Here are two more specific, straightforward ways to clarify and condense your writing.

Remove unnecessary introductory phrases. Like clarifying phrases, introductory phrases are often unnecessary. It is appropriate to specify a particular author (“According to Smith,”) but superfluous to mention that information originated from a vague, unnamed source (“Reports show that…”). It is appropriate to clarify a sentence’s relationship to its preceding sentence (“Conversely,”) but unwarranted to specify its content’s general existence (“It has become clear that…”).

Therefore, never begin a sentence with a phrase that contains no particular information, such as: “In my opinion,” “It appears that,” “I do not mean to suggest that,” “One can see how,” “It should be noted that,” “In short,” “Basically,” “In other words,” “The meaning of this is that,” “It is recognizable that,” etc.

Instead, simply explain the meaning or relate the recognizable information. If you want to state something in other words, then simply do so; either it is an obvious clarification that needs no introduction, or it is an unnecessary repetition that should be eliminated. Never inform the reader that something should be noted; the mere statement of the information should seize the reader’s attention. Do not hedge a statement by remarking that it is merely your opinion; instead, describe and support your opinion and convince the reader to agree with you.

If removing a phrase does not change the sentence’s meaning or obscure the paragraph’s logic, then do so.

Eliminate general wordiness. As a rule of thumb, use the fewest words that can communicate your message clearly. If you can eliminate a word or phrase without eliminating essential meaning, then do so. This is not an absolute law; nevertheless, if you establish it as a general goal, then your writing will greatly improve.

Example:

“When it comes to the memo he wrote, his main aim was to attempt to point out that the feedback his boss was offering every day was helping him, and he argued that the result of her criticism was that he had the opportunity to meet the goal of improving his work.”
–>
“His memo explained that his boss’s daily feedback helped him improve his work.”

Lauren, Editor

Here are three more specific, straightforward ways to clarify and condense your writing.

Use fewer participles. A participle is nonspecific and vague; it has no tense or number. Overusing participles results in ambiguous, shoddy prose. (The previous sentence demonstrates proper participle use; “overusing participles” is a general idea that needs no specific context.) If a participle requires an additional verb or adjective to clarify it, then it should be rewritten into a different verbal form.

Examples:

“The audit that she is expecting…” –> “The audit that she expects…”

“Bystanders were impeding their journey.” –> “Bystanders impeded their journey.”

Participles are also used as verbal nouns. Verbal nouns are generally less specific, and they can be confusing; hence, whenever possible, replace a verbal noun with an actual noun or rephrase the sentence.

Examples:

“Her discussing the issue was rude.” –> “Her discussion of the issue was rude.” OR “It was rude of her to discuss the issue.”

“The building of the new museum was going to begin soon.” –> “The construction of the new museum would begin soon.”

Use possessives. When possible, use a simple possessive instead of an explanatory phrase. This streamlines the text and quickly clarifies the relationships between various words.

Examples:

“The results of the survey that she had conducted…” –> “Her survey’s results…”

“The money from the donors was added to the fund that the organization was establishing.” –> “The donors’ money was added to the organization’s fund.”

“The behavior of the cat escaped the notice of the owner of the animal.” –> “The cat’s behavior escaped its owner’s notice.”

Remove unnecessary clarifiers. Clarifying phrases like “there are” or “the fact that” have no inherent meaning. Sometimes, such a phrase usefully ensures that various words relate to each other lucidly. In most cases, however, such phrases are superfluous and only make sentences wordier.

Such unnecessary verbosity can be corrected by simply removing the unneeded words or by using a precise word instead of an explanatory phrase.

Examples:

“There are few companies that provide…” –> “Few companies provide…”

“The reason women will buy this is that…” –> “Women will buy this because…”

“It was evident that he was hungry.” –> “He was clearly hungry.”

“The fact that Johnny died…” –> “Johnny’s death…”

Sometimes, on the other hand, a clarifying phrase improves a sentence.

Example:

“The wallet I had found was empty.” –> “The wallet that I had found was empty.” OR “I had found that the wallet was empty.”

Lauren, Editor

If your prose is clear and concise, then readers are more likely to read it thoroughly, to understand it accurately, and to appreciate its message. Whether you want to attract customers, impress your boss, motivate your employees, or inform your coworkers, the goal of your writing is to communicate; therefore, you must obtain your audience’s attention and comprehension. Make the reader’s job easier and your job more successful by writing simply and smoothly.

Here are two specific, straightforward ways to clarify and condense your writing.

Use specific verbs. One simple way to make your writing clearer and more concise is to use more verbs. If you use an adjective, noun, or phrase when a single verb could communicate the same thing, then your prose will be weak and cluttered. Verbs are active and efficient; if you use them whenever possible, then your writing will be vigorous and compelling.

Instead of writing what something is, write what it does. Instead of using two verbs that form a phrase, use one verb that is sufficiently specific. This shortens a sentence and emphasizes its meaning. If a noun or adjective has a verbal form, then use it (“had an influence on” –> “influenced”). This not only clarifies your writing but also strengthens it so that it communicates more powerfully.

Examples:

“This will make our policy clearer.” –> “This will clarify our policy.”

“He became an outspoken critic of her work.” –> “He openly criticized her work.”

“This is a positive for them.” –> “This benefits them.”

“I have reached the conclusion that he has a tendency to lie.” –> “I have concluded that he tends to lie.”

“She conducted research on market trends.” –> “She researched market trends.”

Use fewer prepositions. Often, a verb that requires a preposition (“go back,” “figure out”) can be replaced by a single, more specific verb (“return,” “determine”); this makes your text more concise and less awkward. Additionally, verbs that require prepositions are usually informal and hence less appropriate in professional documents.

Many prepositional phrases (“problems with his finances,” “a person in her employ”) can be transformed into adjectives, verbs, or more specific nouns (“his financial problems,” “her employee”). This simplifies the sentence structure so that it flows smoothly and is easier to read.

Examples:

“Talk about it in explicit terms.” –> “Explicitly address it.”

“This was called into question by John.” –> “John questioned it.”

“She summarized the responsibilities she had at her job.” –> “She summarized her professional responsibilities.”

Lauren, Editor

Briefly stated, a paragraph is a group of sentences about one specific idea. This paragraph, for instance, deals with the definition of a paragraph. There is no set length for a paragraph, but, generally, three full sentences is considered the minimum and half a page is considered the maximum.

A paragraph should begin with a topic sentence, that is, a sentence which addresses the subject of the paragraph. It may, as in the first paragraph in this essay, begin with a question. The other sentences in the paragraph should supply information that helps to explain the topic.

Sometimes it is easy to determine when to start a new paragraph—because you have moved from one topic to another. You may have written a large number of sentences about a specific topic, let’s say more than twelve (or more than 200 words). At that point, you may need to ask the question Is this paragraph too long? As has been stated, there is no limit in terms of the number of sentences in a paragraph, but, when a paragraph takes up about half of a page or when it looks like it is too long, then it may be too long. If, upon reading it, you find that the topic has shifted slightly, that is a good place at which to divide the paragraph. For instance, if the topic sentence is how much the business climate has changed during the past twelve months, and, after a number of sentences in which you explain that idea, the topic has shifted to the importance of communication in the workplace, that may the point at which to begin a new paragraph.

Besides knowing when to end a paragraph and when start a new one, you should also develop smooth transitions between paragraphs. Sometimes, this is easy. Phrases such as “In addition to…” or “Conversely….” or “Despite….” are obvious transitional phrases. However, it is not necessary to use a transitional phrase to link a new paragraph to the previous one. Simply repeating a key word that had been used in the previous paragraph works just as well. In this essay, using the word “paragraph” or the phrase “good writing skill” helps in terms of linking paragraphs. In addition, simply writing a topic sentence which spells out that the new paragraph is about a topic that relates to the previous one is an efficient way of creating a transition. An example of that, in that same report about the business climate, would be the following topic sentence: “Of course, one year’s business climate may vary quite a bit from how it had been the year before.”

Good paragraphing is not a science; however, it is a skill that is important in terms of good writing. To sum up, a paragraph is a collection of sentences that refer to the topic sentence. A paragraph is generally at least three sentences long, and should not, if at all possible, exceed half of a page. Transitions between paragraphs lend a fluid smoothness to the finished business document.

Like many other writing skills, understanding the basics is the first step in terms of mastery. Writing with care and proofreading what you have written is a fine way in which to practice writing skills, including paragraphing. After a period of time, you will find that writing solid paragraphs which link to the others in a piece of writing has become routine.

Marco Manfre
Editor

Writing an outline is often a helpful way of beginning the writing process. Once you actually start to write the document, you may, of course, vary from your outline, but you should not stray far from your original theme. If, for example, the point of the document that you are writing is to explain new office protocols, do not move into the area of the current global economic situation. That may relate to your thesis, and so, it may be addressed, but you should not lose focus. Complete the document on which you are working, and then you may return to the other topic in a subsequent business essay.

The next, critically important step, once the essay has been written, is to edit it for clarity and precision. Business editing is both a skill and an art. It involves both macro and micro approaches. First, the essay must be read in order to evaluate the point of view and the thesis. That is the macro approach.

Then, the document must be microscopically inspected. The text must be read word-for-word. This is when errors in spelling, English usage, punctuation, and vocabulary should be spotted and corrected. If needed, whole sentences and, if necessary, entire paragraphs should be edited and/or rewritten so that they smoothly and logically flow from preceding ones. Transitional sentences, if needed, should be inserted.

At some point during the proofreading and editing process, you should spell check your work. That will not catch every error, but it will allow you to spot many of them.

The final step in terms of reviewing a business document is to read it as if you are the intended audience, and not the writer. Does the document communicate its message? Will it be clear to those for whom it is intended? You may want to ask a colleague to read it. Assure him or her that you do want an honest opinion of the document, and not simply an “It’s fine” response.

Business writing should be 100% clear and to-the-point. It should not rely on metaphors, poetic license, or figures of speech. The purpose of a business document is to clearly communicate a message. It may be entertaining, but that is beside the point. If the document is not easily comprehensible, its message may never be communicated.

Marco Manfre
Editor

How can you prevent this embarrassing, perhaps damaging scenario from occurring? Well, the answer comes under the heading of You Can Never Be Too Careful. When you have finished checking and rechecking, you may want to check over your work again. How? Here are some hints:

1. Spell check your work. Do this before you perform your own proofreading of your document. This step will pinpoint and allow you to correct most of the serious errors. It will also provide you with an opportunity to clarify sentences and phrases that are unclear.
2. Proofread and edit your written work on two levels, micro and macro. On the micro level, you should be looking for errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, word usage, and all other aspects of English usage that the spell checking missed. On the macro level, you should be making sure your document is clear and concise and that your thoughts flow logically and smoothly. Do this by reading your document, not sentence by sentence, but word by word (micro). This will allow you to spot and correct errors that you might otherwise not notice.
3. Read your entire document on the macro level. Make sure it effectively communicates your message.
4. Print it out and read it. Sometimes, you may be able to spot errors on paper that you may not notice when reading your document on a computer monitor.
5. Ask someone else to read it. Before you do this, resign yourself to the possibility that the one who is reading your work will actually find errors, which, of course, is why you have asked him or her to read it. But…you cannot allow yourself to be offended by this person’s critiquing of your work.
6. When all is said and done, you may want to take one more action to ensure that your written work is free or errors, properly formatted, and clearly presented—submit it to a professional proofreading and editing service.

Since a poorly written or imprecisely formulated document does not communicate its message as well as one that has been carefully written and proofread, this may be the most effective and worthwhile action that you can take in reference to your written work.

Marco Manfre

1. Clarify your role: Before you begin to even think about your topic, make sure you are the appropriate one to be writing about it. You would not want to step on anyone’s toes in terms of addressing your topic.
2. Define your thoughts: Before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), you should clearly define your thesis or premise or at least the goal of your writing effort. Your thinking should go beyond “Developing a new employee vacation policy” or “Coming up with a sales incentive plan.” Before you start writing, a process which, if done correctly, involves a great deal of effort, you should attempt to clarify your thoughts and your direction. This may involve writing notes or putting together an outline. The more time and effort you devote to your pre-writing thinking, the more likely it is that your document will be logical, clear, and effective.
3. Conduct some research: You may not need to look far or deeply, but remember, a carefully researched paper is generally more credible than one which reflects only your point of view. Research may involve consulting the Internet or published sources or company files. It may also involve formal or informal surveys of those in your place of business or those with whom your firm does business.
4. Develop a working title: This may not be the one you end up using when you publish or email or submit your work, but it will help to guide your writing. For example, the title “Revised Employee Vacation Policy for ABC Corporation” clearly outlines what you want to say. In the course of your writing, if you decide that you have varied from your working title, you should either refine the parameters of your document (and, possibly, excise the extraneous material so that it can be used in another document) or, if you want to retain what you have written, you may want to rename your document.
5. Follow your outline or notes: This does not mean that you should not branch out and stray from what you have written in note or outline form, but, on the other hand, you should not simply ignore what you jotted down during the planning stage of your writing. Sometimes, during the blizzard of thoughts that may hit you during the process of writing, you may forget important points about which you had written notes.
6. Spread your wings: Do not hold yourself back while you are writing. Let your thoughts flow. You can correct your spelling, punctuation, etc. afterwards.
7. Examine your work with a magnifying glass: Not really! But, once you have finished writing, the first reading of your document should be a careful, word-for-word, sentence-for-sentence attempt at proofreading. During this reading, you should be more concerned with spelling, grammatical, punctuation, and vocabulary errors than with style and flow. This is the time to correct any and all technical errors. You may, of course, as you are correcting errors, rewrite and delete sentences and add new material.
8. The second reading should involve improving the clarity of the document. During this reading, you should attempt to upgrade your vocabulary. For example, you may decide to replace “get” with “obtain,” “attain,” or more academic or professional-sounding synonyms.
9. The third reading should be done as if you are a member of the target audience. This is the time to determine whether the document is clearly written, to-the-point, and error-free. You should eliminate repetition and unnecessary words and phrases. You may want to print your document and read it from the paper. This may allow you to spot errors that you missed while reading your document from the monitor.
10. Spell check or/and submit your paper to a professional editing service.

Remember, your business document must be clear, concise, to-the-point, and well written. It should clarify important aspects of your business and it should reflect your best effort.

Marco Manfre
Senior Editor

Rather than attempting to trace the histories of thousands of words in English, this article will simply provide instruction in terms of when and how to use certain common words whose misuse often leads to errors.

Let us start with fewer and less. Both words are adjectives, but they are not used interchangeably. Fewer is used to describe objects or persons—in other words, things which can be counted. The following are examples of when to use fewer:

She has fewer hats than Mary.
How many fewer votes did Clinton receive than Obama?
Mr. Jones has had fewer opportunities to speak to clients than I have.

Less is used in reference to things which cannot easily be counted. The following are examples of when to use less:

There is less money is circulation now than in the 1990s.
He is exercising less often than he did when he was younger.
This school appears to have less structure than the one that we visited earlier today.

Two other words which are often confused are number and amount. As with fewer, number is used to describe objects or people—things which can be easily counted. The following are examples of the proper use of number:

The number of people voting for Jones is higher than those who voted for Smith.
What is the correct number of vehicles crossing the bridge each weekend?
I read a large number of books every month.

Amount is used to describe those things which are not easily counted. The following are examples of the correct use of amount:

There is a larger amount of water in the Pacific Ocean than that which is in the Atlantic Ocean.
Which team seems to be displaying a greater amount of confidence?
The United States has a larger amount of money in circulation than that in any other nation.

Another common error involves the use of who, that, and which. Use who when referring to people; use that or which when referring to other things. Here are some examples:

He is the one who caused the problem. I like plants which do not require much upkeep. He made the one comment that was sure to cause an argument.

The following outlines a few words (with examples) which are easily and often confused:

There……He is traveling there. There are many ways in which to skin a cat. There he is.
Their…….That is their house. We accepted their apology. Did you speak to their mother?
They’re…They’re not my friends. They’re always making us late. Do you think they’re coming?

Whose….Whose hat is this? Harriet Beecher Stowe is the writer whose novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is said to have contributed to the fiery debate that led to the Civil War.
Who’s….Ruth is the one who’s always complaining. Who’s coming to the party with me?

When it comes to writing effectively and correctly, there are thousands of other potential pitfalls that a good writer must avoid. If you are unsure of your writing skills, you might want to send your documents to a professional proofreading and editing service before you submit them.

Marco Manfre
Editor

The key to writing effective and readable business documents is organization. Before writing anything that is going to be sent to colleagues, supervisors, customers, clients, or any others, you should take the time to think about what you want to say. What is the message that you are attempting to convey? Many people find writing an outline or a sketch to be helpful. Others prefer to gather thoughts and just jot down notes. Some people, especially those who think on their feet, simply sit at their keyboards, and write. After all, whatever you write can always be changed, expanded, or deleted.

It is important to keep sentences to the point. That does not mean that they have to be short, but each sentence should be aimed at explaining one main idea. If, for example, you were to write an evaluation of a new employee, you would want to explain his or her strengths, weaknesses, successes, and failures so that whoever is reading the report would be able to understand the important points the first time around. You would not want to put too much information into each sentence. You might be tempted to write, “During this thirty day period, Donald has done well in terms of motivation and he has accomplished a lot, such as regularly contacting clients in a timely manner and updating them on new developments, and he has introduced some initiatives in his department, but not all of them have proved to be useful.” It would be better to divide all of that information into separate sentences, as: “During this thirty day period, Donald has done well in terms of motivation and he has accomplished a lot.” “He regularly contacts clients in a timely manner, updating them on new developments.” “He has also introduced some initiatives in his department, but not all of them have proved to be useful.”

Of course, as you are writing, you should re-read what you have written, either after each sentence or at the end of each paragraph. In this way, you will be able to back-track, and then add or delete information according to the flow of the document. In the same way that you should attempt to keep your sentences short and pertinent to the topic, your paragraphs should also be brief and to the point. A paragraph need only be two sentences long, but most are longer. The longest a paragraph should be is about 250 words. That is not a hard and fast regulation, but it a good rule of thumb. A well-written paragraph should contain a main idea and a number of sentences which clarify that point.

Once the document has been completed, you should re-read it in its entirety—twice. The first reading should be to determine whether you wrote what you meant to say and whether it is clear and concise. Your second reading should be in order to ensure that the sentences flow into each other and the paragraphs do likewise. At this point, even before you perform a spell check, you should attempt to spot and eliminate errors in of spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage. Of course, if you believe that you are weak in terms of the mechanics of writing, you might want to have your document proofread and edited by a professional. Many reliable proofreading and services can be found online.

Remember, unless your business document is clear and well-written, it will not adequately convey your message. Business documents should always succinctly communicate ideas from the writer to the reader.

Marco Manfre
Editor

That being said, this is a good time to review some valuable writing tips:

1. Write concisely, but completely: Write full sentences. Do not repeat, but include all of the essentials in each paragraph. Try to keep paragraphs to 200 words or fewer.
2. Spell correctly: Pay attention to your writing so that you spell words correctly. If you are not sure of the spelling of a word, use the spell check function of your word processing program or consult a dictionary.
3. Use correct punctuation and usage: Punctuation can be problematic. Here are a few good tips: a) Use capital letters only for the beginnings of sentences, titles, and the beginnings of quotes. b) End all sentences with periods. c) Use semicolons (;) only rarely. They are generally used in place of periods, between two complete sentences that are very close to each other in terms of their topics. When you use a semi colon, do not begin the second sentence with a capital letter; it is a related phrase. The previous sentence is an example of the proper use of a semi colon. d) Write full sentences. A full sentence has a subject and a predicate. e) Do not overuse apostrophes. Apostrophes are not used to pluralize words. The plural of doctor is doctors. No apostrophe should be there. Apostrophes are used only for possession and for contractions. Here are examples: That is the doctor’s car…and…I can’t help you.
4. Stay on your topic: Of course, each sentence in a document will express a different idea from all others, but, within each paragraph address only one main topic.
5. Use the correct format for citing references and for creating bibliographies: Other entries in this blog cover that subject.
6. Be consistent in your writing: Use the same spelling for words throughout your paper. Check your written work to ensure that you do not spell, for example, the name of a cited author as Connor in one place and Connors in another.
7. Copy quotations carefully: Unless you are copying and pasting text, there is always the possibility that you will transcribe a direct quote incorrectly. This is an error that must be avoided.
8. Make sure that words in your sentences agree: Words in your sentences must agree in terms of gender, number, and tense. This is also true of sentences within a paragraph or a longer section of text. For instance, if you are citing a female, then you must use pronouns that refer to females, such as she and her. If you are referring to several cities, do not use the pronoun it. When discussing events that occurred in the past or people who are no longer alive, do not use verbs in the present tense, such as builds or speaks.
9. Do not assume that the reader knows what you are talking about: Do not refer to ideas or books or events or people unless you have mentioned them in previous sentences. A writer may forget that the reader does not know the information in a piece of writing as well as he or she does. New ideas need to be introduced and, sometimes, explained.
10. Be careful in terms of your spelling of names of people, organizations, etc.: Writing the names of people and organizations correctly is important. For example, it is The New York Times, not New York Times.

Remember, your writing must clearly communicate your message. In formal writing, as opposed to electronic messaging, the traditional rules still apply.

Marco Manfre
Editor