By Judy Vorfeld
Do you publish a newsletter, have a website, or write articles or reviews?
If so, you're already doing your best to publish well. Here are a few
ideas that might help make them more compelling.
WORDS CAN WEAKEN SENTENCES AND THOUGHTS
Try to keep your sentences crisp and clear. Tight. Many words and phrases
are very, very unnecessary. Really. In fact, sometimes words and phrases
weaken sentences.
Examples of words to avoid when you're trying to write with strength:
frankly, actually, honestly, truthfully, really, quite, so, very, somewhat,
seems, utterly, practically, basically, and rather.
Sometimes we're tempted to use weak or unnecessary words and phrases in an
effort to sound friendly or informal. And sometimes it's okay to do that.
It depends on the audience.
Here are a few phrases worth omitting (most of the time): "I think," "kind
of," "sort of," "in my opinion," "needless to say," and "no doubt."
Look at the above phrases. What value do they have? They're often useless
fillers, and using them (in writing or speaking) can be a form of
procrastination. Get to the issues!
Having said that words weaken, there are times when you must use diplomacy,
and you may need to use words like "seems," "appears," and "somewhat."
Again, it depends on the context. (Some businesses may say, "It appears
that there is an error in your accounting records" rather than "Pay your
bill, you deadbeat!" or "We've discovered some discrepancies in our books,"
rather than "Get ready to visit with a grand jury.")
REDUNDANT WORDS & PHRASES
Use redundant phrases sparingly (or omit) in business correspondence,
articles, and other written documents. Here are a few that people use
regularly:
Absolutely essential (essential)
Added bonus (bonus)
Both of them (both)
End result (result)
Exact same (exact or same)
Fewer in number (fewer)
Final outcome (outcome)
Free give-away or gift (give-away or gift)
Past history (history will do, most of the time)
Point in time (point or time: not both)
There is no doubt that (How about "clearly"?)
MAKE YOUR PARAGRAPHS INTERESTING
Not only do we need to write clearly and tightly, we need to make paragraphs
interesting. When possible, avoid all short sentences or all long sentences
in a paragraph. Vary them. (I just did so in this paragraph).
It's not necessary to do this with every paragraph, but such structure helps
the reader move along. And avoid huge paragraphs. People often skip over long
paragraphs. We have many options to make our documents interesting to busy
people: bullets, numbers, indenting, bolding, and italicizing, along with
headings and sub-headings that can be in contrasting fonts and varied sizes.
Strive to have all your documents become minor works of art. Let them convey
the message efficiently, without wasting the reader's time. Balance messages
on the page. Big assignment? No. You can do it!
Two sites with tips to help you make every word count:
* Redundant Redundancies - http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/twice.html
* Free Copywriting Tutorials by Joe Robson - http://www.adcopywriting.com/Tutorials_List.htm
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