Refining Your Writing
Check your work against this list of common writing blunders. When you're sure your writing communicates as clearly, concisely and effectively as possible, you can be confident that it also reflects you as the professional you know you are.
Blunder #1: Wordiness
- Edit ruthlessly!
- One word is better than two, but clarity is better than brevity
Blunder #2: Negative words and expressions
- Stress the positive
- Avoid negative words where possible
Blunder #3: Qualifiers and vague expressions
- Omit qualifiers: Sort of, rather, quite, somewhat, almost, maybe, etc.
- Be specific
Blunder #4: Clichés and jargon
- Use jargon ONLY when you're sure your reader will understand it
- Avoid the use of clichés. Think of something fresh.
Blunder #5: Impersonal style
- Don't be afraid to use personal pronouns
- Remember that the best-read word in the English language is "you"
Blunder #6: Poor grammar
- Proofread carefully
- When in doubt, look it up
Blunder #7: Misplaced modifiers and mangled sentences
- "Coming out of the market, the apples fell on the street."
- "With his tail held high, my father led his dog back into the house."
- "I saw a train walking down the street."
Blunder #8: Poor visual presentation that leads to buried ideas
Techniques for spotlighting your key points:
- White space
- Charts and tables
- Bullets, lists
- Headings
- Underlining
- Indented paragraphs
- Type style
- One-line paragraphs
- Boldface
Blunder #9: Failure to persuade, motivate or inspire your reader
The purpose of business writing is to persuade the reader:
- Have you used persuasive words?
- Have you told your readers what you want from them?
Sometimes, it's okay to break grammar rules by:
- Ending sentences with prepositions
- Splitting infinitives
- Beginning sentences with conjunctions
- Repeating words
- Using "I"
You can learn much, much more about how to write business letters, reports, e-mails and memos when you attend SkillPath's helpful seminar,
Business Writing Basics for Professionals. Check the schedule for one coming soon to a city near you.
