Business Communication for

Career Readiness
High Impact Business Writing
Module 1

with Sue Robins, M.S.

 Lesson 3: Word Choice
Learning Objectives
• Learn colloquialisms and non standard
language that is inappropriate for business
writing
• Learn how to address
commonly used acronyms
and jargon
• Learn to simplify language
through straightforward
sentence structure and use
of high impact words.
 Language
• Avoid nonstandard vocabulary and
colloquialisms
 Language
• Avoid nonstandard vocabulary and
colloquialisms
• Do not end sentences
with “at”
 Language
• Avoid nonstandard vocabulary and
colloquialisms
• Do not end sentences
with “at”
• Use contractions if they
sound natural
 Language
• Avoid nonstandard vocabulary and
colloquialisms
• Do not end sentences
with “at”
• Use contractions if they
sound natural
• Watch out for homonyms,
words with various forms
and other commonly
confused words
 Activity
• Review “Correcting Commonly Confused
Words”

• http://grammar.about.com/od/correctingerr
ors/a/comblogs03.htm
Avoid Acronyms
 Avoid Jargon

Business Computer
Jargon Jargon
• Bottom line • User friendly
• Spearhead • Bug
• Insourcing • Robust
• Low hanging fruit • Blog
• Bandwidth • Tweeted
• In the red • Ubiquitous
Use High Impact Words

• Strong, impactful word

choices
• Retain true meaning
• Avoid simplistic modifiers
 A Few General Rules
1. Don’t use multiple words when you can
use one
2. Stick to idiomatic English
3. Don’t drop articles
4. Remove words that aren’t
performing a real function
• Delete unnecessary prepositions
• Change “-ion” works to a verb
• Replace “is”, “as”, “are”, “was”
and “were” with stronger verbs
• Change “was hanging” to “hung”
• Change “is indicative of” to
“indicates
• Eliminate Padding!!!