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Technical Writing Is Easily Distinguished From Other Types of Writing Because of Its Language

A technical writing style is concise, precise, direct, and well-organized. It prioritizes the efficient transfer of information over descriptive writing. Technical writing distinguishes itself through language that appeals to the intellect and emotions of all readers. Conciseness can be achieved through shortening words and phrases and using compound words and hyphens judiciously. Capitalization, numbers, and readability are also important considerations for technical writing style.

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80 views6 pages

Technical Writing Is Easily Distinguished From Other Types of Writing Because of Its Language

A technical writing style is concise, precise, direct, and well-organized. It prioritizes the efficient transfer of information over descriptive writing. Technical writing distinguishes itself through language that appeals to the intellect and emotions of all readers. Conciseness can be achieved through shortening words and phrases and using compound words and hyphens judiciously. Capitalization, numbers, and readability are also important considerations for technical writing style.

Uploaded by

Pojang
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A technical communications writing style

-concise, precise, direct, and well organized. Writing style is something you must be aware of and
continually work to refine as you develop your communication skills. A technical communications
writing style prioritizes the efficient transfer of information—this may be a change from the types of
writing you have done in the past. “High school writing” is more typically descriptive expository essays
with a length requirement. Technical communication asks you to document information and communicate
it in a concise, precise, and professional way.

Technical Writing is easily distinguished from other types of writing because of its language. Giving a
particular attention to the language of technical writing is the clearest way to differentiate this from other
types of writing.

Read not only by company members but by other people as well, any output of technical writing has to
use words that appeal to the intellect and emotions of all its readers. Having effects on both mind and
body of the reader, any technical written work easily reaches its audience. This is possible through its use
of language that is simple, direct and specific. (Rubens, 2011)

Practice Conciseness-Conciseness which means expressing oneself in the fewest number of words at the
same time retaining completeness in meaning is possible through the following methods:

Shortening words/phrases

Wordy Phrases Shortened Forms

Afford and opportunity

As soon as possible

At the present time

By means of

Despite the fact that

Due to the fact that


In the final analysis

In the proximity

In the near future

Permit

By 8:00 am

Now

By

Although

Because

Finally

Near

Soon

A compound word conveys a unit that is not as clearly conveyed by separate words.
Use a hyphen to connect elements of compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine and in adjective
compounds with a numerical first element. The hyphen not only unites but also separates the component
words.

Example: 7-hour day, 3-inch ruler, eighty-five.

Use a hyphen after the “e” to designate “electronic”: e-mail, e-commerce, e-article

Omit the hyphen when words appear in regular order and the omission of the hyphen causes no confusion
in sound or meaning.

Example: palm oil, eye opener, living costs

Use a hyphen for clarification when four nouns appear in a row.

Example: A sand-filtered purification system. The end-of-year report

Capitalization

Capitalize the name of a particular person, place, or thing, as well as an adjective that refers to a specific
name.

Canada/Canadian, Tibetan Alpacas

Capitalize descriptive names that are substituted frequently for the real proper names.

the Windy City, Honest Abe 10

Capitalize brand names and trademarked names.

Palmolive soap, Maxwell House coffee

Generally capitalize a noun that is followed by a number or letter used to identify a unit or division.

Lot 14, Tract 833, Volume III, Chapter 8, Policy No. 12345, Catalog No. 214.
Capitalize the names of courses of study only if they are derived from proper nouns.

English, shorthand, history, German, Business Mathematics 121

Unless a comma intervenes, capitalize titles that precede names; generally, do not capitalize those that
follow names.

I have never met Congressman Nelson.

I have never met our congressman, Tim Nelson.

Professor Swartz did the research.

A name that indicates a family relationship is usually capitalized unless a noun or a pronoun in the
possessive case precedes it.

Uncle Ralph, Mother My aunt Millie, my mother

The names for the points of the compass and their derivatives are capitalized when used to name regions,
but not when used to indicate directions.

This sweater was made in the East. Turn west on M-20.

Capitalize the name of a season or the word "nature" only if it is spoken of as if it were human.

Old Man Winter left a foot of snow; our spring suits are on sale.

All words except articles (a, an, the), conjunctions, and short prepositions are capitalized in names or
titles that consist of more than one word. Do not capitalize "the" if it precedes the name of an organization
but is not actually a part of that organization's name.

Official Draft of the NBA; the Eastman Kodak Company

Do not capitalize classes

(freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior), degrees (doctorate, doctor's, master's, bachelor's, baccalaureate),
or seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter), unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence or in a
headline.
Readability studies have shown that text is more easily read when in lower case as opposed to all caps.
When too many words are capitalized, they lose their importance. Emphasis is achieved more effectively
by using various font styles and sizes.

Numbers as Words

Generally spell out isolated numbers from one to ten.

The discussion lasted for ten minutes.

Unless emphasizing them, spell out indefinite numbers that may be expressed in one or two words.

Approximately thirty appliances were damaged.

Spell out a number that introduces a sentence. If the number is long, recast the sentence to avoid
awkwardness. Twenty people attended the lecture.

Spell out common fractions that are used alone. However, use figures in writing a mixed number. He
refused to accept his one-fourth share. The hike was 10 ½ miles long.

When two numbers come together, express one in figures and the other in words. As a rule, spell the first
number unless the second number is a significantly shorter word; i.e., Sixty $5 bills or 500 four-page
booklets.
When rounding numbers, spell out million or billion to make reading easier.

This tax legislation will increase revenue by $7 million.

Numbers – Text or Digits

Generally use numerals to express all exact numbers above ten.

The corporate file has been missing for 31 days.

Use the written form of a number for values 10 and below except to express market quotations,
dimensions, temperature, decimals, street numbers, pages and divisions of a book, time, weights and
measures, and identification numbers.

The experiment had three independent variables staged at 5, 10, and 15 degrees Kelvin.

If several numbers in a sentence perform similar functions, express them uniformly. If one is written as a
figure, write all as figures.

The inventory shows 21 ranges, 9 refrigerators, 37 washers, and 10 dryers. The 32 tables sold in five
days. (The numbers do not perform similar functions.)

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