Mar 18, 2021 | Communication, Effective Writing, Managing, Persuasion
If you are presenting a reader with two ideas in writing, A and then B, and the one you want people to choose is A, should you position it first or second? “Second!” you say, because of the often-heard notion that people remember the last thing they read....
Jan 26, 2021 | Communication, Editing, Effective Writing, Punctuation and Grammar
The passive voice remains an easy target of business writing critics, but sometimes it is preferable to an active sentence. “There’s too much passive writing,” grumbles one colleague, while another urges, “Always use the active voice.”...
Sep 2, 2020 | Communication, Editing, Effective Writing
Jobs become boring when the daily routine is repetitive, and so does writing when you read short, choppy sentences with the same structure and length. But everyday business writing doesn’t need to read like a children’s book. The simplest sentence...
Jul 16, 2020 | Communication, Editing, Effective Writing, Managing, Uncategorized
Simple and direct is the reliable go-to sentence structure of English, but if you edit closely and notice that certain words in a sentence create important emphasis, rearrange the order to position those words at the end. Positioning words for emphasis, so that you...
Jun 18, 2020 | Communication, Editing, Effective Writing, Managing
The way many people read today — tapping, skimming, swiping – is affecting how well we process and remember information, says a neuroscientist who studies digital reading. Maryanne Wolf, author of Reader Come Home: the Reading Brain in a Digital World, says...
Jun 4, 2020 | Communication, Editing, Effective Writing, Uncategorized
Ask people for words starting with “c” that describe good writing, and they will quickly toss out clear and concise, which are the backbone of good writing. But other important qualities also begin with “c.” Cohesive — When you breeze...