Ten Tips to Simplify Your Business Correspondence - Get Articles by Linda Elizabeth Alexander |  |
> Get Articles > Copywriting > Ten Tips to Simplify Your Business Correspondence Ten Tips to Simplify Your Business Correspondence Download as PDFLinda Elizabeth Alexander lalexanderwrite2thepointcom.com Linda Elizabeth Alexander http://www.write2thepointcom.com This article may be freely published in your print or online newsletter or on your website, provided 1. You include a byline and the resource box 2. The article is printed in its entirety, unchanged 3. You notify the author when you publish, and send a link or a courtesy copy. 448 words, wrapped at 60 characters per line Subjects: Business, marketing, professional development Ten Tips to Simplify Your Business Correspondence --By Linda Elizabeth Alexander You write to express, not to use every word in the dictionary. Here are ten tips for using those words to make your writing clearer. 1. Simplify language Avoid using big or vague words. Use fewer words, but make them count. 2. Shorten sentences Business people don't have time to read 10-page letters. Cut out run-on sentences. Eliminate extra words as long as it doesn't change the meaning. You can also combine a short and a longer sentence into one to remove extra words. 3. Use active voice Instead of, "A good time was had by all," say, "We had a good time." This changes the subject from "good time" to "we." It also puts emphasis on the verb, making the statement stronger. 4. Use present tense Stick to the present tense wherever you can. Also make sure you don't switch tenses in the middle of a sentence. 5. Use bullets where appropriate Since people have little time to read, put important points in a numbered or bulleted list. This makes it easier to scan so your readers get the meaning without reading every word. 6. Never use exclamation points in business writing! Unless you're writing an advertisement or an excited letter to a friend, skip the wow factor! It doesn't belong in a memo, report, letter, or other serious-toned business writing! 7. Eliminate jargon Avoid it at all costs if your audience will not understand it. It will be like a foreign language to them, and your point is to make your writing clearer - not more complicated. 8. Avoid fragments and one word sentences A fragment. Is an incomplete sentence. No subject or no verb. Really. A complete sentence has both a subject and a verb and contains at least two words. "She walked" is a sentence because it meets all three criteria. 9. Proofread your writing You know to use your spelling and grammar checkers. But you should also go over your writing yourself -- the spell checker cannot distinguish between "to" and "too" or "their" and "there." It can't tell you if you said "and" where you meant "an." If possible, get somebody else to read it before handing it in. Two sets of eyeballs are better than none. 10. Avoid repetition and redundancy! Use these tips every time you write and you will avoid ten common mistakes that cloud your writing. *** Linda Alexander is a business writer and marketing consultant Specializing in web and sales copy. Be heard and understood! Subscribe to Write to the Point, a FREE biweekly ezine for Business people who want to be better writers. http://www.topica.com/lists/write2thepointcom http://www.write2thepointcom.com How useful did you find this article? This article can be downloaded freely from http://www.get-articles.com and used on your website or in your ezine so long as the author is credited and their resource box left intact. You should not change any links in the article, and where the article is used on a website it's links should be clickable. Please see our terms and conditions page for more information: http://www.get-articles.com/authors-publishers-terms.php |
|
Top Articles |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
May 24, 2012 © www.Get-Articles.com. All Rights Reserved.