1 written communication theory

7/21/2019 1 Written Communication Theory

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Introduction 2

General rules 3

Organising your writing 4

Punctuation 6

Numbers 8

Speli ng

Bri tish US English 1

Abbreviations 2

Text messages 3

jo titles 4

Avoiding errors 5

Letters 6

Ema ils 2

Faxes 22

Memos 24

Minutes 26

Short reports 28

Pre ss rele ases 3


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rom plan to paragraphYou should start by thinking about themessage that you want to communicate. Ifyou have a clear idea of this it will help tomake your writing c oherent.

Make notes of ali of your ideas and thenorganise these into topic areas. Each topic

area should consist of one of your ma inideas and may also include a number ofsecondary points that you can develop.

Draw up a plan for each topic area andstart to think of the order in which youwant to present them. The order willdepend on how the topic areas relate toeach other and on how you wish todevelop your message.

Each topic area and any related secondarypoints will usually form a paragraph.Moving on to a new paragraph shows yourreaders that you a re focusing on a new

topic area.The paragraphs themselves can beorganised in differ ent ways: you may wantto present the information chronologicallyor you may prefer to present points in orderof importance. Alternatively you may wishto balance negative and positive points orcompare and contrast different ideas.

1 irst draftIf you have prepared your plans well thewriting process should be relativelystraightforward. You can now give your fuliattention to the language that you are goingto use. Prepare a first draft of the completedocument and then read through it to seewhich sections need tobe improved orrewritten .

inal draftBefore you present the final draft ofyourtext you shou ld read it through severaltimes eliminating repetitions and changing

ambiguou s phra sing. You can also makelong sentences shorter or connect shortsentences together. When you are happywith the wording of your final document ,you shou ld do a final check for any spellingand punctu ation mistakes that you mayhave overlooked.

Compare the first and final drafts opposi te.Notice how in the final draft, sentences andwordings have been changed and linkingexpressions and paragraphs have been used.

Useful phrases and notationsLinking expressionsUsing the right linking expressionswill allowyou to connectyour sentences and yourparagraphs together smoothly and will showyour reader how your message fits together.Use linking expressions to show contrast:

However . .... . whereas .. .... although ..

n the other hand . ..... whi e ...

give additional information:Moreover . In addition ...Furthermore ...

summarise:In conc usion . Ta conc ude ...To sum up ...

sequence:First . Next ...Lostly ... Finally ...

show cause and effect:Consequently. As a result ...Therefore . . . thus .... because of . . due to ...

give examples:. . for example . . . for instonce ...

make references:the former . the latter .... the o e the ones . . .

Notes. nmentala \ntro to Env,ro

Backgroun . =ons for. f \an - rea=-

Act,on . customersimnl ement twn ( nfo nressure

r a more 1 rinvestors nee governments)from regulators

irst dr aft

Methods: Audit f

- R e c o r n r n e n d a t i : n : r : : ~lp r o c e s s eplernentation

Performance: Products comp let eprocesses incomplete

Our Environmental Action P an was lau nched two ye ars ago to respond to changes in aur industry.More and mo re custome rs wanted infonma tion abo ut our p rodu cts ' en vironmenta l impact. Theinvestmen t comm unity neede d more inform ation and tigl ter regu lation and contro ls (eco labe ls)we re being introduc ed in markets. The plan was in three phas es : the eva luation o four p roductsand process es, reco mme ndations for cha nge s a nd implementation. Thes e are now comp lete forp rod ucts , where we have improved susta inab ility by etiminating so me produc tion mate rials. Forprocesses , our goa t to introduc e guide lines and p rocedures for the group 's activities worfdwide hasno t yet been ach ieved . Bu t we have introdu ced stand ard supp lier and logistics managemer1tprocesses and made subs tan tial savings. We are proud of what we have achieved and hope to

comp lete the plan next y ear. This willen hanc e ou r repu ta tion as a bus iness which can meetenvironmenta l cha llenges .

inal draft

Only two years ag o we took the import ant dec ision to launch our Environm ental Action Pa n inorde r to respond to impo rtant cha nges with in our indus try. Both our cus tome rs and the investmentcom munity we re req ues ting more informa tion b out the environmenta l impact of our products .Furthermo re, governm ents and regu lators in our d ifferent rnarke ts were impos ing 'eco labets' _ news tanda rds of r vironmenta l confom1ity.

The plan was in three distinct phas es: first, an aud it of our products and processes , henreco mmend ations for cha nge and finallyimplement ation in our bu siness opera tions. on the produc iside , lhis is now c Olllplete and we have reduced the n umber of prod uction materials, thus ma kinga ur produc ts mor e sus tainable. However, fo r business process es , we have not yet completed theinlroduction of group-wide policies a lthough we have success fully imp lemen ted standa rd s upplierand log istics manag ement processes and mad e substantial savings.

We are extremely proud of what we have ac hieved in such a sh ort time and we plan to continueimplemen tation of our Environm en tal Action Plan. thereb y enh ancing our reputation as a b usinesstha t is prep ared to mee t the environmen tal c ha llenges of the future.

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Using the correct pun ctuation is anessent ial part o making your wri ting clearto your readers. Very often when sentencesor texts are difficult to read or do not seemto make sense, it is because they conta inerrors in pun ctuation. The followingpun ctuation marks are used in English:

fu stopThe fuli stop, or period (US Eng), marks theend of a senten ce:

The .finns expect Brnssels to approve thedeal within tluee e e l ~

Fuli sto ps are also used after someabbrevia tions an d can be used afternumbers which appear in lists:

i.e. 1. 2.

commCommas help the reade r to pause at theright poin t in a sentence and to avoidconfusin g the meaning within a sentence:

After two months o discussioliS, the fate oftlte company has been decided.

Commas are also used when a clause isinserted in the middle o a sentence:

I.aga rdere, the m edia-to-missiles grmtp,willno t become the biggest publisher.

Commas are partic ularly importa nt whenpart o a sentence or word group cou ld beinterpre ted in different ways:Most imp ortant aid s hould b e lavished oltthe countt ies that can use it.Most importan t, aid sltould be lavished Olttlte cow ttties tltat can use it.

The investors said the ji md managers werefools.Tlte investors, said tJte jimd managers,were fool s.

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que stion m rk ?Question ma rks are only used at the end ofdirect question s. They are not used inindirect question s:How long will Mr Marcltiomte be able tosurvive in ltis present position?Many ana lysts are wm tdering how tlte

new sttn tegu wiU worll.

excl m tion m rkExclamation marks give extra impact to asentence and show surpr ise or shock:

Tahe it or l eave itNo one was expecting tltat

colonColons indicate tha t what follows is anillu strati on o r example o what has beenreferred to before:T1te compa ny is in strong positionfinn:ncially: its sltares are now trading at4.5 times their original price.

Colons can also be used to introduce lists:The issues tltat will be discussed are thefollowin g Edttcation Trade Govemance

semi colonSemi-colons mark a pause that is longerthan a comma and shorte r than a full stop:

Getting accurate results witlt this metltod istridl J; two dijfere1ttsa mples w i l ln otprod11ce tlte sa111eresult.

postropheAn apostrophe s hows that somethin geither belong s to a particula r person or i sclosely associated with eith er a person,group o people or with another thin g orthings:Messiers biggest i s t n J ~ ewas to hn:ve

1mderestimated shareh older discontent.

The apostrophe comes befor e thepossessive s with a singular noun , evenwhen the noun itself ends with an s:Londo1ts tmffic problemsm y boss's office

The apostro phe comes after the final letterof a plural n oun ending with an s:

tlte emplou ees' co11tplnints

But with irregular plural nouns it isfollowed by the s:

wo mens pniferences

An apostrophe is also used to show that aletter (or letters) is missing:

We Ll agree ta your qifer i you don t a enny fnrt her demands.

inverted comm s ' " "RInverted commas, or ljHOtation mnrh s, areused when citin g the exact words thatsomebody used:)11s t 50m ottt o 750m A.fricmts tavemob ile plwne. Tltere is mttcl t more roomfor growtlt ,' says Man en Pieters o Celtel.

br c kets ( ) oR [ ]Brackets, or parentlteses (US Eng), are usedto present additional information:Lagnrdere wants ta stop malng missil esOtis j inn OWits 15% o lte E11ropennAerospnce Deyence mtd Space group) mtdinstead concentrate on tlte contpnnys

media inte rests.

d shDashes introduce explanations andcom ments that are connected to whatprecedes and can, like brackets, showin terruption s to the flow o a sentence :

The co1npany sltouldn t ltave ngreed to themerger - it WllSit't in its best interests.I.ast ~ e 1 d in SydHCIJ only half o heproperties for auction- the mo st CO li II tonmetlwd o sale in Attstralia - were actunllysold.

hyphenHyphens connect two words when they areused as compounds:state-ovmedAsia-Pacific regiondebt-equit:tj ratia


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Numbers, figures and quantiti es are at theheart of ali bus iness operations, and muchof he work and time of man agers isdevoted to calculating, measuring,analysing and presenting numerica\ data.Profit and perfurman ce may be the keyindicators ofhow a busines s is perfurmingbut in the day-tcrday running of a business

figures have to be entered, referencesestablished and record s and statistics kept.This continuous flow of numerica]infurmation is the lifeblood of heorgani sat ion. Knowing how to refer tonumber s is therefor e an essential sk iJI furthe mana ger. The principal ways of doingthis are listed belo w.

GeneralFigures are usuall y written a s words whenthey refer to small quantities. However, furlarger amounts they are presented in

numb er for m:Fiat has had jiv e c tief executives in twoyenrs.Stumner Redstone s the 81-year-oldwhocontrol s the j imt with 71%qf ts voting

t ~

O is written as nought or zero(mathem atics temperatur es) oras n tscores).

Numb ers are not generally used in theplural furm except to mean a lot of andth ey are then followed by ofProduct develoJJmentcostfour thousrmdeu os.Product deve[opment cost thousmrds ofeu os.

When using expressions of quantity asadjectives, use hyphens and use thesingular form:a three-miUion-doUar contract a contractwortlt three mitlion doltars )

ealing with large numbersLarge number s ar e generally presented innum erica] furm and not as words , unles sthe numb er is a 'round' one:

5,361 jive tlrousmtd

If an exact figure is not required, a numberis often rounded up or down, and a wordlike roughly , approximately, ahnost,near llJ, abortt , arotmd may be used with it:

2,464,981 = arowtd) two and a hal.fmitlimt

Abbreviated forms are often used formiJlion s but not generaJly fur biJJions(except in charts, where the abbr eviationsm and it are systematically used):

The group lost 1.9 bilHon last year andnrmmd 4 m the year l.Jefore.

Fractions and percent gesThese can be written in numeric a] form oras compl ete words.

Fractions Percentages.

2(a) h alf, one half 50% fifty per cent

J a third, one third thirty-threeper cent

DecimalsDecima] points and denominators can varydepending on the country. In somecountri es, the d ecimat point is representedby a comma and in others by a point.19312 would be interpr eted as 'nineteenpoint three one two' in som e countries (e.g.

the UK,

the USA)

but in other s(e.g.

France,Germany) as 'ninete en thousand threehundred and twelve'.

Rari osThese are usuall y w ritten out in full:The vropo sal was adopted by ni ne votes totwo.

Using correct spelling is a keyconside ration in ali writin g, andmisspelling words reflects badly on theauthor of a document, especially if it is forfor mal busin ess purposes. Although wo rdprocessors have built- in spellcheckerswhich will help you to avoid most basicmistakes, there are also many mistakes that

spellcheck software will not identify. Someof the princip al difficulties of Englishspeliing are outlined below.

ouble conson ntsThe final consonant s of some verbs aredoubled when -ing or -ed is added, butonly if the verb has a single short vowelpr eceding the final con sonan t and, if it ismore than one syllable, the stress is on thefinal syllabl e:

stopbeginbut :develop

stoP-Qedbegimting

develoging

Not doubling a conson ant when necessaryis confusin g when two different words havesimilar spellings. Sitting is the corre ct -ingform of sit but siting is the correct form ofsite. (If the consonant is not the last letter ofthe verb, it is not doubled. But notice thatthe final 'e' is dropped.)

ouble vowelsSome words have two differ ent vowels oneafter the other. The most commonexamples are i e and e /i. The rule is that icomes before e when the sound of the wordis 'ee', but not when the two vowels ca rneafter the cons onant c:

betieve receive

As is often the case with English spe lling,there are exceptions to the rule :

seize

Similar sounding words

Some word s that have the samepronunciati on h ave quit e different spellingsand meaning s. If you include the wrongword, even if it sound s right , you m ay infact be usin g the wrong spelling:

air heirallowed alouda e eightboard baredcent sentfare fairfeat feetgenes jean sma il ma eone wonpair pearthere their they're

wai t weight

ommonly confused wordsIt is also easy to confu se words that haveonly minor diffe rences in speliing. Some ofthe most common are:advice adviseensure insureen velop envelopefurmally formerlylater latterpassed pastperspective prospecti veprecedence precedent sprescribe proscrib eprincipal principlestationary stationerypractice practi se


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Although English is the national languagc ofboth the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates, there are significant differences in theway that the language is used in bothcountries . The dilferences concern not onlypronunci ation but also grammar,vocabulary and spelling. When writing, it istherefure import an t to know whether you

arc addressing an internationa l audience orwriting specifically fur British or US readers .The sections below provide examples of hemain dilferences betwcen British and USEnglish.

GrammarThe main dilferences concern spokenrathe r than written English. In US English,it is more common to use the past simplefurm of a verb where the present perfectform wou ld be used in British English. Thisis especially true with the adverbs 11st Jet

and alrectd J:Ms Dewer t s just i1ifonned me tltat ...(British)Ms Dewer j11st i11:fonnedme that ... (US}

Prepositi onsIn British English, prepo sitions arenormally included in situations wherc inUS English they are often dropped:judith is retumiug on Wed11esda J. (British)]udith is retuming Wed11esday. US)

A dilferent preposition is used in somesituation s:The head office is in Watl Street. (British)The heod office is on Watl Street. (US)

I o.ften plau golf at the weel1end.(British)I often pla J golf on tlte weehe11d. (US}

]ody is at scltool today. (British)]ody is n school today. (US}

LettersThe furmat fur letters is generally the samefor both the UK and US. However, there aresome dilferences concern ing the opening,where a comma or no punctuation is usedin British English Dear Mr Hardi11g,) but acolon is used in US English (Dear Mr

Hard ng:).US closings include Sinc erely (yo11rs),Respectflltly Cordially Yottrs tntly, VenJtruly yours, which are not common inBritish letters (see Letters, page 16).

atesDates can be written with the numberbefure or after the month; befure 14 May)is more common in British English andafter Mayl4) is more common in the US.When date s are written using only figures,the order is always day/month /year inBritish English, but month /day /year in theUS:

10/ 06 0 6

Numbe rs

10 ]1t11e 2006 (British)6 October 2006 (US}

In British English, and is used for number sin the hundreds, but a11d is not u suallyincluded in US English:669 six Jumdred and

sixt1j-nine (British)six Jnmdred sixty-ni11e (US)

Quantitie sBritish English tend s to use metric unit s (e.g.metres) instead of oras well as imperialunits (e.g. yards}, but in the US it is morecommon to use imperial units only.

Spellin gThe major dilferences in speli ing concerndouble consonants (less frequent in USEnglish) and word endings. V erbs that endin -ise in British English are u sually speltwith -ize in US English. Some nouns thatend in -re in British English end in -er inUS English. In US English, words oftenfinish in -orwherea s in British English they

take -ottr.British uscatal ogue catalogcheque cheei

1 written communication theory

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