BUSINESS WRITING 10 common pitfalls

Avoid the jargon jackpot

Replace jargon and clichés with everyday words.

Explain abbreviations, acronyms and industry terms.

1

Keep it easy on the eye

For easy reading, include bullet points, visuals and white space.

Use bold to highlight instead of underline.

2

Write in the active voice

The active voice makes it easier to understand and more concise.

Start with who will do it, then what they will do.Example: I will reply tomorrow instead of You will receive a reply tomorrow

3

Apply simplicity over complexity

Say things once.

Avoid unnecessary and complicated words.Examples: Use not utilise, even though instead of notwithstanding,

consider not give consideration to

4

Cap the capitals

Overuse of capitals makes it hard to read.

Capitalise the first letter of headings only.

Exception is proper nouns, of course!

5

Honour thy apostrophe

The apostrophe is overused, under-used and generally abused!

Become pedantic about all punctuation.Do not use apostrophes for plurals but do use them for contracted words.

Examples: It’s is short for it is, not for its when you mean ownership

6

Style consistency is king

Apply style consistency in capitalisation, fonts, bullet points.Example: For numbers 1-9 use words – one, two, three, then use numbers

7

Hone in on the homophones8

Homophones sound the same, are spelt differently and have a

different meaning.Example: stationery/stationary, formally/formerly, prey/pray, they’re/their/there

Examine your emails

Set up automatic spell check.

Apply the ‘five sentence’ rule.http://lifehacker.com/280193/limit-your-email-messages-to-5-sentences

9

Check your company’s brand guidelines

Your company is likely to have guidelines for

overall communications including colour, font, style.

10

Now I know there are plenty more tips…

These are the common pitfalls I’ve observed in my workplace

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Lena Ross@LenaEmelyRoss

https://au.linkedin.com/in/lenaross