2. Basics
• Good writing is writing that works
- It is clear at first reading
- It demands no further explanation
- Always a result of hard work: there is no help from tone or
gesture; with the force of your personality
• Anything we write must act on our behalf
• Words on paper can be fixed and unchangeable
- The written word can have an objectivity that can be
threatening
3. Basics
• “I do not know what to include or what to leave out.”
• This problem usually arises because:
- We have not thought clearly about the message we want to
send
- We are not thinking about the reader; only the information
we want to put down
- We may be more concerned about what will look
impressive
- We may not be able to concentrate on the job in hand
• The result of all this is:
- muddled thinking; a muddled structure; language that goes
out of control.
4. Basics
• Two golden rules to bear in mind:
- Think of the reader (all writing should focus on the reader
before the material is included)
- Separate thinking from writing ( put thoughts in order
before beginning, and take time afterwards to think about
what was written)
• “I know what I want to say, but I can’t put it down”
- Write as you speak
- Your text can be improved later
• We must allow time to prepare, and time to check: that way our
text will be right the first time the reader sees it.
5. Basics
• A systematic approach to writing has three basic
stages:
- Preparation and planning
- Writing
- Checking
6. Preparation
• Ask a series of basic questions: What, When, Where, Why,
Who, How
• What is the purpose of the document
• Never write without a reader in mind
• Take responsibility for the writing
• Location, to write with few distractions
• Establish clear guidelines
• Write when mind is the clearest
• Gather material, compile and fit
7. Writing
• Produce first draft:
- Don’t think hard; try to let the words flow on to the page
• Write fast, stick to plan
• Write as you speak
8. Checking
• Good writing comes from re-writing:
- Analyze thoroughly what we have written and create a test
that is correct, clear and appropriate – for our purpose and
the reader
• Develop skill to read own writing, critically, as if someone else
has written it
• Try to allow some time between finishing the draft and beginning
check
- The longer the better; provides objectivity
• No final version; endless process limited by time; however don’t
lose the original thoughts by too many corrections
• A systematic approach will help
9. A 10 point writing plan
• Rewriting is often a matter of changing lots of little things than a few big
ones:
- Paragraphs
- Long sentences
- Subject & verb
- Sentence landscape
- Passive and active verbs
- Adjectives and Adverbs
- Accuracy
- Brevity
- Clarity
- Spelling and punctuation
10. Paragraphs
• They may have more than one sentence, however only one
theme
• Each page of the document must have more than 2 paragraphs;
the more the better
• Break long paragraphs into shorter sections using sub-
headings, numbers or lists – be consistent in layout
• Open each paragraph with a short, summarizing topic sentence
– possible to take the gist and speed read the rest
• Use link words and phrases to guide the reader between one
paragraph and the next: e.g. however …, moreover….’ as a
result…., in addition…., in contrast…., and so on
11. Long sentences
• A sentence is a group of words that make sense by itself –
begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
• Short sentences are easier to read – a sentence of more than
25 words will probably not be understood at first reading
• Sentences tend to grow out of control because we try to cram
too many ideas into them – separate thought from writing
• Use shortest sentences in the most prominent position – bigger
the idea, shorter the sentence to express it
• Search long sentences. Rewrite it:
list the ideas; use separate sentence to each idea; connect into
prose, use link words; check language of rewritten text
12. Subject & Verb
• Every sentence must have a subject (noun).
• It must have a main verb, which describes what the subject is or
does
• The verb must agree with the subject (singular or plural)
• And, it must be finite, having tense (past, present, future)
• If in doubt ask:
- What do you want the sentence to be about? Put this at the
beginning as a subject.
- What is the subject doing? Put this second
- Put nothing between the subject and the verb
• Now rewrite the sentence from here.
13. Sentence Landscape
• We normally don’t read one word at a time
• Eye scans in groups of about five words, searching through the
sentence for the full stop which tells it to pause.
• Put most important matter in the beginning and end of a
sentence where the attention is the greatest – ideas buried in
the middle will get lost.
• Try to break long sentences into manageable ‘chunks’ of 5 to 10
words.
14. Passive & Active verbs
• Beware of writing impersonally:
e.g. Passive: Arrangements have been made ….
Active: I have made arrangements …..
Passive: Measurements have been taken ….
Active: The team took measurements …..
• Passive voice lacks the personal tone, the mark of good
personal relations
- Can fail to allocate responsibility for action taken
15. Adjectives & Adverbs
• Adjectives describes nouns – quick, yellow, round,etc.
• Adverbs describe verbs – quickly, brightly, early, etc.
- sometimes describe adjectives – quite fast, rather hot
• Go through text, identify adjectives and adverbs
- Take them out and see what are absolutely necessary
16. Accuracy
• Use the right word for the right job -- synonyms
• Use jargon in its rightful place:
- between experts
- or give an explanation
17. Brevity
• Use short words rather than long ones
• Eliminate meaningless cliches – as such, by and large,
needless to say, etc.
• Watch out for toutology: Why say the same thing twice?
e.g. enclosed herewith, the true facts are, he declined to accept
the offer
18. Clarity
• Remember, we are not there to explain what we have written
- the text must leave no room for ambiguity
• Vague phrases can arouse suspicion – in the region of; in the
area of; around about
- are we covering up something unpleasant, or hiding our
ignorance?
• Big threat to clarity are abstract nouns – can be replaced by the
verbs from which they derive.
e.g. 1. There are regulations for the avoidance of accidents;
replace by: The rules help us avoid accidents
2. Your entitlement to a refund is unaffected; replace by: You
are entitled to a refund
19. Spelling
• Spelling matters, contributes to our public and professional
image
• There are ways of improving – if you are determined
• Think before you write. Clear thoughts make for clear writing
• Use the simpler, shorter word rather than the longer,
complicated one. Always.
• Don’t use any words unfamiliar to you – more likely to spell
correctly words familiar to you
• Make a point of looking up new words in a dictionary and
becoming acquainted with them.
• If in doubt: write it down quickly – first guess are often correct;
dictionary on WP not adequate; spell checker cannot distinguish
between ‘there’ and ‘their’
20. Punctuation
• Punctuations do for the written word what gesture, pausing and
tone of voice do for speech.
- It signals to the reader how to read the passage
• Keep it simple – the less punctuations the better
• Read your text aloud, checking that the punctuation does what it
should.
- Remove any unnecessary punctuation; add only when you
are convinced you should
• Never use any punctuation without being sure of its use
• Check the finer points of punctuation in a guide to usage
21. Letter Writing
• A letter is a piece of conversation by post:
- It expresses a relationship: between friends, colleagues,
strangers
- The nature of the relationship dictates the nature of the letter
• A business letter is: precise, straightforward, relevant to reader’s
needs and action oriented
• It shows respect for the reader and points the way ahead –
clearly saying what happens next.
• Preparation: time spent now, before putting pen to paper, is time
saved later – both for the writer and the reader
22. Letter Writing
• The letter purpose:
- To sell or persuade
- To make an enquiry
- To answer a question
- To complain
- To answer a complaint
- To get something done
- To create a good impression of you and the organization
• If there is more than one purpose, pick the most important and
stick to it
• A letter which tries to do too much will fail to do anything
• Every letter is a free advertisement
23. Reader
• What we put in and leave out will depend on our relationship
with our reader
• Exact name! Find out
• Right person? Take action
• Needs and wants
• Situation story and history
• Knowledge about subject matter
• Letter has more than one reader?
24. Who? When? Where?
• Am I the right person to write?
• Writer has authority to sign: or collaborate on style with the
signatory
• Realistic time for delivery and reply
• Reader’s schedule and deadlines important
• Make sure the address is accurate complete and up to date
25. Planning
• The action point of the letter is whatever needs to be done to
fulfill the letter’s purpose
- What action is required? By whom? When?
- What information is relevant to action point?
- What does the reader already know?
- What do I know? What else do I need to know?
- Plan for getting the information – each group of items will form
the basis for a paragraph
26. Letter Structure
• Salutation: name if known
• Heading: from the statement of purpose – make it short
• Introduction:
- Acknowledge of previous communication
- Who the writer is – job title
- Why you are writing
• Body:
- Ensure all material is relevant and logically ordered
- Use bullet points for listing
• Action point – indicate and put into its own paragraph
• Concluding remarks – polite and genuine
• The complimentary close and signature
27. Layout
• However well written, a letter with a poor layout will
fail at the first hurdle
28. Writing
• Once the purpose and structure is clear, the writing itself
becomes much easier
• There is no “Business English” – only good English
• Formality of a letter lies in its structure and a few basic
conventions
• Language should be close to the spoken word
• Your letter, if read aloud, should have the sound of your voice
29. Tone
• Difficult to define. Three elements:
1. Be positive: Always say what you will do, not what you can’t
e.g. –ve: We cannot supply the goods before October
+ve: We will send the good on October 1st.
2. Be definitive: Don’t promise what you can’t deliver
e.g. –ve: I will try to hold the tickets for you
+ve: I will hold the tickets for 3 days
3. Be sincere: Generate the feeling appropriate for your purpose
- Should not be interpreted as a personal attack
e.g. –ve:Your failure to reply ….
+ve: Please reply by week end
30. Final check
• Before the letter slips into the envelope:
- Does it look good, interesting to read?
- Does it give a good impression of you and your organization?
- Does it achieve its objectives?
- Is the action point clear?
- Is the information accurate, relevant, logically ordered and
complete?
- Is the layout correct?
- Is the heading brief but specific?
- Are the paragraphs of manageable length?
31. Final check (contd.)
- Are there any sentences of 25 words or more?
- Is the language accurate, brief and clear?
- Is the salutation and close correct?
- Are all relevant enclosures included?
- What about grammar, spelling and punctuation?
32. Inter office memo
• Four items always appear in a memo:
- Name of the addressee(s)
- Name of the originator
- Date of the memo
- Subject of the memo
• When the memo is sent to several people, replace individual
names with a distribution list – list recipient names below the
last line of the message
• Do not use job titles in the memo
• Use a descriptive subject line
33. Writing the memo
• Determine the purpose
• Prepare a writing plan
• Write the first draft
• Write the final copy.
• The opening: most imp part of the memo, incl conclusions and
recommendations, belong in the first sentence of the paragraph
• The main message: the succeeding paragraphs support the imp
info already conveyed in the first paragraph
- only pertinent info is incl; no nice-to-know info
- Use listing if appropriate, is more readable
• The closing: the best memo closing may be none; eliminate
unnecessary closings
34. Easy Reading
• Make it easy for the reader to read – or the dust bin
• Use white space creatively – more inviting to the eye
• People skim read – no time or patience
• Double indent lists
• Have space between paragraphs
• Use bold face type for emphasis; use them sparingly
• Use bullets liberally: easily read and not missed
• Use an appendix for support information
• Good penmanship is a quality job skill:
- gives a human feeling
- Should be legible: people may not come back for clarification
35. Writing Tips
Terrible writing is easy to spot; usually based on:
- Foggy ideas no one can understand
- Big words, even though little ones will do
- Long twisted sentences covering may subjects
- Using jargons, slangs, abbreviations known only to the writer
- Vague words and statements that sound impressive but mean
nothing
- Arrogant style
- Boring content
- Complete disregard for the reader
• When writing, no feedback to obtain correct answer. What you
write has to stand on its own
36. Guidelines for good writing
• Writing is not a God given talent, demands hard work
• Write with the reader in mind: be considerate, friendly,
interested, clear – “would I want to read this?”
• Focus your work: Decide topic in advance, what you want to
happen, and ensure that everything you write supports your
message.
• Be simple and short and very direct
• Use headings and sub-headings in long reports
• Use bullets to indicate points; however be consistent; if starting
with action verbs continue till end.
• Take out every ‘that’ and ‘which’ you can
• Avoid boring, overused words -- cliches
37. Good Writing (contd.)
• If you have trouble writing in simple words, explain to your co-
worker / spouse and write what you spoke
• If you get tangled in the middle of a sentence, break it into two
• If a paragraph is bigger than a quarter of a page, break it into
two – visually short paragraphs easier to wade through
• Get the message in the first paragraph – helps the reader
understand your point quickly
• Don’t waste time on the perfect opening, or perfect way to say
something: for the first draft write what comes in your mind.
- point is to get started, act of writing generates ideas
• Break a long report into sections
• Just write, practice, read other good writers has written
