You might ask why I’m so obsessed with style and style guides in particular. It’s a fair question. Firstly, I’m a language nerd, it comes with the territory. Secondly, having a consistent, effective style enables you to engage your readers more effectively, to entice them and bring them round to your way of thinking.
If you’ve read my review of Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, or indeed read the book itself, you’ll know that our brains work in mysterious ways.
One point Kahneman makes clear is that the easier information is to understand, the more likely our brains are to automatically accept it as true. Logically then your readers won’t look favourably on information that’s difficult to understand. Whether it’s physically difficult to process (blurry, faded, moving) or mentally difficult to process (complex structures, passives, etc.) makes no difference.
This fact should matter to anyone who writes anything ever. After all, what’s the point of writing if your target reader won’t understand, remember or accept what you’re saying.
In my experience there are three key ways you can ensure your writing is clear and effective:
1) Use plain English.
Avoid passives, use active verbs. Avoid long strings of nouns, make the connections between the elements clear. Watch out for “-tion” and “-ment” words with empty verbs (undertake, make, do, carry out, etc.).
Compare:
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The development of the project was undertaken by civil society stakeholders at the local level in collaboration with private sector companies. |
Local civil society stakeholders collaborated with private companies to develop the project. |
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The project was launched in 2002 by a coalition of civil society organizations. |
A coalition of civil society organizations launched the project in 2002. |
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This view is advocated by a number of prominent scholars. |
A number of prominent scholars support this view. |
I’m currently posting a series on Twitter with lots of similar examples.
The European Commission's Directorate General for Translation also has plenty of resources on plain English (here) and I would highly recommend Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams (which I reviewed way back in 2012).
Just as we read signs to know we’re going the right way when we visit a new city (those were the days), signposts help readers to navigate a text. “There are three ways” is a signpost telling you (my readers) to expect three points, making these three points easier to process. “Therefore” tells readers to expect a consequence and “however” some contradictory information.
3) Write for your audience.
You wouldn’t use the same language to talk to lawyers as you would teenagers. So think about what your audience can be expected to know. Do you need to add explanations, or just use simpler terms?
This is particularly important when writing in English for an international audience. Ask yourself whether your audience will understand that witty pun, cultural reference or joke. Idioms are particularly difficult for non-native speakers to understand so use them sparingly if that’s your audience.
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So that’s style. But what about style guides?
If you’re a one (wo)man band [that’s an idiom] like me, you probably don’t need to write down how you’re going to write clearly, but you should certainly be thinking about it.
But what if you hire external copywriters? What if multiple people work on your content in house? It’s important that they know how to write effectively and a style guide is the perfect place to set out what you need from them.
A style guide is also the place to document your “voice” and brand personality for both in-house and external writing staff. Given the proliferation of written content, knowing how to develop a coherent brand personality through your writing is more important than ever. I’ll cover this side of things in more detail in part 2.
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I offer a 10 week writing course to both native and non-native English speakers covering precisely these issues. If you would like more information, please get in touch (holly.anne@whytetranslations.com).
