Ten Characteristics of

Effective Business Writing

Readable
Tactful
Personal
Positive
Active
Unified
Coherent
Clear
Concise
Mechanically sound
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
1) Readable: allowing your audience to focus on
your meaning, not your writing style
o Write the way you talk
o Vary sentence length (average 20 words) and
construction
o Use action verbs
o Carefully choose active or passive voice
o Choose familiar, specific (not abstract) words
o Use lists, headings, and white space effectively.
o Keep it short and simple (KISS)
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Lacks readability: I congratulate you on the
purchase of your new insurance policy. It will be a
source of security and peace of mind for years to
come. It will increase in value over time. It will also
provide a hedge against inflation. You will be glad you
made the investment.
Improved readability: Congratulations on the
purchase of your new insurance policy. For years to
come it will be a source of security and peace of
mind. Increasing in value over time, it will also provide
a hedge against inflation. You will be glad you made
the investment.
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
2) Tactful: taking care to not offend or alienate the
reader

Avoid language bias (gender, cultural, religious,

age, sexual orientation)

Ensure tone is non-accusatory

Use humour appropriately

 Guidelines for using humour
Could it possibly offend or alienate my
audience (including secondary readers)?
Is it sufficiently in context - i.e. related to the topic?
Does it add worthwhile value and/or impact to my
message?
Are there any barriers to the humour being understood -
i.e. language, culture, values...?
Does it prevent me in any way from achieving my
objective?
Will it detract from the desired professional image?
If you are completely comfortable with your responses
to all of these questions (i.e. you have no doubt
whatsoever), then it's probably okay to include it.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing

Lacking Tact: If an employee can't get out

of bed in time, he should at least call and let
his supervisor know that he will be late.

More Tactful: Please notify your supervisor

if you are going to be late.
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
3) Personal: delivering a message to the reader
rather than from the writer

If appropriate, frequently use second person

pronouns such as “you” in your writing.

When using the third person, think about how

you can direct the message to your reader.

Be empathetic and try to consider your reader’s

needs and point of view.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Writer-focused:
We know you’ll enjoy the many benefits of
our new health care plan.
Reader-focused:
You are going to enjoy the many benefits of
your new health care plan.
or
Your new health care plan will benefit you in
many ways.
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Using tone to personalize the message:

Instead of “The Department encourages members to

assist with its staff development program by
making suggestions about on-the-job training.”

Why not…

“Suggestions from you and your fellow members

concerning on-the-job training are encouraged; your
input plays an important role in your company’s staff
development program.”
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
4) Positive: using a tone that encourages a positive
interpretation

Make language upbeat and tone “can do.”

Highlight positive information by placing it at

the beginning or end of the message.

Where necessary, use repetition for emphasizing the

positive.
Discuss influencing factors and suggest
reader benefits before introducing potentially
negative information.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Negative:
Our meeting failed to accomplish anything
and unless you have any other ideas, we are
abandoning the notion of a merger.

Positive:
Do you have any additional thoughts to help
us make a final decision regarding the
merger?
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
5) Active: applying the active voice to focus on
the “doer”

Use the active voice most of the time to be

more emphatic and concise.

Choose the passive voice if you wish to de-

emphasize (or don’t know) the identity of the
“doer.”
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing

Active voice: The internal task force

negotiated the important contract.

Passive voice: The important contract was

negotiated by the internal task force.

Active voice: The dispatcher relayed the call.

Passive voice: The call was relayed by
the dispatcher.
or
The call was relayed.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Other strategic uses of passive voice:

Emphasizing the recipient of the action:

You have been selected to make the trip.
De-emphasizing negative news: Your car
has not yet been repaired.
Intentionally concealing the doer of
the action: A major clerical error was
made.
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
6) Unified: including only information related
to the main message

Ensure all ideas in the document relate to

the overall purpose.
Eliminate unnecessary details.
Clearly indicate how ideas within sentences
relate to one another.
Check that paragraphs do not contain more
than one central idea.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Lacking unity: I appreciated the opportunity
to speak with you yesterday, and I have
redesigned the floor plan for the station.

Unified: I appreciated the opportunity to

speak with you yesterday. Based on your
advice, I have redesigned the floor plan for the
station.
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
7) Coherent: connecting ideas and making them easy to
understand

Ensure items in a series have parallel structure.

Show relationships between ideas by using linking
words (and, if, when, before, after).
List items in a series to make them stand out.
Clarify relationships with numbering.
Use headings to highlight and introduce main ideas.
Check for dangling constructions and misplaced
modifiers.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing

Incoherent: Attending the class, a cadaver

was used for experiments.

Coherent: When I attended the class, a

cadaver was used for experiments.
or
The class I attended used a cadaver for
experiments.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Lacking parallel structure:

Our goals are increased productivity, reduced costs, and

improving quality.

Attaining parallel structure:

Our goals are increasing productivity, reducing costs,

and improving quality.
or
Our goals are increased productivity, reduced costs, and
improved quality.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Take special care with parallel structure in lists:

The sales team objected to the following:

1) reducing salaries
2) limiting travel expenses
3) daily sales meetings
Third point not parallel with first two
Instead you might write -
3) scheduling daily sales meetings
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
8) Clear: making the message easy to understand the
first time it is read

Clearly develop your ideas so that there are

no unanswered questions.
Use language that is precise, concrete, and vivid.
Make language level appropriate for purpose and
audience.
Ensure words used are familiar to reader.
Define unfamiliar technical terms, short forms, and
acronyms with first use (particularly important if there is
a secondary audience).
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
General: Someone will contact you soon.
Precise: Our division supervisor will email you
tomorrow morning.

General: We’ll look after your concerns.

Concrete: Bob Conroy, our safety officer, will review the
emergency procedures with you.

General: The building was in poor condition.

Vivid: Several windows were broken, the front door
was off its hinges, and all of the hallway carpets had
holes and bare patches.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
9) Concise: being economical with words

Eliminate wordy expressions.

Omit trite phrases.

Avoid unnecessary repetition.

Replace abstract terms.

Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing

Wordy: We are fully cognizant of the fact

that you are predisposed to non-
concurrence with our opinion.

Concise: We know you don’t agree.

KISS (Keeping it short and simple)

in all probability…

close proximity…

at a later point in time…

needless to say…

if you would be so kind…

Saying it twice - redundancy

The two cars were exactly identical.

His salary increase was small in size.

We are in need of some new changes.

Let’s meet at 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon.

Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
10) Mechanically Sound: eliminating errors to
ensure understanding and credibility

o Verify all sentences are complete and properly

structured.
o Check your punctuation.
o Double-check your spelling.
o Don’t trust Spell/Grammar Check to find all errors.
o Purchase and use a dictionary, a thesaurus, and
possibly a style guide.
o Whenever possible, use a peer editor.
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
How many errors can you spot?

Please accomodate the companies discrete

request to replace it’s principle negotiater.
>>>
Please accommodate the company’s discreet
request to replace its principal negotiator.
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Avoiding the dreaded “comma splice”

NOT The client requested an early meeting, I

suggested a 7 a.m. start.
INSTEAD The client requested an early meeting. I
suggested a 7 a.m. start.
OR The client requested an early meeting, so I
suggested a 7 a.m. start.
OR The client requested an early meeting; I
suggested a 7 a.m. start.
 Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Using therefore, however,
otherwise, consequently, moreover,
or then:

NOT The boss looked angry, therefore, we waited

for the next elevator.
INSTEAD The boss looked angry. Therefore, we
waited for the next elevator.
OR The boss looked angry; therefore, we
waited for the next elevator.
OR The boss looked angry, and therefore we
waited for the next elevator.
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing

The importance of proper punctuation:

Version 1: Woman without her man is lost.

Version 2: Woman: without her, man is lost.

Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing

“Leaving out a semi-colon when it is

needed is like winking at someone in the
dark; you know what you are doing, but
no one else does.”

- Diana Bonet
Ten Characteristics of
Effective Business Writing
Readable
Tactful
Personal
Positive
Active
Unified
Coherent
Clear
Concise
Mechanically sound
Ten Characteristics
executive summary version

Effective business writing is:

o clear
o concise

o lacking interference
o focused on the reader