The source of bad writing is the

desire to be more than a person of

sense – to be thought a genius.

If people would only say what they

have to say in plain terms, how

much more eloquent would they

be.~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Guidelines for Effective Written Communication:

Focus on CLARITY

Check facts, grammar, language for

CORRECTNESS

Check all relevant data for COMPLETENESS

Build and maintain goodwill through COURTESY

Express and impress through CONCISENESS

Avoid ambiguity, vagueness through

CONCRETENESS

Maintain relationships through CONSIDERATION

Avoid legalese/commercialese:

Enclosed herewith please find…..

Your esteemed favor

For your kind perusal

Pursuant to

Beg to inform

Yours in hand

Thanking you in advance

Avoid Redundancies:

New innovation

Revert back

Proceed further

Cooperate together

Future plans

Please R.S.V.P.

Be careful of confusing one word with another:

Affect/effect

Allude/elude

Altar/alter

Seize/siege

Vain/vein

Between/among

Bizarre/bazaar

Jealous/zealous

Do not be wordy, be concise:

Instead of:

I wish to take this opportunity to thank you…..

Say:

Thank you.

Instead of:

In accordance with your request…

Say:

As requested by you

Avoid using passive voice:

Instead of:

The policy was rejected by the committee

Say:

The committee rejected the policy

Instead of:

A complete tour of the office was taken by the

president.

Say:

The president took a complete tour of the building

Avoid Repetitions:

The responsibility of preparing a work

schedule for the entire month is a

responsibility that HR managers must carry

out.

There were little little factors that delayed

the completion of the project.

Avoid Camouflaged Verbs:

Acquisition of the property made him happy.

The approval of the merger must be carried

out soon.

Use familiar words:

The recipients of your communiqué must be

able to comprehend its contents without

much ado.

Time is money

Using big words does not necessarily impress

your clients or employees

Reduce your fog index:

High fog index makes the writing more difficult to

read.

E.g.:

Platform Symphony is a leading enterprise-class software that distributes and virtualizes compute-intensive application services and processes across existing heterogeneous IT resources creating a shared, scalable and fault-tolerant infrastructure, delivering faster, more reliable application performance while reducing cost.

What are the basic requirements of a business letter?

1.Letterhead

2.Dateline

3.Inside address

4.Reference lines (attention, personal, confidential)

5.Salutation

6.Body of the letter

7.Complimentary close

8.Signature

9.Stenographic reference

10.Enclosure/copies

What is the format of a memo?

1.Company name

2.Sender’s name

3.To whom the message is sent

4.Dateline

5.Subjectline

Emails are fast becoming the most popular and

effective means of written communication.

Like other forms of written communication,

emails must have structure, however, it is

more informal in nature.

In class discussion:

What do you think is the structure of an

email memo sent to employees?

Some helpful tips regarding emails:

Keep your messages short

Limit each message to one subject area

Use the subject field

Proof read message

Attach files as required

Do not use all capital letters

You should have a signature for every email

Remember, email is not private