Eclectic Communications Blog

Hello Arctic Co-op Participants,

Thanks for the great session!

The Purdue Online Writing Lab is the resource I recommended in class. It’s a great online source for grammar and usage.

Best of luck!
Marie

Have you ever read the introduction to a letter, only to find that it doesn’t relate well – if at all – to the rest of the it? It’s always an unwelcome surprise.

In business letters, the goal is not to surprise readers; the goal is to inform them. This giving of information begins in the introduction, not in the body of the letter.

To create effective introductions, follow these two steps:

1. Set the situation. By setting the situation, you are answering the question: What happened to bring me to write this letter?
2. Give the message. The question you want to answer now is: What is the rest of the letter going to do?

Here’s a sample introduction that sets the situation and gives the message:

Thank you for your response to our proposal. We are happy to inform you that we have chosen your company. Here are some details you will need before we can move forward.

Notice how short this introduction is. Two guidelines that you want to follow are:

• Remove bulky phrases. Bulky phrases include: I am writing this letter in receipt of… or This letter is in acknowledgment of…

• Keep the introduction at 2-3 sentences maximum.

One last element to consider is whether you are writing a letter that gives positive news or negative news. If the main message of the letter is negative, you need to avoid giving the no/not/negative word in the introduction.

It’s important that the introduction remain neutral in a negative letter so that your reader will not toss the letter away immediately. Get the reader’s interest in the opening, and then in the first line of the second sentence, give your no/not/negative word.

For example:

Thank you for your application. We received inquiries from many excellent candidates, and we have made our decision.

At this time, we can’t offer you the position of communications liaison. However, there is another position that we encourage you to apply for…

Hello City of Calgary Participants!

As promised, here are the two book titles by June Casagrande…

• Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite
• Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs – Even If You’re Right

Enjoy!

Many things influence whether or not you express numbers in figures or in words. Sometimes it’s your profession, and sometimes it’s the editing style of your organization.

Here are some common number usage guidelines to follow in order to produce consistent documents.

When to use figures:

• in numbers 10 and above
He signed 14 copies of the document.

• for reporting sport scores
The team won with a score of 8 – 12.

• in cases when there are large and small numbers in one list
On our cycling trip we covered 9 km the first day, 13 km the second day, and 21 km the third day.

When to spell out numbers:

• in numbers from 0 – 9
I bought three new chairs for the conference room.

• at the start of a sentence
Twenty-four managers made it to the training session.

• in fractions below 1
He has a five-eighths share of the company earnings.

• in approximations
There were approximately a hundred people at the conference.

Hello U of W Students!

Here is the excerpt from George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language, written in 1946.

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.

These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.

Visuals are important to a presentation because they allow you to emphasis the main points to your audience both orally and visually. And using PowerPoint as a presentation tool can do that for you; however, misusing the tool can also kill your presentation. Consider these five comments your audience might say if you use PowerPoint as an ineffective presentation tool.

1. I could have just requested a copy of the slides.

You are the presentation – not your PowerPoint slides. Use the slides to support your main points and avoid using them to repeat verbatim what you are saying. Support what you say by including key words or phrases, charts and graphs, tables, illustrations, and pictures in your slides.

2. I came here to listen to a presentation not read one.

Make cue cards for yourself; don’t put them up on the slides. When there is too much text, your audience will stop listening and just read. The focus will not be on you, but rather on the text on your slides. People remember visuals over words.

3. I don’t understand how this relates to the presentation.

Make sure you have a clear objective for your presentation and ensure that each slide says something related to that objective. Take the time to plan your presentation by identifying your main points, planning and researching your information, organizing the content, and preparing an outline. As you are creating your presentation, use your outline to stay focused on your objective. You will then be less likely to have irrelevant information in your PowerPoint presentation.

4. I can’t focus on the slide, it’s just too busy.

Design a standard look for your slides. Create a simple template that contains the colours and design elements you will use. The billboard test is a great way to ensure you’ve created an effective slide. Ask yourself – if this slide were a billboard, could people understand it while they drove by?

5. There is just too much to remember. I can’t retain anything.

Remember that when it comes to creating PowerPoint slides, less is more. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too much information. Focus on 3-5 main points throughout your presentation and your audience will most likely remember what you said. When designing a PowerPoint presentation, follow the 10-20-30 rule – no more than 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes, and no less than 30 size font.

Hello MIT Participants,

Here is the information on the book that I had mentioned in class – Hypnotic Writing: How to Seduce and Persuade Customers with Only Your Words – by Joe Vitale.

I also suggest – The Language of Success – by Tom Sant. This book focuses more on general business writing rather than sales writing.

Good luck with your proposals!
Marie

Continual and continuous can’t be used interchangeably. While some people consistently use continuous, other people consistently use continual. For the most part, it’s because they don’t realize that there is another similar word to use, or they have forgotten that it exists.

Let’s examine the difference:

Continual means to repeat frequently, often in succession.
Continuous means to occur without interruption.

Remember that this difference applies to continually and continuously as well. Here are some examples:

The continual showers during the week delayed the office picnic. (The rain would begin, then end, then begin again…)
The continuous flow of information has been a great help. (The information came all at once without any interruption.)

Here are a few more samples:

His colleague’s continuous finger tapping drove him nuts.
The continual repairs at street level were distracting to the office staff.
The phone rang continually throughout the day.
She cried continuously after hearing she would be laid off.

Keep in mind that if you use the wrong word, you may be giving the wrong message to your reader.

Hello MHCA Participants,

Here are the plain language bylaws the City of Calgary has put together.

And remember, email me any questions you have in the coming weeks as you start writing documents that create impact and show results!