Chapter: 2

1. Chapter: 2 Adaptation and the Selection of Words

2. The Basic Need for Adaptation • By adaptation we mean fitting the message to the specific reader. • Obviously, readers do not all have the same ability to understand a message. • They do not all have the same vocabulary, the same knowledge of the subject, or the same mentality.

3. The Basic Need for Adaptation • Thus, to communicate clearly you first should know the person with whom you wish to communicate. You should form your message to fit that person’s mind. This approach not only helps you communicate but also is the basis of good business etiquette. • Making your message easy to understand is simply good business manners.

4. The Basic Need for Adaptation • In adapting your message, you begin by visualizing your reader. That is, you form a mental picture of what he or she is like. You imagine what the reader knows about the subject, what his or her educational level is, and how he or she thinks.

5. The Basic Need for Adaptation • In many business situations, adapting to your reader means writing on a level lower than the one you would normally use. For example, you will sometimes need to communicate with people whose educational level is below your own. Or you may need to communicate with people of your educational level who simply do not know much about the subject of your choice.

6. Example of Adaptation For people not well informed in finance: Last year your company’s total sales were $117,400,000, which was slightly higher than the $109,800,000 total for the year before. After deducting for all expenses, we had $4,593,000 left over for profits, compared with $2,830,000 for 2003. Because of these increased profits, we were able to increase your annual dividend payments per share from the 50 cents paid over the last 10 years.

7. Example of Adaptation For people well informed about finance (like financial manager): The corporation’s investments and advances in three unconsolidated subsidiaries and in 50% owned companies were $42,200,000 on December 31, 2000, and the excess to the investments in certain companies over net asset value at dates of acquisition was $1,760,000. The corporation’s equity in the net assets as of December 31, 2003, was $41,800,000 and in the results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2000 and2001, was $1,350,000 and $887,500, respectively. Dividend income was $750,000 and $388,000 for the years 2003 and 2000, respectively.

8. In case of multiple audiences, if your intended readers vary widely in education, knowledge of the subject, writing to the level of the best educated and best informed persons would miss those at lower levels. • Adapting your message to the lowest level runs the risk of insulting the intelligence of those at higher levels. • The answer is obvious. You have to adapt to the lowest level you need to reach. Not doing so would result in not communicating with that level. To minimize the risk of offending readers at higher levels, you can use words like “as you know” and similar expressions.

9. Suggestions For Selecting Words • A major part of adaptation is selecting the right words. • Simplicity in choosing words must be maintained for three reasons: • Many people tend to write at a difficult level, which makes communication difficult. • The writer usually knows the subject better than the reader, and • The results of research support simplicity.

10. Suggestions For Selecting Words The following techniques are helpful in choosing the right words. • Use Familiar Words: Use the language that most of us use in everyday conversation. We should avoid the stiff, more difficult words that do not communicate so precisely or quickly. For example, instead of using the more unfamiliar word endeavor, use try. Instead of using terminate, use end. Prefer use to utilize, do to perform, begin to initiate, find out to ascertain, stop to discontinue, and show to demonstrate.

12. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Use slang and popular clichés with caution: Example, “Is that your final answer?” (Who Wants To Be a Millionaire), “voted off the island” (Survivor). Such expressions may convey a desired effect in a communication. But they are likely to be meaningful only for the moment. Thus, you should use such expressions sparingly and always only in informal communication with people who know and appreciate them.

13. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Use Short Words: Short wards generally communicate better than long words. Of course, part of the explanation is that short words tend to be familiar words. But there is another explanation: A heavy use of long words --- even long words that are understood --- leaves an impression of difficulty that hinders communication.

15. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Use Technical Words and Acronyms with Caution: All fields have technical words. These words are useful when you communicate with people in your field. But they do not communicate with outsiders. Use them with caution. Some examples are: To a worker in the Social Security Administration, the words covered employment commonly mean employment covered by social security. To some outsiders, however, they could mean working under a roof. When a physician uses the words cerebral vascular accident with other physicians, they understand. Most people would get little meaning from these words, but they could understand a little stroke.

16. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Use initials cautiously: Spell out and define as needed. While some initials like IBM, are widely recognized, others, such as XML (extensible markup language), are not. Not only might your readers not know certain initials, they might confuse them with others. For example, if you saw SARS, you might think of the virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and someone else might think of segmentation and reassembly sublayer.

17. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Probably the most troublesome technical language is that of the legal profession. Among the legal words that may add little real meaning are thereto, therein, whereas, herewith, and herein. For example, “the land adjacent thereto” can be written “the adjacent land” without loss in meaning. “Despite” can replace “notwithstanding”.

18. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Select Words with the Right Strength and Vigor (force): Words have personalities. Select the stronger ones. To select words wisely, you should consider shades of difference in meanings. For example, you should recognize that tycoon is stronger than eminently successful businessperson, that bear market is stronger than generally declining market, that boom is stronger than a period of business prosperity; and that mother is stronger than female parent.

19. Suggestions For Selecting Words • You will not always want the strongest and most vigorous words. Sometimes, for good reason, you will choose weaker ones. The word billis strong. Because it has a harsh meaning in some minds, you may prefer statementin some instances. The same goes for debt andobligation, die and passed on, labor boss and union official, and fired and dismissed.

20. Suggestions For Selecting Words Use Concrete Language: Good business communication is marked by words that form sharp and clear meanings in the mind. These are the concrete words. Concrete is the opposite of abstract. Abstract words are vague. In contrast, concrete words stand for things the reader can see, feel, taste, or smell.

21. Suggestions For Selecting Words Among the concrete words are those that stand for things that exist in the real world. Included are such noun as chair, desk, Micky Mouse, Empire State Building, etc. Abstract nouns, on the other hand, cover broad meanings --- concepts, ideas, and the like. Examples: administration, incompetence, negotiation, loyalty, etc.

23. Suggestions For Selecting Words Use the Active Voice: Prefer the active voice to the passive voice. Active voice produces stronger, livelier writing. It emphasizes the action, and it usually saves words. In active voice, the subject does the action. In passive, the subject receives the action. For example: “ The auditor inspected the books” is in active voice. In passive voice, the sentence would read: ”The books were inspected by the auditor.”

25. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Passive is better when the doer of the action is not important. It also helps avoid accusing the reader. Passive is better when the performer is not known. Example: • The color desired was not specified in your order. • Anonymous complaints have been received.

26. Suggestions For Selecting Words Avoid Overuse of Camouflaged Verbs: Avoid camouflaged verbs. You camouflage a verb by changing it to a noun form and then adding action word. For example, if cancel becomes cancellation, you must add “to effect a” to have action.

28. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Select Words for Precise Meanings: Writing requires knowledge of language. You should study language and learn the shades of difference in the meanings of similar words. You should learn the specific meanings of other words. Example: • Money, funds, cash, finances • Boy, youth, young man, lad

29. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Use correct idiom. Idiom is the way ideas are expressed in a language. Example: you “agree to” a proposal, but you “agree with” a person; you are “careful about” an affair, but you are “careful with” your money.

30. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Suggestions for Nondiscriminatory Writing: Avoid words that discriminate against sex, race, nationality, age, or disability. We often use discriminatory words without bad intent. Following are some major form of discriminatory words.

31. Suggestions For Selecting Words • Use Gender-Neutral Words: Avoid using the masculine pronouns (he, him, his) for both sexes. You can do this by rewording the sentence, by making the reference plural, or by substituting neutral expressions. Examples:

33. Suggestions For Selecting Words Avoid words suggesting male dominance. Examples:

34. Suggestions For Selecting Words 2. Avoid words that stereotype(typecast) by race or nationality: Example: “ a hardworking African-American” suggests that only African-Americans are hard working.

35. Suggestions For Selecting Words 3. Avoid words that stereotype by age: Words that label people as old or young can arouse negative reactions. Example, instead of using old, use senior citizens.

36. Suggestions For Selecting Words 4. Avoid words that typecast those with disabilities: Disabled people are sensitive to words that describe their disabilities. Example: instead of using deaf, use hearing disorder.