Читать книгу Effective Writing - Elizabeth Manning Murphy - Страница 9

We have all had to try to read a document that is not clear. What made it unclear? There are many causes – here are a few that readers usually quote:

 consistently poor spelling

 insufficient or incorrect punctuation

 poor proofreading

 long, involved or incomplete sentences

 illogical paragraphing and poor internal paragraph structure

 misuse of parts of speech, such as using adjectives for adverbs

 ambiguity

 not getting to the point

 overuse of passive verbs

 mixing tenses of verbs

 use of clichés, buzz-words and jargon without explanation

 insufficient or incorrect information.

Figures 1.1 and 1.2 show two emails, the first ineffective, followed by an effective email on the same subject.

Figure 1.1 Example of an ineffective email

TO All staff

SUBJECT Workshop

A workshop will be held in J-6 next Monday and Tuesday for staff. To help you develop writing skills.

Keyboard operators, admin assistants, field supervisors who feel the necessity to upgrade said skills are hereby encouraged to see that an application is submitted to be considered for inclusion. Or anyone else.

The procedural practices concerning the writing of emails and short reports will be learned if advantage is taken of this opportunity by phoning my assistant before c.o.b. on Wednesday, however you must hurry due to the fact that only 22 places exist.

P Jones

Figure 1.2 Example of an effective email

TO All staff [insert appropriate email list]

SUBJECT EFFECTIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

A workshop on Effective Writing will be held in the training room next Monday and Tuesday from 9 am to 5 pm.

The purpose of this workshop is to help staff who do not normally write documents themselves to develop their writing skills. Target groups include all keyboard operators, administrative assistants, field supervisors and any others who would like to take advantage of the opportunity. I hope that, as a result, many of you will feel more confident about writing simple documents such as emails and short reports.

If you would like to participate in the workshop, please phone my assistant, Lyn, on the number given below, before 5 pm on Wednesday. There is a limit of 22 places on the workshop, so act promptly if you are interested.

P Jones

Phone: 5555 5555

Compare these two emails. Why is the first one ineffective? It has several of the faults mentioned in the list above – which faults? Why is the second one more effective? It is more informative, more friendly in style, and grammatically more acceptable. You might like to try writing an even better email. The whole purpose of this book, in fact, is to explain how these examples differ. To begin answering these questions, and to outline the principles of effective writing, we need to look at the background to communication.