WRITING

SKILLS
 WRITING SKILLS

Reading maketh a full man;

Conference a ready man;
and
Writing an exact man.
Francis Bacon
Tools for good writing

 Choice of words
 Range of repertoire
 Your audience
 Formal or informal
 Context and usage
 Regional and National influence of words
 Choosing the Right Words

Simplicity: Not always simple. Precision and dignity important.

Jargon: Words/Phrases unique to a particular field/knowledge

Management Jargon ex;

 Core Competencies
 Bring to the table
 Game Changer
 Leverage
 Traction

Avoiding Verbosity/Redundancy:
Parkinson’s Law: Tendency to fill with words a
paper
 HOMONYMS

Homonyms are words or pair of words which sound similar

Ex: Root – Route, Principal – Principle, Stationary - Stationery

Synonyms

Synonyms are words with nearly the same meaning.

Ex: Brave: courageous, fearless, dauntless, intrepid
Think: consider, contemplate, reflect, meditate
 Antonyms

Antonym is a word opposite in meaning to another word.

Ex: scatter-collect, clever-stupid, inferior-superior.

Single word for group of words.

Ex: To choose between two strong choices – dilemma.

A person too shy or cannot share feelings – introvert.
 Similarly, awareness of parts of speech, articles, tenses, sentence
construction, spellings, pronunciation, stress and rhythm, prefixes and
suffixes, punctuation, abbreviations, acronyms, numerals, idioms and
phrases, proverbs, foreign words and phrases etc., helps in effective
writing.

Objectives of Written Communication

• Future reference: weak or limitation of memory

• Record of evidence: Word of mouth can change with time, not believable
• Measurement of progress: records provide relevant and basic information
• Precedents: helps decision maker to follow a set precedent in the firm
• Avoiding mistakes: records help in reducing mistakes, establishes control
• Effective decision making: Old messages provide necessary information
• Organisational efficiency: removes confusion and lack of guidance
• Legal requirements: records are to be preserved as per legal acts
 Essentials of Effective Written Communication

 UNITY: implies a condition of being one.

 The individual sentences must be unified
 The individual paragraphs must be unified
 the totality of the message must be unified

 COHERENCE: relation and clarity are two important aspects. It is trying to bring
together several ideas under one main topic in any paragraph.

Smooth flow, lucidity, and transition aspects should be given

effects so that there is no scope for the reader to misinterpret,
misread or misspell the message.
 EMPHASIS: on ideas facts and figures. The principle of emphasis maybe
incorporated by position, by repetition, but the use of figures,
by punctuation, by phrases, by mechanical devices and
by skillful arrangement of paragraphs.

Notes are needed in case of any correction.

i) Inaccuracy denoting
a) omission or exaggeration of facts
b) errors of misrepresentation in the data, citations etc.
c) discrepancy between the fact and opinion
ii) Inadequacy or in presentation denoting
a) omission and incomplete development of the topic
b) faulty and improper arrangement of materials to
substantiate the thought
c) inclusion of irrelevant details
iii) Weakness in style denoting
a) long and complicated sentences with incorrect usage
of grammar
b) lack of clarity and failure to reach the central point or
theme directly
c) abstract presentation with the technical jargon
d) failure in presenting the whole subject matter in an
impersonal style
• CLARITY: writing is to serve the purpose rather than to impress. So,
clarity in language is a form of courtesy. Clarity of
written message is the first and foremost. So, it is
good manners not to give unnecessary trouble in
finding out meaning the message should be
correctly planned and expressed in a logical
way that ideas should flow smoothly from beginning to
end.

 COMPLETENESS: means comprehensive coverage of the subject matter to

be transmitted. An incomplete message leads to
sidetrack misunderstanding seeking
clarifications and explanations etc. The writer must keep
in mind the audience’s comprehension
capabilities.
 SEQUENCY: focus should be on the consistency, continuity and logical
presentation of the message. It should be arranged in the
form that will attract the attention of the reader, interest
him or her while he or she is reading it. So,
presentation of a report or message, is of utmost
importance.
 COURTESY: indicates politeness, considerate and respectfulness in
writing keeping in mind the readers time given to
read it. Whether a message is positive, negative,
satisfactory, disappointing it should
courteously be conveyed.
For instance:
I regret to say - Discourteous
I respectfully regret to say - Courteous
One should bear in mind the fact that a report is a
record or substitute for speech.
 AVOID JARGON: as far as possible, good writer should avoid jargon.
Jargon is a language which is special to science,
commerce, technology, trade or profession. With
persons in the same field jargon may be incorporated. In other
cases, jargon can be used but the only thing is that the words
used must be clear to others as well.

 BREVITY: The effective use of language is style. Brevity should be

achieved by using one word or two from many words.
Not only it saves time, but Brevity also gives grace to
writing. Remember, business communication must be
brief and direct.
• ACCURACY: subject matter of communication must be correct and
accurate. Accuracy in writing can be achieved by
careful checking and editing. Correctness
demands in the case of figures, because
decisions may go wrong if incorrect figures are given. Over
writing, erasures, strike overs, wrong
spellings, faulty grammar, poor sentence construction etc.,
may distract the readers and lead to misunderstanding.
Written communication clearly means to make
readers to understand.
 READABILITY: clarity of writing and understandability of the subject
is the purpose of writing. Lack of readability
quality in writing leads to not
reading the message. A famous formula
known as Gunning’s method of readability formula advocates
seven factors affecting readability. They are:
 Average sentence length in words
 percentage of simple sentences
 percentage of verbs expressing forceful action
 proportion of familiar words
 percentage of personal references
 proportion of abstract words
 percentage of long words