Found Around—Random Writing Tip 1: Preview Your Abbreviations!

Whenever using abbreviations, think of whether the intended readers will understand your shortcut. But how should you know what they know? Here's a test to help you reflect on the answer to this question. How many of the abbreviations in the list below can you identify?

1. USA
2. FBI
3. MoMA
4. WTP

I would bet my house that 90% of earthlings over 18 who can read English would correctly identify the answer to number 1 as the United States of America.

I would lower the stakes by betting only my best suit, and lower the percentage and narrow the population to only 50% of US English-reading citizens over 18 who could identify number 2 as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I feel confident that more than 50% of this group recognize FBI, but fewer would correctly term the spelled-out version. Therefore, I would introduce the term as follows: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), if I were writing to a non-US government  audience, but I would not spell out the agency if I were writing for the popular US press.

I would further cut the stakes to merely my favorite book, and lower the percentage population to no more than 20% of English-reading New Yorkers over 18 who could identify number 3 as the Museum of Modern Art—even though MoMA is in New York City. My experience tells me that more out-of-towners than locals go to this museum. Thus, I would spell out MoMA anywhere outside the fine arts world.

Finally, I would hike the stakes to my car but reduce the numbers to 33% of employees of New York City Department of Environmental Protection who could identify the fourth abbreviation as wastewater treatment plant. Why that low when the Department of Environment Protection is responsible for operating wastewater treatment plans? Because  the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment is only one of nine operating divisions in a bureaucracy of 6,000 specialized employees. So I would spell out WTP for virtually anyone but American environmental engineers.

Of course, I could be wrong about my estimates, but you get my point. Think about who gets the message before you abbreviate.

Writing in Plain Language, Part 9: Word Choice

"Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent." George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, 1946.

Commercial, government, and political offices would do well to take George Orwell's advice if they want their clients, stakeholders, and constituents to understand their messages.

Here is a story to illustrate Orwell's point. An employee of a major municipality wrote to a concerned citizen this sentence:

We will ameliorate the condition on your street within one week.   

I had a hunch that the problem in question would be eliminated completely, which is not what ameliorate means. So I gave the writer a list of six words in this order:

1. remedy
2. fix
3. ameliorate
4. rectify
5. restore
6. correct

I asked her to organize them from most to least understandable to the average reader. This is how and why she ordered them:

1. fix, because it's a small word that beginning readers learn.
2. correct, because first graders hear the words correct and incorrect when responding to their teacher's questions.
3. remedy, because children hear the word in relation to medication given to them.
4. restore, because it's used more often than the remaining two words.
5. rectify, because it's used more often than the remaining word.
6. ameliorate, because it is used the least.

I said I agreed with her order and then asked her if the six words are synonyms. After she said yes, I looked up ameliorate at oxforddictionaries.com, which defined it as:

Make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better.

My point was to make her see that simpler words are not only more understandable, they are often more accurate. Ameliorate might be a fancy word, but it did not say what she meant. Better to heed Orwell's tip about choosing an everyday word.

Writing in Plain Language, Part 8: Parallel Structure

Writing in plain language requires not only clarity and conciseness, but consistency too. Parallel structure, the expression of like ideas in grammatically and conceptually consistent terms, is a key for keeping words, phrases, clauses, and lists accurate, clear, and concise. The examples below show how using parallel structure improves messages.

Word
Nonparallel: Amy studies, plays, and likes socializing.
Parallel:  Amy studies, plays, and socializes.

Phrase
Nonparallel: Bjartur analyzed the data, was writing the report, and presented the results.
Parallel: Bjartur analyzed the data, wrote the report, and presented the results.

Clause
Nonparallel: Carol is designing the project, and it is being managed by Delano.
Parallel: Carol designs the project, and Delano manages it.

List
Nonparallel: The inspection team identified the following performance deficiencies:

• Insufficient security staff
• The quality of the materials is poor
• Production staff need to be trained
• Are the deadlines being met?

Parallel: The inspection team identified the following performance deficiencies:

• insufficient security staff
• poor material quality
• ineffective production staff
• missed deadlines

Writing in Plain Language, Part 7: Active Voice

I have said plenty about active and passive voice in this blog, explaining that active is not necessarily passive, when active is preferable, and when passive is. I have even referred to Shakespeare to illustrate how effective passive voice can be.


But it's safe to say that active voice is more transparent to readers who are unfamiliar with the workings of a bureaucracy communicating with them. Here is an example of employment application instructions from a federal agency:

Passive: Once the application is received, it will be reviewed, and notification will be made of the decision.

Active: Human Resources will notify you of our decision on your application.

The passive voice sentence has three passive verbs: is received, will be reviewed, and will be made. It focuses more on process than results. Once the application is received is too obvious to mention. The same goes for it will be reviewed. If they will inform someone of the decision, then they must have reviewed the application. Then comes the problem of unknown doers and receivers. Who will review the application and who will they notify of the decision? The verb will be made makes those points unclear.

The active voice sentence focuses on results, which is what the reader wants to know. It also clarifies who are the doers (Human Resources) and receiver (you). For these reasons, active voice preferable.

Most businesses are by nature technical, convoluted, and confusing. Our job is to protect our readers from those ambiguities. That's why active voice helps writers to express their business in plain language.

Writing in Plain Language, Part 6: Clipped Sentences

Writing in plain language requires a fluency similar to what we expect to hear in an articulate conversation. The last WORDS ON THE LINE post noted that overlong, convoluted sentences pose fluency problems. So do short, choppy ones. Here is an example of first-draft clipped sentences:

We came to a decision this morning. The decision was about new applicants. The decision applies to the Westchester office only. This is because of the technical skills needed of the Westchester office staff. All applicants for the Westchester office must submit GMAT or GRE quantitative results. In lieu of submitting these results, they may take an internal analytical test. This test will be administered by Quality Assurance.

This draft uses 7 sentences for its 68 words, yet it is stating only 6 ideas:

1. We made a decision this morning.
2. The decision concerned new Westchester applicants.
3. Westchester applicant need technical skills.
4. These applicants must submit GMAT or GRE quantitative results.
5. They may substitute these results by taking an analytical test.
6. The analytical test will be administered by Quality Assurance.

Employing the same method as we used for overlong sentences, we start with the most important point, ordering subordinate points where they best fit. Here is one way of editing the paragraph:

This morning we decided to assess the needed technical skills of Westchester office applicants by requiring them to submit their GMAT or GRE quantitative results or to take an analytical test administered by Quality Assurance.

This 35-word sentence has at least three benefits. First, it eliminates the word count by 33 words, nearly half. Second, it organizes the ideas in an understandable order, thereby increasing readability. Finally, it "sounds" natural, much like the speech pattern of an articulate speaker.

Writing in Plain Language, Part 5: Runaway Sentences

Fluency is a common first-draft problem. Most people think of nonfluent writing as choppy, awkward, disconnected phrasing from people who are unschooled in composing with a graceful style. But fluency can also result from overlong, convoluted constructions written by overeducated people who use a style unfit for the message they are conveying. Here is an example from the middle of an article in the New York Times, which is widely praised for a high-quality writing style:

On Tuesday, three days after the plane disappeared while on an overnight flight to Beijing, General Rodzali was quoted in a Malaysian newspaper as saying the military received signals on Saturday that after the aircraft stopped communicating with ground controllers, it turned from heading northeast to heading west, lowered its altitude and flew hundreds of miles across Peninsular Malaysia and out of the Strait of Malacca before the tracking went blank. ("Radar Blips Baffle Officials in Malaysian Jet Inquiry" by Thomas Fuller and Michael Forsythe, New York Times, March 12, 2014)

The problem with this sentence is not so much its 71-word length as its packing of at least 16 ideas, depending on how you count:

1. General Rodzali was quoted on Tuesday.
2. General Rodzali was quoted in a Malaysian newspaper.
3. General Rodzali was quoted three days after the plane disappeared.
4. The plane disappeared while on an overnight flight.
5. The plane was heading to Beijing.
6. General Rodzali was quoted as saying the military received signals.
7. The signals received were on Saturday.
8. The signals said that tracking of the plane went blank.
9. The tracking went blank after the aircraft stopped communicating with ground controllers.
10. The aircraft stopped communicating with ground controllers.
11. The aircraft turned from heading northeast.
12. The aircraft then headed west.
13. The aircraft lowered its altitude.
14. The aircraft flew hundreds of miles.
15. The aircraft flew across Peninsular Malaysia.
16. The aircraft flew out of the Strait of Malacca.

Many people cannot recall their mobile phone number, let alone 16 ideas they are reading for the first time. The ways to rewrite this sentence are nearly infinite, but the best way for purposeful writers to edit it is to start with the point that matters most to them. Here is one possibility:

Three days after the incident, a Malaysian newspaper quoted General Rodzali on Tuesday as saying the military received signals when the plane disappeared on a Saturday overnight flight to Beijing. The report states after the aircraft stopped communicating with ground controllers, it turned from heading northeast to heading west, lowered its altitude and flew hundreds of miles across Peninsular Malaysia and out of the Strait of Malacca before tracking went blank.

The original one 71-word sentence has become two sentences totaling 71 words (30 and 41). The word count is not the big deal. But the revision separates the Malaysian newspaper's quoting of the general from the detailed events of the aircraft, making the reading more understandable.

When editing a  convoluted sentence, separate the ideas you are advancing based on the keys points of your message. Your communication will seem plainer and more digestible. 

Writing in Plain Language, Part 4: Thoughtful Transitions

Plain language requires transitions to link ideas in guiding readers across the writer's narrative line or logical path. Transitions can be words, phrases, clauses, sentences, or paragraphs. Here are examples of all five, with the transition in italics. 

Word: They submitted the proposal late; however, it is complete, organized, and concise.

Phrase: The information in the proposal is useful. For this reason, we might make an exception to the deadline date.

Clause: Since the proposal addresses our concerns, we accept it with minor modifications.

Sentence: We will pilot the proposal in our Seattle facility. The Seattle management team is uniquely qualified and positioned to plan, launch, monitor, modify, and assess the performance of this initiative. The project launch meeting is scheduled for July 2.

Paragraph: ... The project launch meeting is scheduled for July 2.

The launch meeting will have two objectives. First, the executive office and Seattle management team will establish the project critical path method, including tasks, disciplines, supervision, timeline, milestones, reporting, and budget. Second, the Firm will determine the necessary staff, vendors, production orders, and organizational processes to complete the project within the budget and by the deadline.    

If the project works well, we will roll it out to our Oakland, Tampa, and New York facilities. ...

Without the italicized transitions, these ideas would fall short of clear communication. Writing in plain language goes far beyond choosing the simpler word and shorter sentence; it demands that we connect one idea to another to provide cogent analyses and focused arguments.