Unit 2 the Elements and Principles of Art Text Questions

Professional and Technical Writing

iii.1 Style in Written Communication

Written past Joe Moxley

Category: Tone & Style in PTC

Published: 21 Dec 2012

Last Updated: 23 January 2018

Hits: 16600

Learning Objectives

1. Describe and identify three styles of writing.
2. Demonstrate the appropriate utilise of colloquial, casual, and formal writing in at least one document of each fashion.

One style to examine written communication is from a structural perspective. Words are a series of symbols that communicate pregnant, strung together in specific patterns that are combined to communicate complex and compound meanings. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and manufactures are the building blocks you will use when composing written documents. Misspellings of individual words or grammatical errors involving misplacement or incorrect word choices in a sentence, can create confusion, lose significant, and have a negative impact on the reception of your document. Errors themselves are non inherently bad, just failure to recognize and prepare them will reflect on you, your company, and limit your success. Self-correction is part of the writing process.

Some other style to examine written communication is from a goals perspective, where specific documents accost stated (or unstated) goals and have rules, customs, and formats that are anticipated and expected. Violations of these rules, customs, or formats—whether intentional or unintentional—can also have a negative bear on on the mode your certificate is received.

Colloquial, casual, and formal writing are iii common styles that carry their own particular sets of expectations. Which manner you utilize will depend on your audience, and ofttimes whether your advice is going to exist read only by those in your visitor (internal communications) or by those outside the system, such as vendors, customers or clients (external communications). As a general rule, external communications tend to be more than formal, just as corporate letterhead and business cards—designed for presentation to the "outside world"—are more than formal than the eastward-mail and text messages that are used for everyday writing inside the organization.

Style also depends on the purpose of the certificate and its audience. If your writing assignment is for Spider web page content, clear and concise use of the written word is essential. If your writing assignment is a feature interest article for an online mag, y'all may have the luxury of additional space and word count combined with graphics, pictures, embedded video or sound clips, and links to related topics. If your writing consignment involves an introductory letter of the alphabet represented on a printed folio delivered in an envelope to a potential customer, you won't accept the interactivity to enhance your writing, placing an additional burden on your writing and how you represent information technology.

Colloquial

Colloquial language is an informal, conversational style of writing. It differs from standard business organisation English in that it ofttimes makes employ of colorful expressions, slang, and regional phrases. As a result, it can exist difficult to sympathise for an English learner or a person from a dissimilar region of the land. Sometimes colloquialism takes the grade of a give-and-take departure; for example, the divergence between a "Coke," a "tonic," a "pop, and a "soda pop" primarily depends on where you live. It can too have the course of a maxim, as Roy Wilder Jr. discusses in his book Yous All Spoken Here: Southern Talk at Its Downward-Home All-time. [1] Colloquial sayings like "He could mess up a rainstorm" or "He couldn't hit the ground if he barbarous" communicate the person is inept in a colorful, but not universal way. In the Pacific Northwest someone might "mosey," or walk slowly, over to the "café," or bakery, to selection up a "maple bar"—a confection known every bit a "Long John doughnut" to people in other parts of the U.s..

Colloquial language can be reflected in texting:

"ok fwiw i did my part n put it in where you asked but my ? is if the group does not participate do i yet get credit for my part of what i did n also how much do we all accept to practise i hateful i put in my stance of the items in order exercise i also accept to answer to the other team members or what? Thxs"

We may be able to grasp the meaning of the message, and understand some of the abbreviations and codes, merely when information technology comes to business, this manner of colloquial text writing is by and large suitable only for one-on-1 internal communications between coworkers who know each other well (and those who do not judge each other on spelling or grammer). For external communications, and even for group communications within the organization, it is not normally suitable, as some of the codes are not standard, and may even be unfamiliar to the larger audience.

Colloquial writing may be permissible, and even preferable, in some business organization contexts. For example, a marketing letter describing a folksy product such as a woods stove or an old-fashioned popcorn popper might apply a colloquial manner to create a feeling of relaxing at domicile with loved ones. Nevertheless, it is important to consider how colloquial language will appear to the audience. Will the pregnant of your chosen words be clear to a reader who is from a different part of the country? Will a folksy tone sound like you lot are "talking down" to your audience, bold that they are not intelligent or educated enough to appreciate standard English? A final point to call up is that colloquial fashion is not an alibi for using expressions that are sexist, racist, profane, or otherwise offensive.

Casual

Casual language involves everyday words and expressions in a familiar group context, such equally conversations with family or close friends. The emphasis is on the communication interaction itself, and less about the hierarchy, power, control, or social rank of the individuals communicating. When yous are at domicile, at times you probably dress in casual clothing that you wouldn't wear in public—pajamas or underwear, for example. Casual communication is the written equivalent of this kind of casual attire. Have yous always had a family unit member say something to y'all that a stranger or coworker would never say? Or take yous said something to a family member that y'all would never say in forepart of your boss? In both cases, casual linguistic communication is being used. When you write for business organization, a casual style is usually out of identify. Instead, a respectful, professional tone represents yous well in your absenteeism.

Formal

In business organization writing, the appropriate style volition have a degree of formality. Formal language is communication that focuses on professional expression with attending to roles, protocol, and appearance. It is characterized by its vocabulary and syntax, or the grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence. That is, writers using a formal fashion tend to utilize a more sophisticated vocabulary—a greater variety of words, and more than words with multiple syllables—non for the purpose of throwing big words around, merely to enhance the formal mood of the certificate. They as well tend to use more complex syntax, resulting in sentences that are longer and contain more subordinate clauses.

The appropriate mode for a particular business document may be very formal, or less so. If your supervisor writes you an eastward-mail and you answer, the substitution may be informal in that it is fluid and relaxed, without much forethought or fanfare, but it volition still reverberate the formality of the business environs. Chances are you lot will be careful to utilise an informative subject field line, a salutation ("Hi [supervisor's name]" is typical in east-mails), a give-and-take of thanks for whatever data or suggestion she provided you, and an indication that you lot stand set to assist farther if need be. You will probably likewise check your grammar and spelling earlier you click "ship."

A formal document such equally a proposal or an annual written report will involve a keen deal of planning and preparation, and its manner may non be fluid or relaxed. Instead, it may utilise distinct linguistic communication to emphasize the prestige and professionalism of your company. Let's say you are going to write a marketing letter that will exist printed on company letterhead and mailed to a hundred sales prospects. Naturally you want to represent your company in a positive lite. In a letter of this nature you lot might write a sentence like "The Widget 300 is our premium offer in the line; we take designed information technology for ease of movement and efficiency of utilise, with your success foremost in our listen." But in an e-mail or a tweet, you might apply an informal sentence instead, reading "W300—good stapler."

Writing for business often involves choosing the appropriate level of formality for the visitor and industry, the item certificate and situation, and the audition.

Key Takeaway

The best fashion for a document may exist colloquial, casual, informal, or formal, depending on the audition and the situation.

Exercises

1. Refer back to the email or text message example in this section. Would you send that message to your professor? Why or why not? What normative expectations concerning professor-student advice are at that place and where did you learn them? Discuss your thoughts with your classmates.
2. Select a business organization document and describe its style. Is it formal, breezy, or colloquial? Tin can y'all rewrite it in a dissimilar style? Share your results with a classmate.
3. Listing three words or phrases that you would say to your friends. List three words or phrases that communicate similar meanings that y'all would say to an authority figure. Share and compare with classmates.
4. When is it advisable to write in a casual tone? In a formal tone? Write a ane- to two-page essay on this topic and discuss it with a classmate.
5. How does the intended audience influence the selection of words and use of linguistic communication in a document? Think of a specific topic and ii specific kinds of audiences. Then write a short example (250–500 words) of how this topic might be presented to each of the two audiences.

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[1] Wilde, J., Jr. (2003). You all spoken here: Southern talk at its down-home best. Athens: University of Georgia Printing.

3.ii Affairs, Tone, and Accent in Business organisation Writing

Written by Jessica McCaughey

Category: Tone & Style in PTC

Published: 30 September 2013

Last Updated: 23 January 2018

Hits: 45066

Learning Objectives

• Understand the purpose and importance of diplomacy, accent, and tone in business communication
• Gain the ability to write hard professional emails without offending, frustrating, or confusing your reader
• Learn to employ strategies in written communication to make your own work clearer to get the response you need

Name that Tone

Consider the following lines from business emails. How would you lot describe the tone of each entry? What words, phrases, or other elements suggest that tone?
here)

• "Maybe if the projection leader had set a reasonable schedule from the starting time, we wouldn't be in this mess now."
• "Any they're paying you, it isn't enough. Thanks for working then hard on this."
• "I'chiliad not sure what else is on your plate right now, merely I need these numbers by this afternoon—actually in the next two hours."
• "I cant think when u said this was due."
• "While I appreciate that your team is being pulled in a number of different directions right now, this project is my department's main priority for the semester. What tin we do from our end to set your group upward to consummate this past June?

Whether in a workplace or in our personal lives, most of us have received emails that we've found off-putting, inappropriate, or, at a minimum, curt. Striking the right tone and being diplomatic, specially in business communication, tin mean the difference between offending your reader and building important professional relationships. And more than immediately, it can mean the difference between getting what y'all want and being ignored.

As with any piece of writing, considering audition, purpose, and type of data is primal to constructing business advice. Truly finessing your writing so that it worksfor you lot, rather than confronting you, is key to forming strong professional relationships and beingness effective in your ain position.

The following tactics and examples outline the small revisions in your writing that tin can become a long manner in building diplomacy and not but keeping your tone appropriate, merely also using it to your reward.

Kickoff, prior to writing, consider the following questions:

• Who is my audience? What does the audience need to know, and what do they already know?
• Why does this email feel tricky or difficult in terms of getting the tone only right?
• Why am I writing? Am I informing my audience? Asking for help? Delivering bad news?
• Do I have strong feelings about the subject or situation that might get in the way of writing effectively and appropriately?
• Are there specific elements (annihilation from highlighting big issues to reminding the reader well-nigh an of import due engagement) that I want to emphasize?

In one case you have answered these questions, consider the strategies below as yous begin to compose your advice. Certain tactics will likely be more relevant than others, depending on the type of communication, but each of these tips can aid you go into the addiction of more diplomatic writing as you move through higher and into your career.

Services like this "ToneCheck" software, which bills itself equally "Emotional Spellcheck for Electronic mail" are 1 choice. But, really, can a computer program consider the intricate dynamics of workplace relationships more than effectively than you?

Strategies for Getting Diplomacy, Emphasis, and Tone Right

1.Remind Your Reader What'southward in it for Them, Especially when Asking for Help

Rather than:
I'm bringing in a new annotator to work with you lot on this considering the rest of the group is swamped. You'll accept to have the extra time to make full her in.

Write:
You'll take a new analyst to work with on this, and, luckily, y'all will be able to train her on the way yous'd like things to be done.

2. Acknowledge the Work of Others as Oftentimes equally You Can

Rather than:
I need this by 5pm tomorrow.

Write:
I imagine you lot're just as swamped as we are, but in order to move forrard, we really need this by 5pm tomorrow.

three. Ask (when you can afford to hear no) and Give thanks Your Reader

Rather than:
You lot demand to stay until the meeting ends, which will likely be around vii:00 p.grand.

Write:
Would information technology exist possible for yous to stick around until this coming together ends, which volition likely be around seven:00 p.m.? I'd actually appreciate it.

4. Avoid Passive Aggressiveness at all Times

Rather than:
It seems that reading the document I sent that outlined the instructions wasn't a priority amidst all of the other very of import piece of work you had to practise, so please let me explicate information technology hither, for the 2d time: The steps include…

Write:
The steps include…

5. Use Passive vs. Agile Voice to Your Reward

Active voice is a sentence in which the subject of the sentence performs the action. (John washes the car.) Passive voice is a sentence in which the subject field of the sentence has an action performed upon information technology, him, or her. (The car is washed past John.)

Want to emphasize accomplishments or work completed? Use active vocalization.

My section completed the project on fourth dimension.
George, who works on my team, developed an incredible organisation to track users.

Want to deemphasize the person or the team? Utilise passive voice.

The project was not completed on time.
A arrangement to runway users was non developed, unfortunately.

6. If You lot're Pointing out Mistakes of Flaws, Be Certain to Explain Why Behaviors, Actions, or other Bug are Problematic—It's Ofttimes More Constructive (and having it in writing might exist valuable downwards the line)

Rather than:
You lot've arrived belatedly to our one-on-one meetings the past three weeks, which is unacceptable.

Write:
You've arrived tardily to our 1-on-one meetings the past three weeks, which is unacceptable. As you know, I often have meetings scheduled throughout the twenty-four hour period, and and so this throws my schedule off. Further, while I'm certain you don't intend this, arriving late shows a lack of professionalism, which will undoubtedly injure your career in the long run.

7. Talk to those Who Frustrate You by Using "I" Statements

Rather than:
Your inability to show whatsoever enthusiasm most these projects is driving me crazy.

Write:
Information technology's hard for me to maintain momentum and rally back up hither for projects when others show a breathy lack of interest.

8. Depending on Your Audience, and How Much Information They Need, Cut Extranous Information and Use Brusque Sentences for Accent

Rather than:
Considering the latitude and depth of this project, as well as our desire to complete it in a style that is most useful for y'all and practical for our ain schedules, nosotros've decided that extending the deadline would be an important next step.

Write:
We need more time to exercise this well.

Note: It'due south crucial to consider your audience when deciding how much groundwork information they will need.

nine. Direct Country What's Important

Ane additional,minor consideration is…

Anothermain business is…

ten. Stop YELLING AT ME (Avoid Caps Lock)

Rather than:
It'southward very of import that you COME PREPARED TO THE MEETING.

Write:
It'south very important that you come prepared to the meeting.

But do consider other waystoemphasize importance.

Employ these strategies equally yous work to develop more effective, appropriate business organisation communication, and, eventually, they will get second nature in your writing. In the concurrently, this printable checklist can be tacked upwards by your desk equally a guide and a reminder of these strategies. Any fourth dimension you lot're unsure of your tone, compare your typhoon to this listing!

Your emails should make people feel like this:

Not like this:

Exercises

Considering the tactics to a higher place, write one-paragraph emails in response to the following scenarios.

1. Your colleague Tina promised to ship you a spreadsheet full of data that is central to a report you're writing. She said she'd have it to yous by Thursday, and today is Friday. Your own report is due Monday. Write Tina a cursory e-mail nigh this situation.
2. You are interested in taking a calendar week-long training form that y'all believe volition assistance you perform your job more finer. There is a small training budget within your company, but the only class being offered is on the other side of the country and would require flight and hotel costs in addition to the substantial tuition. Make the case for the money to your boss in an email.
3. You were the hiring manager for a new position that opened up at your organization. Later on sifting through nearly fifty resumes, yous chose to interview i outside candidate and one internal candidate named Joe. Both had similar experience and educational backgrounds, but you ultimately made a chore offer to the external candidate due to the fact that she seemed to have more than creative ideas virtually how the department could handle current issues, whereas Joe seemed to take little to offer. E-mail Joe explaining that he did not get the chore, and offer him constructive criticism.

Each interaction in the business organisation earth is unique and nuanced. While the strategies above are non a i-size-fits-all solution, learning to ask questions about audience, purpose, and the emotions attached to a particular advice is key to diplomacy and striking the right tone over email. From there, the tips and strategies in a higher place will help y'all craft careful, effective communications as you increase your writing skills—and your brownie in the workplace.

3.3 VIDEO: TONE IN PROFESSIONAL WRITING

Tutorial on Fashion in Professional Writing: Tone

All rights reserved content

• Tutorial on Style in Professional person Writing: Tone.Authored by: ProsWrite.Located at: http://www.youtube.com/sentry?v=xoWfy5Tik4E.License:All Rights Reserved.License Terms: Standard YouTube license

three.4 ORGANIZING YOUR WRITING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this department, y'all volition be able to:

• Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
• Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
• Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
• Determine how and when to utilize spatial order to organize an essay.

The method of arrangement you choose for your essay is just every bit important as its content. Without a articulate organizational pattern, your reader could go confused and lose interest. The way you construction your essay helps your readers describe connections betwixt the body and the thesis, and the structure too keeps you focused as you programme and write the essay. Choosing your organizational blueprint before you outline ensures that each trunk paragraph works to back up and develop your thesis.

This section covers iii ways to organize trunk paragraphs:

1. Chronological society
2. Order of importance
3. Spatial gild

When you begin to typhoon your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random fashion. Your readers, who bring to the tabular array different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need y'all to conspicuously organize these ideas in social club to help process and accept them.

A solid organizational blueprint gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you lot volition organize your paragraphs allows you to ameliorate express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the construction of your essay earlier you choose supporting show helps you lot conduct more constructive and targeted research.

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

In "The Writing Procedure: How Do I Begin?", you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

• To explain the history of an event or a topic
• To tell a story or chronicle an feel
• To explain how to do or to make something
• To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing, which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a procedure. When using chronological society, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if yous are giving instructions. This method requires y'all to employ words such equallyfirst,2d,then,after that,later, andfinally. These transition words guide you and your reader through the newspaper as you lot expand your thesis.

For instance, if you are writing an essay almost the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and item the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such asfirst,then,next, and so on.

WRITING AT Piece of work

At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your man resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You lot would logically lay out the events in the gild that they occurred using the cardinal transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped.

TIP

When using chronological guild, your introduction should bespeak the data you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You tin can split up your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or past the same structure of the work you lot are examining (such equally a line-by-line explication of a poem).

ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

Recall from "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?" that lodge of importance is best used for the post-obit purposes:

• Persuading and disarming
• Ranking items by their importance, do good, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays motion from the least to the near important betoken, and the paragraphs are bundled in an endeavor to build the essay's forcefulness. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your well-nigh of import supporting betoken, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important signal considering it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to keep reading.

For instance, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of loftier school students, yous would desire to present your most disarming argument start, and then move on to the less of import points for your instance.

Some key transitional words y'all should apply with this method of organization aremost importantly,nearly as importantly,just as importantly, andfinally.

WRITING AT Work

During your career, you may exist required to work on a squad that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such every bit increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in society of importance. This demonstrates the power to prioritize and program. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

SPATIAL ORDER

As stated in "The Writing Procedure: How Exercise I Begin?", spatial gild is best used for the following purposes:

• Helping readers visualize something every bit you desire them to see it
• Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, sense of taste, aroma, and sound)
• Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects equally they are arranged around y'all in your infinite, for instance in a bedchamber. As the writer, you create a motion picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which y'all depict what is around you lot.

The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting indicate and and so guide the reader to follow your eye every bit information technology moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting indicate.

Pay attention to the following student's description of her chamber and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

Attached to my sleeping accommodation wall is a pocket-sized wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as you enter. Just to the right of the rack is my window, framed by billowy white curtains. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, which sits to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my caput to the right, I run across a set of ii bare windows that frame the trees exterior the glass like a 3D painting. Below the windows is an oak breast from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antiquarian dresser, on height of which sits a jewelry box and a few film frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes upwardly nigh of the wall, which is the color of lavender.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you accept learned in this chapter: using an unsaid topic sentence and applying spatial society. Often in a descriptive essay, the two piece of work together.

The post-obit are possible transition words to include when using spatial gild:

• Just to the left or just to the right
• Behind
• Between
• On the left or on the right
• Beyond from
• A little farther down
• To the south, to the east, and and then on
• A few yards away
• Turning left or turning correct

Primal TAKEAWAYS

• The manner you lot organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
• A stiff organizational pattern allows yous to clear, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
• Planning the organizational structure for your essay earlier you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you acquit more effective and directed research.
• Chronological order is nearly commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject area, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
• Order of importance is nearly appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events past their significance.
• Spatial gild describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a ascendant impression.

EXERCISES

ane. Choose an achievement yous have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own canvass of paper, listing the steps you took to reach your goal. Effort to be as specific as possible with the steps y'all took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Proceed in mind that chronological society is most advisable for the following purposes:

• Writing essays containing heavy research
• Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
• Writing essays that clarify literary works such as poems, plays, or books

ii. On a dissever sheet of newspaper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and tin can do well. Presume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Recollect to use the chronological central words, such asoutset,second,then, andfinally.

three. On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you lot feel and then strongly. Briefly hash out your reasons in the guild of least to greatest importance.

4. On a separate sail of newspaper, write a paragraph using spatial club that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit frequently. Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS

CC licensed content, Original

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CC licensed content, Shared previously

• English for Business Success.Authored by: Anonymous.Provided by: Anonymous.Located at: http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/english-for-business-success/.License:CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

three.5 PRINCIPLES OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the stop of this department, you lot will exist able to:

• Understand the rules that govern written language.
• Understand the legal implications of business writing.

You may not recall when or where you learned all virtually nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, and phrases, but if you understand this sentence nosotros'll accept for granted that y'all have a firm grasp of the basics. But even professional writers and editors, who have spent a lifetime navigating the ins and outs of crafting correct sentences, have to use reference books to look up answers to questions of grammar and usage that arise in the grade of their work. Allow's examine how the simple collection of symbols called a word can be such a puzzle.

WORDS ARE INHERENTLY Abstruse

There is no universally accepted definition for love, at that place are many ways to describe desire, and in that location are countless ways to draw patience. Each of these terms is a noun, but it'due south an abstract noun, referring to an intangible concept.

While there are many means to define a chair, depict a table, or draw a window, they each have a few mutual characteristics. A chair may exist made from wood, crafted in a Mission mode, or made from plastic resin in one solid slice in nondescript style, but each has four legs and serves a common function. A table and a window also have common characteristics that in themselves form a footing for agreement between source and receiver. The words "chair," "table," and "window" are concrete terms, as they describe something nosotros can see and touch.

Concrete terms are frequently easier to agree on, empathise, or at least define the common characteristics of. Abstract terms can easily get even more abstract with extended discussions, and the conversational partners may never concur on a common definition or even a range of understanding.

In business concern communication, where the goal is to exist clear and concise, limiting the range of misinterpretation, which type of word do yous think is preferred? Concrete terms serve to clarify your writing and more accurately communicate your intended meaning to the receiver. While all words are abstractions, some are more than and then than others. To promote constructive communication, choose words that can exist easily referenced and understood.

WORDS ARE GOVERNED BY RULES

Perhaps you like to recall of yourself as a free spirit, but did you lot know that all your communication is governed by rules? Yous weren't built-in knowing how to talk, but learned to form words and sentences every bit you developed from infancy. Every bit you lot learned linguistic communication, you learned rules. You learned not simply what a discussion means in a given context, and how to pronounce it; you lot also learned the social protocol of when to utilise information technology and when not to. When you write, your words stand for you in your absence. The context may change from reader to reader, and your goal every bit an effective business organisation communicator is to get your message across (and some feedback) regardless of the situation.

The better yous know your audience and context, the meliorate you can anticipate and comprise the rules of how, what, and when to utilize specific words and terms. And hither lies a paradox. You may think that, ideally, the all-time writing is writing that is universally appealing and understood. Still the more y'all pattern a specific message to a specific audience or context, the less universal the message becomes. Actually, this is neither a good or bad thing in itself. In fact, if yous didn't target your messages, they wouldn't be near every bit effective. By understanding this relationship of a universal or specific entreatment to an audition or context, yous can expect beyond vocabulary and syntax and focus on the reader. When considering a advice assignment like a sales alphabetic character, knowing the intended audience gives you insight to the explicit and implicit rules.

All words are governed by rules, and the rules are vastly different from i language and civilisation to another. A famous example is the decision past Chevrolet to requite the name "Nova" to i of its cars. In English language, nova is recognized as coming from Latin meaning "new"; for those who accept studied astronomy, it also refers to a blazon of star. When the Chevy Nova was introduced in Latin America, however, information technology was immediately ridiculed as the "motorcar that doesn't go." Why? Because "no va" literally means "doesn't go" in Castilian.

By investigating sample names in a range of markets, you can rapidly larn the rules surrounding words and their multiple meaning, much as you lot learned about subjects and objects, verbs and nouns, adjectives and adverbs when y'all were learning linguistic communication. Long before you lot knew formal grammer terms, y'all observed how others communicate and learned by trial and error. In business concern, error equals inefficiency, loss of resources, and is to be avoided. For Chevrolet, a little market enquiry in Latin America would accept gone a long way.

WORDS SHAPE OUR REALITY

Aristotle is famous for many things, including his questioning of whether the table you lot can meet, experience, or employ is existent (in McKeon, 1941). This may strike you as foreign, simply imagine that we are looking at a drove of antiquarian hand tools. What are they? They are made of metal and wood, merely what are they used for? The words we use help united states of america to brand sense of our reality, and nosotros often use what we know to figure out what nosotros don't know. Possibly we have a difficult fourth dimension describing the colour of the tool, or the table, as nosotros walk around it. The calorie-free itself may influence our perception of its color. We may lack the vocabulary to accurately describe to the color, and instead say it is "like a" color, simply not straight describe the color itself (Russell, 1962). The color, or use of the tool, or style of the tabular array are all independent of the person perceiving them, merely also a reflection of the person perceiving the object.

In business advice, our goal of clear and curtailed communication involves anticipation of this inability to label a color or describe the function of an antiquarian tool by amalgam pregnant. Anticipating the language that the reader may reasonably be expected to know, equally well as unfamiliar terms, enables the writer to communicate in a fashion that describes with mutual reference points while illustrating the new, interesting, or unusual. Promoting understanding and limiting misinterpretations are key goals of the constructive business concern communicator.

Your letter introducing a new product or service relies, to an extent, on your preconceived notions of the intended audience and their preconceived notions of your organization and its products or services. Past referencing common ground, you course a connection between the known and the unknown, the familiar and the new. People are more likely to be open to a new product or service if they tin can reasonably chronicle it to ane they are familiar with, or with which they accept had good experience in the by. Your initial measure of success is effective communication, and your long term success may exist measured in the sale or new contract for services.

WORDS AND YOUR LEGAL Responsibleness

Your writing in a business organisation context means that you stand for yourself and your visitor. What y'all write and how yous write it can be part of your company's success, but can likewise betrayal it to unintended consequences and legal responsibility. When y'all write, proceed in listen that your words will go on on existing long after y'all have moved on to other projects. They can go an outcome if they exaggerate, state false claims, or defame a person or legal entity such as a competing company. Another issue is plagiarism, using someone else'southward writing without giving credit to the source. Whether the "cribbed" fabric is taken from a printed book, a Web site, or a blog, plagiarism is a violation of copyright constabulary and may also violate your visitor policies. Industry standards often have legal aspects that must be respected and cannot exist ignored. For the author this can be a challenge, but it can exist a fun challenge with rewarding results.

The rapid pace of applied science ways that the law cannot always stay current with the realities of business communication. Computers had been in use for more twenty years before Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Human activity of 1998, the kickoff federal legislation to "movement the nation'due south copyright law into the digital age" (United States Copyright Office, 1998).  Think for a moment about the changes in reckoner use that have taken identify since 1998, and you will realize how many new laws are needed to clarify what is off-white and ethical, what should exist prohibited, and who owns the rights to what.

For instance, suppose your supervisor asks y'all to use your Facebook folio or Twitter account to give an occasional "plug" to your company'southward products. Are you obligated to comply? If you later change jobs, who owns your posts or tweets—are they yours, or does your now-former employer accept a right to them? And what about your network of "friends"? Can your employer use their contact information to send marketing messages? These and many other questions remain to exist answered as engineering, industry practices, and legislation evolve (Tahmincioglu, 2009).

"Our product is improve than Ten company'southward production. Their product is dangerous and you would be a wise customer to choose us for your product solutions."

What's wrong with these two sentences? They may land y'all and your company in court. Yous made a generalized merits of one product being better than another, and y'all stated information technology every bit if it were a fact. The side by side sentence claims that your competitor'south product is unsafe. Even if this is true, your ability to evidence your merits beyond a reasonable dubiousness may be limited. Your merits is stated as fact again, and from the other company's perspective, your sentences may be considered libel or defamation.

Libel is the written form of defamation, or a false argument that amercement a reputation. If a false statement of fact that concerns and harms the person defamed is published—including publication in a digital or online surround—the author of that statement may exist sued for libel. If the person defamed is a public figure, they must prove malice or the intention to exercise damage, but if the victim is a private person, libel applies even if the criminal offence cannot be proven to be malicious. Under the First Amendment you lot have a right to express your opinion, merely the words you use and how you apply them, including the context, are relevant to their interpretation as stance versus fact. E'er exist careful to qualify what you write and to do no damage.

KEY TAKEAWAY

Words are governed by rules and shape our reality. Writers take a legal responsibility to avoid plagiarism and libel.

EXERCISES

ane. Ascertain the word "chair." Describe what a table is. Depict a window. Share, compare, and contrast results with classmates

2. Ascertain dearest. Describe desire. Describe patience.

3. Identify a target audience and point at least 3 words that you lot perceive would be appropriate and effective for that audience. Identify a second audience (distinct from the kickoff) and betoken three words that you perceive would exist appropriate and effective. How are the audiences and their words similar or different? Compare your results with those of your classmates.

4. Create a sales letter for an audience that comes from a culture other than your own. Identify the civilisation and articulate how your message is tailored to your perception of your intended audience. Share and compare with classmates.

5. Practice an online search on "online libel cases" and meet what you notice. Discuss your results with your classmates.

6. In other examples beyond the grammer rules that guide our utilise of words, consider the online environment. Conduct a search on the give-and-take "netiquette" and share your findings.

LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS

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3.6 Proficient WRITING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the stop of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify vi bones qualities that characterize good business writing.
• Place and explain the rhetorical elements and cognate strategies that contribute to good writing.

One common concern is to but address the question, what is good writing? Equally we progress through our study of written business organization communication we'll try to respond it. But recognize that while the question may be uncomplicated, the answer is complex. Edward P. Bailey (2008) offers several primal points to call up.

Good business concern writing

• follows the rules,
• is easy to read, and
• attracts the reader.

Let's examine these qualities in more depth.

Bailey's outset point is one that generates a fair amount of argue. What are the rules? Do "the rules" depend on audition expectations or industry standards, what your English language teacher taught yous, or are they reflected in the astonishing writing of authors you might signal to as positive examples? The respond is "all of the in a higher place," with a point of description. You may detect information technology necessary to residual audience expectations with manufacture standards for a certificate, and may need to observe a balance or compromise. Bailey (2008) points to common sense as one bones criterion of good writing, only common sense is a product of feel. When searching for balance, reader understanding is the deciding factor. The correct use of a semicolon may not be what is needed to make a sentence piece of work. Your reading audience should carry actress attention in everything you write considering, without them, you won't accept many more than writing assignments.

When nosotros say that skillful writing follows the rules, nosotros don't hateful that a author cannot be creative. Just as an art student needs to know how to describe a scene in correct perspective before he tin "break the rules" by "angle" perspective, so a writer needs to know the rules of language. Being well versed in how to use words correctly, course sentences with proper grammar, and build logical paragraphs are skills the writer can use no matter what the consignment. Even though some business settings may call for conservative writing, at that place are other areas where creativity is not only immune but mandated. Imagine working for an advertising agency or a software evolution firm; in such situations success comes from expressing new, untried ideas. By following the rules of language and correct writing, a author can express those creative ideas in a form that comes through clearly and promotes agreement.

Similarly, writing that is easy to read is not the same as "dumbed downwards" or simplistic writing. What is easy to read? For a young audience, you may need to use straightforward, simple terms, simply to ignore their use of the linguistic communication is to create an artificial and unnecessary barrier. An example referring to Miley Cyrus may work with one reading audience and autumn apartment with another. Profession-specific terms can serve a valuable purpose as we write about precise concepts. Not everyone will understand all the terms in a profession, but if your audition is largely literate in the terms of the field, using industry terms will help you establish a relationship with your readers.

The truly excellent writer is one who tin explain complex ideas in a mode that the reader can sympathize. Sometimes ease of reading can come from the writer'southward choice of a bright illustrative example to get a point beyond. In other situations, it can be the author'southward incorporation of definitions into the text and so that the meaning of unfamiliar words is articulate. It may besides be a affair of choosing dynamic, specific verbs that make it clear what is happening and who is carrying out the action.

Bailey'due south tertiary point concerns the interest of the reader. Will they want to read it? This question should guide much of what you write. Nosotros increasingly proceeds data from our environment through visual, auditory, and multimedia channels, from YouTube to streaming sound, and to watching the news online. Some argue that this has led to a decreased attention span for reading, meaning that writers need to appeal to readers with brusk, punchy sentences and catchy phrases. However, in that location are even so plenty of people who honey to immerse themselves in reading an interesting article, proposal, or marketing piece.

Perhaps the most universally useful strategy in capturing your reader's attention is to country how your writing can meet the reader's needs. If your document provides information to answer a question, solve a trouble, or explain how to increase profits or cut costs, yous may desire to state this in the beginning. By opening with a "what's in it for me" strategy, you requite your audience a reason to be interested in what you've written.

MORE QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING

To the in a higher place listing from Bailey, allow's add some additional qualities that define skilful writing.

Skilful writing

• meets the reader's expectations,
• is clear and concise,
• is efficient and effective.

To meet the reader's expectations, the writer needs to understand who the intended reader is. In some business situations, you lot are writing just to one person: your boss, a coworker in another department, or an individual customer or vendor. If you know the person well, it may be equally like shooting fish in a barrel for you to write to him or her equally it is to write a notation to your parent or roommate. If you don't know the person, you can at to the lowest degree make some reasonable assumptions almost his or her expectations, based on the position he or she holds and its relation to your job.

In other situations, you may be writing a document to be read past a grouping or team, an entire department, or even a large number of total strangers. How tin can y'all anticipate their expectations and tailor your writing appropriately? Naturally you lot want to learn as much every bit you can about your probable audition. How much you tin can learn and what kinds of information will vary with the situation. If y'all are writing Web site content, for example, you lot may never meet the people who will visit the site, only you can predict why they would be drawn to the site and what they would expect to read there. Across learning about your audience, your clear understanding of the writing assignment and its purpose will help you to meet reader expectations.

Our addition of the fifth point apropos clear and concise writing reflects the increasing tendency in business writing to eliminate error. Errors can include those associated with production, from writing to editing, and reader response. Your twin goals of articulate and concise writing indicate to a fundamental goal across advice: fidelity. This concept involves our goal of accurately communicating all the intended information with a minimum of betoken or message breakdown or misinterpretation. Designing your documents, including writing and presentation, to reduce message breakdown is an of import office of constructive business advice.

This leads our discussion to efficiency. At that place are just twenty-iv hours in a day and we are increasingly asked to do more with less, with shorter deadlines almost guaranteed. As a writer, how do yous meet ever-increasing expectations? Each writing assignment requires a clear agreement of the goals and desired results, and when either of these two aspects is unclear, the efficiency of your writing tin can exist compromised. Rewrites crave time that you may not accept, but volition have to brand if the consignment was not done correctly the starting time time.

As we have discussed previously, making a habit of reading like documents prior to beginning your process of writing can assist institute a mental template of your desired product. If yous tin can see in your listen's eye what you want to write, and have the perspective of similar documents combined with audition's needs, you lot can write more than efficiently. Your written documents are products and will be required on a schedule that impacts your coworkers and business. Your ability to produce effective documents efficiently is a skill set that will contribute to your success.

Our 6th bespeak reinforces this idea with an emphasis on effectiveness. What is effective writing? It is writing that succeeds in accomplishing its purpose. Understanding the purpose, goals, and desired results of your writing assignment volition aid you achieve this success. Your employer may desire an introductory sales letter to result in an increment in sales leads, or potential contacts for follow-upwards leading to sales. Your audience may not run across the document from that perspective, just volition instead read with the mindset of, "How does this help me solve X trouble?" If you run into both goals, your writing is approaching effectiveness. Hither, effectiveness is qualified with the word "budgeted" to signal out that writing is both a procedure and a product, and your writing volition continually require effort and attention to revision and improvement.

RHETORICAL ELEMENTS AND COGNATE STRATEGIES

Some other arroyo to defining good writing is to look at how it fulfills the goals of two well-known systems in communication. I of these systems comprises the three classical elements of rhetoric, or the fine art of presenting an argument. These elements arelogos (logic),ethos (ethics and credibility), anddesolation (emotional appeal), first proposed past the aboriginal Greek teacher Aristotle. Although rhetoric is often applied to oral communication, especially public speaking, it is also fundamental to good writing.

A second set of goals involves what are called cognate strategies, or ways of promoting understanding, developed in contempo decades by Charles Kostelnick and David Rogers (1998). Like rhetorical elements, cognate strategies can be applied to public speaking, only they are also useful in developing expert writing. Table 9.2 "Rhetorical Elements and Cognate Strategies" describes these goals, their purposes, and examples of how they may be carried out in business writing.

Tabular array 9.2 Rhetorical Elements and Cognate Strategies

Aristotle's Rhetorical Elements	Cognate Strategies	Focus	Example in Business Writing
Logos	Clarity	Clear understanding	An announcement will be made to the company later on in the week, but I wanted to tell y'all personally that as of the start of next month, I volition be leaving my position to accept a three-year assignment in our Singapore office. As soon every bit further details about the management of your account are bachelor, I will share them with you.
	Conciseness	Key points	In tomorrow's conference call Sean wants to introduce the new team members, outline the schedule and budget for the project, and analyze each person's responsibilities in coming together our goals.
	Arrangement	Order, hierarchy, placement	Our department has matrix structure. We have three production development groups, 1 for each category of product. We also have a manufacturing grouping, a finance group, and a sales group; dissimilar group members are assigned to each of the three product categories. Inside the matrix, our structure is flat, pregnant that nosotros have no group leaders. Everyone reports to Beth, the section manager.
Ethos	Credibility	Graphic symbol, trust	Having known and worked with Jesse for more than five years, I can highly recommend him to take my place every bit your counselor. In addition to having superb qualifications, Jesse is known for his dedication, honesty, and caring mental attitude. He will always get the extra mile for his clients.
	Expectation	Norms and anticipated outcomes	As is typical in our manufacture, we send all merchandise FOB our warehouse. Prices are exclusive of any federal, state, or local taxes. Payment terms are net 30 days from date of invoice.
	Reference	Sources and frames of reference	Co-ordinate to an commodity inBusiness concern Week dated Oct 15, 2009, Doosan is i of the largest business organization conglomerates in Republic of korea.
Pathos	Tone	Expression	I really don't have words to express how grateful I am for all the support you've extended to me and my family in this hour of demand. You guys are the best.
	Emphasis	Relevance	It was unconscionable for a member of our organization to shout an break while the president was speaking. What needs to happen now—and let me be clear most this—is an firsthand apology.
	Engagement	Relationship	Faithful soldiers pledge never to leave a fallen comrade on the battlefield.

KEY TAKEAWAY

Good writing is characterized by correctness, ease of reading, and bewitchery; it also meets reader expectations and is articulate, curtailed, efficient, and effective. Rhetorical elements (logos,ethos, andpathos) and cognate strategies (clarity, conciseness, arrangement, credibility, expectation, reference, tone, emphasis, and appointment) are goals that are achieved in good business concern writing.

EXERCISES

1. Cull a piece of business writing that attracts your interest. What made you want to read it? Share your thoughts with your classmates.

two. Choose a slice of business writing and evaluate it according to the qualities of adept writing presented in this department. Do you think the writing qualifies as "good"? Why or why non? Discuss your opinion with your classmates.

three. Identify the ethos, pathos, and logos in a document. Share and compare with classmates.

LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS

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