30 Days to Better Business Writing

http://www.badlanguage.net/ebook

by sganesh • 17 years ago

18 6 17 years ago

tsally• 17 years ago

Step one: Realize that even though it looks pretty, a small font size can cause your writing to be unreadable. Even in full screen, the font is still half a point too small for extended reading.

arihelgason• 17 years ago

And for good writing in general, read Orwell's Politics and the English Language.

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

2. Never us a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

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

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Full essay: http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html

revorad• 17 years ago

That is one of my favourite Orwell essays. This site is more readable and has all of them - http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/o79e/part42.ht...

yellowbkpk• 17 years ago

Has anyone seen something similar to this for science writing? Academic papers, dissertations, etc.

protez• 17 years ago

Quote from the book:

“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities,” said Shunryu Suzuki, a Zen Buddhist priest, but “in the expert’s mind there are few.” We are all experts in our own world and the only way to get past that is to become professional beginners. (...)

Quite insightful, "professional beginners!"

PostOnce• 17 years ago

Yeah, when you think you're good at something, you think you know how it ought to be done, and thus (likely) close your mind to other possibilities (because you already know the 'right way', and that means the other way must be wrong).

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is the book it's from. Very, very worth the read, and this coming from someone who thinks the whole new-age zen hippie thing and most books are BS (and they miss the point).

He has another book, but it isn't as good.

30 Days to Better Business Writing

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