Principles of Effective Writing

Communication Skills
Sharon M
Roll No 32
1st year MBA (General)
Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala
Principles of Effective Writing
(i)Accuracy
-Correctness of words
-Technical accuracy

(ii)Brevity
-Avoiding wordiness

(iii)Clarity
-Language & tone
-You-Attitude
-Natural language
-Avoiding bias

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala

Principles of Effective Business Writing
(i)Accuracy
(i.i)Correctness of words
-Correct choice of words
-Eg: It should be ‘between you and me’ and not ‘between you and I’

(i.ii) Technically accurate communication language

-Accuracy in terms of grammar, punctuation and spellings
-Also accuracy in terms of:

(a)Concord: Rule of agreement between gender, number, case or person

Eg: Ravi have a car (wrong)
Ravi has a car (correct)

(b)Dangling modifier: A word or phrase that modifies a word that is not clearly mentioned in
the sentence

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala

Eg: At the age of five, my family finally brought a dog
Principles of Effective Business Writing
(i)Accuracy (Contd.):
(i.ii) Technically accurate communication language (Contd.)

(c) Unnecessary shift in tenses: Lack of consistency of tenses within sentences and paragraphs
Eg: I climbed out of the car, walked through the door, and prepared to meet “the parents,” but
instead a large, honey-colored dog run to meet me at the door. (wrong)

I climbed out of the car, walked through the door, and prepared to meet “the parents,” but instead a large, honey-
colored dog ran to meet me at the door. (correct)

(d) Prepositions: Wrong prepositions changes the meaning of the sentence

Eg: He pointed the target (wrong)
He pointed at the target (correct)

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala

Principles of Effective Business Writing
(i)Accuracy (Contd.):
(i.ii) Technically accurate communication language (Contd.)

(e) Punctuation: Punctuation determines the meaning of the statement

Eg: The president’s speech was so long ,it’s actual message was lost (wrong)
The president’s speech was so long its actual message was lost (correct)

(f) Check words for spelling and usage: Spellings of the words as well as the choice of words should be
correct

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala
Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala
Principles of Effective Business Writing
(ii) Brevity

-Conciseness
-Say only what is needed
-Should not affect clarity
-Example: “I need cards that are of formal type” (wordy)
“I need formal cards” (concise)

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala
Principles of Effective Business Writing
(iii) Clarity

-Written business messages should clarify the basic contents of message to the receiver
-Language should be simple and understandable
-Adequate levels of formality should be maintained
Example:
(i) “Meeting at Joe’s place,hurry up!” –( a message to a peer)
“Sir,
There is a meeting at Joe’s cabin, kindly join immediately.
Thank you-” -(message to a superior)

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala

Principles of Effective Business Writing
(iii) Clarity (Contd.)
- In good business writing, author writes from the reader’s point of view (You-Attitude)
-Author should see the situation as the reader would see it

Examples:
(i) We are sending interview calls on next Monday (Author’s emphasis)
You should receive the interview letter by Thursday, August 10 (Receiver’s emphasis)

(ii) We offer you 10% discount

You get 10% discount

-Usual ,everyday language should be preferred wherever possible without loosing formal touch

-Main subject can be mentioned at the beginning for easy undersdtanding

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala
Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala
Principles of Effective Business Writing
(iii) Clarity (Contd.)
-Avoid words or phrases that is biased (Eg: Sexist language)
-Use of biased language is often unconscious
Examples:
(i) A manager writes to his peers in an informal or semiformal tone
Managers can write to their peers in an informal or semiformal tone

(ii)The policemen should listen to the common man’s complaints (Sexist!)

The police officer should listen to the common man’s complaints

(iii) We are dependent on Bengali workforce a lot (Racist!)

We are dependent on migrant workforce a lot

(iv)Dr.Kiran ,Dr.Haisham and Nidhin attended the function (Biased!)

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala

Dr.Kiran ,Dr.Haisham and Mr.Nidhin attended the funciton

 Thank You

Sharon M, Institute of Management in Kerala