Writing concisely and accurately

1. Writing concisely and accurately

2. Importance of concise writing • To Keep our reader’s attention • To make sure our meaning is clear • To eliminate misunderstanding

3. Eliminate unnecessary words that distract readers from the message.

4. Eliminate deadwood. The first main prevention method that can help our company eliminate employee theft is to perform pre-employment screening of all applicants for positions with our company. This can be a major aid to our company. The first method that can help eliminate employee theft is pre-employment screening.

5. Eliminate redundancies. We need to hire applicants for positions who have the proper work skills required for the positions and for being successful in the jobs. We need to hire people with the required work skills.

6. Eliminate the obvious. He lived his life right up until the end. Eliminating employee theft can be a major benefit to our company. "If we do not succeed, we run the risk of failure.“

7. Reduce clauses to phrases-phrases to single word • Citizens who know what was happening voted against him • Correct: Knowledgeable citizens voted against him • Student at the end of the line answered all questions • Correct: last student answered all questions

8. Intensifiers don’t intensify • Salary is severely inadequate • Correct: salary is inadequate

9. If you wouldn’t say it, don’t write it! • we are in receipt of • as per your request • thanking you in advance • hereinafter • in due course • pursuant to • under separate cover • we have received • as you requested • Thank you • From here on • Soon • As a result of • In another envelope

10. Write using common words you might speak. • As per the customer-service rep’s advisement, reshipment of said items will be considered when the customer’s need for reshipment is ascertained by the company due to a non-locatable condition. • The customer service rep said their company would reship my clock if they find out it has been lost.

11. Write simple, straightforward sentences • Try to keep sentences to an average of 17-20 words, with some shorter and some longer. • Never drop articles and other words as a shorthand method of writing. • Write the sentence first; then refine it.

12. Use active and passive voice appropriately • Passive voice is often overused in business writing. • A writer uses passive voice to purposefully leave out the actor or subject of the sentence in an effort to sound more diplomatic.

13. Use active and passive voice appropriately Active: You are past due on your registration payment. Passive: Your registration payment is past due. • The passive example is less confrontational. It takes the actor out of the sentence so that the message does not appear to blame someone.

14. Use passive and active voice appropriately Use passive voice: 1) when you don't know the actor (The door was left unlocked.) 2) when the actor is unimportant to the point you're making (The office will be open on Monday.) 3) when the emphasis is clearly not on the actor but on the acted upon (What happened to the student who plagiarized their paper? The student was failed.)

15. Exercises

16. At this point in time we can't ascertain the reason as to why the screen door was left open. • Correct: We don't know why the screen door was left open. • My sister, who is employed as a nutritionist at the University of Michigan, recommends the daily intake of megadoses of Vitamin C • Correct: My sister, a nutritionist at the University of Michigan, recommends daily megadoses of Vitamin C. • There is a desire on the part of many of us to maintain a Christmas vacation for the purpose of getting away from the demands of our studies. • Correct: We want a Christmas break so we can get away from our studies. OR We want a Christmas vacation to escape our studies

17. Joe was an honest and hard working man. Basically, he never gave much consideration to sitting idly about, doing nothing constructive.    (Rewrite as one sentence.) • Correct: Honest and hard working, Joe was never idle. • What is your basic understanding of predestination? • Correct: Explain predestination. • The nursery school teacher education training sessions involve active interfacing with preschool children of the appropriate age as well as intensive peer interaction in the form of role playing • Correct: Training for nursery school teachers involves interacting with preschoolers and role playing with peers.

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