Banter Speech & Language

Sydney speech pathologists helping adults and children speak for themselves.

Writing

25 rules of effective writing from a plain English legend; and my nine all-time favourites

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My regular readers know I’m a big fan of plain English and Rudolf Flesch.

One of my favourite writing books is Dr Flesch’s “How to write, speak and think more effectively”. First published in 1946, its tips are as relevant today as at the end of Word War II.

Below, I’ve:

  • summarised Dr Flesch’s 25 rules of effective writing;
  • added examples to explain a few; and
  • highlighted my nine favourites.

These rules work for all kinds of writing: from business communications, school work and even fiction.  Many apply to speaking, too.

The 25 Rules of effective writing

1. Write about people, things and facts (not abstract ideas and concepts), e.g. “He voted for Obama in November” rather than “The male person exercised one of his fundamental democratic rights by casting a ballot in favour of his preferred Presidential candidate, the Democrat Party nominee, in the eleventh month of the calendar year”.

2. Write as you talk. 

3. Use contractions (e.g. “don’t”).

4. Use the first person (“I”).

5. Quote what was said.

6. Quote what was written.

7. Put yourself in the reader’s place.

8. Don’t hurt the reader’s feelings.

9. Forestall misunderstandings.

10. Don’t be too brief.

11. Plan a beginning, middle, and end.

12. Go from the rule to the exception; and from the familiar to the new.

13. Use short names and abbreviations.

14. Use pronouns rather than repeating nouns.

15. Use verbs rather than nouns (e.g. “Complete the report”, not “The report has now reached completion”).

16. Use the active voice and a personal subject (e.g. “Sara watered the grass” not “The grass was watered by Sara”).

17. Use small, round figures.

18. Specify: use illustrations, cases and examples.

19. Start a new sentence for each new idea.

20. Keep sentences short.

21. Keep paragraphs short.

22. Use direct questions.

23. Underline for emphasis.

24. Use parentheses for casual mention.

25. Make your writing interesting to look at.

Source: R. Flesch. (1946). How to write, speak and think more effectively. Signet, NY, NY.

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Image: http://tinyurl.com/zgw9tgv

Banter Speech & Language Banter Speech & Language
Banter Speech & Language is an independent firm of speech pathologists for adults and children. We help clients in our local area, including Concord, Rhodes, Strathfield and all other suburbs of Sydney’s Inner West.

Banter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.

David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP).

Apologies to Mrs Dixon: taking notes by hand is more effective than by laptop

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This surprises some people, but, when I was in grade 1, I was – just a tiny bit – precocious.

I also had terrible handwriting, a fact my long-suffering teacher seemed to relish reminding me about.  One freezing Ballarat morning, after being sent back to re-write my daily dictation words in ancient copperplate for the third time, I’d had enough of her taunts:

“No-one cares about handwriting, Miss” I squeaked. “When I grow up, I’ll just type everything.”

“You might try,” snapped Mrs Dixon, glowering like a bespectacled sun.  “But you won’t learn anything that way.  Nothing sticks when you type.  Now go back to your desk and try harder.”

Full of seething rage, I only just avoided an embarrassing tantrum.  But, for some reason, ever since, I’ve written all my notes by hand.  Even as a mature-age student, surrounded by iPad wielding twenty-somethings and laptop-warriors, I’ve stuck with my trusty yellow pad and pen.

And now, thirty (ahem) odd years later, I know why.

Mrs Dixon was right.

In a study just published in the April edition of Psychological Science, Pam Mueller of Princeton University and Dan Oppenheimer of UCLA conducted a series of experiments to test whether longhand note-taking was more effective than taking notes on a laptop.  They found that students who took notes by hand performed better on conceptual questions than their laptop-tapping peers.

The researchers suggest a possible explanation for their results: laptop users tend to transcribe notes word-for-word rather than processing and reframing the content of lectures in their own words.  Even when laptops are used only to take notes (and not to update their status on Facebook, gaze at pretty pictures on Pinterest or shop on Amazon), they may still impair learning because they result in shallower processing.

Of course, the other advantage of handwriting notes is more prosaic: you keep your writing motor skills tuned for performance – a handy advantage when exam time rolls around.

So thanks, Mrs Dixon.  And, in case you’re reading this:

  1. yes, I first wrote this blog by hand; and
  2. no, my handwriting hasn’t improved.  For a speech pathologist and lawyer, I still write like a doctor.

Image: http://tinyurl.com/k9but4r

Banter Speech & Language Banter Speech & Language
Banter Speech & Language is an independent firm of speech pathologists for adults and children. We help clients in our local area, including Concord, Rhodes, Strathfield and all other suburbs of Sydney’s Inner West.

Banter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.

David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP).

Speech Talk 5: Alan Siegal – plain English – striving for simplicity

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As a speech pathologist, lawyer, plain English lover and a small business owner, this one is close to my heart!

Official documents don’t need to be complicated. Government forms shouldn’t take an hour – or a PhD – to fill in.

Alan Siegal is a business communication expert specialising in plain English and simplicity. He’s done some fantastic work through his “Simplicity Lab” with legal documents like credit agreements and tax forms. His work helps everyone who uses his documents, but particularly those with language and communication problems.

My key takeaway from Mr Siegal’s talk is that:

simple writing = clarity, transparency + empathy.

In writing reports, forms and other documents, we should all strive for simplicity. We should remember we are writing to people – not machines. We should inject some humanity into the things we write.

Related articles:

Banter Speech & Language Banter Speech & Language
Banter Speech & Language is an independent firm of speech pathologists for adults and children. We help clients in our local area, including Concord, Rhodes, Strathfield and all other suburbs of Sydney’s Inner West.

Banter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.

David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP).