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Making Writing Easier to Read

Making Writing Easier to Read. Lecture 6. Points to Focus On. Sentences (Bad and better) Proper English Word choice Document organization and style. Bad Sentence. Do not write these kinds of sentences:

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Making Writing Easier to Read

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  1. Making Writing Easier to Read Lecture 6

  2. Points to Focus On • Sentences (Bad and better) • Proper English • Word choice • Document organization and style

  3. Bad Sentence Do not write these kinds of sentences: “Yesterday, at the meeting, we thoughtfully considered the potential ramifications of adjusting the number of items that sales people are obligated to sell in a given time period.”

  4. Instead be clear and efficient: “At yesterday’s meeting we considered the likely returns of increasing the number of items that our salespeople must sell every month.” (Think about the difference) direct, clear, word choice, easier to understand, tells us more with less words and time

  5. Bad Sentence After considering the Korean market’s strengths, mainly thinking of the popularity of our product among the youth and the ease with which our products are distributed (调配） , and the weakness of the Indian market at the moment, mainly thinking of the lack of buyers and the challenges of distribution, we have decided to recommend greater investment in Korea and less investment in India for the time being, nonetheless it is probable or at least possible that our recommendations will be changed again in the future when India becomes ready.

  6. What’s wrong? • Too long • Should be many simple direct sentences • Uses more words than has to • Passive voice (“will be changed”)

  7. Something Better After considering the advantages of investing in Korea compared to India, we have decided to recommend investing the money now intended for India into Korea. Our product’s popularity among the Korean youth and the ease of distribution (调配) of the Korean market make Korea attractive. Furthermore, for the time being, our product’s lack of popularity in India and the challenges of distribution make it a far less attractive market.

  8. Active Voice and Passive Voice

  9. Examples Active Voice: • I did the work. • Mary has written the email. • Bob ate the sandwich. Passive Voice: • The work was done. • The email has been written. • The sandwich was eaten by Bob.

  10. When do you use them? Active -to say clearly who did something -to make work easier to read -to sound less formal/friendlier Passive -when you don’t want to say who did something (customer, employee mistake?) -to be formal

  11. Word Choice • Use the simplest 2000-3000 (generally) • Use the word that best fits • Watch out for words with negative meanings

  12. Use the simplest 2000-3000 • Don’t use “ostensible” when you could use “apparent”. • Don’t use “luminary” when you could use “star”. • Don’t use “adolescent” when you could use “child”. • there are exceptions (formal, professional, etc.)

  13. Watch out for negative words Examples: • Fat, stingy, skinny, stupid, fearful, stubborn, desperate, • and all “bad words” • Describe situations not people

  14. Proper English • Why use it? -credibility -clarity

  15. Examples of Improper English Bad: Ain’t you gonna put that there report on me desk? Better Aren’t you going to put that report on my desk?

  16. Examples of Improper English Bad: Yesterday, I go to the meeting. I already do that. I very like childrens. I don’t like that too. Would you like flower. I on the ship. It was so late she was sleeping.

  17. Something Better Yesterday, I went to the meeting. (tense) I have already done that. (tense) I really like children. (wrong word) I don’t like that either. (wrong word) Would you like a flower. (article) I am on the ship. (lacking preposition) It was so late that she was sleeping. (need that)

  18. Document Organization • Organization-think of last two lectures -good planning, transitions, introduction, body, and conclusion

  19. Document Style • Fonts-Times New Roman • White space -the more the easier • Formal vs. informal • Personal vs. impersonal -pulling readers into the work

  20. Writing in Groups

  21. Writing in Groups • Listen Why? -cooperation -progress How? -asking to be sure -nodding, shaking, smiling, uh-huh….

  22. Writing in Groups 2 • Divide the work • Keep focused • Deal openly with conflict -look for misunderstanding -be gentle • Encourage total participation • Don’t hope that your favorite ideas will always win.

  23. Homework • Read chapter 4. • Think about working in groups.

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