Writing sTYLEs : Copyright @ 2011 IILM Institute of Higher Learning. All rights Reserved. Business Communication WRITING STYLE Writing sTYLEs
INTRODUCTION : INTRODUCTION Many good ideas are lost because they are expressed in dull, wordy and involved way. No two people write exactly alike. Even writing about the same thing such as writing an essay in a school classroom, two persons will invariably say it differently.
“To write well is at once to think well, to feel rightly and to render properly. It is to have, at the same time, mind, soul and taste”.
There is seldom only one best way of writing – there are usually several equally good ways of writing.
AXIOMS ABOUT WRITING STYLE : AXIOMS ABOUT WRITING STYLE Ben Johnson has said, “For a man to write well, there are required three necessaries: to read the best authors, observe the best speakers and much exercise to your own style”.
However, everyone must remember following four axiomatic truths about writing style:
(1) Style cannot be taught
(2) Each person’s style is his / her own personality
(3) Style is unique to him / her
(4) Each one of us can improve our style
WRITING SENTENCES WITH STYLE : WRITING SENTENCES WITH STYLE Writing good sentences is the key to improving one’s style of writing. It requires concentration, patience and a lot of practice. It is much more than stringing words together as they tumble out of writers’ mind! Everyone can learn to write better sentences and improve sentences already written if writers observe the following five rules meticulously:
Creating interest
Making meaning clear
Keeping sentences brief
Making every word count
Varying sentence pattern
These rules have been described further:
(1) Creating interest:If one goes by the formal, academic styles that are commonplace in most writings, there is a strong tendency to ‘impress’ rather to ‘express’. Writings can be made more interesting by writing in an informal, conversational style. Since this style is used in everyday life, readers can understand easily. One must always remember that readers are customers and they should become receptive to writers’ thoughts and ideas. After all, the core purpose of the process of communication including written one, is to influence them to achieve some common objectives!
Slide 5 : Making meaning clear:Knowledge and application of various rules of grammar help us to focus the readers on the meanings we wish to convey. Once writers have clarity about an issue, grammar would take care of the conveyance of correct meanings. This involves the followings:
(i) Emphasizing the main idea:This can be ensured by:
(a) Using devices like capital letters, italics or blocking in word processing and printing. Using headings, inverted commas and other punctuations is also be helpful.
(b) Placing the idea effectively in a sentence. The most emphatic place is in the beginning of a sentence; next best is placing it at the end and the least important place is putting it anywhere in the middle of a sentence.
(ii) Avoiding wandering sentences:All parts of a sentence should contribute to one clear idea or impression. Long, winding and straggling sentences usually contain hodge-podge of unrelated ideas. Such long sentences should be broken up in to smaller ones or at the least, should move subordinate ideas in a subordinate form.
Avoiding ambiguity:Always remember that if a sentence can be misunderstood, it will be.
(iv) Making sure your modifiers say what you mean:Every modification to a sentence should improve the conveyance of clearer thought or idea.
Slide 6 : Keeping sentences brief:One can achieve brevity by dividing complex sentences in to small, bite-size ones. Writers must avoid unnecessary words and phrases. Needless repetition and elaborations must be deleted. A few suggestions are:
Using strong verbs :Words are strongest in the verb form. Strong verbs liven up and electrify the sentence. The strong verbs add action to thoughts.
(ii) Using active forms:Active form is always preferable to a passive form of a sentence. It gives ones’ writing a sense of energy, vitality and motion. In passive form, actor in the sentence is not allowed to act and the verbs are made weak and feeble. Before using a passive form, make sure that there is a strong justification for it.
(iii) Changing long modifiers to shorter ones:It enhances readability and comprehension of the thought process.
(4) Making every word count:Writers must always be sincere to their readers. One should never cheat them. When readers read the message, they are really looking for ideas, thoughts and meanings. A few tips are:
(i) Making each word advance your thoughts
Following example is illustrative:
Wordy / Verbose Concise (Improved)
‘ The following statistical data would serve ‘Statistics show the
to give a good idea of the cost of production’ cost of production’
Look for every superfluous word and eliminate it. It will save customers’ effort.
Slide 7 : Consolidating thoughts:Writers can do several things to pack a sentence by combining, summarizing and consolidating thoughts succinctly.
(5) Varying sentence patterns : Varying sentence patterns imparts variety and makes the sentence reading interesting and invites attention of the readers. A few rules worthy of emulation are:
(i) Varying length of sentences:Readability experts are of the opinion that length of a sentence should not exceed 20 words (average being16 to 18 words) for the most effective communication. It is a good rule of thumb. Experienced communicators suggest that length of sentence should vary. An occasional long sentence is acceptable if it is followed by a shorter one.
(ii) Varying construction of sentences:There are four types of sentences:
Simple
Compound
Complex
Compound-complex
Following tips are useful:
If two or more sentences have the same idea, combine them in to one simple sentence with compound verb.
If two thoughts are of equal or parallel weight, write them as two clauses in a compound sentence.
(c) If one thought is more important than the other, put it in the main clause of a complex sentence.
ROLE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS : ROLE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS Use of idioms, maxims and proverbs helps in embellishing style of communication. However, we have to learn to use them judiciously and with deep understanding;
Idiom:It is an accepted phrase, construction or expression in a language. However, it may be contrary to the usual pattern of a language and has meanings that are different from the literal ones. It can often be a peculiar phraseology, a dialect or a language.
Maxim:It is a concisely expressed principle or rule of conduct and is a statement of general truth or precept.
Proverb:It is a short saying in common use that strikingly expresses a maxim. It is an enigmatical saying in which a profound truth is cloaked or hidden.
For details, refer to various examples given in the following paragraphs.
IMPORTANCE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS : IMPORTANCE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS Idioms, maxims and proverbs are specimens of language in its crystalline form. These are often compared to the glittering diamonds in a gold necklace.
These are used to express feelings, thoughts and ideas in a succinct, effective and attractive way. Normally a matter that requires several sentences or a whole paragraph may be expressed in 2 or 3 words. The combination of these words has meanings that are far removed from its literal meanings. For example, when it is said, ‘In a nutshell’, it means saying in a few words. When someone feels that the Government machinery moves at ‘a snail’s pace’, he means that there are usual bureaucratic delays that send people ‘from pillar to post’. One can ‘cut the long story short’ and simply say ‘red tape’.
If a person can build up a good repertory of idioms, maxims, proverbs and quotations and then recollect them to suit the occasion, he is already well on his way to becoming a good writer and / or a good speaker.
MEANINGS OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS : MEANINGS OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS Words contained in these idioms etc may not convey any sense by themselves but, with reference to the context, they lend themselves much meanings and thoughts. These also add a touch of beauty and style to ones’ communication.
For instance, consider the words, ‘eating one’s own words’. On the face of it, these words sound absurd for how can one eat one’s words. Using these words suitably as an idiom in a sentence, it can be said that the new manager was ‘talking tall’, threatening to pull up the employees who have failed to turn up for a cultural event on a holiday. However, when union leaders accosted him, he had ‘to eat his own words’.
PICKLE EFFECT OF IDOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS : PICKLE EFFECT OF IDOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS PICKLE EFFECT OF IDOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS
Drawing a parallel from the world of food, it can be said that idioms, maxim and proverbs are like a pickle which is rarely eaten by itself. But when used judiciously with the meals, it adds aroma, flavour and taste to the food.
(1) Idiomatic expressions, maxims and proverbs are not bound by the usual rules of grammar. For example, it may be recalled that, ‘Many a ship have floundered on these strong seas’.
(2) When people are hungry and famished, they can just boil some rice and gulp it down. It may kill their hunger but this is not what they usually do. They cook different types of food, add spices / flavourings and then eat them with relish. They not only fill their stomach but also do it royally.
In the same way, while writing or speaking, people do not merely use some words that somehow carry meanings across to readers; they try their best to add beauty and style to the diction to make it attractive so that it has the requisite impact. For example, consider a friend who is always vague in his expressions, rambling and dilly-dallying – he is never able ‘to come to the point’. His manner of speaking can be expressed effectively in a few words that he is fond of ‘beating about the bush’.
Another colleague is always clear, specific and to the point – ‘no hemming and hawing’, no faltering and ‘no beating about the bush’. The same could be stated more powerfully that he always ‘hits the nail on the head’.
WIDE CHOICE OF IDOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS : WIDE CHOICE OF IDOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS Writers can pick up idioms, maxims and proverbs from a large number available in all languages. They enhance style of writing and are attractive to the receivers of message. There are many such expressions that are vying with one another and wanting, willing and asking to be picked up by the communicators. Thus if senders of message have a better command over the language and vocabulary, they would be more proficient in selecting the right ones. A few examples are:
The colleague who always speaks to the point can also be described as a person who never ‘minces his words’ or he is ‘cut and dry’.
(2) Raju, a villager, was always getting drunk and falling in the gutter. He would beat his wife ‘black and blue’, snatching her money and ‘blowing it up on drinks’. His family was fed up with him. He did not have any friends ‘worth the name’. When Raju’s life came to an end, his family ‘breathed a sigh of relief’. One fine morning, he was found dead in a gutter. Someone said that Raju ‘breathed his last’ but one could also say that he ‘kicked the bucket’.
EVOLUTION OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS : EVOLUTION OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS AND PROVERBS Following examples are illustrative:
(1) Story of kicking the bucket:One view is the bucket in the story does not refer to a bucket as such but to a wooden frame used in the olden days to hang freshly killed pigs.
Another theory is that the idiom was coined by looking at the way people took their own lives. Such persons kept the bucket upside down to stand on, put the noose hanging from the ceiling around their neck and then kicked the bucket from underneath.
(2) Story of sour grapes:Leila was ‘head over heel’ in love with Rahul but he ‘spurned her overtures’ and married Pooja. Leila was very much upset but went about pretending that she ‘knew in her heart of hearts’ that Rahul was not the sticking type. Someone said it is a clear case of ‘sour grapes’ as mentioned in Aesop’s fable, ‘The Fox and the Sour Grapes’.
Slide 14 : Acknowledgments We wish to acknowledge the people who actively contributed to the writing and delivery of the learning material
Author
Prof. Manohar L. Gulati
Presenter
M.Sadiqur Rahman, Fullbright Scholar, Lecturer, Employability Skills & Business Communication
A special thanks to the technical support team who were instrumental in the design and implementation of this presentation.
Slide 15 : Contact Details For further information, please contact:
IILM Institute for Higher Education
3, Lodhi Institutional Area,
Lodhi Road, New Delhi- 110003
Email: learning@iilm.edu
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Thank you : Thank you