Tips for Effective Writing

The first thing I was taught in my Technical Communication and Business communication classes during my graduation is to use simple and short sentences in formal writing. Though it is widely recommended, its need not to be always necessary. Too many short, simple sentences will suck the essence of  a writing, giving a choppy effect on readers. So, here are few suggestions to help you write better.

Vary the sentence length, type, and beginning

Like it was said earlier short sentences can be forceful. Say, 'Bob is 22. He lives in London. His friend Mike also lives in London...'. Each sentence when considered individually looks fine but fails to make a fair impression when read cummulatively. Sentence length and type can be varied by saying 'Bod and his friend live in London'.

Usually, sentences used in Active voice have subjects at its beginning so that subjects get stressed. Sometimes vary beginning of middle sentences in a paragraph by starting with adverb/adjective clauses, shiting word order etc. Instead of saying, 'Assembly session has been extended to pass pending bills.', where extending assembly is stressed, one can say 'To pass pending bills, the Assembly has been extended', where stress is given to pending bills. So choose among possible variations that best fits the context.

Use Coordination

Combine related independent sentences with coordinate conjunctions to form compound sentences. 

Ex: 'The factory shut-downed. Its licence has to be revoked' can be changed to 'The factory shutdowned , for its license to be revoked'

One longer sentence reads more smoothly than the two shorter ones. But using too many conjunctions in a single sentence nullifies the improvement that one get over avoiding short sentences.

Use Compounding

Sentences having same subjects or same verbs can be combined into a sentence having compound subject/predicate. 

Ex: 'He left Microsoft last month. He now works at Google' can be changed to 'He left Microsoft last month and now works at Google'

Use Subordination (important)

While combining sentences, we can emphasize one sentence by subordinating the other, reducing it to a dependent clause. This helps us to represent the relation between ideas more clearly than by coordination or compounding. Subordinating can be done with adjective clauses, adverb clauses, or noun clauses.

Ex: 

(weak)        - They signed an agreement. This agreement ended their partnership.
(Moderate) - They signed an agreement and ended their partnership.
(Strong)   - They signed an agreement which ended their partnership. (stresses act of signing agreement) or The agreement that they signed ended their partnership. (stresses ending agreement)

Above example is strengthened by adjective clause subordination. Subordinating is considered as one of the important skills required for good writing.

Eliminate Redundancy
Avoid using needless words whenever possible.
Ex: 'The person who is holding Nations flag is the Captain' can be reduced to ' The person holding the Nations flag is the captain.'

Use Parallel Structures
Use uniform structures when comparing multiple coordinative/correlative expressions.
Ex: 
(wrong) - President is coming to visit city's museum (verb + noun), its historic monuments (noun) and hear the symphony (verb + noun).
(Right)  - President is coming to visit the city for its museum, historic monuments, and symphony (all nouns).

(wrong) - The report was more critical than it offered solutions.
(Right)   - The report offered more criticism than solutions.

Be concise and clear, and maintain a consistent tone throughout your writing

Avoid the following
1. Incomplete  Comparisons or Expression of degree

    (wrong) - The test was so difficult.

    (right)    - The test was so difficult that everyone failed.

    (wrong) - Train fare is cheaper than bus. (comparing price with bus)

    (right)    - Train fare is cheaper than bus fare.

2. Needless shifts in number, person, subject/verb

    (wrong) - If a person works hard, they will succeed.

                    or If a person works hard, you will succeed.

    (right)    - If a person works hard, he/she will succeed. 

                    or If people work hard, they will succeed.

3. Mixed construction, subject and predicate should be matched both grammatically and logically. 

    (wrong) - He asked when did they leave (direct order in indirect question form)

    (right)    - He asked when they left (indirect question form)

    (right)    - He asked, "when did they leave?" (direct question form)

    (wrong) - My favourite pastime was at the movies. (pastime is not a plane)

    (right)   - My favourite pastime was going to the movies.

That all for this post, thanks for reading. Also refer to Power Vocab-Jul 13 issue