Clarity :
Getting the meaning from your head
accurately
to the reader is the purpose if clarity.
Remember:
•Choose precise, concrete and familiar words
•Construct effective sentences and paragraphs
Choose Precise, Concrete and Familiar words
•Clarity is achieved through a balance between precise
language and familiar language
•When you have the choice between a long word and a short
word, choose the short familiar
word
Golden Rule:
•When in doubt, use the more familiar words; audience will
understand them better.
•For example
you must use
pay instead of remuneration
and invoice
instead of
statement of
payment
Example:
•Unfamiliar
After our perusal of pertinent data, the conclusion is that
a lucrative market exists for
subject property.
•Familiar
The data we studied show that your property is profitable
and in high demand.
•Although it is appropriate to use technical terms and
business jargon in some professional
situations, avoid their use when the reader is not
acquainted with the terminology.
Example:
•Unfamiliar
assessed valuation
•Familiar
property value for tax purpose
Choose precise, concrete and familiar words:
•With the increased use of e-mail there is the tendency to
be concise.
• The danger is that you must know the meaning of e-mail
acronyms which aid conciseness.
•For instance IMO means In my opinion, FAQ means frequently
asked questions etc.
Construct Effective Sentences and Paragraphs:
•At the core of clarity is the sentence
•Important characteristics to consider are
–Length
–Unity
–Coherence
–Emphasis
Length:
•Try for an average sentence length of 17 to 20 words.
•When the sentence length increases try to chop it down to
two sentences.
•Also if the sentences are too short then the resulting
language becomes overly simple and
choppy.
Unity:
•In a sentence, unity means that you must have one main
idea.
•In case of other ideas they must be closely related.
•For example ‘I like Sohail and Eiffel Tower is in Paris’ is
obviously not a unified sentence.
Coherence:
•In a coherent sentence the words are arranged so that the
ideas clearly express the
intended meaning.
•Place the correct modifier as close as possible to word it
is supposed to modify.
•In the examples which follow, notice that ‘unclear’
sentence conveys the wrong meaning.
Example:
•Unclear
Being an excellent lawyer, I am sure that you can help us.
•Clear
Being an excellent lawyer, you can surely help us.
Example:
•Unclear
His report was about managers, broken down by age and
gender.
•Clear
His report focused on age and gender of managers.
Example
•Unclear
After planning 10,000 berry plants, the deer came into out
botanist's
farm and crushed them.
•Clear
After our botanists had planted 10,000 berry plants, the
deer came into the farm and
crushed them.
Emphasis:
•The quality that gives force to important parts of
sentences and paragraphs is emphasis.
•Most often, put main ideas up front within a sentence.
•Writers must decide what needs emphasis, and then decide
the correct sentence structure.
Example:
•Little emphasis
The airplane finally approached the speed of sound, and it
became very difficult to
control.
•Better emphasis
As it approached the speed of sound, the airplane became
very difficult to control.
Example:
•Little emphasis
Candidates should be motivated and should have interest in
dynamic and static
testing of material, and have those prerequisites and
others.
•Better emphasis
Prerequisites in candidates should include expertise in
dynamic and static testing of
material.
Also...:
•In addition to using the above methods of emphasis, the PCs
of today allow different ways
to visually add emphasis to words.
•Some of them include headings, tabulations, itemization,
line charts, pie charts, italics,
indentation colored capitals or even wide or short margins.
Checklist:
•Choose as precise or as concrete a word as possible.
•Select words that have high sense of appropriateness for
the reader.
•Opt for familiar words, the ones that are not pretences.
Checklist:
•Limit the average sentence to 17 to 20 words.
•Insert no more than one main idea into a sentence.
•Arrange words so that the main idea occurs early in a
sentence.
Courtesy :
•True courtesy involves being aware not only of the
perspectives of others, but also their
feelings.
•Knowing your audience allows you to use statements of
courtesy.
•Be aware of your message receiver
Courtesy:
•Courtesy stems from a sincere you-attitude.
•It is not merely politeness with mechanical insertion of
‘please’ and ‘thank you’, although
applying socially accepted manners is a form of courtesy.
•Rather it is politeness that grows out of respect and
concern for others.
Suggestions:
•Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative.
•Use expressions that show respect.
•Chose nondiscriminatory expressions.
Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative:
•Tact
Though very few people are intentionally abrupt or blunt,
these negative traits are a
common cause of discourtesy.
Sometimes they stem from a mistaken idea of conciseness,
sometimes from
negative personal attitudes etc.
Example:
•Tactless, blunt
Stupid letter; I did not understand any of it.
•More tactful
It’s my understanding…..
Example:
•Tactless, Blunt
–Clearly you did not read my latest fax.
•More Tactful
–Sometimes my wording is not precise, let me try again.
Example:
•Tactless, Blunt
–I rewrote that letter three times; the point was clear.
•More Tactful
–I am sorry the point was not clear; here is another
version.
Thoughtfulness and Appreciation:
•The traits help build goodwill.
•Be generous in appreciating others’ good performances.
Use expressions that show respect:
•No reader wants to receive message that offend.
•Such expressions are expressed in two groups
–Omit irritating Expressions
–Omit questionable humor
Omit irritating expressions:
•Following is a consensus list, that includes a list of
expressions that many people find
irritating
–contrary to your inference
–I do not agree with you
–if you care
–I am sure you must realize
Omit questionable humour:
•When in doubt as to the relevance of humor, leave it out.
•Laughter to one person is disgust for another; each of us
has a different sense of humor.
•Notice the difference between the 2 notes in the next
example.
Example:
•Note 1, Offensive
–Hey man, what’s this I hear about the good news ? You sure
pulled a fast one this past
weekend and then didn’t tell any of us about it.
Give my regards to the little lady. And wish her the best;
she’ll need it.
Example Continued...:
•More courteous
Warm congratulations on your wedding.
Well, you certainly took us by surprise. In fact, just a few
of us suspected that you
were taking off to get married. But even though we didn’t
hear about it until later, we wish
you the best.
Give our warm regards to the new partner.
Choose Nondiscriminatory Expressions;
•Sexists terms
•Singular pronouns
•Names
Sexists Terms:
•Be careful about using the ‘man’ word
•In western cultures than in others this is a matter of more
concern.
•Use alternative expressions that are neuter in nature.
Example:
•Questionable
freshman
•More Desirable
entering students; first year students
Singular pronouns:
•English lacks a neuter pronoun signifying ‘he’ or ‘she’
•The trend to follow should be to avoid using ‘he’, ‘his’ or
‘him’ etc
Example:
•Questionable
Anyone who comes to class late will get his grade reduced.
•More desirable
Students who come to class late will get their grade
reduced.
Example:
•Questionable
–Each customer will have the new changes noted on his bill.
•More desirable
–Customers will have the new changes noted on their bills.
Example:
•Questionable
–Our criteria are firm; he is to be a scholar; he is to be a
good teacher.
•More Desirable
–Our criteria suggest that he or she should be a good
scholar and a good teacher.
Example:
•Questionable
–You guys should all be concerned about the issue.
•More Desirable
–Both men and women, all of you should be concerned about
the issue.
Example:
•Questionable
–The executives may benefit from the stock options. He will
….
•More Desirable
–The executives may benefit from the stock options. Each
executive may ....
Example:
•Questionable
–Each manager has a assigned parking space. He should park
his car ...
•More Desirable
–Each manager has been assigned a parking space. Each car
should be parked in …
Example:
•Questionable
–Each manager has a assigned parking space. He should park
his car ...
•More Desirable
–Each manager has been assigned a parking space. Each car
should be parked in …
Names:
•When using names, treat each gender with respect.
•Use names in parallel form.
Names:
•When using names, treat each gender with respect.
•Use names in parallel form.
Example:
•Undesirable
Mudassir Ali and Sonia
Mrs. Ali and Mudassir
•More desirable
Mudassir and Sonia Ali
Ms. Ali [ she
deserves this] and Mr. Ali
Checklist:
•Ask yourself: Does the communication have a sincere
you-attitude ?
•Have someone else have a look at your statement if you have
doubts about whether its
tactful. Another opinion may cause you to reconsider making
a statement.
Checklist:
•Be cautious in using humor in communication. Here too it
pays to have someone else
review your words.
•Be careful in using discriminatory language; this being
aware of gender, race, age, color,
creed or ethnic origins.
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