This originally appeared on Availability.com, but they no longer have it up. Since they don't, I will. Here is my unedited version, written in August 2001. The audience is business professionals who aren't writers but need to write on a regular basis.
“Don't judge a book by its cover” contradicts the human habit of quick decisions based on appearances. This means readers assume writing filled with errors, twisted syntax, and confusing logic contains nothing of value. If your brilliant ideas struggle to escape your poor writing, your career advancement will also struggle.
Many professionals spend hours polishing major, but infrequent, reports, yet dash off semi-literate e-mails by the score. When you receive an e-mail filled with typos, misspellings, and grammatical garbage, what do you think? Do you want people to think that about your writing?
E-mails have become the writing traps of the modern business. Modern systems gather, archive, and sometimes organize e-mail messages online for use by companies as an electronic repository of business knowledge. While it may only take a few seconds to type two sentences in an e-mail response, the result may be on display for years. Think of the “display for years” angle of every e-mail rather than the “quick response” angle.
Here are a half-dozen ways to improve your business writing, both formal and casual correspondence. A few extra minutes spent writing will make reading your material much easier.
First, confused writing reflects confused thinking. If you aren't sure what you want to say, you have little chance of saying it well. Take a moment before typing, even if just replying to an e-mail, and clarify your thoughts.
When beginning my time as a network consultant, I read a profile of a master negotiator often brought in to solve deadlocks. His magic trick? Clarity. Rather than use fancy language, the problem-solver kept every statement clean and simple. Everyone involved knew exactly what he said, eliminating any confusion from the negotiating process. Clear, well-expressed ideas are powerful ideas.
Second, turn the spell check module on, even for e-mail. If your e-mail software doesn't have spell check, either upgrade your e-mail software or write your messages in a word processor and copy them into your e-mail editor.
Third, use the grammar check module on your word processor. Both Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect include a grammar checker along with a spell checker. You don't have to accept every grammar suggestion, but check each grammar error flagged by the software.
LaRee Bryant started her administrative services firm 25 years ago, and co-founded Ruby Moon Press (www.RubyMoonPress.com), a small publishing company. Bryant puts together the regional (Texas area) newsletters for two alumni associations from world-renown, Ivy League universities. Would you think Ivy League graduates ever make a grammar mistake?
“Verb tenses are still a problem for some newsletter writers,” says Bryant.
Fourth, print your work and read it, out loud, from a piece of paper. People depend so much on computers they often skip this step, to their eventual dismay.
“Words read differently on paper than they do on the screen,” says Bryant. Reading words onscreen allows our eyes to skip past too much. Take every writing project of importance, even e-mails if going to bosses, and print them onto paper. Then stand up and read the text out loud. Keep a pencil in one hand to mark every word or sentence that “bumps” when you read it. Fix that bump, then read the revised edition out loud as well.
Reading aloud also points out dull, drab writing. Bryant adds that “even when alumni are trying to get others excited about upcoming events, there's no pizzazz.” Much business writing attempts to persuade someone to do something. Dry, lifeless writing only persuades the reader to stop reading. When you read material out loud, you feel the gaps where a call to action will help persuade your reader to your point of view. Add that convincing argument, then print it out and read it out loud again.
Fifth, delete every adverb you can find in your writing. One professional author told me she has a blind spot for adverbs, so she searches for “ly” in every chapter. She frantically, strenuously, and religiously searches all her writing for the “ly” endings on adverbs. Does she gleefully, happily, and quickly delete the adverbs? No, she deletes every adverb. Period.
Finally, don't make jokes in business correspondence. Written humor differs from verbal jokes, and lacking the body language and inflections of a joke teller, often offend in surprising ways. If writing humor was easy, television shows would be much better.
Pretend you're Uncle Fred, who can't tell a joke to save his life, and quit trying. Or pretend you're writing to Aunt Ethyl, who has no sense of humor and makes everyone feel like Uncle Fred. Humor writing is tough, so don't try to learn on company material. Spend your time ensuring every sentence in your document says exactly what you want it to say.
The world doesn't beat a path to the door of those building the best mousetrap, it beats a path to the door of those providing the clearest directions. Decide what you want to say, write it down, read it aloud, revise it, then stop.
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