with one inch margins you ll have 6 5 inch long lines too long for comfortable reading Instead use only the right hand two thirds of the page like the sample on the right or use two columns like this workbook Think about the width of columns in the newspaper most are about two inches wide Typefaces and type sizes The two main classes of typefaces are serif typefaces and sans serif typefaces Most typefaces clearly belong in one class or the other Serifs are the small extensions at the ends of letters and are widely believed to make them more legible and the text faster to read headings This workbook uses these typefaces in this way Most people using Microsoft Windows simply select from the TrueType typefaces that were installed when they installed Windows TrueType typefaces have both printer and display fonts so that what you see on the screen is virtually identical to what you get from the laser printer As well if others print out the file on different laser printers they ll get the same typefaces as long as they installed the TrueType typefaces when they installed Windows Examples of TrueType typefaces Serif Sans serif Bookman Avant Garde Century Schoolbook entury Gothic Courier Impact Garamond News Gothic Serif Times Roman Sans serif Arial While you probably have many typefaces to choose from most business documents use on
123. placing a comma or possibly a semicolon after each item e placing a comma after the second to last item the serial comma and e concluding with a period Example Follow these rules for punctuating list items that are complete sentences e Make sure all items are complete sentences e Capitalize the first word of each sentence e Place a period at the end of each sentence Option 2 When the listed items are single words or phrases and do not form complete sentences then drop all punctuation Some writers like to capitalize each item while others do not This is the simplest and most popular option Example Option 2 Bring the following items to class e pens e pencils e books Tips for creating lists e use lists for three or more items no fewer e introduce each list with a sentence or phrase e single space lists of words or short phrases and double space lists of long phrases or sentences e use bullets for lists and numbers for steps e structure all items in a list similarly see Write in parallel ways page 56 Module 6 Punctuation Matters 81 Apostrophes Use an apostrophe to indicate a Plural possessive contraction or to form the possessive Add the apostrophe after the s If the Contractions word is plural but doesn t end in s add 0 eax The apostrophe replaces the omitted letters see Use
124. ple My youngest daughter asked When does the question mark go outside the quotation mark Have you heard the old saying If it ain t broke don t fix it Also use quotation marks to refer to an article in a publication Example Refer to the article Writing Ability Critical to Career Success in the National Post 84 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Hyphens Use hyphens sparingly Don t use hyphens to equalize line lengths A ragged right margin is easier to read than an even one In general only use hyphens to avoid ambiguity or awkward pronunciation Here are some examples of when to use a hyphen with certain prefixes and suffixes for example re evaluate co worker with the prefixes all ex non and self after a series of words with a common base that is not repeated for example short and long range planning to create compound terms that precede the words they modify for example well designed plans up to date safety requirements one day course e ifthe words in the compound term follow the words they modify do not use a hyphen for example the plans were well designed e tocombine fractions and compound numbers from 21 to 99 for example two thirds one quarter forty nine e to combine numeral unit adjectives for example 10 metre pipe
125. pses and brackets are more commonly used in other areas of writing like journalism Others particularly periods and commas are used in almost every sentence single comma can reverse the meaning of a sentence Correct punctuation guides your readers telling them where to pause and where to stop They separate your ideas into meaningful chunks preventing your sentences from blurring together They can also tell your readers when you re quoting a source and when you ve added or removed words from the quote In this module you ll learn about the various marks of punctuation and what they re used for In particular you ll learn about how to correctly use the trickier marks the ones that writers tend to confuse like commas em dashes and en dashes From Wednesday s classified ads Th ae ys n NOTICE R D Jones has informed sl us that he has received several annoying telephone calls becasue of the error we made in his classified ad yesterday His ad stands corrected as j follows FOR SALE R D Jones has one f sewing machine for sale Cheap Phone 555 0707 and ask for Mrs Kelly who loves with him T 76 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Common marks of punctuation Mark Name Use to period End a sentence or indicate an abbreviation comma Separate list items link complete thoughts enclose parenthetic thoughts or separate introd
126. quence for the topical groupings Signs and Notices From Around the World Tokyo Car Rental Brochure ight n passenger on foot heave into si peso the horn Trumpet him melodiously at first but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor T Belgrade Hotel Elevator To move the cabin wishing floor Push button for If the cabin Should enter Peon one should press a r Ing floor Driving i going alphabetically by DEA onion 3 A Module 2 Planning to Write 23 Outline before you write Once you ve identified the topics you need to cover and decided the best way to organize them then you may want to prepare an outline An outline is a preliminary table of contents that will serve as a road map as you write It lists the sections of the document in the order you intend to present them For short documents such as letters memos and emails the outline may be only a few words For slightly longer documents such as short reports proposals and papers it may also include subsections two levels For long documents such as manuals and long reports it may include sub subsections as well three levels Match the level of the outline to the complexity and length of the document Outlining is a technique that many professional writers use Not only will it guide your writing but you can also review it with others interested in the document before you get started to make sure t
127. r first draft contains unnecessary wording or redundant expressions Take the time to weed out these space wasters Your readers will thank you Ways to reduce words e understand what your readers need e stick to essential information and skip the marginal details e use active verbs e use everyday words e avoid redundant expressions such as abundantly clear e avoid clich s such as in the neighbourhood of Ways not to eliminate words or to make it look like fewer words e drop articles and verbs see Abbreviated scientific style page 7 e use acronyms instead e make the type smaller than 10 points e reduce line spacing or widen the text column The chances of someone reading your writing are inversely proportional to its size IF YOU WANT 10 PAGES IT LL TAKE ALL DAY IF YOU WANT 5 PAGES IT LL TAKE LONGER y Signs and Notices From Around the World Leipzig Elevator Do not en ter the j lift bac ly kwards When lit up Swiss Inn Special today no ice cream L oa 70 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Avoid foreign words Avoid foreign words in your writing unless they have come into common use or there s no substitute Spell them out in full Exercise 22 What do these foreign words and phrases mean pro bono gratis ipso facto est la vie tout fini savoir faire je ne sais quoi Ab
128. rect object an indirect object or the object of a preposition When using an either or sentence format make sure the verb agrees with the part of the subject closest to the verb Example Who owns this To whom does this belong Example Either the lock or the barred windows is likely to reduce thefts Incorrect Either the lock or the barred windows are likely to reduce thefts Correct Wish See Desire wish need and want Your and you re Your is the possessive form of you Youre is the contraction of you are Voice See Verbs Example This is your coat You re in charge today 122 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Appendix 3 Dictionary of Plain English 123 APPENDIX 3 Dicti f Plain English The following list contains unnecessarily difficult words and phrases word wasting idioms compound prepositions overly formal phrases and gender specific words and phrases along with their plain English or gender inclusive alternatives Instead of Use Instead of Use a great deal Of morenen atta AnA penia aa much Appear a e aa aa taai seem a large number of ccccecscceccceeeeeeenesees more APPI Ean E A NE an een inform a little less than ssosossssssssssesssssssssssssssse almost approximately sssssesesessssesesesesesessseseseseo about amajJority OF es ise ssceeeeneshbesvecdecteresedevioeiceret m
129. riting made a big impression on resume with this cover letter To get me but probably not the way he you thinking about what is good intended Read it and decide for business writing style read this yourself Would you hire him letter Yes this is a real letter His Sample cover letter Dear Mr Kent Thank you for speaking with me on the phone on Friday December 2 4 and inviting me to submit a resume to your firm Please find it enclosed Let me pay you the compliment of honesty You can see my experience is limited But I can write I know what makes beautiful language and I have sewn silk purses from sows ears I know how to persuade to argue to narrate and to relate My language is always definite specific and concrete to paraphrase that venerable tome I can maintain a sustained argument laying out my premises in an order which is at once logical and elegant flowing to their predetermined conclusion I am ruthlessly self critical excising every word sentence and paragraph that does not move forward or prove my thesis In two words my writing is motion and economy But again I have limited experience My degree was an excellent start and my military staff writing and infrequent editorializing have proven worthwhile forays into other language venues I now launch forward tentatively but fearlessly into another possibility of writing the hired gun I see my skills as marketable just as market
130. rly if you re writing longer documents such as reports proposals or manuals Even the most experienced writers rely on styleguides and style sheets to help them write and format their documents consistently Styleguides Organizations that prepare a lot of documents will typically either use a published styleguide or develop one of their own Even the most experienced writers can t remember all of the rules and conventions set out in these essential reference sources Most writers will own several for different kinds of documents Keep your styleguide beside your dictionary within arm s reach of where you write Styleguides usually cover word choice writing style and tone spelling of certain words capitalization and hyphenation of certain words format and layout of documents e process for preparing documents e how documents should be word processed Style sheets Styleguides are great as far as they go but they won t cover important writing issues such as e names capitalization spelling and hyphenation of terms specific to your industry organization or product e formatting standards and guidelines for your documents e your organization s process for researching writing editing reviewing and approving publications e anything else not covered in the styleguide you use This is where style sheets come in They re the place where you record the day to day decisions you make
131. s ssccceeees 70 Edit for clarity scssicrccscasiastecsn tess 31 Capitalize properly scssseee 71 Review and approvals 00ccee 33 Abbreviate with Care 0ccccceees 72 Write numbers consistently 73 Ignore some old rules eee 73 iv Sharpening Your Writing Skills Module 6 Module 7 Punctuation Matters cccccccoes 75 Designing Effective Pages 89 Commas ccissassciawsen ea TT Page design and layout 90 Colons and semicolons 3 79 Using era pines ia case cecotiass wile 95 Punctuating lists icici ea 80 Using your word processor 97 Apostrophes ccecccccseeseeeeeeeeeeees 81 Parentheses ics sos scstrosscesscasscassicss 82 Appendix 1 Quotation marks ccceseeeeeeeee 83 Answers to Exercises ccceee 99 Hyphens e cacscnssnstccttvatameseneass 84 i Em dashes and en dashes 85 Appendix 2 Other marks of punctuation gg Writing Styleguide 0008 109 Appendix 3 Dictionary of Plain English 123 Introduction Introduction Good writing skills are essential for career success in many jobs Are yours holding you back This workshop is designed to dramatically improve your business writing by showing you how to communicate faster and more effectively using plain English Who is the workshop for This workshop is for you if you write
132. s to move from line to line Most of the paragraphs in this workbook including this one are left justified and have ragged right margins Headers and footers Headers are the information and graphics at the top of the page that are not part of the text Footers are the information and graphics at the bottom of the page Headers and footers are normally only used on longer documents such as reports or manuals Normally there are two different headers and footers one for left pages and one for right pages with different information or graphics 94 Sharpening Your Writing Skills headers footers Headers and footers contain important page control information which tells readers where they are and provides other important information about the document they re reading The following information may be part of headers and footers e organization name and logo e graphic lines usually to separate the header and footer from the text document title section title page number issue date name of author contact department or name word processor folder path and file name Page numbers are usually on the outside edge of the page so they can be seen easily For documents that are to be printed double sided the numbers will be on the right on right hand pages and on the left on left hand pages Incidentally right hand pages always have odd page numbers and left hand pages always have even page numb
133. should not be forced into this order Some variation is normal and depends on e the information you have to convey e the order of the previous sentences sometimes you ll want to use the same order other times you ll want to vary it e how well established the subject is you may not want to continually repeat the subject e whether your focus is the subject the verb the action or the object 50 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Active and passive verbs Active sentences are ones that include a subject the doer of the action and the subject is placed before the verb Passive sentences either have no subject or the subject is placed after the verb Active sentences Passive sentences They hold a patent 4 words A patent is held by them 6 words The GST has complicated accounting 5 words Complications in accounting have been caused by the GST 9 words The partners decided to pay consultants more money 8 words A decision was made by the partners to pay consultants more money 12 words Reasons to use active sentences e easiest to understand subject first action second and object of the verb last e clear and direct e minimizes the number of words e avoids weak passive verbs is held instead of hold So what s wrong with passive Nothing unless all of your sentences are passive in which case your writing will be weaker and wordier t
134. some other measurement is conventionally used for example 5 feet 11 inches tall 114 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Follow these conventions for describing measurements e Use figures for all measurements even if the number is under 10 for example 5 metres e Spell out the names of metric units for example 25 grams Use symbols for example 25 g only in tables e For two or more measurements repeat the unit of measure for example 3 5 inch or 5 25 inch disk e When the measurement is used as an adjective use a hyphen to connect the number to the measurement unit for example 2 inch binder e Express dimensions in figures for example 3 5 inches by 10 inches See also Fractions and numbers Money Don t add a decimal point or zeros to a whole dollar amount in a sentence In a column if any amount contains cents add a decimal point and two zeros to all whole dollar amounts Myself See Me myself and I Names Be consistent when naming organizations position titles document titles and so on Capitalize names and use them consistently throughout the document Need See Desire wish need and want Notes Note To draw the reader s attention to something of special importance create a note like this one Example The first option costs 1 50 the second costs 2 00 and the third costs 75 Avoid The
135. st tense Strong verbs Use direct active verbs Avoid combining weak vague verbs such as be or do with the noun form of a verb Watch out for verbs that end in ion strung together with prepositions for example change creation of the document to creating the document Example The form is completed by the applicant Passive voice The applicant completes the form Active voice Tense Match the different verb tenses to different types of documents and to the logical time relationships described Examples Our research could be of help to you in making a decision Weak Our research could help you make a decision Strong We did a calculation of the total Weak We calculated the total Strong Appendix 2 Writing Styleguide 121 Agreement Make sure that the noun and verb in your sentences agree with each other that both are singular or both plural Example Power noun singular from back up generators and emergency lighting are verb plural routinely maintained as part of the fire plan Incorrect Power noun singular from back up generators and emergency lighting is verb singular routinely maintained as part of the fire plan Correct Want See Desire wish need and want Which See That and which Who and whom Use the pronoun who as a subject Use the pronoun whom as a di
136. submit their reports to head office Gender neutral The manager must submit the report to head office Pronoun omitted Gender specific Gender neutral chairman chair or chairperson fisherman fisher actress actor fireman firefighter waitress server delegates and delegates and their their wives spouses workman worker Many writers run into trouble with personal pronouns because English does not have singular gender neutral personal pronouns He his she and hers are all gender specific Pronouns such as they their and them while neutral must refer back to plural antecedents Use these tactics to avoid gender specific pronouns or worse awkward constructions like he she e Repeat the noun despite what your English teacher may have said don t worry about using the same word over again e If appropriate make the antecedent plural so you can use they them or their for example talk about clerks instead of the clerk e Drop the pronoun entirely or re cast the sentence so that a pronoun is not necessary Module Five 20 Rules of Plain English 65 Be specific Avoid abstract or inexact terms In business your readers are looking for solid descriptive information facts figures and directions Exercise 20 Revise these sentences to replace the general and the inexact
137. sure you use images of both sexes and different ethnic groups Simple short word choice e When you re using a scanner Active verb choice predominates adjust the size of the graphic when you re scanning not after when you are placing the graphic in your word processor To make a cup of instant coffee 1 Boila cup of water 2 Place a teaspoon of instant coffee in a cup 3 Add the water to the cup and stir 4 Add sugar and creamer to taste If Then The information consists of conditions Use an If Then table and actions The information consists of rows and Use a standard table columns of tabular data The information consists of problems se a troubleshooting table and solutions Module 7 Designing Effective Pages 97 Using your word processor Most organizations use word processing software rather than desktop publishing software to prepare their documents While desktop publishing software is excellent for complex page layouts you ll find that its focus on the page rather than the document increases the amount of work required to revise a document The most commonly used word processing programs for personal computers are Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect These programs offer all the features required to produce most documents Word processors provide writers with great flexibility Before the word processor writers had to write
138. the other use Warning contains nuts Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands Product will be hot after heating 16 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Understand your readers Knowing your readers your Find out as much as you can about audience is essential to writing well your audience If you can go and meet Different audiences need different them or give them a call Find out who information Identify precisely who you they are what their interests are are writing to If it s someone you what makes them tick Follow them know well it s easy If it s a single around until you understand their group of people such as technicians information needs then write your it may be a little harder If you have a document This is often referred to as variety of different readers of your user focused documentation and is document you have a challenge essential to effective business writing Exercise 5 Identify and profile your audience Think about the various kinds of documents that you write and the people who read them List 10 things you d like to know about your readers OO N o ot e ESE m Module 2 Planning to Write 17 Reading at work Reading for work is different than reading for pleasure When reading for pleasure you usually start at the beginning read carefully to savour the language and read straight through to the end W
139. the trend both in per i o Plain talker helps unclutter Indian English formance and profits He expects to spend much time reminding his audiences to be aware that English is a second lan guage for their readers There is a tendency I ve noticed particularly among the lawyers to use words such as expediting commencing and furnish which are archaic and not easy to understand even in a first language Cutts and the British Council which has sent him are sensitive to the accusation that they represent a new imperialism imposing standard English on the Indians Jane Moyo of the British Council in London explained that American English Australian English or Indian Eng lish were all dynamic and accept able but the request to help write more explicably had come from the exasperated Indian consumer organisations The apostle of plain English makes the same point by quoting another passage from the life insur ance policy which runs Your employer deducts from your salary the amount of premiums and remits the same to us every month no botheration to remember even His view If botheration is plain Indian English so be it Module 4 Words and Sentences 35 MODULE 4 Words and Sentences WHILE different people define plain English in different ways most writers agree that two key aspects are the use of plain everyday words and short sentences preferably in normal subje
140. to the fact that because although hereinafter ccccccccccceceeeeseeee future following even though heretofore before this takes effect until now during such time aS ceceeeee during while hopefully rerireeiu inneni eiin I hope during the course Of cccccccccceseeesertees during NOSTESS ccccctesedencccet a dudsbetedleesdbes cent athess host during the period from cceceeseeeeeees from housewife ccccccccececessssesrseceeesecs homemaker during the time that during while I would appreciate it if you would please during which time ccccccceesesseeeeeeees while if at all possible eee eeceeeeeees if possible edifice wees Ses AS itn CE CARAS building if that were the Case cccccccccccecesssssrseeeeees if so Appendix 3 Dictionary of Plain English 125 Instead of Use Instead of Use inplementa eiroet carry out WG UNC ix aenn e aa a aa ask Wma position tOnessisea eiiieaen aiis can TT EE PAO SEN EE ETES inside in a satisfactory manner satisfactorily INSU ai inea Mas ee es begin start in accordance With c000 by under on insufficient 0 0 cee a a iE not enough in accordance WIth ccceseeeeeeeeeees by under interrogate 0 ccccccseceeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees question in addition tO ccccceeeeeeeeeseeeeeees also besides iS ablest sink tar aeaa eae E REET E can i
141. uctory phrases i semicolon Separate two independent clauses not joined by a conjunction Often thought of as a soft period colon Introduce a list 66 99 double quotes Indicate a quotation from a person or publication single quotes Indicate slang or a quotation within a quotation parentheses Set off remarks that explain or comment on the sentence brackets Indicate your own words within a quotation ellipsis Indicate words that have been deleted from a quotation em dash Enclose or set off parenthetic expressions or abrupt changes in thought en dash Indicate continuing or inclusive numbers such as dates times or reference numbers hyphen Create hyphenated words such as co worker or to create compound modifiers such as one day course question mark Indicate a question exclamation mark Emphasize a statement infrequently used in business writing amp ampersand Replace and spell out instead slash Indicate an and or situation avoid by stating whether one or both possibilities exist Module 6 Punctuation Matters 77 Commas Commas are the trickiest of the marks of punctuation but one of the most important to use correctly Here are six places to use commas 1 To separate three or more items in a list Place a comma between each item For business and technical writing place a comma after the secon
142. umber of words in a heading to four or five if possible Longer headings particularly ones that wrap onto a second line are difficult to scan quickly Avoid numbering headings Authors will sometimes number headings to make their place in the document hierarchy more apparent for example 6 2 Timing of Reorganization This is only appropriate when it s important to be able to refer to specific sections exactly such as in specifications or standards documents Make headings parallel Construct similar headings in a similar way For example if one heading starts with an imperative verb then make them all start with an imperative verb that s the way these headings are written Capitalize appropriately Decide how you ll capitalize headings then do it consistently You can use the journalism convention of capitalizing only the first word the way most headings are capitalized in this book or you can capitalize all of the major words except articles such as the and short prepositions such as on in and by Headings to avoid Avoid headings that describe the type of information rather than the topic such as Overview General More Information Discussion Results Basics Advanced Features Miscellaneous Policies Procedures Standards Guidelines Conclusions Reference 30 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Present information graphically Di
143. urn those ideas into a first draft quickly 14 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Decide on your purpose KNOW THE PURPOSE OF YOUR DOCUMENT The first step in writing well is to ask yourself why youre writing In business writing we seldom write for the sheer joy of it we usually have a specific purpose We ve got a reason behind our need to communicate something Explicit purposes Consider the typical reasons why you write Without a clearly defined reason for writing it s difficult to write anything How will you know what information to include or how much detail is needed And it s not only important to clarify the purpose in your own mind but also to make sure that your boss and others involved in the document agree Examples of explicit purposes e report a solution to a problem describe services available to customers interpret lab results provide instructions ask for permission initiate a new procedure order material change a course of action submit a bid ask for a proposal define a position on policy propose adoption of a plan thank a customer congratulate an employee announce a change Implicit purposes But writing can also have more subtle purposes that are more felt than expressed These are sometimes referred to as implicit purposes Most business writers will recognize some of these underlying purposes they are a normal part of business communications Can you r
144. us and find an impressive one see Word choice page 44 e don t use contractions see Use contractions page 68 if one number in a sentence is 10 or greater then use figures for all numbers for example 4 apples 5 oranges and 12 pears except for one which is always spelled out always spell out a number used at the beginning of a sentence form plurals of numbers by adding s for example 747s avoid dangling prepositions see Use prepositions with care page 58 vary sentence structure to maintain reader interest see Active and passive verbs page 50 vary sentence length see Sentence length page 42 vary choice of words never use the same word more than once or twice on the same page see Word choice page 44 never start a sentence witha conjunction such as because or and 74 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Why English is Let s face it English is a crazy language There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger There is neither apple nor pine in pineapple English muffins weren t invented in England nor French fries in France Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads which aren t sweet are meat We take English for granted But if we explore its paradoxes we find that quicksand can work slowly Boxing rings are square A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig Why is it that writers write but
145. us e informal e earnest e informative e engaging e objective e forthright e personal e friendly e polite e helpful e sincere Exercise 5 Identify and profile your audience Here are 10 things you may want to know about your readers what they ll do with the information how much they know about the subject their job and work tasks their educational level 1 2 3 4 5 their reading level 6 whether they re using English as a second language ESL 7 where they will be reading the document for example in the field 8 their attitudes about the subject are they motivated 9 their age and gender 10 where they re located urban or rural Appendix 1 Answers to Exercises 101 Exercise 7 Break up this long paragraph Limit paragraphs to a single topic or idea If you find yourself covering several topics you probably need several paragraphs It s better to have too many paragraphs than too few Don t let paragraphs get too long Most professional writers will average only three or four sentences in a paragraph Ones that span large areas of the page intimidate readers Make sure that the opening sentence introduces or summarizes the content of the paragraph This type of opening sentence is often referred to as the topic sentence The sentences that follow should flow from the first sentence and provide supporting details Organize paragraphs into a logical sequence This sequence might
146. will be issued by the third week of the issue of bills by registered post The company adds that Such of those subscribers who do not how ever wish to avail of this timely reg istered reminder service can also give any alternative telephone No to which reminder could be given Po I e men I will te to avoid guff to shorten sentences as much as is practical and to speak in an active voice They all know their grammar I found In England by contrast he says he always has to spend about an hour explaining that an active voice means saying I tell you rather than you are being told by me But while they may all know what he means by active voice it isn t always reflected in what they say witness the insurance policy sales spiel which reads You won t even feel that you are paying the premiums the pinch is not felt That at least is comprehensible Others are impenetrable The annu al report of a Madras finance com pany to its shareholders telling them the business is good at what it does and expects another profitable year expresses itself thus With the specialised business of consumer durable credit which is the main line of business of the company and the rich experience already gained coupled with an acceptable position in the various segments of the mar ket your directors are hopeful bar ring unforseen circumstances to maintaining
147. with the object Of oo ceccccessccccecceceeeesenseaeees to to the extent that cccccceceeeeeeeeees if when with the result that ccccccceeeeeeees so that CVACESMAN ccecececeseseeeeeeeseeeeeees trades person WORKIN AM veces ranna dates ses sald ces Suites oheceeed es worker 128 Sharpening Your Writing Skills Things You d Love to Say at Work But Can t I don t know what your problem is but Ill bet it s hard to pronounce I see you ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public I m really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way I ll try being nicer if you ll try being smarter I m out of my mind but feel free to leave a message I don t work here I m a consultant It sounds like English but I can t understand a word you re saying Abh I see the screw up fairy has visited us again I like you You remind me of when I was young and stupid You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers I have plenty of talent and vision I just don t give a damn I m already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you Thank you We re all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view The fact that no one understands you doesn t mean you re an artist Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental What am I Flypaper for freaks I m not being ru

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