Transcript Slide 1

Technical Writing
Exercise: Accurate Technical Writing 1
• In the East Midlands there are more
Pakistani people in the three cities than in
the region as a whole.
• The proportion of people in the Pakistani
ethnic group living in cities is higher than
the proportion of people in this ethnic
group in the region as a whole.
Exercise: Accurate Technical Writing 2
• Less than 0.5% of the Region’s
Bangladeshi population live in the cities.
• Less than 0.5% of people living in the
cities within the region are in the
Bangladeshi ethnic group.
Exercise: Accurate Technical Writing 3
• Most people in the three East Midlands
cities are either Pakistani or BlackCaribbean.
• Pakistani or Black-Caribbean are the
largest ethnic groups living in cities in the
East Midlands, comprising 3% and 2% of
the population of cities respectively.
Exercise: Accurate Technical Writing 4
• Approximately five times as many BlackAfrican people live in the cities compared
to the counties.
• The percentage of the population that are
in the Black-African ethnic group is five
times higher in cities than in the counties.
Exercise: Accurate Technical Writing 5
• The rate of the Pakistani population in the
cities is around 120% more than in the
counties.
• The percentage of the population that are
in the Pakistani ethnic group is twenty
times higher in cities than in the counties.
Writing in Plain English
What is Plain English?
Plain English can be described as information that
gets its meaning across CLEARLY and
CONCISELY to its INTENDED AUDIENCE. It must
do this with the necessary impact and the most
suitable tone.
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CONCISELY
• Avoid legalistic and pompous words; Latin
abbreviations
• One sentence = one idea (or two related ideas)
• Use a full stop!
• Average Sentence Length = 15-20 words
• A-Z of Alternative Words
Use less often
Prefer
accordingly
so, therefore
Alleviate
Ease, reduce, lessen
Applicant, tenant
You
Ascertain
Commence, initiate
Start, begin
Concerning
Discontinue, terminate
End, cancel, stop
Dwelling, residence
Home, property
Endeavour, attempt
facilitate
Help, make possible
Frequently
In excess of
In respect of
About, for
Prior to
Before
Statutory
By law, legal
Utilise
use
Shortening Sentences
From a council official’s warning letter after a disciplinary interview
I raised your difficulty about arriving ready for work on time. I
pointed out that your managers had done their best to take
account of your travel problems and that you had agreed with
them that the Green Lane depot was most convenient for you to
work. However, your initial improvement was short lived and
over the past two months your punctuality has dropped to a
totally unacceptable level.
CLEARLY
• Think about content first and style second
• Decide what you need to say
• Make a brief note of your key points
• Keep to the essentials (50% of initial draft)
• Get quickly to the point
• Think carefully about how you present the information
• Prefer active verbs rather than passive
Be Active!!
• Active verbs keep sentences short, personal, lively and direct
• Passive verbs makes writing cold, bureaucratic, and confusing
Active:
The engineers wrote the safety rules
Passive:
The safety rules were written by the engineers
• Some good uses of passive:
– When the agent (the doer) has already been stated, is
obvious, unimportant or unknown
– When you want to spread responsibility or avoid blame
– When an active verb might sound too hostile
Get Active
From an application form
The form must be completed and returned in the envelope
provided. No responsibility can be accepted for delays in
processing forms that have been incorrectly completed.
We ask you to complete the form and return in the
envelope we have provided. We cannot accept
responsibility for delays in processing forms if you have
incorrectly completed them.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
• Picture your readers, if you can
• Write as if you are talking to a panel of typical
readers
• Try reading the document out loud
• If possible, test it out on some intended readers
• Avoid jargon, unless appropriate
• Use everyday English
www.plainenglish.co.uk
• Free guides on writing in Plain English
• Grammar guides:
– Using hyphens;
– Punctuating Bulleted Lists;
– Basic Grammar.
• Drivel Defence: software that allows you to check text is
written in Plain English
• Gobbledygook generator