a little bit of
EVERYTHING webwriting
Elena Zyrianova
Anastasia Kushik
Lesson 4
writing basics
Basic guidelines on
plain writing
Show your favourites
Discuss and try
Marketing Growth Communications
MEANING
Sales Partnerships Design
MANAGEMENT
OF MEANING
Nourishing, and continuously
reinterpreting a unique and compelling
identity or “meaning.”
Brands that capture the essential
meaning of their category—and
communicate that message in subtle
and refined ways—dominate the
market, just as Princess Di, O. J.,
Clinton/Lewinsky, and Elia´n dominated
the airwaves.
NEW CHALLENGE
In the past, products were physically different from each
other, and brands were built on those differences.
No matter how effective the company’s manufacturing and
distribution systems, or how state of the art its dry-cleaning processes,
its competitors could imitate or duplicate them.
In this circumstance, businesses found that they had only two broad
strategic routes to go:
- reduce their prices or
- imbue their products with meaning.
VS
PRODUCT PRODUCT
MASS MEANING
Marketing Growth Communications
CLEAR, USEFUL AND FRIENDLY
Sales Partnerships Design
YOU ARE THE
EXPERT
help readers skim
and follow along
what you’d tell a
friend or a neighbor
if they were learning
about the topic
KEEP IT
SIMPLE
TEN GUIDELINES FOR TUNING UP YOUR SENTENCES
1. Talk to your site visitors - use "you."
2. Use "I" and "we."
3. Write in the active voice (most of the time).
4. Write short, simple sentences.
5. Cut unnecessary words.
6. Give extra information its own place.
7. Keep paragraphs short.
8. Start with the context.
9. Put the action in the verb.
10. Use your site visitors' words.
Talk to your site visitors – use “you.”
– Use the imperative in instructions. 1
– Use “you” throughout.
– Use “you” to be gender-neutral.
– Use appropriate gender for specific
people.
– Converse directly even for serious
messages.
Use “I” and “we.” 2
– In blogs and social media, “I” is fine.
– For your own articles, “I” is fine.
– When you write for an organization, use
“we.”
– Be consistent in how you use “I,” “you,”
and “we.”
WRITE IN THE ACTIVE VOICE
(MOST OF THE TIME)
Most long sentences can be broken up in some way:
This matter will be considered by us shortly. (Passive)
• We will consider this matter shortly. (Active)
The riot was stopped by the police. (Passive)
• The police stopped the riot. (Active)
The mine had to be closed by the authority. (Passive)
• The authority had to close the mine. (Active)
Passive verbs cause several problems.
• They can be confusing.
3
• They often make writing more long-winded.
• They make writing less lively.
There are times of course when it might be appropriate to use a
passive.
• To make something less hostile − 'this bill has not been paid'
(passive) is softer than
GOOD
'you have not paid this bill' (active).
• To avoid taking the blame − 'a mistake was made' (passive)
USES OF
rather than 'we made a
mistake' (active).
PASSIVES
• When you don't know who or what the doer is − 'the England
team has been picked'.
• If it simply sounds better.
But aim to make about 80 to 90% of your verbs active.
This difference between active and passive verbs is not easy to
grasp. Some people
never really get it. So if you are confused, read this section again.
KEEP YOUR
4 SENTENCES SHORT
Be punchy
Most long sentences can
be broken up in some
way
5 THE DOS
Because business is good
CUT now, ...
UNNECESSARY THE DON'TS
WORDS Due to the fact that business
is good at this point in time, ...
Don't put extra stuff between the
1
6
grammatical subject and the verb.
IDon't put extra stuff between the
2 verb and the grammatical object.
GIVE EXTRA
INFORMATION
If extra information takes us off on a
tangent, we may
lose track of what the sentence is
ITS 3
about. When the extra information
ends and we are back in the main
OWN PLACE
sentence, we may get back on the
main track - and then forget the extra
information.
KEEP PARAGRAPHS SHORT
A one-sentence
7 paragraph is fine.
Lists or tables may be
even better. Use lists
where appropriate
START WITH THE CONTEXT
Start each paragraph with a topic sentence - a sentence that sets the context, that tells readers what the paragraph is about.
People jump to act as soon as they see something that tells them to act.
You can use this technique to know if you have good topic
sentences:
1. Leave the first sentence of each paragraph in regular black
type.
8 2. Change the color of the rest of the paragraph to gray.
3. Read just the black type.
4. Ask yourself: Does the content make sense? Does it flow?
Will my site visitors get the gist of the messages?
AVOID
NOMI
A nominalization is a type of abstract noun.
Is that plain English? 9
NALIZ Because they are merely the names of
ATION things, they sound as if nothing is
actually happening in the sentence. Like
passive verbs, too many of them make
We had a discussion about the matter. writing very dull and heavy-going.
• We discussed the matter.
There will be a stoppage of trains by drivers.
• Drivers will stop the trains.
The implementation of the method has been done by a team.
• A team has implemented the method.
Use your site visitors’
10
words.
– Write for your site visitors.
– Know your site visitors.
– And always use plain
language.
A FEW
are having a
Of course, this does not
MORE
We're just going to destroy some of
mean you should break
the grammatical myths.
TIPS these so-called rules all
the time − just
You can start a sentence with when they make a
and, but, because, so or sentence flow better.
however.
You can split infinitives. So And you can use the
you can say to boldly go. same word twice in a
sentence if you can't
find a better word.
You can end a sentence with a preposition. In
fact, it is something we should stand up for.
Plain
English.
How does it
look like?
http://plainenglish.co.uk/the-a-z-
of-alternative-words.html
TALK ABOUT YOUR FAVORITES
Edit ruthlessly
School was closed due to the fact that there was a
Weak:
snowstorm.
Because researchers interested
in speech synthesis
Overloaded:
andautomatic recognition need
[The young male rats that were from the same
to find rules that improve
colony as the rats with symptoms of the disease,
intelligibility of speech, they
but which do not show sign of the disease at this
need to study the psychological
stage of their development] were used as the
determinants more closely
control group.
before they can solve what has
Refined:
become a complex set of
[The symptom-free young male rats] were used as
questions.
the control group. These rats were from the same
colony as the rats showing symptoms of the
Your variant?
disease.
HAVE A TRY
