Why should i write clearly

How can we achieve clarity in writing? What is the role of clarity and conciseness in essay writing? How do you achieve clarity and conciseness of writing? How do you write effectively and clearly? How do you communicate clearly? What are the main features of effective writing? What is effective writing definition? What are the main purposes of writing?

What are the skills in writing? What makes writing unique? Choosing precise nouns makes it unnecessary to add layers of descriptive adjectives that lengthen sentences and comprehension time. Your adjectives, anyway, will have greater impact if they are not overused. Compare the following generic nouns on the left with the more connotative suggestions on the right:. Perhaps even more than nouns and adjectives, vivid verbs awaken strong images in readers' minds. Strong verbs do more than almost anything else to improve prose.

Compare the following:. Lit up ignited Leave behind abandon Go back return Get the audience involved involve the audience Got to see that realized Got better improved Got there arrived Put in installed, deposited Put off postpone, delay Put into action activate Put in place arrange, place.

Concise language After college, when a job recruiter reads your resume, he or she may simply refuse to wade through excess verbiage. A wordy resume may be tossed. And a future supervisor will want to be able to comprehend your summary report rapidly and painlessly.

Writing that is concise packs maximum meaning into the fewest possible words—think of how you would pack your suitcase for an extended tour of Europe. If you use precise language, you will probably find you are already using fewer words.

However, if you examine how you use "to be" verbs—am, is, are, were, was, been—you may find even more that you can condense. As much as possible, replace the verb "to be" with a stronger verb. To avoid expletives, lead with the subject or even choose a different subject and, if possible, substitute a vivid verb to make the sentence more straightforward and easier to understand:.

There are problems with the lease. The lease has problems. Professional resources such as the Journal of the American Medical Association are written at a slightly higher level, approximately 11th grade.

All ideas in a paragraph should relate to its main point. If possible, put the main idea in the first sentence. The following paragraph presents an idea about teams. The first sentence clearly states the main idea of the paragraph. The other sentences support this main idea. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith, HarperBusiness press , page The above sentence accurately describes one aspect of the social movement known as critical theory, but it uses terms that are somewhat less common outside of critical theory, and which have specific meanings within that field.

The example sentence may confuse people who are unfamiliar with critical theory. Writers should strive to communicate with their readers, not impress readers by using uncommon or showy words. Passive voice weakens the action of a sentence by distancing the action from the subjects performing the action.

Active voice links the subjects directly with the action. Sometimes the key information is in the object, not the subject. This can be especially true when reporting news. In these cases, where active voice may tend to bury the lede , you may prefer passive voice since it puts the key information first.

Use your judgment. If passive voice does a better job of emphasizing the main point, as in the examples above, then feel free to use it when necessary. Writers often use forms of the verb "to be" such as "is", "are", "was", or "were" where active verbs would be stronger.

Over-use of "to be" tends to trigger passive voice by connecting two entities that are essentially equal. The phrase "A is B" essentially means "A equals B. In contrast, other verbs—such as "to improve," "to clarify," "to modify," or "to destroy"—imply a dynamic relationship between A and B. Section 10a above illustrates an exception to the rule, in situations where passive voice is preferred and forms of "to be" are unavoidable.

One way to find out if the sentence contains parallel construction is to list each of the items one at a time in a complete sentence:. The third sentence in this example obviously needs a verb to make the sentence complete and parallel with the previous sentences.

Emphasize the way things are, were, will be, or would be. To the extent possible, avoid the use of don't, didn't, and other words that structure a sentence from the perspective of the way things are not, were not, will not be, or would not be.

Direct instructions can increase comprehension and place more of a sense of responsibility on the reader. Most readers find double or multiple negatives awkward, which can lead to confusion, or at least to slower comprehension.

Unfamiliar acronyms and abbreviations mean nothing to readers. Writing clearly. Writing concisely. Important features of clear and concise writing also include accurate grammar and appropriate use of tenses and technical terms:.

Thinking about grammar. Writing in paragraphs. Writing styles and tenses. Using the passive voice. Technical terms, abbreviations and acronyms. Writing academically means writing in such a way that your information sounds credible and authoritative. It does not mean:. When you write a report you are communicating your knowledge about a set of actions to a reader. The key word here is communication. Long words, jargon, technical terms and overly complex sentences will make it more difficult for your reader to understand what you are trying to say.

Take a balanced view. Write critically — evaluate your own work as well as that of others. Have the confidence to say if something could have been done better if it had been done differently. Exclamation marks, textspeak and emoticons are definitely not a good idea.