Clear and Concise: Become a Better Business Writer

By Susan McKerihan

How well do you write?

Good communication is a skill required by all professionals. Whether you're preparing reports, conducting reviews or simply writing emails, expressing your ideas clearly and persuasively is fundamental to your success in the workplace.

Susan McKerihan has spent over twenty years assisting corporate clients to perfect their written communications. In Clear & Concise she shares her secrets, using real-world examples to show how to avoid common writing traps, such as wordiness, ambiguity and repetition.

By eliminating these habitual errors from your work and by using a logical top-down structure, you can improve the readability of your writing. And when your words are lucid and focused, your thinking becomes sharper, and you become more impressive and more productive.

Clear & Concise is the only writing guide you will ever need.

‘Susan is a master in turning ordinary into extraordinary. At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Susan's expert skills ensured that our critical reports to the market were perfectly structured, well laid out with clear, Plain English language. Her reputation as a mentor, coach and trainer is exemplary. And that's what makes Clear & Concise such a great read - great practical ideas from a master on how to help you communicate better and more powerfully.’ —Mark Veyret, Global Business Development Leader, PwC

‘The book is a little gem … I loved its layout and the fact it gave enough detail without sinking into a mire of grammar.’—Linda Gately, Professional Development Facilitator, AIM and Trainer and Content Specialist, MGL Consulting

‘Clear & Concise is a great book and deserves to be on bookshelves everywhere. Effective communication where messages are heard and understood is critical in the field of business and this book is a valuable contribution to the field.’ —Rod Watson, Director, de Jager Executive Search

‘Full of practical tips, helpful explanations and usable examples, Clear & Concise sorts out the “rules” you never needed to know from the ones you can’t afford to ignore.’ —Saul Eslake, economist and commentator.

‘Aspiring editors need this book, established editors and writers will appreciated it and a place should be made for it on their shelf. But for business writers, government and policy writers and any writer who finds it challenging to keep the message clear and concise, or chooses not to, this book is essential.’ —SA Society of Editors Newsletter

‘The readable style and logical chapter structure make it a valuable reference text when needing to explain to a client just why you have amended their convoluted prose in a particular way.’ –NSW Society of Editors Newsletter

‘Overall, I highly recommend the book – it is superbly easy to read and the techniques and suggestions imparted are imminently practical and doable.’ —Canberra Editor

‘This is an excellent handbook that shares the ‘secrets’ of an experienced professional in plain language.’ —The Hon. Michael Kirby

Susan McKerihan is a specialist and consultant in effective business writing with over twenty years experience. She advises corporate clients on how to write clearly and succinctly, with the aim of making sure their documents are easily understood by the intended audience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Inc. Books
• Release date: Jan 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781925203004

Susan McKerihan

Susan McKerihan is a specialist and consultant in effective business writing with over twenty years experience. She advises corporate clients on how to write clearly and succinctly, with the aim of making sure their documents are easily understood by the intended audience.

Book preview

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Part 1

Clear, concise language

To convey written messages to other people quickly, clearly and accurately, we should use plain English.

If something is written in plain English, its intended reader only has to read it once to understand the message.

What is plain English?

Plain English is clear, concise language that uses the right words in the right place. Its objective is to ensure that the intended reader understands the message quickly and accurately.

What it’s not

Plain English is not baby talk and it doesn’t involve ‘dumbing down’ or simplifying the message. A document can use technical or specialist terms and discuss a complex subject, but still be written in plain English.

What it does

Using plain English enables the reader to focus on the message, rather than being distracted by difficult language or complicated sentences. The writer benefits too, being seen not only as an expert in their particular field, but also as someone skilled in explaining complex messages clearly.

Plain English is not new

Clarity in language has been the goal of notable speakers, writers and thinkers for centuries.

Style to be good must be clear … Clearness is secured by using the words that are current and ordinary.

Aristotle, Rhetoric Book III, 4th century BC

Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind.

Cicero, 1st century BC

Speketh not in the heigh style, but so pleyn at this tyme, I yow preye, that we may understonde what ye seye.

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, 14th century

The ill and unfit choice of words wonderfully obstructs the understanding.

Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, 1620

As if plain Words, useful and intelligible Instructions were not as good for an Esquire, or one that is in Commission from the King, as for him that holds the Plough, or mends Hedges.

John Eachard, The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion Enquired into, 1670

Think like a wise man but express yourself like the common people.

WB Yeats, Letters on Poetry, 1935

Good English can be defined simply as English which is readily understood by the reader.

Sir Ernest Gowers, The Complete Plain Words, 1948

Problem areas for most writers

… and how to overcome them

Many people are unaware that they can use clear, concise language in official or business writing. Years of academic or corporate experience have convinced them that longer, wordier and more complicated is always better. As a result, the following problems are common in business documents:

•over-long sentences

•complex constructions

•a passive, impersonal tone

•a ‘literary’, sometimes forced style

•wordiness

•vagueness and ambiguity.

So is this type of writing ‘better’? Certainly not for the poor readers, who may well feel patronised or even offended because they cannot understand what the writer is saying.

The following sections offer nine plain English tips to help you write in a more succinct, reader-friendly style.

Words

… words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

Rudyard Kipling, A Book of Words, 1928

1

Remove the padding

Do you use more words than you need?

One of the characteristics of good writing is clarity; however, in trying to write clearly, we often repeat ourselves or use more words than are required. For example, we might write:

Should you wish to discuss any aspect of this report, or need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me accordingly.

… when what we actually mean is:

Please contact me at any time if you have any questions.

So why don’t we write like that? It’s perfectly acceptable, and in fact readers prefer it. But we’ve fallen into a habit of using platitudes and long-winded expressions, and usually we don’t even think about it.

To be considered a good writer, you need to review and edit your work carefully, and you should do this before showing it to anyone, even in draft form. Readers will always be distracted by wordiness – even if the word ‘DRAFT’ appears prominently on each page.

It’s hard to edit your own work, because you read what you expect to read. Here are some guidelines that will help you recognise and remove wordiness and padding in your writing.

What to do

Look out for the following:

•unnecessary qualifiers

•wordy phrases

•there is/there are

•repetition

•throat-clearers.

Unnecessary qualifiers

You might recognise ‘qualifiers’ as adjectives and adverbs – that is, words that describe, or qualify, another word in the sentence. They’re frequently used simply to show emphasis or because the writer doesn’t feel confident that a word can easily stand on its own. You can often remove qualifiers without changing the meaning.

Wordy phrases

Sometimes a stock phrase of several words is used when just one word would do the job. Many of these phrases are clichés, and we use them out of habit – but using clichés is a sign of an unthinking writer.

There is / There are

These sentence-starters add nothing to the meaning. Your sentences will be much crisper if you get straight to the point.

Repetition

We can easily fall into the habit of repeating words, phrases, thoughts or ideas because it seems to move the writing process along. Unfortunately, the resulting text becomes confusing and tiring for the reader.

Repetition comes in various forms, such as tautology, redundancy and doubling, but they all boil down to the same thing: using too many words.

Tautology

Tautology is saying the same thing twice, or even three times.

They arrived one after the other in succession.

We will not repeat the same mistake again.

Each year we conduct an annual review of global reporting practices around the world.

The following opportunities for improvement were identified,–as outlined below.

Redundancy

Words that add nothing to the meaning should be removed.

a database of information

potential fire hazard

including among other things

the reason why

glossary of terms

a time period of 10 years

Doubling

Doubling is a pair of words that mean essentially the same thing. This was probably first done for rhetorical effect.

any and all

each and every

first and foremost

fit and proper¹

full and complete

goals and objectives

issues and problems

needs and requirements

terms and conditions²

true and correct

unless and until

wordy and verbose

Some such terms are a mix of French and English. They originated in the early days of the legal profession in 13th-century England. Lawyers were paid by the word, and, as