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This essay highlights key points in effective writing. Following these techniques will improve the readability of what you write, and increase your chances of obtaining the desired results. Compact writing includes only those ideas that readers need, and it gives those ideas no more words than they deserve. Focus on your reader’s needs. Writing helps you find out what you think. As you compose, you discover ideas. To keep from wandering, though, analyse your audience in light of your purpose. You should be able to answer these next questions before you start to write: What
is my purpose? Who are my readers? What are their interests? How much do they know already? What will make it easy for them to understand or act? Once you’ve decided what your reader’s need, the next step is to give your ideas no more words than they deserve. Prune paragraphs to sentences, sentences to words, words to pictures, or strike the idea entirely. Keep only what contributes to meaning. Next are some common problems of wordiness that are easy to spot and avoid. Avoid “it is” and “there is”. Unless it refers to something mentioned earlier, write around it is. It is constructions tangle sentences, delay meaning, encourage passive verbs, and hide responsibility. Spare only natural expressions such as “it is time to…” and “it is your job to…” (not someone else’s). Also beware of there is and there are. Most of these delayers can be avoided by simple subtraction or slight manipulation.
Prune wordy expressions. Instead of adding impressive bulk to writing, wordy expressions clutter it by getting in the way of the words that do the important work. Phrases like in order to (to) and a number of (some) are minor ideas that deserve no more than a word apiece. Tap them and move on. Below are a few common wordy expressions. More examples are in the SIMPLER WORDS AND PHRASES section.
Strengthen diluted verbs. Weak writing uses general verbs, which require extra words to complete their meaning. Hit the verbs, the only words that can do things.
Beware of “ly” words. Let nouns and verbs do the work. Words ending in –ly often over-modify writing. They neither save weak ideas nor improve strong ones. And some, like the first example, may add too much heat:
Cut doublings. Doublings satisfy a yearning for symmetry, for the sound of the second shoe dropping. And so one writer expresses thanks and gratitude; another, interest and concern. But whatever differences the writer may see between such synonyms, they are lost on readers. Choose one: Pleased and delighted Stimulating and interesting Review and comment on Help and support Because readers hear writing, the most readable writing sounds like people talking to people. To achieve a spoken style, imagine your reader is sitting across the desk from you. If you’re writing to many readers and none in particular, talk to one typical reader. Then write with personal pronouns, everyday words, and the other techniques suggested below. Once you have a draft, read it aloud. It should sound like something you might say in person. Use personal pronouns. Though you needn’t go out of your way to use personal pronouns, you shouldn’t go out of your way to avoid them. Avoiding natural references to people is false modesty. When speaking for your agency, use we, us, our. When speaking for yourself, use I, me, my. And balance those pronouns with even more of you and your to draw in the reader. Balance is the key to effective pronoun use. Too few and you seem cold. Too many and you obscure your subject. In choosing among pronouns, show more interest in your reader than yourself by favouring you in letters, instructions, and advertisements. Concern for the reader is a matter of attitude more than pronouns, but a preference for you increases the chances that you’ll see things from the other person’s vantage point.
Should your ever avoid personal pronouns? Some subjects don’t lend themselves easily to personal pronouns. It’s hard to get people into a description of a computer part, for example. And criticism is best handled impersonally. Criticize the act rather than the actor. “Nothing has been done” avoids the direct attach of “You have done nothing”. Try some contractions. Contractions link pronouns and verbs (I’ll, you’ve, they’ve) and make verbs negative (won’t, haven’t, can’t). You’re talking to your readers if contractions come easily. They in turn hear someone who seems relaxed and open, an effective image to create when others seem remote. You may need to deflate the rest of what you say if you’re uncomfortable with contractions. In this next example, something must go, either the informal it’s or the heavy incumbent upon: “It’s incumbent upon all employees to conserve energy.” Better to keep the contraction “It’s everyone’s job to save energy.” Rely on everyday words. Do you remember the dude in those old western movies who overdressed to impress the folks at the ranch? Overdressed writing fails just as foolishly. Readers may know that retain means keep and assist means help, but they shouldn’t have to translate. Size of vocabulary is less important than skill in manipulating the words you already know. Here are some common overdressed words. More examples are in the SIMPLER WORDS AND PHRASES section.
Prefer short transitions. Because we use so many transitions, they can inflate or deflate the rest of what we say. Prefer short, spoken transitions. Save long, bookish ones for variety.
Avoid legalistic lingo. Let the authority for a piece of writing rest in the signature. Don’t try to put it in your language. Write to express rather than to impress.
Use positive words. Listen for negative language as you write. Unless you have some special reason to caution something, be positive.
Keep sentences short. For variety mix long sentences and short ones, but average 20 words or less. Though short sentences won’t guarantee clarity, they’re usually less confusing than long ones. Now you needn’t count every word. Try the eye test: average under two typed lines. Or try the ear test: read your writing aloud and break up most of the sentences that don’t end in one breath. A writer does with ink on paper what a speaker does with the help of gestures, facial expressions, and voice inflections. Denied a speaker’s advantage, you have to craft your sentences, for they must not only sound spoken, but also look good. Subordinate minor ideas. Besides clarifying the relationship between ideas, subordination keeps a writer overusing and, the weakest of all conjunctions. Subordination strengthens sentences by making important ideas stand out.
Use parallelism. Look for opportunities to arrange two or more equally important ideas so they look equal. Parallelism saves words, clarifies ideas, and satisfies the urge for symmetry. Keep the first words consistent. Avoid mixing nouns with verbs, adjectives with pronouns, and so on.
Place ideas deliberately. Start and finish a sentence any way you like, but keep in mind that ideas gain emphasis when they appear either end. To mute an idea, put it in the middle.
Try some mini-sentences. Occasional sentences of six words or less slow reading, provide variety, and add emphasis. Try some. Just don’t use this technique so often that it becomes a gimmick. We could overcome the problem if it were a one-time occurrence. It isn’t. The defect has appeared in 12 parts this week alone. Readers need to know your point early so they appreciate the relevance of whatever else you say. If you delay, they must read your writing twice, once to see where the details are headed and again to understand the details in perspective. To help your readers, open with your main point, much the way newspaper articles do. Avoid the clue-by-clue pattern of mystery stories. Start fast, explain as necessary, then stop. Plunge right in. Instead of building up to your main point, put it in the first paragraph. Give requests before justifications, answers before explanations, conclusions before details. If a document is so long that it needs a summary, put the summary first. Avoid mere chronology. Slow Start Starting 1 March, the U.K. Postal Service will begin delivering mail to the address shown just above the city and county line. If the next-to-last lines gives a street address, the mail will go there. If the next-to-last line gives a post office box, the mail will go there. Since the agency finds it more efficient to pick up all mail at the post office, it will be necessary to include the post office box number immediately above the city and county line of the address. It is therefore suggested that the following address format be used: The Company 814 Friendly Street P.O. Box 90 Scarborough, Yorkshire YO11 4DU Please advise all correspondents of the change. Fast Start Please ask your correspondents to show the agency’s post office box (not the street address) on the line just above the city and county: The Company 814 Friendly Street P.O. Box 90 Scarborough, Yorkshire YO11 4DU On 1 March, the U.K. Postal Service will start delivering mail to the point shown on the next-to-last line of an address. By having all our mail come to the post office, we can get it to you more efficiently. Delay your main point to soften bad news or to introduce a controversial proposal, but don’t delay too long. Readers, like listeners, are put off by people who take forever to get to the point. The next example softens the bad news with positive statements. Thank you for the several telephone conversations and the materials about your study of industrial automation. After careful consideration, we’ve decided to pass on the opportunity to purchase a copy of the current study. However, we hope you will keep us on your mailing list for future opportunities. To end routine correspondence, just stop. When writing to persuade rather than just to inform, close with a forecast, appeal, or implication. When feelings are involved, close with an expression of good will. However you close, avoid rubber-stamp endings, for they neither save week letters nor improve strong ones. The original of the previous example ended with, “Thanks again for calling” - an unnecessary addition. Use short paragraphs. Long paragraphs swamp important ideas. Cover one topic completely before starting another, and let a topic take several paragraphs if necessary. But keep paragraphs short, down to roughly four or five sentences. Long paragraphs will divide where your thinking takes a turn. By adding white space, you make reading easier. Now and then highlight a special idea in a one-sentence paragraph. Completed Advisory work is the study of a problem and the presentation of a solution by an Advisor (employee) in such form that all that remains to be done on the part of the Decision Maker is to indicate approval or disapproval of the completed action. The words completed action are emphasized because the more difficult the problem is, the more the tendency is to present the problem to the Decision Maker in piecemeal fashion. It is the Advisor’s duty to work out details, no matter how perplexing they may be. The product, whether it involves new policy or affects an established one, should, when presented to the Decision Maker for approval or disapproval, be worked out in finished form. The impulse, which often comes to the inexperienced Advisor to ask the Decision Maker what to do, recurs more often when the problem is difficult. It is accompanied by a feeling of mental frustration. It is so easy to ask the Decision Maker what to do and it appears so easy for him to answer. Resist that impulse. You will succumb to it only if you do not know your job. It is your job to advise the Decision Maker what he ought to do, not ask him what you ought to do. HE NEEDS ANSWERS, NOT QUESTIONS. Your job is to study, write, restudy and rewrite until you have evolved a single proposed action – the best one of all you have considered. The Decision Maker merely approves or disapproves. Alternate courses of action are desirable in many cases, and should be so presented. BUT you should have your recommendation stated as to which you think is best. Do you worry the Decision Maker with long explanations and messages? Writing a message to the Decision Maker does NOT constitute completed Advisor work, but writing a message for the Decision Maker to send to someone else does. Your views should be placed before him in finished form so that he can make them his views simply by signing his name. The statement should be submitted with supporting documents, as appropriate. If the proper result is reached, the Decision Maker will usually recognise it at once. If he wants comment or explanation, he will ask for it. The theory of completed Advisor work does not preclude the rough draft but the rough draft must not be a half-baked idea. It must be completed in every respect, except that it lacks perhaps neatness, but a rough draft must not be used as an excuse for shifting the burden of formulating the action to the Decision Maker. The completed Advisor work theory does result in more work for the Advisor, but it results in more freedom for the Decision Maker. It accomplishes two things:
When you have finished your completed Advisor work, the final test is this: If you were the Decision Maker, would you be willing to sign the paper you have Prepared and stake your professional reputation on it being right? If the answer is no, take it back and work it over, because it is not yet a completed Advisor work. Official writing does not demand big words or fancy phrases. Write naturally in words you speak with. These words are usually small. The guts of English are in its small, often one-syllable words. Not only do they save typing and reading time, they make writing livelier and ideas clearer.
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