DEVELOPING BASIC WRITING TECHNIQUES

The vice president said that we should contribute.

PLAIN LANGUAGE The vice president (urged, pleaded, demanded)…

- clear simple style that uses everyday words
Use plain language to express clear meaning. Do
not use showy words and ambiguous expressions
to dazzle or confuse readers. Write to express
ideas, not to impress others.
Personnel assigned vehicular space in the
adjacent areas are hereby advised that utilization
will be suspended temporarily Friday morning.
We must consider this problem.
_________________________
The newspaper was affected by the strike.
________________________________.
The power of a verb is diminished when it is
needlessly converted to a noun. Acquire-
acquisition, establish, to establishment and
develop – development. These nouns receive the
central emphasis in the sentence.

FAMILIAR WORDS Strong: The city acquired park lands recently.

Familiar words are more meaningful to readers.
Clear messages contain words that are familiar
and meaningful to the receiver. Avoid long or
unfamiliar words that have simpler synonyms.
Substitute short, common , simple words. Don’t
give up a precise word if it says exactly what you
mean
Weak: Acquisition of park lands was made
recently by the city.
Strong; Both companies must approve the
merger.
Weak: Both companies must grant approval of the
merger.

CONCRETE NOUNS
Less Familiar Words Simple Alternatives
Concrete nouns help reader visualize the
ascertain meanings of words
conceptualize In business writing, help your reader “see” what
encompass you mean by using concrete language.
hypothesize General Concrete
monitor
operational a change in our budget a 10 percent reduction
option in our budget
perpetuate that company’s product Smart 3-G
perplexing a person called Mrs. Tan, the
reciprocate administrative
stipulate assistant, called
terminate we improved the assembly line we installed 25
utilize advanced Unimate robots on the assembly line
find out
see VIVID ADJECTIVES
include
guess Including highly descriptive, dynamic adjectives
check makes writing more vivid and concrete. Be
working careful, though, not to overuse them nor to lose
choice objectivity in selecting them.. a thesaurus (on
continue your computer or in a book) helps you select
troubling precise words and increase your vocabulary
return
require General: The report was on time.
end Vivid: The detailed 12-page report was submitted
use on time.

PRECISE VERBS
General: Rick needs a better truck.
Precise verbs make your writing forceful, clear Vivid: Rick needs a rugged, four-wheel-drive
and lively Dodge
truck.
Our Salesperson will contact you next month.
Our salesperson will (telephone, write, visit)… JARGON
Jargon, which is terminology unique to a certain other words is a writing fault called redundancy.
profession, should be reserved for individuals who
understand it.
absolutely essential repeat again
Protocol adequate enough reason why
Mode advance warning true facts
Exfoliation basic fundamentals
Calcareous ooze big in size
Infrared processing flags combined together
consensus of opinion
continue on
SLANG each and every
exactly identical
Slang sounds fashionable, but it lacks precise few in number
meaning and should be avoided in business final outcome
writing OUTDATED EXPRESSIONS
Replace outdated expressions with modern
phrasing
CLICHES

Clichés are expressions that have become CONCISE WORDING

exhausted by overuse. These expressions lack not
only freshness but also clarity. Improve your writing by imagining that you will be
fined P10 for every unnecessary word.
below the belt
better than new Flabby phrases
beyond the shadow of a doubt
easier said than done At a later date
exception to the rule At this point in time
fill the bill Afford an opportunity
first and foremost Are of the opinion that
hard facts At the present time
Despite the fact that
Due to the fact that
REPETITIOUS WORDS During the time
Feel free to
Good communicators vary their words to avoid For the period of
unintentional repetition. The unconscious
repetition of words creates monotonous and
boring reading
WORDY PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

Employees will be able to elect an additional six Some wordy prepositional phrases may be
employees to serve with the four previously replaced by single adverbs.
elected employees who currently comprise the
employees’ board of directors. To ensure in a careful manner
representation, swing-shift employees will be in the normal course of events
electing one swing-shift employee as their sole as a general rule
representative. in all probability
in very few cases

Employees will be able to elect an additional six LONG LEAD-INS

representatives to serve with the four previously
elected members of the employees’ board of Delete unnecessary introductory words. The meat
directors. To ensure representation, swing-shift of the sentence often follow the words THAT or
workers will elect their own board member. BECAUSE

I am sending you this announcement to let you all

REDUNDANT WORDS know that the office will be closed Monday.

Repetition of words to achieve emphasis or I am writing this letter because Professor Lydia
effective transition is an important writing Brunton suggested that your organization was
technique . The needless repetition however, of hiring trainees.
words whose meanings are clearly implied by
NEEDLESS ADVERBS
Eliminating adverbs such as very, definitely, quite,
completely, extremely, really, actually, somewhat,
and rather streamline your writing. Omitting these
intensifiers also makes you sound more credible
and businesslike.
We actually did not really give his plan a very fair
trial.
Professor Bell offered an extremely fine course
that students definitely appreciated.
EXPLETIVES
In the study of language, expletives are sentence
fillers such as there and occasionally it. Avoid
expletives that fatten sentences with excess
words
There are three vice presidents who report
directly to the president
It is the client who should make application for
licensing.
Advanced Writing Techniques
1. Conversational Language. Most business
letters, memos and reports replace conversation.
They are most effective when they convey an
informal, conversational tone instead of a formal,
pretentious tone.
Big words, complex sentences, and abstractions
make writing sound formal and distant.
Smart writiers, use I sparingly and you liberally.
Formal: All employees are herewith instructed to
return the appropriately designated contracts
to theundersigned.
Conversational: Please return your contracts to
me.
F: Pertaining to your order, we must verify the
sizes that your organization requires prior
to consignment of your order to our shipper.
C: We’ll send your order as soon as we confirm
the sizes you need.
F: The writer wishes to ifnorm the above-
referenced individual that susequent payments
may henceforth to be sent to the addres cited
below.
C: Your payments shoul d now be sent to us in
Lakewood.
2. Positive Language. The tone of the letter is
considerably improved if you use positive rather
than negative language. It’s uplifting and pleasant
to focus on the positive. Moreover, positive
language generally conveys more information
than negative language does.
Negative: We are unable to send your shipment
until we receive proof of your payment.
Positive: We are happy to have your business and
look forward to sending your shipment as soon
as we receive your payment.
N: We are sorry that we must reject your
application for credit at this time.
P: At this time we can serve you on a cash basis
only.
Reader Benefits
Smar communicators know that the chance of
success of any message is greatly improved by
emphasizing reader benefits. This means making
readers see how the message affects and benefits
them personally.
Note: overemphaiss of the pronouns I and me
reflect the writer’s interests instead of the
reader’s.
I/we attitude: I am very pleased that I am able to
offer my customers our Filipino First investment
program.
You attitude: You are the first of our customers to
be offered our Filipino First investment program.
I/we attitude: We are happy to announce the
opening of our new bank branch in Newton to
meet all banking needs.
You attitude: You will now be able to use our new
Newton branch for all your banking needs.
Inclusive Language
A business writer who is alert and emphatic will
strive to use words that include rather than
exclude people. Some words have been called
sexist because they seem to exclude females.
If a physician is needed, he will be called.
Every homeowner must read his insurance policy
carefully.
Sensitive writers today try to use sex-neutral
terms sich as letter carrier instead of mailman.
Sensitive writers and speakers replace common-
gender pronouns with alternte inclusive
constructions.
Sexist: Every attorney has ten minutes for his
summation.
Inclusive: All attorneys have ten minutes for thei
summations.
Attorneys have ten minutes for summations.
Every attorney has ten minutes for a summation.
Every attorney has ten minutes for his orher
summation.
Emphasis
a. Through mechanics
Underlining. Underlinign draws the eye to a word.
Italics and boldface . You can use italics or
boldface for special meaning and emphasis.
Font changes Changing from a large font to a
small font or to a different font adds interest and
emphasis.
All caps: printing words in ALL CAPS is like
shouting them.
Dashes: dashes—if used sparingly—can be
effective in capturing attention.
Tabulation: listing items vertically makes them
stand out:
1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
Other means of achieviing mechanical emphasis
include the arrangement of space, color, lines,
boxes, columns, titiles, heading and subheadings.
b. Through style
• Use vivid words. They can picture ideas clearly.
General: One business uses personal selling
techniques.
Vivid and emphatic: Avon uses face-to-face selling
techniques.
• Label the main idea. If an idea is significant, tell
the reader.
Unlabeled: explore the possiblity of leasing a site,
but also hire a business consultant.
Labeled: explore the possibility of leasing a site;
but most important, hire a busienss consultant.
• Place the important idea firs or last in the
sentence.
Productivity is more likely to be increase she
profit-sharing plasna re linked to individual
performance rather than to group performance.
Profit-sharing plans linked to individual
performance rather than to group performance
are more effectie in increasing productivity.
Profit-sharing plans are more effective in
increasing productivity when they are linked to
individual performance rathe than to group
performance.
• Place important idea in a simple sentence or in
an independent clause.
You are the first trainee that we have hired for
this program.
Although we considered many candidates, you
are the first trainee that we have hired for this
program.
Although you are the first trainee that we have
hired for this program, we had many candidates
and expect to expand the program in the future.
Deemphasis
To deemphasize an idea, such as bad news, try
one fo the following stylistic devices:
• Use general words
Vivid: our records indicate that youa re recently
fired.
General: our records indicate tha your
employment status has changed recently.
• Bury the bad news in the middle of a setence or
in a dependent clause. Instead of placing a
negativfe poitn where it is conspicuous and
perhaps painful to the reader, include it in a
dependent clause.
We cannot issue you credit at this time, but we do
have a plan that will allow you to fill your
immediate needs on a cash basis.
We have a plan that willa llow you to fill your
immediate needs on a cash basis since we cannot
issue you credit at this time.
Unity. Unified sentences contain only related
ideas.
Zigzag writing. Zigzag sentences often should be
broken into two sentences.
I appreciate the time yous pent with me last
week, and I have purchased a computer and
software that generate graphics.
I appreciate the time you spent with me last
week. As a result of your advice, I have purchased
a computer and software that generate graphics.
Mixed construction. Writers who fuse two different
grammatical constructions destroy sentence unity
and meaning.
The reason I am late is because my car battery is
dead
The reason I am late is that my car battery is
dead. (the construction introduced by the reason
is should be a noun clause beginning with that,
not an adverbial clause beginning with because.)
Misplaced modifiers. Sentence unity can also be
destroyed by the separation of phrases or clauses
from the words that they modify. Keep phrases
and clauses close to the words they describe
We will be happy to send a park map for all
motorists reduced to a one inch scale.
Whether you travel for business or for pleasure,
charge everything to your credit card in Canada
or the United States.
Dangling modifier
To receive a degree, 120 credits are required.
When filling out an emplyment application, the
personnel manager is not filling out the
applciation.
Parallelism
The market for industrial goods includes
manufacturers, contractors, wholesalers, and
those concerned with the retail fucntion.
Active and passive voice. Most writers prefer
active verbs because such verbs tell the reader
clearly what the action is and who or what is
performing that action. Passive verbs can be
employed to perform certain necessary functions.
They are helpful in at least three strategies:
• Emphasizing an action or the recipient of the
action.
• Deemphasizing negative news.
• Concealing the doer of an action.
In business writing, as well as in personal
interactions, some situations demand tact and
sensitivity. Instead of using a direct appraoch with
active verbs, we may prefer the indirectness that
passive verbs allow. Rather than making a blutn
announcement with an active verb (Tyler made a
major error in the estimate), we can soften the
sentence with a passive construction ( a major
error was made in the estimate).
Paragraph coherence.
Three ways to create paragraph coherence are :
• Repetition. Repeating a word or key thought
from a preceding sentence helps guide a reader
from one thought to the next. This redundancy is
necessary to build cohesiveness into writing.
• Use of pronouns; and
• Use of transitional expressions.
Sentence and paragraph length. Generally, short
sentences are moe easily understood.
Comprehension decreases when sentence length
increases.
Sentence length Percent of people who
understand
0-8 words 100%
9-15 words 90%
16-19 words 80%
20-28 words 50%

The average length is between 15 and 20 words.

This doesn’t mean that all sentences should be 15
or 20 words long, however. Effective paragraph
contain a mixture of sentences, some shorter and
some longer.
In business letters, first and last paragraphs are
often very short (one to four typed lines). Other
paragraphs in letters and in most reports should
average about six lines, with ten lines being the
maximum.

The Seven C's of Business Letter Writing

Effective letter writing boils down to knowing why

you are writing a letter, understanding your
reader's needs and then clearly writing what you
need to say. Every letter should be clear, human,
helpful and as friendly as the topic allows. The
best letters have a conversational tone and read
as if you were talking to your reader. In brief then,
discover the Seven-Cs of business letter writing.

You should be:

• Clear
• Concise
• Correct
• Courteous
• Conversational
• Convincing
• Complete

When you write a letter, you are trying to

convince someone to act or react in a positive
way. Your reader will respond quickly only if your
meaning is crystal clear.

Put yourself in the reader's shoes and write in a

friendly and helpful tone. Don't represent your
company as one that cannot make a mistake and
must always be in the right. Try not to reply in the
normal bland and defensive way of organizations-
write a sincere and helpful letter.

Show you are interested in the reader's

circumstances. If he or she has mentioned
something personal in the letter, refer to it in your
reply. This builds a bridge between you and the
reader. Read the original letter carefully and see if
there is something you can put in your letter to
show your interest.