Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
At this time
Now
In due course
Soon
Conciseness
Omit unnecessary expressions
• Allow me to say how helpful your last response was
• Your last response was helpful
Replace wordy conventional statements
• Please find attached the list you requested
• The list you requested is attached
Avoid overusing empty phrases
• There are four rules that should be observed
• Four rules should be observed
Conciseness
Omit “which” and “that” clause whenever possible.
• She bought desks that are of the executive type.
• She bough executive-type desks
Eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrases.
• The issue of most relevance is teamwork.
• The most relevant issue is teamwork.
Limit use of passive voice
• The reports are to be submitted by employee prior tp
5:00 at which time they will be received by Mr. Jones
• Please submit your reports to Mr. Jones by 5:00
Consideration
Consideration means preparing every message with the
message receiver in your mind.
You are considerate when you do not lose your temper, you do
not accuse, you do not charge them without facts.
Example:
She’s a brain (Vague, General, Indefinite)
1. Specific: “The dream decided” is more explicit than “A decision has been
made”
2. Personal: “You will note” is both personal and specific; “It will be noted” is
impersonal.”
3. Concise: The passive requires more words and thus shows both writing
and reading. Compare “Figures show” with “It is shown in the figure.”
4. Emphatic: Passive verbs dull action. Compare “The students held a
contest” with “A contest was held by the students.”
Clarity
Getting the meaning from your head into the head of your
reader – accurately
Guideline No.1 for Communicating with Clarity
• Your audience will understand better if you Choose precise,
concrete and familiar words
Familiar Pretentious
About circa (L)
After subsequent
Home domicile
For example e.g. (L)
Pay remuneration
Invoice statement for payment
Clarity
Example of Unfamiliar/Familiar sentences:
Unfamiliar:
After our perusal of pertinent data, the conclusion is that
lucrative market exists for the subject property.
Familiar
The date we studied show that your property is profitable
and in high demand.
Clarity
Guideline No. 2 for Communicating with Clarity
• Your audience will understand better if you construct
effective sentences and paragraphs. This includes:
• Length of sentence: Try for 17-20 words per sentence
• Unity: In a sentence keep one idea at a time. If you want
to add another idea, it should be closely related to the
first one.
• Example: “I like Jim, and Eiffel Tower is in Paris”
• Above sentence is obviously is not a unified sentence.
• Coherence: In a coherent sentence the words are
correctly arranged so that the ideas clearly express the
intended meaning.
Clarity
Example of Coherent and non-coherent sentences:
Unclear: Being an excellent lawyer, I am sure you can help us
Unclear: After planting 10, 000 berry plants, the deer came into our
botanist’s arm and crushed them.
Clear: After our botanist had planted 10,000 berry plants, the deer
came into his farm and crushed them
Courtesy
The courtesy involves being aware not only of the
perspective of others, but also their feelings.
Knowing your audience allows you to use statements of
courtesy
Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative
Use expressions that show respect
Choose non-discriminatory expressions, for example in
order to avoid gender discrimination you can use:
Entering student instead of freshman
Workers, employees instead of manpower
The best candidate for the position instead of the best man for
the position.
Courtesy
Clearly, you did not read my latest fax
Sometimes my wording is not precise; let me try again
(Tactfulness)