PRINCIPLES

OF CLEAR
AND EFFECTIVE
WRITING
Principle No. 1: Be careful in your use of
words.
In the course of our reading and writing,
we encounter a lot of words that we think
we know the meanings of and know how
to use in the proper context. However,
many of these words are words that we
only recognize but don’t actually use in
our everyday writing.
 Bed Shit for Sale!

Please leave your values at front desk.

You are invited to take

advantage of the chambermaid.

Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of

the opposite sex in the bedrooms, it is suggested that
the lobby be used for this purpose.
Principle No. 2: Get straight to the
point.
Wordiness is one malady most
writers are afflicted with. The most
common ways by which writers
become guilty of wordiness are
through roundabout phrasing, verbal
deadwood, and redundancy.
Roundabout Phrasing

The PHIVOLCS seismological network is

in the possession of 14 seismic stations all
over the country.

BETTER:
The PHIVOLCS seismological network
has 14 seismic stations all over the
country.  
Verbal Deadwood

 The experiment was extended for a

period of two months in order to verify
the results.

BETTER: 
The experiment was extended for two
months to verify the results.
Redundancy
Funding agencies should cooperate
together to promote hydrophonics in the
arid desert.

BETTER: 
Funding agencies should cooperate to
promote hydrophonics in the desert.
Principle No. 3: Be careful in your
use of adjectives.
Itis a known fact that adjectives spice up
writing. Descriptions help form better
images in the audience’s minds and make
activities more alive.

However, too many adjectives can also

ruin your writing.
Poor:
The murky, silted, and lahar-ravaged
river serves as water impoundment for
irrigation during the long, hot, dry
season.

Better: 
The lahar-ravaged river serves as
water impoundment for irrigation
during the dry season.
Principle No. 4: Do away with
euphemisms and genteelisms.
There will be no upward adjustments in taxes this
year. All we have to do is technically downside
government offices to avoid overlapping of
functions.

Upward adjustments in taxes simply meant

increase in taxes but the reporter probably
wanted to play it safe so he substituted an
agreeable or inoffensive expression for the
original statement which suggested something
unpleasant.
Farmers do not need to purchase
insecticides at the commencement
of the planting season.
The statement in the box contains examples
of genteelism. Buy could have been used
instead of purchase and start instead of
commencement.
However, purchase and commencement
seem to be more polite, more elegant, or
graceful. These words are more likely to be
part of the language of the gentry, hence
“less soiled” by the lips of the common
people.
Principle No. 5: Do not make
nouns out of good strong verbs.

The phenomenon called

nominalization has been fashionable
lately. Writers suddenly seem to be
enamored with changing the verbs
into nouns and making these nouns
the subject of the sentence.
Original Version:
Inoculation of the strain should be done
very carefully.

Improved Version:
The strain should be inoculated carefully.

Changing the verb inoculate into the noun

inoculation and making the latter the
subject of the sentence took much energy
out of the sentence.
Principle No. 6: Always take note of
the nuances of the use of voice in the
sentence.
Voice of the verb refers to the distinction
of form or a system of inflections of a
verb to indicate the relation of the subject
of the verb to the action which the verb
expresses.

Voice could be active or passive.

 Active Voice - I weighed the sample. (4
words)
 Passive Voice - The sample was weighed by
me. (6 words)

 In the active voice, the real subject I is the doer of

the action and the direct object sample is the
receiver of the action.
 In the passive voice, the object of the action now
takes the subject position. The agent of the action
“I” is now noted as the object of the preposition or
it may be omitted altogether.

 Passivevoice conveys less action and more wordy

so many experts recommend the use of the active
voice whenever possible.
Principle No. 7: Observe the rules
of grammar.
Intervening words and expressions - a
word or group of words introduced by
such connectives as with, besides, along
with, together with, as well as, in
company with, accompanied by,
including, in addition to, no less than, and
separating the subject from the verb does
not affect the number of subject.
Compound subject joined by or or nor
– the verb agrees with the nearer of the
two subjects.
Percentage, figures or fractions - the
verb agrees in number with the noun in
the modifying prepositional phrase.
Nouns such as economics, gallows,
mathematics, measles, civics, mumps,
physics, news, though plural in form, are
singular in meaning, and require a
singular verb.
Either a singular or a plural verb is
correct in mathematical expressions.
However, an equation is always singular.
Most indefinite nouns, pronouns and
adjectives, such as each, every, another,
any, one, either, neither, anyone, each
one, everyone, no one, anybody,
everybody, somebody, a person,
something are singular.
All, none, and some may take either a
singular or a plural verb according to
their meaning.
When collective nouns such as
audience, army, class, committee,
company, family, flock, group, herd,
jury, nation, school, team, denotes a
collection regarded as a unit, it requires a
singular verb. When it refers to the
persons or things included in the
collection, it requires a plural verb.
Nouns generally used in the singular - food,
fish, fruit, grass, hair, lace, land, pottery, sand,
smoke
Nouns always used in the singular –
baggage, blood, bread, chalk, dirt, dust,
furniture, gravel, information, jewelry,
machinery, music, poetry, prose scenery,
equipment
Nouns used in plural only – clothes,
proceeds, scissors, tactics, thanks, tongs,
trousers, refreshments
Nouns sometimes singular and sometimes
plural – advice, alms, athletics, means, goods,
instruction, pains, paper, politics, physics,
property, wood, work
PREPOSITIONS OF
LOCATION: IN, AT, ON
IN
Use IN with spaces.
in a room/in a building
in a garden/in a park
Use IN with bodies of water.
in the water
in the sea
in a river
Use IN with lines.
in a row/in a line
in a queue
AT
Use AT with places.
at the bus stop
at the door
at the cinema
at the end of the street
Use AT with places on a page.
at the top of the page
at the bottom of the page
Use AT with groups of people.
at the back of the class
at the front of the class
ON
Use ON with surfaces.
on the ceiling/on the wall/on the floor
on the table
Use ON with small islands.
I stayed on Maui.
Use ON with directions.
on the left
on the right
straight on
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In/at/on the corner
We say ‘in the corner of a room but ‘at the
corner (or on the corner) of a street.’

In/at /on the front

We say ‘in the front/in the back’ of a car.
We say ‘at the front/at the back’ of
buildings/groups of people.
We say ‘on the front/on the back’ of a piece of
paper.
PREPOSITIONS OF TIME AND
DATE: IN, AT, ON
IN
Use IN months and years and periods of
time.
in January
in 1978
in the twenties
Use IN a period of time in the future.
in a few days
in a couple of days
AT
Use AT with precise time.
at six o’clock
at 10:30
at two p.m.
ON
Use ON with days of the week.
on Monday
on Fridays
Use ON with specific calendar days.
on Christmas Day
on October 22nd
IMPORTANT NOTE:
in the morning/afternoon/evening –
at night

We say ‘in the morning, afternoon

or evening’ BUT we say ‘at night.’
 PREPOSITIONS OF MOVEMENT: IN,
AT, TO, NOTHING
IN
Use IN with static (non-movement) verbs and cities, countries,
states, etc.
stay in the USA
work in New York
AT
Use AT with static verbs and places.
at the cinema
at work
at home
TO
Use TO with verbs of movement such as go, come, drive, etc.
go to work
drive to California
FILIPINISMS
Incorrect Usage Correct Usage
Anything? Is there anything else I can help you
with?
Can I help you?
At around 2 p.m. At about 2 p.m.
Can I speak with... May I speak with...
Come again? I’m sorry. I didn’t quite
get that.
Excuse me?
I’m sorry, would you
please say that again?
CR (comfort room) Washroom, ladies’/men’s
room
Drink your medicine. Take your medicine.
For a while In a minute, just a moment
Hey time first! Hey, time out!
It’s for free! It’s free.
No parking on both sides No parking on either side.
Pictorial Photo shoot
Polo Shirt
Hold on Let me put you on hold.
Tuck out Untuck
We take lunch. We eat lunch. We have lunch.
Where are you studying? Where do you go to school?
Take your seat. Be seated. Have a seat.
 REAL-LIFE RECRUITMENT
BLOOPERS
 Recruiter: What do you know about the
call center industry?
 Applicant: The call center industry is
booming out, side by side, somewhere else.
(Huuwhaaat?)

 Applicant: The call center is a booming

industry for the past few days and I want to
become part of that boom! (sumabog ka sana!)
More Bloopers...
Applicant: It’s easy to be a call center,
just looks arounds you, that
why I want to become a call
center! (building ito!)
Applicant: Oh, I’m sorry, I sit corrected.
(oo nga naman, nakaupo sya
eh!)
Applicant: I’m afraid to dead. I feel that
I’m not ready to die.
Applicant: I usually play PS2 at night
when there is no loud.
 Thank you
for listening!