What positive things can you do with good written communication skills?
Whether you are writing a letter, an email, a report, application form or CV, knowing how to communicate effectively in writing is one of the most important skills you can have in business, professional and formal situations. This is especially true when, it appears, few people possess excellent writing skills; having these skills will help you to stand out and do business more effectively.
People with good writing skills are prized by employers because they are good at communicating with colleagues and other businesses. But not only can well-written letters, emails, reports and other communications help in creating a good impression and prove valuable in increasing business, good writing helps your reader to see you as a real person, and treats them as one too.
Having brilliant writing skills means that you:
- are more likely to get your message across – whether it’s to give or ask for information, offer a service or make a complaint
- come across with more authority
- can easily explain complex instructions
- produce natural and fluent text quickly and easily
- put your ideas and thoughts into words
- write in a way that creates a positive impression
- avoid common mistakes to produce accurate, clear writing.
Speaking and writing
How do you communicate effectively in writing? The same way that you do when speaking: clearly and concisely, with confidence and empathy. But, when you communicate in person or on the phone, you have the advantage of being able to clarify or emphasise what you mean and what your intentions are. When you communicate in writing, this doesn’t happen, so what you say in writing must express exactly what you mean – there is nothing else to support or clarify your intentions and feelings, requests, demands, information and ideas.
Although you should write in the same way as you speak, your language, words and sentences need to be clearer and more precise. Just as you do in speech, you need to make it easy for the other person (the reader) to understand your meaning. In fact, once you have developed the knack of writing effectively, you’ll find that what you say also improves.
Always try to focus on the needs of the reader and make an effort to see things from their perspective. Put yourself in their position and imagine what it would be like for you to be receiving your letter.
Poorly written messages create confusion or fail to achieve their intended purpose. To communicate effectively, to write what you mean and to make sure your reader understands you, follow the guidelines below.
What’s your point?
First, think about the main point that you need to make. Put it in a sentence. Then provide details that spell out what, where, who, when and why.
The recipient is more likely to respond in the way you would like them to if you have clearly set out what you want or do not want.
Maybe you want to:
- provide or ask for some information
- invite someone to attend an event
- ask for something to be put right
- ask someone to buy your product or service
- confirm a decision or have a decision confirmed
- agree or refuse to do something.
Whatever it is, for your reader to understand and respond, the purpose of your letter must be clear in your own mind, or your message may get lost.
Bad example
Read the email below and see if you can work out what exactly the writer wants.
Hi. I’m getting in touch about photography. I’ve been taking photos for many years now (I love doing landscapes and portraits) and I want to get better at it but I’m not sure what sort of equipment or experience I need. I’ve got Nikon cameras and I’ve got some experience of Photoshop but are there any other programs you think I would need to know in order to come on the course?
I’m soon going to be made redundant from my job in insurance and was thinking of a complete career change, but I’m not sure how to go about it, so if you have any advice I’d be grateful if you could send it to me!
Cheers, Luke
Did you work out what exactly Luke wanted? It’s unlikely!
Here’s a good example — this time Luke has explained clearly what he wanted and his reasons for asking.
Good example
Hello. I am interested in your freelance photography course, but I’m not sure if I have the right level of skills and equipment to join the course.
I have been a keen amateur photographer for several years, but as I have recently been made redundant, I am thinking about making a career change and becoming a freelance photographer.
Please could you tell me what camera equipment and what level of skills and experience I would need in order to be accepted for a place on the course?
Thank you
Luke Harding
Which of the two examples is most likely to get a relevant reply? Or even to get a reply at all? In the first example, it’s not clear what the writer wants. The point of the email is lost; the recipient has to work hard and is probably confused about how to answer.
Don’t make the reader have to work to understand your letter or email; make it easy to understand and to reply to.
In the second example, the writer has made his purpose clear in the very first sentence. If you don’t make your message clear, right from the start, it’s easy for the other person either to misunderstand what you said or even to avoid answering.
Vagueness is too common in communication. Rambling, hinting and alluding are indirect ways to say something; they hide the meaning of what you really want to say. The best way to make it easy for others to read and understand is to be clear, direct and concise.
So, ask yourself if your message was clear; did you say what you wanted to say?
Write concisely
Good communication is all about quality, not quantity. We all receive too many communications these days, including letters, emails, adverts and junk mail. The only letters that are read fully are concise. Letters, emails and reports that ramble or are vague will not be read properly.
Concise letters can be understood quickly. So be short. Once you’ve decided what your main point is, decide what the reader does and, just as importantly, doesn’t need to know. Get straight to the point, keep to the point and avoid making the reader work for the point. Save digressions for a face-to-face chat.
First, plan your letter or email by taking a couple of minutes to outline the specific points you want to make, and write a quick first draft.
At this stage, don’t aim for perfection as this paralyses free thought; just get your ideas on paper, then decide what to remove. There will always be something. It’s much easier to edit a letter you’ve already written than to edit as you write. So, write a first draft, then work on the sequence of your points and on your word choices, style and grammar.
The advantage of communicating in writing is that you can edit your message so that it conveys exactly what you want to say. So, write a first draft to include everything that you want to say. Then rewrite it to ensure that your message is clear. Even professional writers follow this process – they write down their ideas and then they rewrite them until they are happy that what they have written is clear and concise, in a logical order, and conveys what they want to say.
Remember, you want your reader to understand you and respond. Anything that does not help them do that is unnecessary. Avoid repeating anything, other than for emphasis. Remove unnecessary words from every sentence, unnecessary sentences from every paragraph and unnecessary paragraphs entirely.
Clarity comes with simple words and short sentences.
The average sentence contains about 15 to 20 words, sometimes a lot less. This does not mean making every sentence the same length; you can vary your writing by mixing short sentences with longer ones. Most long sentences can be broken up in some way. Aiming for one main idea in a sentence will automatically enable you keep to the average sentence length.
Cut out unnecessary words and phrases. Instead of, I’m quite confident and definitely believe that the event will be a very successful one’ write, ‘I’m confident the event will succeed.’ The second sentence is both shorter and stronger.
Instead of, ‘I would be extremely grateful if you could take the time to send me …’ write, ‘Please could you send me …’
Provide information and get your facts straight
Although less is more when it comes to communicating, don’t take being concise too far; there’s no need for your written communications to read like a text! Make sure that you include enough detail for your reader to get the message, and that you come across politely, not abruptly.
Start with the relevant information: mention any correspondence the other person has sent you or conversations you’ve had in relation to what you are writing about. For example, rather than start an email with, ‘Hello Kirsty. Attached are details for an idea for a new book’ it would be better to write, ‘Hello Kirsty. I spoke to you on the phone last week about an idea for a new book. I have attached details.’
Do keep related information together. Don’t move on to another point until you’ve finished the last, and resist the urge to move back and forth between topics or issues, otherwise you’ll come across as rambling and confused.
When you have relevant facts, figures, names, dates and examples, make them known. If you are uncertain, say so. If you are merely speculating, say so, so that your reader does not think you know more than you do. Check what you have before you send it, to save the embarrassment of correcting a mistake the reader later brings to your attention.
Spellcheck and reference books such as dictionaries and grammar guides will help you write with correct spelling, punctuation, grammar and formatting. The facts, however, are yours alone. Letters and emails are permanent records, so information, supporting points and facts must be correct.
Examples make the link faster
If you put forward an idea, always follow it up with an example, to help the reader understand what you mean. ‘I think we could do with some fresh perspectives’ could be followed with, ‘We could, for example, invite the interns to the meetings and ask for their ideas.’
Mind your language
Who will read your message? Is it targeted at senior managers, family, a friend, or a small group of archaeologists? Whoever you’re writing to, it’s important to use language that’s inclusive – that anyone can understand.
In written communication, use a conversational, yet respectful, tone and try to phrase things in a similar way to how you’d actually say them. This doesn’t mean using slang or jargon, but there’s no need to use stiff, overly formal language. Chances are, you’re not a nineteenth-century scholar, so don’t write like one. Avoid overly formal terms like ‘hereto’, ‘as per’ and ‘herewith’.
You should avoid using jargon and slang. Jargon is similar to slang – jargon uses words and phrases which are unique to a small group of people, usually in a particular job or profession, as a kind of shorthand, to express ideas and issues. Most of the time, jargon evolves because the people in a certain job use words and terms which don’t mean much to people not working in that profession or particular job.
Such jargon is fine if every reader (or listener) understands it. Typically, though, it is a barrier to clear communication. (It can even be a way of deliberately excluding or confusing others.)
For example, a reference to a ‘CPN’ (community psychiatric nurse) or to ‘meds’ (medication) or ‘Obs’ (Obstetrics) will make sense to a healthcare professional, but if the reader doesn’t come from a health background the writer needs to explain the reference. Always put yourself in the place of the reader and, if there’s any doubt, explain the jargon in plain English.
Jargon is fine when it represents a concise way of saying something to people who can make sense of it, but not when it’s a substitute for easily understood words.
Using gobbledygook, such as ‘comfort break’ rather than ‘break’, ‘blue-sky thinking’ for ‘clear thinking’, ‘citizen empowerment’ for ‘people power’ or ‘slippage’ rather than ‘delay’, is not good English either. It’s unnatural and contrived, and is difficult to understand.
Finally, when thinking about the words and phrases you include, avoid using condescending or patronising language. Cut out phrases such as, ‘As I’m sure you’re aware …’ or ‘Of course, you must know …’ Always assume that the recipient is intelligent but uninformed, not stupid.
Since 1979, the Plain English Campaign (www.plainenglish.co.uk) has been campaigning against gobbledygook, jargon and misleading public information.
They define plain English as ‘writing that the intended audience can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it’. They also describe plain English as ‘a message, written with the reader in mind and with the right tone of voice, that is clear and concise’.
The Plain English Campaign has helped many government departments and other official organisations make sure their public information is as clear as possible.
Everybody understands words that apply to everyday life, so use everyday words and your reader will understand you.
Three grammar rules it’s (sometimes) OK to break
Grammar is one of those things that, when not used correctly, can make you look very stupid very quickly.
That’s not to say that all grammar rules are written in stone; there are times when they may be broken. But only sometimes. Do not think you can break the rules all the time − only when they make a sentence flow better.
Here are three grammar rules it’s OK to break, sometimes.
You can start a sentence with a conjunction. Somebody, somewhere, once decided that you shouldn’t begin sentences with conjunctions. But you can start a sentence with and, but, however, so or because. (‘Because she didn’t like spinach, he never bought it.’) It’s a great way to grab attention and emphasise a point. (Watch the film Finding Forrester. Sean Connery and Rob Brown’s characters have an entire conversation about it, and deliberately start their sentences with the offending words in order to make their points.)
You can split infinitives. So you can say ‘to boldly go’. ‘To go boldly where no man has gone before’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it as ‘to boldly go’. In other words, if you know what you are doing and you try the phrase the correct way and it sounds daft then it is fine to split infinitives.
You can end a sentence with a preposition. In English, the most used prepositions are of, to, in, for, with and on. A preposition indicates a relation between things mentioned in a sentence. For example, ‘Who did you go with?’ sounds less formal and more conversational than ‘With whom did you go?’
Remember, this does not mean you should break rules all the time − only when they make a sentence flow better. As my friend Sue, an English teacher, explains, ‘Breaking the rules should never be an excuse for sloppy English – but a deliberate decision because it sounds better than using it the “correct” way or because it is the effect you want to achieve.’
Write actively
Aim to use an active voice; you will come across as clear and professional rather than stuffy and formal. Having an active voice means using active verbs.
What’s the difference between active and passive verbs? This is best explained by understanding how a sentence fits together. There are three main parts to almost every sentence:
- a subject (the person, group or thing doing the action)
- a verb (the action itself)
- an object (the person, group or thing that the action is done to).
To give an example, in the sentence ‘Amy peeled an apple’ the subject is Amy (she is doing the peeling); the verb is peeling; and the object is the apple (it is being peeled).
There could be lots of other words as well. For example, ‘Amy, the girl I sat next to in class, always peeled her apple before she ate it.’ But the subject, verb and object are still there.
With an active verb, the three parts appear in a specific order: subject then verb then object. For example, ‘Amy (subject) peeled (verb) the apple (object).’ ‘Peeled’ is an active verb here. In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action. In active sentences, people do things; they act and interact. An active sentence is simple and brief, describing who acts and how.
With a passive verb, the order is reversed – object then verb then subject. ‘The apple (object) was peeled (verb) by Amy (subject).’ ‘Peeled’ is a passive verb here. The sentence says what is being peeled before it says who is doing the peeling. The words was and by have appeared and the sentence doesn’t flow as well.
In ‘The solicitor represented her client’ the verb ‘represented’ is in the active voice, but in the sentence ‘The client was represented by his solicitor’ the phrase ‘was represented by’ is passive.
Overleaf are some more examples of how to turn a passive verb into an active verb.
The computer was fixed by Anne. (passive) Anne fixed the computer. (active)
This matter will be considered by us shortly. (passive) We will consider this matter shortly. (active)
The source of your problem has been determined. (passive) We have found what caused your problem. (active)
Passive verbs make sentences long-winded. Also, the passive voice is vague and evasive, making your reader uncertain who is doing what. An active voice is more lively and to the point. It’s also easier to write and understand.
Good uses of the passive voice
There are times, though, when it is appropriate to use a passive voice. For example, to avoid taking the blame − ‘a mistake was made’ (passive) rather than ‘I made a mistake’ (active). Or, to avoid appearing too harsh − ‘this bill has not been paid’ (passive) is less abrupt and accusatory than ‘you have not paid this bill’ (active).
This difference between active and passive verbs is not easy to grasp: just aim to sound natural and conversational and, nine times out of ten, you’ll get it right.
Be positive and upbeat
Do you use negative language and phrases? If so, aim to use constructive, positive language. Words and phrases that affect your reader positively will help them to respond positively, whereas writing with a negative attitude is likely to generate resistance and defensiveness.
Positive language
It is not uncommon for organisations to send letters that are phrased in negative language.
We are writing to inform you that we are unable to process your application, since you have neglected to provide all the relevant information.
You will need to complete ALL sections of the attached form and return it to this office within the next 14 days, to avoid unnecessary delay to your registration.
This is overly formal. It’s negative; it implies wrongdoing on the part of the recipient instead of suggesting what they can do to fix the problem. All the information is included, but it comes across as abrupt and formal.
Here is the message again. It contains the same information, but is written in a more positive way – upbeat and helpful.
Thank you for your application. To complete registration, we need some additional information. If you return the attached form, with the highlighted areas filled in, we will be able to send you your registration papers within two weeks. We look forward to hearing from you.
Positive phrasing and language:
- tells the reader what can be done rather than what can’t be done
- suggests alternatives and choices
- sounds helpful and encouraging rather than formal and abrupt
- emphasises positive actions and positive consequences.
Avoid using negative words and phrases. Here are a few common examples.
Words that imply fault:
you didn’t
you overlooked
you neglected to include
you failed to provide
Phrases that suggest the person is not being honest:
you claim that …
you say that …
Domineering phrases:
you should …
you ought to …
you must …
I must insist …
I expect you to …
unless you …
Uncooperative words:
can’t
won’t
shan’t
mustn’t
haven’t
Cut out negative words and phrases and replace them with more positive messages. For example:
‘If you can send me … I can complete the process for you.’
‘One possibility is for you to …’
‘I can help you to … if you can send me …’
‘I would like …’
‘If you would like …’
‘I will be able to …’
Even if the message you have to convey is negative, you can soften its impact – you don’t have to be heartless. Common techniques of doing this include using the positive form of a sentence. For example, instead of saying, ‘You can’t work on Project A’ a more positive message is, ‘You can work on Project B.’
Instead of, ‘I won’t know until tomorrow’ write, ‘I will know tomorrow.’
Your writing should encourage your reader to respond positively. To maintain positivity, suggest possible actions rather than lengthy explanations, excuses and too many apologies. People don’t want to know what you can’t do – they want to know what you can do. Focus on that.
Remember, your aim is to be understood and to get your reader to respond in the way you hope. Negative language is, at best, demotivating and uninspiring; at its worst it can create the wrong response: hostility or confrontation. Positive writing is constructive – it encourages interest, a will to understand and a positive response.
Don’t avoid negative words completely, however. Negative language has its place. For example, ‘Drive sober’ just doesn’t have the same impact as ‘Don’t drive drunk’.
Think about what you write and eventually your thoughts, speech and behaviour will become as positive as your language.
Go back over a few recent letters and emails you have written. Read through each one highlighting sentences that come across as negative. See if you can reword negative statements and phrases to make them positive.
In future, review what you write before you send it. Written communications are the simplest place to start building a more positive vocabulary because, unlike speech, you can edit what you say. Once you have developed the knack of writing positively, it will be easier to change your spoken language to be more positive.
Collect examples of good writing – what do you like and dislike? Don’t just look at the content (the words and phrases that are used). Look at the layout too. What makes something easy to read?
Structure and layout
The right use of words and sentences, grammar and language helps to make it easy for the reader to read, and for you to get your message across. How your writing is structured can either help or hinder. Here are some ideas for structure and layout that will help you.
- Use one idea for each paragraph. Don’t confuse the reader, or yourself, by including more than one point in a paragraph. Prioritise the most important points and put them in a logical order.
- Use plenty of white space to organise text. Avoid long, dense paragraphs – they can be very intimidating and discourage the reader. Remember, you want to make it easy for the reader.
- Use headings to divide the text into logical sections. This makes it easier for the reader to quickly scan and get an overview. It also helps the reader to reread and easily find the relevant information.
- Use bullet points to identify key points. This is another good way to separate out ideas and information. However, avoid bullet points when you need to deal with a sensitive issue. Bullets communicate efficiency rather than warmth.
- Use bold type, italics or underlining for emphasis (but don’t overdo it).
Be more aware of everything you read; look out for good and bad examples of writing. Practise writing clearly and concisely. Use positive, inclusive language. You will soon find it quick and easy to produce natural, accurate, fluent text that will get your message across and be easy for your reader to understand. And if your reader can understand and respond, then your writing has been successful!