Written Communication Style and Composition

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Written Communication Style and Composition

• Mr. Jonathan Worley, j.worley_at_smucb.ac.uk
• Senior Lecturer in Written Communications
• St. Marys University College
• Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
  (NI) Critical Thinking and Analytical Writing

• Senior Secretarial Skills Programme

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Plan for the Day

• IntroductionMeaning v. Accuracy
• Exercise Correct a Letter
• Weapons in your Arsenal
• Common Misunderstandings
• Extrinsic and Intrinsic Genre
• Sentence Accuracy and Style
• The Writing Process
• The Paragraph
• Clarification Revision, Editing, Proofreading

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Introduction

• Making Meaning, Making Errors

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Everywhere I see problems with writing. . . .
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What are we to make of them?
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Students these days cant write! If I have to
correct one more apostrophe in a student essay,
Im going to scream. It doesnt matter what you
say as long as you say it well. We regularly
filled up a lecture theatre with adult learners
who wanted to study grammar, but tests given at
the end of the course showed that their writing
had not improved one bit. The apostrophe as a
requirement of formal writing is rapidly on the
way out. Two points off for every grammar
error! I was never taught grammar in school.
Smart, successful graduate student I still have
no idea where to put commas. A recent graduate
who came to work at our business cannot even
write a business letter and their reports have to
be rigorously reviewed for grammatical errors.
Im embarrassed to have to point them out, and
they are embarrassed that they dont know them.
There are significant grammar errors here, but
lets ignore them for now. Students were given
two weeks to proofread the final draft of their
essay. 80 of the students made no changes at
all, even though their essay was being penalized
for grammatical errors. We just have to wean
out the weak students. Students who make
grammar errors can be given a series of
handouts.Students who come to college or
university should already know how to write its
not our job to teach these students how to
write. I keep giving students general advice on
how to write an essay, but they dont follow it!
Some good points. You need to go to the writing
centre, though, to get rid of your grammatical
errors. Our business doesnt need any
instruction in grammar. Most information is cut
and pasted from documents already in the
computer. We need to get rid of that writing
teacher who doesnt teach any grammar! It matters
more what you are trying to say than how you say
it. This piece of writing is a piece of shite,
and I dont give a shite hi jonathon can I
have na extension on my essay e-mail. You are
such a pedant when it comes to grammar! They went
to the writing centre, and theyre still making
grammar errors.
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The Message

• The most important aspect of writing is genuine
  communication.
• However, the way you write may interfere with
  meaning
• You may be misunderstood.
• You may amuse or annoy others with your errors.
• Your style may work against you.

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Grammar v. Style

• Grammar is about right and wrong
• Grammar
• Syntax (sentence structure)
• Spelling
• Usage
• Mechanics (manuscript form, punctuation,
  capitalisation)

• Style is about choice
• Word Choices
• Sentence Choices
• Tone, Voice
• Audience
• Genre
• Figurative Language
• Structural Choices
• Not right and wrong but good better, best.
  Edward P. J. Corbett

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Two Kinds of Errors

• Appearance Errors -gt You are a sloppy dresser!
  (2,3,4,5,6,8,9,11,12,13)
• Meaning Errors -gt 1,7,10,15,16) Errors
  directly and significantly related to making of
  meaning.

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Introductory Anecdote

• And Full-Class Exercise

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Letter from my Sons Football Coaches
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What difficulties do you see with this letter?
Dear Parents, First,of all I hope everyone had a
great christmas and hopefully a new year which
will bring a couple of results for us! Our next
two fixtures are against Springfield Star (13th
January) and Orangefield (20th January), both
10am kick offs at Billy Neil . Apparently these
are our last two remaining games before the
league splits into two sections, with the bottom
half playing each other and the top half playing
for the league title. No fixtures or dates have
been drawn up for this yet but we'll take it as
it comes. When the league splits an important
change will be made to the rules of the game, the
offside rule is introduced. For us to teach kids
this offside rule in a matter of weeks is a
nightmare and so we have been feeding them the
offside rule gently as the season has went on
which has cost us a few goals. It would certainly
help if you the parents could help with the
explaination of 'offside' at home when
thefootball is on Sky Sports or Match of the Day,
just thebasics to get it into the minds and then
we can putthem through practice in traini ng.
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Sixteen Common Grammatical Errors Or Sixteen
Ways to Lose Your Reader
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Weapons in Your Arsenal

• Understanding Common Misunderstandings
• Or
• Rules that you Never Should Have Learned

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Never put a comma before and.

• On my pizza I favor squid, seaweed, hot peppers,
  anchovies, and goats cheese.
• On my pizza I favour squid, seaweed, hot peppers,
  anchovies and goats cheese.
• Your taste in pizza is European, and mine is
  American.
• Your taste is your taste and my taste is my taste.

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Never begin a sentence with because.

• Why cant I go out to play? Because I said so!
• Because I said so, you cant go out to play.

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Never use I.

• I would like to invite you to dinner.
• We would like to invite you to dinner/
• On behalf of George Bush, I would like to invite
  you to dinner.
• You are invited to dinner.
• Queens University invites you to dinner.

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Never use I(Scholarly Setting)

• I think Wordsworths poems display originality.
• Wordsworths poems display originality.
• Scholars disagree whether Wordsworths poems
  express originality.
• In this essay, we will discuss Wordsworths
  originality.
• Wordsorths originality will be discussed.
• This essay will explore Wordsworths originality.
• Wordsworths originality shines out in every
  poem.
• One thinks Wordsworths poems are original.

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Any other burning questions?
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Weapons in Your Arsenal

• Recognizing Genre

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Genre

• Extrinisic Genre A particular kind of writing
  that has a set of expectations tacitly agreed
  between reader and writer.
• Intrinsic Genre Unique to each piece of writing
  but operating under extrinisic genre assumptions.

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Proposal
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Technical
Report
Technical
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Navy Team Public Affairs Crisis Response
Recovery Operations for Trans World Airline
Flight 800 Background Research One of the
basic tenets of Department of Defense public
affairs is maximum disclosure with minimum delay.
Navy Team Public Affairs specialists know that
accidents involving a death or serious injury
adds a special set of concerns. Personal privacy
and sensitivity for victims and their families
tempers our response. We are familiar with
crisis operations. Team Public Affairs has
responded to the exceedingly challenging
environment of crisis ... where initial details
are sketchy first reports are wrong the demand
for information is overwhelming and
satellite-bounced broadcast news slices through
the time between accident and first report. But
nothing could prepare us completely for the crash
of Trans World Airline's Flight 800 in July
1996. There was almost no time for research.
Team Public Affairs relied heavily on lessons
learned from the past, even though the past
wasn't an exact fit. We quickly decided that a
look at the environment Team Public Affairs
specialists would face in the wake of such a
tragedy was a key to our research effort. People
and resources we could use to put a public
relations plan into action were catalogued and
summarized. And then we had to get going.
Out of this environment of chaos certain lessons
from the past turned up once again. These basic
lessons or concepts popped out of our research.
They would later anchor our plan of attack. We
needed to educate target audiences ... audiences
who probably knew little about our capabilities.
Sensitivity and care for the feelings of the
victims' families was paramount. An ongoing
investigation limited what could be released and
determined when information was provided to the
public. Various agencies were involved in crisis
response actions, and coordination of public
relations efforts was a key to successful
communication. The pressure to produce and
release information would be overwhelming at
times. Media from everywhere would swoop in on
the crash site in large numbers, and they would
get and then report bad information. This could
shake public confidence. Our lessons learned
reminded us that anyone involved in this effort
might go from humanitarian status to target for
ridicule and blame. We needed seasoned public
relations professionals on scene ... and on scene
quickly. Our on scene Team Public Affairs
professionals would have public information
release authority. Because the crash site was
remote-and at sea-we needed to bring our own
photo and video capabilities. We would be
capturing and then releasing the images that the
media needed to tell the story.
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Every kind of writing has its own genre (and,
perhaps, sub-genre).

• Example
• Business Letter
• (Request)

• Proper addressing
• Proper salutation or greeting
• Short and to the point
• No digressions
• Tone of competence and energy
• Single-spaced and blocked
• Short paragraphs
• Avoid familiarity
• Avoid colloquial language
• Be careful with jargon

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Intrinsic Genre

• ? Considering Your Audience
• ? Evaluating the Person You Represent
• ? Assessing Tone For 'Friendliness'
• ? Assessing Length
• ? Assessing Urgency of Communication
• ? Assessing Degree of Formality
• ? Adding Evidence and Detail
• ? Don't Overstep Your Boundaries

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As a senior secretary. . .

• What are your responsibilities?

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As a Senior Secretary, you

• May be given more responsibility. over the
  content of documents.
• May have to write on behalf of someone.
• May be the one who takes minutes at high-level
  meetings.
• May have to learn about your mangers or
  bosss style of communication.

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Other Responsibilities. . .
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You may do the following kinds of writing

• Compose business letters on behalf of someone
  else.
• Take dictation.
• Edit academic documents.

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Other Kinds of Writing
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Weapons in Your Arsenal

• The Sentence

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1. Write in complete sentences.
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Whoever thought learning to read and write
would pay off?
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My novels started getting a lot better after I
started using verbs.
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The Sentence

• What is a sentence?

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Definition of a Sentence

• Definition A sentence contains a subject a
  predicate and expresses a complete thought.
  
• n. v.
• Slobodan Milosovic conquered.
• I die.
• Meaning Sentences are about people or things
  doing things.

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Subject/Verb/Object

• Huckleberry hound yo-yos.
• Huckleberry hound yo-yos the yo-yo.
• Huckleberry Hound throws the yo-yo.

Meaning Sentences are about people (or things)
doing things to people (or things).
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Sentence Sense

• Make sure that there are no missing words and
  that the sentence as it stands makes sense.

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Wrong Words, Missing Words, Syntax Errors

• Known that the meeting will be a long one, we
  would like to extend an invitation for you to
  stay overnight.
• Please reply your earliest convenience.
• The calculations for distribution students fine.

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Avoid sentence fragments.

• Bart, the son of Homer.
• No predicate
• Until you are at the end of term.
• Incomplete thought
• Was caught in a compromising position.
• No subject

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Exception!

• Writers sometimes deliberately deploy sentence
  fragments, though rarely, in formal writing
• Examples
• He had had it. Was finished. Kaput. Meaning
  You aspire to be Ernest Hemingway
• Words have a stone-like qualities. Hard.
  Substantial. Smooth or soft. Meaning You are a
  casual literary critic.
• Get lost. Like right now. Okay? Meaning Casual
  conversation from an insecure bully.

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Sentence Meaning and Sentence Style
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The Simple Declarative Sentence has Force

• The dog died.
• I love you.
• The end of the world is here.

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However, too many simple sentences

• Twenty thousand dollars complete the project.
  Funds are not available. We need your help. We
  need 300 pounds. Our reserves are spent. Other
  sources are have been asked.

It sounds like a beginning reader.
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Introductory Elements

• In fact, Christopher Columbus was not the first
  person to discover America.
• When a person is going for a blood test, he or
  she should not eat anything after the midnight of
  the night before.
• Perceiving his error, Hamlet hid the body of
  Polonius underneath the staircase.
• To win, a player must make the first forty moves
  in under two hours.
• Over the river and through the woods, the sled
  went to Grandmothers house.

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Linking Phrases

• Above
• Accordingly
• As previous mentioned
• Consequently
• Therefore
• Thus

• Likewise
• Hence
• Otherwise
• Whereas
• Nevertheless
• Moreover

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Compound Sentences
Making links in a logical way between equal ideas.

• The world is fixed, but it was never broken.
• Life begins at forty, or death begins at forty.
• Theyve stolen his mind, and he wants it back.
• It is only Tuesday, yet it has rained every day
  this week.

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Compound Sentences

• n. v. n. v.
• I went to Xtravision, and I bought a copy of The
  Full Monty.
• Independent clauses joined by a coordinating
  conjunction and, but, or, for, nor, so yet.

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The Language of Linking

• And
• But
• Or
• For
• Nor

• So
• Yet

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Complex Sentences The Language of Logic and
Argument
Meaning Meaning is subordinated or dependent

• Although Dillards does not approach nature in a
  scientific fashion, she grounds her approach on
  observation.
• Dillard grounds her approach on observation
  although she does not approach nature in a
  scientific fashion.
• If insects do not consciously practice altruism,
  they practice it statistically.

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Complex Sentences The Language of Logic and
Argument
Meaning Meaning is subordinated or dependent

• Although Dillards does not approach nature in a
  scientific fashion, she grounds her approach on
  observation.
• Dillard grounds her approach on observation
  although she does not approach nature in a
  scientific fashion.
• If insects do not consciously practice altruism,
  they practice it statistically.

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Complex Sentences The Language of Logic and
Argument
Meaning Meaning is subordinated or dependent

• Although Dillards does not approach nature in a
  scientific fashion, she grounds her approach on
  observation.
• Dillard grounds her approach on observation
  although she does not approach nature in a
  scientific fashion.
• If insects do not consciously practice altruism,
  they practice it statistically.

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Common Subordinating Conjunctions

• after, although, as, as if, as long as, as
  though, because, before, if, in order that,
  provided that, since, so that, than, though,
  unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever,
  while

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Comma Splice - Two Sentences Incorrectly Joined
by a Comma

• New Labour is not new, it only looks new.
• New Labour is not new. It only looks new.
• New Labour is not new because it only looks new .
  (connecting word - subordinating conjunction)
• New Labour is not new, and it only looks new.
  (connecting word coordinating conjunction)
• New Labour is not new it only looks new. (colon
  pay attention to following)
• New Labour is not new Old Tory is not old.
  (semicolon balanced and of equal weight)

Meaning of comma splice (1) you dont know what
you ar doing, (2) You know what you are doing but
you are artsy, (3) you are Imitating breathless
conversation, (4) you mean to say that the Ideas
are so closely related you cant even bear to
have a comma or aconjuction
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Fused SentenceTwo sentences joined together as
one sentence

• Comma Splice
• New Labour is not new, it is Old Tory.
• Fused Sentence
• New Labour is not new it is Old Tory.

Meaning of fused sentence (1)You were going to
make a comma splice error but you forgot the
comma, (2) you are trying imitate
stream-of-consciousness writing like James Joyce
or William Faulkner
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Weapons in Your Arsenal

• Paragraphs
• Logical Units of Writing
• Paragraphs say and do Patricia Belanoff The
  Right Handbook (1993)

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Paragraph Length

• Depends upon type of writing
• v Newspapers
• v Business Letters
• v Report Writing
• v A-level Writing
• v University-Level Writing

Longer
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What should a paragraph do?

• Be Relevant to the Larger Purpose (Thesis
  Statement or Controlling Idea)
• Express and Develop a Topic
• Make use of Evidence to Develop a Topic and/or
  Make use of Arguments to Develop a Topic

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Paragraphs should have

• Unity
• Coherence

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Paragraph with topic sentence first followed by
evidence.
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Paragraph with Argument and Evidence
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Paragraph Lacking Unity
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How to Make a Paragraph Coherent

• Develop in Chronological Order
• Develop in Spatial Order
• Develop in Order of Importance
• Develop by Comparison and Contrast
• More . . .

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Weapons in Your Arsenal

• The Writing Process

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Paragraph Lacking Coherence

• The writing process occurs in four steps.
  Finally, one clarifies the draft.The second step
  is to begin by collecting information. Focusing
  comes somewhere before ordering. To focus, one
  picks a topic.

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Why is knowing writing process useful?

• Know, as a secretary, at what stage you are
  entering the process.
• Differentiate between revision, editing and
  proofreading.
• Know when you need to back to an earlier stage.
• Emphasise focus and order

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Weapons in Your Arsenal

• Proofreading

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Proofreading Tips

• Proofreading is the final activity.
• Different tasks require different degrees of care
  in proofreading.
• Reading aloud or sub-vocalizing is key.
• Reading backward will work.
• Printing out the final copy and proofreading once
  more is a fail-safe.
• Getting someone else to look at it is extremely
  useful.

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What to Proofread For(Sixteen Ways to Lose
Your Reader)
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1. Write in Complete Sentences
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2. Use the apostrophe correctly plurals,
contractions, possessives

• 1950s or 1950s
• Jesuss or Jesus
• Keats or Keats or Keatss
• The dog drank from its (its) dish.
• Its (its, it is) getting very late.
• Tip Use computer search for the apostrophe and
  check
• Tip never use its with an apostrophe and see if
  you can expand its to it is

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3. Titles

• Longer works underlined or italicised, but not
  both!
• Shorter works in inverted commas.

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4. Spelling

• Use the Spelling checker. Have spelling checker
  set for proper country.
• Know what words you tend to misspell.
• Watch out for homonyms.
• Check proper names.
• Use dictionary for hyphenated words.

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5. Quotations

• Know proper punctuation, capitalisation for
  quotations.
• If necessary, know proper form for citations and
  bibliography.

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6. Paragraphing Style
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7. Know comma rules

• Introductory Commas
• Linking Commas
• Separating Commas

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8. Use tenses appropriately

• Choose a tense and stay with it.
• Know conventions for past and present usage.
• Avoid colloquialisms common here in the North I
  seen, I done, I done gone.

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9. Know When to Capitalise

• Specific v. generic places Queens University
  Belfast. I am going to the university.
• Historical periods Industrial Revolution.
• Things with numbers in them History 101, but not
  history.
• history department or the History Department.

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10. Word Choice

• Avoid jargon Per your PT3 of 7 August. . . .
• Avoid casual or informal language its, see
  ya
• Avoid anything potentially inflammatory.

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11. Split Infinitives

• To boldly go where no man has gone before

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12. Know when to use colon and semicolon

• Colon
• After a long introduction to a quotation
• Before a long list.
• Joining two sentences where you mean, Pay
  attention to the next sentence!
• Two-part Titles

• Semicolon
• Two sentences of equal weight
• The semicolon rule.
• To divide up especially complicated lists.

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12. Semicolon, colon, em dash
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Use Use a semicolon in the following standard
form

• If I had my way, the streets would be paved with
  gold however, macadam will have to do for the
  present.
• Not If I had my way, the streets would be paved
  with gold, however macadam will have to do.

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Use a semicolon to separate two sentences of
equal importance but very closely related.

• I would like to go home now my daughter would
  like to go home, too.

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Use a colon to separate two sentences when the
first sentence announces the importance of the
second

• Do not go home that way the traffic is tied up
  because of a bomb scare.

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Use a colon to introduce a block quotation.

• The importance of Goulds central assertion
  cannot be underestimated There is clearly
  a difference       between biological
  potential and       biological determinism.
  Since       biological determinism
  cannot be proven, it is necessary to weigh
  the       preponderance of evidence. (341)

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However

• For Dillard, the fixed is clearly a matter of
  perspective. Where do I get my standards?
  The world may be fixed but it never was
  broken. (34).
• Note This is not preferred but a colon would be
  grammatically incorrect.

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Em-dash

• When flying an airplanegosh, isnt that sunset
  beautifulnever take your eyes off the instrument
  panel.
• Please remind Dave to bring his suitcasenot that
  he ever needs reminding.
• On second thoughtit didnt occur to me at
  firstI didnt have a first thought.

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13 Avoid dangling participles.

• Dangling participle 'Turning now to sports,
  Manchester United is once again in the headlines.
• Corrected 'Turning now to sports, I bring you
  the latest scores.'
• (Manchester United does not turn to sports the
  sports presenter does.)

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14 Deploy gender free language.

• To go boldly where no one has gone before.
• A reader must make up his own mind.
• Readers must make up their own minds.
• Garbage man becomes sanitation engineer.
  Stewardess becomes flight attendant.
• God, in _____ infinite mercy.

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15 Subject and verb, noun and pronoun agreement

• Readers must make up their minds.
• Not one of the many applicants is going to get
  the job.

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16 Antecedents.

• Have pointing words such as 'this' clearly
  identified
• This is what is important.
• This discrepancy is important.
• Tip whenever you see this in your paper, see
  if you can insert a noun after this without
  awkwardness.

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Antecedents continued

• When James Herriot took his dog for a walk, he
  liked to lift up his hind leg to pee on the
  neighbours hawthorn bush.
• Prospero thwarts Calibans plot making him angry
  and and wanting revenge.