“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult
words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?”.
-A.A. Milne
This small checklist will help anyone think differently about how they
are writing for a business document.
-Identify your audience
-Keep it short
-Use personal pronouns
-Write in a visually appealing style
-Don’t be wordy
-Structure your writing
-Use graphics and tables
-Do not use and/or
-Avoid Redundancies
-Test your writing.
-Avoid “shall”
-Use Parallel Phrasing
All of these points are pulled
from this article by the Center for Plain Language. There are a few more guidelines I would like to
highlight more in depth.
Write in an active voice.
Active voice vs. passive voice is not something that I find a lot of
my peers to know about. Passive voice is when you are telling what action the
subject of your sentence had done to it. Even the explanation is terrible. Your
subject should always be doing the action in the sentence.
“Sherlock found the clue” is a lot better than “the clue was found by
Sherlock.” Using Active voice helps eliminate wordiness, one of the other rules
highlighted by the Center for Plain Language.
Watch your unnecessary qualifiers
This is my personal pet peeve, so I’m glad it made the list. On my
desk at home I have a few tools I have pinned to a cork board to avoid this
redundancy.
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image source: http://danienglish.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/vocabulary-for-writers.jpg
Sometime in grade 11 English, my teacher taught a lesson on how words
are absolutes or degrees but never both. For example, something can be “wrong”
or “right”, but it can’t be “VERY wrong”. Furthermore, its redundant to say it
is “totally right.” When writing for business its good to take a moment to
think about the words you are using and ask if they are degrees or absolutes.
Myself, if I can replace a word with the word “very” and the sentence
still makes sense I get rid of it, or I find a better word. I change “extremely
happy” to “elated”, “thrilled”, ecstatic”. All of a sudden, the writing can
come alive with these powerful words, and the message is better conveyed.
Don’t use multiple negatives.
The example that the article gives is a wonderful use of how this can
clarify the meaning of your writing. Plus, it's just better to focus on the
positive in life!
Double Negative Sentence: “No changes will be made to the Department
of Transportation’s regulations unless the administrator reviews them and
concludes that they are not lacking any important information.”(Center for Plain Language, NY)
Single Negative Sentence: “Changes will be made to the Department of
Transportation’s regulations only if the administrator reviews them and
concludes they are lacking important information.”(Center for Plain Language, NY)
Excess words vs. Plain Alternatives
This relates to the “don’t use very” and “avoid redundancies” rules
listed above. The article has a great list of words that can be swapped for
outdated or redundant groups of words.
I love this rule because it shows how all these rules relate to one
another without any conflicts.
