Why proofreading matters…part 3

Had to share this one…from, of all places, a university website. I would suggest that being able to spell the word ‘writing’ would be good place to start!

Confusing word of the day – compliment/complement

Everyone loves receiving a compliment. It can make someone’s day to be told they’re looking well, or that their hair is nice.

Occasionally, you might be offered a complimentary product or service – in other words, a FREE product or service. That’s great too.

However, it has become very common to see businesses offering COMPLEMENTARY products.

Unfortunately for them, this means something completely different. Rather than giving something free, it suggests that their original product or service was incomplete!

So, which is which?

The word COMPLIMENT (with an ‘i’) generally refers to praise or to something offered for free.

You can pay someone a compliment.

OR

You can offer someone a complimentary gift.

On the other hand, COMPLEMENT (with an ‘e’) generally refers to something that completes.

So, you could have a full complement of staff (meaning all your staff are working).

Or

A nice new scarf could complement your favourite outfit (meaning it completes the outfit)

(There are a couple of other uses for the word complement, but for now let’s just concentrate on the most common – and most often misused!)

So, there you have it…next time you’re tempted to offer someone a complementary gift, maybe you should think again…

Be your own PR guru

Let your passion shine through: take a leaf from Steve Jobs’ book and focus on the story you’re trying to tell, not the product you’re trying to sell

From my recent dealings with small businesses, I’ve come to see that there’s often a huge gulf between the passion that many business owners have for their businesses and their ability to communicate that passion through the various media available to them.

Once upon a time, when a business had a good story to tell, they drafted in a PR professional to write some press releases or maybe set up a glitzy event in order to get the traditional media outlets (newspapers, TV, radio) to give them some coverage. It was a system that worked fine – especially for the PR professionals themselves!

Now all that has changed. As everyone knows, the traditional media outlets have lost much of their stranglehold over the distribution of news. The massive variety of channels now available to businesses – and individuals – means that we longer need to rely solely on a newspaper or radio station to cover our event or story. From Twitter to Facebook to Youtube, there are now myriad ways in which businesses can get their message out. Essentially we are all now our own PR people.

While that clearly represents a real opportunity for businesses to tell their stories, it does leave them with one major problem: how to do it effectively.

And that goes to the heart of the problem that this blog is trying to address, namely the widespread inability to write clearly and effectively.

No matter how passionate you are about your business, if you can’t communicate that passion effectively then your audience simply won’t get it.

What has struck me about small business owners is that when asked to speak about what they do and why their business is so fantastic and amazing and wonderful, they have no problem doing so.

So why then do  so many of them fall down so badly when it comes to writing about their businesses?

You can see it everywhere – on company websites, in press releases, even in brochures and ads – incorrect spelling, bad grammar, nonsensical jargon. Where is the fluency with which they can talk about their business and why doesn’t it translate into writing?

I think it goes back to a common problem that arises whenever someone is presented with a pen and paper (or keyboard):  they switch into Writing (with a capital W!) mode. This manifests itself in various ways: using words and phrases that they don’t fully understand and often don’t make any sense; cluttering up their sentences with meaningless jargon; writing in a bland, official style that completely obscures their passion.

And as for the incorrect spelling, well there’s simply no excuse for that! Use the spell check or, failing that, BUY A DICTIONARY.

If small business owners are to take control of their own PR, then they need to put aside all the gobbledygook and start thinking about one simple thing – the story they’re trying to tell.

Steve Jobs was a master at this. He may have been selling machines (admittedly some pretty cool machines, but machines none the less), but in order to do so, he created brilliant stories, compelling narratives that customers in their millions bought into.  When you buy an Apple product, you’re not buying a machine for playing music or a glorified laptop, you’re joining a club of cool, hip, in-the-know people throughout the world who share an appreciation of style and functionality and performance etc.

You’re not buying a machine, you’re buying a lifestyle. You’re buying a  dream!

Or so Apple would like us to believe…

That’s the message that small business owners need to take on board when it comes to writing about their businesses. Remember, you’re telling a story – a story you believe in passionately and one you want to share with anyone who’ll listen. Drop the jargon, keep it simple, let that passion shine through and soon you’ll be putting the PR professionals to shame.

Confusing word of the week

Here’s one I come across all the time…mixing up quite and quiet. They both sound the same, but have completely different meanings.

The difference is simple…

Quiet means silent, soundless, not noisy etc.

For example: Things are very quiet here at the moment

Quite is an adverb used to describe something somewhat remarkable or noteworthy

For example: Mike was quite tall OR I have quite a heavy workload

That’s it…quite easy to understand the difference after all, isn’t it? Now, quiet down and get back to work.

More crimes against the apostrophe…

Came across this in Galway today…spot the problem??

Keep it simple

“Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify.” — Henry Thoreau

Simplicity is the key to good journalism. Write clearly, write concisely, write honestly – and you’re on the way to writing well.

We live in a world that is governed by incredibly complex systems – both natural and manmade. The job of the journalist is to break these down – get to the nub of an issue and make sense of it all for your reader.

Simplicity is a virtue, and like most virtues, it can often be difficult to maintain.

There are many temptations, seeking to lead us from the path of virtue. For a hack, the greatest of these is the temptation of complexity. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of over-complication. We think it makes us seem smart – and as such is a classic example of the ego getting in the way of the writing.

Researching a story, speaking to sources, unearthing and making sense of data gives us access to a huge amount of information – much more that our readers will have access to. It can often be easier to simply throw it all into an article you’re writing rather than take the time to break it all down  and create a coherent – and simple to understand – story.

Taken in this light, complexity is a sign of a lazy journalism. It tells the reader that either you can’t make sense of it all yourself, or you can’t be bothered breaking it down for him. In my experience, the first of these is the most common.

I’ve already mentioned the 5 Ws – Who, What, When, Where and Why. Pretty much all stories can be broken down to these essential elements. But when it comes to simplicity in writing, I’m a big believer in the 3 Es. – Engage, explain and eliminate.

Engaging the reader is the first – and biggest – challenge for any writer. In an era where people are being bombarded with information from a huge array of sources, we have become extremely good at editing out what is not useful. Most of the time, we do this unconsciously, scanning headlines and opening paragraphs for certain key words and phrases. Those that grab us, we continue to read; those that don’t, we ignore. You need to grab the attention of your reader from the first sentence, make it so that they HAVE to keep on reading. A never-before-revealed fact, an unforgettable image, a fascinating character – all these serve the same purpose – getting a reader engaged

Once you’ve hooked them, it’s time to get down to brass tacks. What’s the article about? What’s the story? That’s when you start to EXPLAIN.

Example:

John Smith was just fifteen when he walked through the gates of X Chemicals for the first time. Today his fifteen-year-old son waits for him at those same gates as he leaves for the last time.

John is one of 1,000 workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the closure of the Springfield plant – part of the company’s plan to cut $5m from its annual wage bill.

In these first two paragraphs, you draw your reader in by putting a human face – a name, a story, an emotion – on the story. Then you summarise what the story is about.

But as you go on to explain further, you must also ELIMINATE.

Chances are you have a huge array of facts at your fingertips – hours of research, interviews, data, statistics – all of which is swimming around in your head as you start to write the story. The art of elimination involves knowing how much of this can be left out, what’s not essential to the story – that background noise that will only serve to confuse your reader, not enlighten them. Cut out the jargon, the repetition, the meaningless data – anything that serves to confuse rather than clarify.

Remember: What you leave out is just as important as what you put in.

Why proofreading matters…part 2

Just a quick one today. I came across the following in a national newspaper this week…

It’s bad enough to lose a precious instrument, but to loose it! And to do it twice! Wow!

Anyway, just thought I’d share this as another reason why newspapers need sub-editors. Now more than ever.

Jargon and how to avoid it

Jargon. It’s all around us. From the corporate world to the voluntary sector, it seems that nobody in authority is capable of saying what they mean any longer, instead couching their utterances in a meringue of meaningless buzzwords and quasi-technical gobbledygook.

Sadly, the media is also infested with this creeping canker. How many times have you read jargon-filled articles that leave scratching your head by the end, asking yourself ‘what the hell was all that about’?

It’s nothing short of an epidemic. Take a look through any ‘serious’ newspaper or magazine. Chances are it’s full of terms like ‘rationalisation’, ‘collateral damage’, ‘austerity’, ‘challenging trading conditions’…the list goes on.

It’s easy to understand why some business/political leaders use jargon. By definition, it’s a way of codifying language, obscuring it so that the true meaning of what you’re saying can be understood only by those in your own clique.

Hence the use of terms like ‘austerity measures’ rather than ‘cuts’, ‘collateral damage’ rather than ‘civilian casualties’, ‘friendly fire’ rather than ‘shot by their own side’. And we won’t even go into the linguistic diarrhea that is modern business jargon and which has introduced such terms as ‘buy in’, ‘going forward’, ‘low-hanging fruit’ or the execrable ‘core competencies’.

A good journalist will avoid jargon at all costs. If an interviewee uses it, ask him to clarify what he means. If he fails to do so, then do the job for him. It’s not your job to hide meaning behind obscure terms or to help him cover up what his corporation/department/organisation is really trying to do. It’s your job to let your audience know what’s going on – and to do so in the clearest possible terms.

People resort to jargon for two reasons: to deliberately obscure meaning or because they don’t really know what they’re talking about.

There’s no excuse for a journalist to fall into either of these two categories. If you’re unclear what a word or a term means, find out. If your interviewee is unwilling to use clear, unambiguous language, then it’s your job to explain to your readers what he’s talking about. He may be a mouthpiece for some organisation or other but you’re not. Don’t simply repeat what’s being said to you, explain it. Probe, don’t parrot. Clarify, don’t collaborate. Become a jargon-buster today and help make the world a better, clearer place!

The apostrophe – dos and don’ts

Ah, the apostrophe. That much maligned, much misunderstood, much misused little punctuation mark. Without it, there can be no possession because we wouldn’t be able to attribute ownership to anybody.

Spot the problem here? It should be the park of the people, not the park of the peoples!

And think of all those extra letters we’d have to type if we couldn’t substitute them with that little free-floating comma?

No, the apostrophe is not to be taken for granted. Nor is it something to be frightened of. Simply follow these simple dos and don’ts and you won’t go wrong.

DO use the apostrophe when…

• …indicating possession. Example: Paul’s ball, Mary’s piano, Dad’s moustache, etc.
• …using abbreviated words, such as don’t instead of do not; can’t instead of can not; wouldn’t instead of would not; he’s instead of he is.
• …leaving out part of a word. Eg. ’48 instead of 1948 or ‘n’ instead of and.

DON’T use the apostrophe when…

• …writing about more than one item (plural). So, the plural of banana is bananas, NEVER banana’s.
• …using pronouns, such as his, hers, theirs etc. Example: The bananas are hers.
• …writing the plural of abbreviations. Although technically there’s no hard and fast rule about this, I think it’s fine to write STDs rather than STD’s; don’t instead of don’t’s; 1940s instead of 1940’s.

And one last thing…

Lots of people get confused about using the apostrophe with plurals. When the plural of a word ends with the letter s, such as bananas, then generally the apostrophe will go at the end. Otherwise the rules outlined above still apply.

So, if a group of monkeys take possession of a bunch of bananas, they become the monkeys’ bananas.

However, if a group of people take the bananas, they are the people’s bananas.

Let the abuse of the apostrophe stop here!

5 common mistakes to avoid when writing

Take a leaf from Ernest Hemingway’s book (indeed, any of his books). Keep your writing lean and clean and it will be more effective.

Newsflash: It’s not difficult to write well. In fact, it’s probably easier to write well than it is to write badly. The key is to forget everything you’ve been taught about writing (teachers are often the worst offenders when it comes to poor writing) and just write like you speak. After all, if you’re talking to someone else – giving them the latest gossip, asking for information, whatever it may be – you don’t sit down beforehand to plan it out. In most cases, the words just come out and they make sense to the other person. You have the words and you know how to use them. So why does it need to be so complicated when you try to write them down?

As a journalist and sub-editor, I have read thousands of poorly written press releases, letters, speeches, emails and even newspaper articles. And what I’ve discovered is that they all share a handful of easily avoidable errors. Cut out these five common mistakes and you’re already well on your way to becoming a better writer.

1. Overcomplication: I’ve said it before, but it can’t be restated often – or strongly – enough: good writing is simple writing. Get to the point, using as few words as possible. Use simple words that you and your readers will understand immediately – nobody wants to have to go searching through a dictionary when they’re reading a newspaper article. And they won’t.

Here’s a trick to help you do this: Imagine you’re walking home from work. A man runs past you at full tilt. A couple of seconds later, two police officers come sprinting past. You watch as they tackle the man, get him on the ground and handcuff him before bundling him into a patrol car that arrives soon after.

When you get home, your girlfriend asks you about your day. How do you tell the story? Do you start by describing what you had for your lunch? What your boss said in a meeting earlier that day? What the weather was like?

Of course not – you immediately tell her the most exciting thing that happened to you that day. “A mad thing happened when I was walking home. I saw two cops jump a guy and beat the crap out of him.”

That’s the kernel of the story there – the most salient facts.

You’ll then go on to add some detail, in something like the following order: How he had been running away from them, how the patrol car arrived shortly afterwards, what he had been wearing (if you noticed), how he had looked, how the cops had looked, how other people on the street had reacted.

In other words, you give the most important – and exciting – details first, then gradually add the smaller details, all the while using your words to build up a picture of the event that you witnessed. And you do it all in normal, everyday language.

It’s the same with good writing: cut to the chase and cut the crap. Focus on the five W’s – Who, What, Where, When, Why (in whatever order, depending on the story). Imagine you’re telling the story to a friend, face to face and don’t overcomplicate the thing.

2. Reliance on cliché/jargon/bullshit

This is one of the most common pitfalls for inexperienced (and experienced) writers. And it’s a trap that’s easy to fall into.

Cliché is a default mode of speech. We use them every day. Examples: ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, ‘Company X always puts its customers first’.

Expressions like these have been overused to the point of becoming meaningless. Don’t use them. They simply clutter up your writing and irritate your readers.

The same goes for jargon, ie. terms that are specific to a particular sector or industry. Business jargon includes such peaches as ‘low hanging fruit’, ‘going forward’, ‘actioning a plan’, ‘downsizing’…the list goes on.

Often these terms are used to disguise the true meaning of what’s happening. For instance, terms like downsizing, restructuring or reducing headcount all mean the same thing – cutting jobs! But how often do you see it expressed in that way?

Cliché and jargon both serve the same purpose: to deflect from the true meaning of what you’re trying to say, either deliberately or inadvertently. Hence a good writer should seek to avoid both

3. Bad spelling

Yes, I know it’s a no-brainer, but it’s incredible how often bad spelling crops up. And it’s so easy to avoid. Most text today is written electronically and pretty much every package you’re going to use will have some form of spell checker.

Use it, but don’t rely on it.

The spell checker will highlight some obvious howlers, but even the best ones will miss and/or confuse certain words. (More on this in later posts). If in doubt, grab a dictionary and check the spelling and meaning of a word. If you’re still not clear, then delete it and use another word, or combination of words, that you – and your reader – will understand more easily.

There’s no excuse for bad spelling, so take your time to get it right.

4. Poetic licence

Also referred to as purple prose or flowery language. This is when a writer gets carried away with description or qualification.

Example: It was a fiercely hot day, with literally millions of tiny bugs performing intricate loop-the-loops in an azure-blue sky.

Now that’s a mouthful!

The words in bold are redundant. Leave them out.

Take a leaf from Ernest Hemingway’s book (indeed, any of his books). Keep your writing lean and clean and it will be more effective.

5. Poor structure

Lots of us get confused about punctuation, grammar, sentence and paragraph structure. It can be a minefield. But it doesn’t have to be.

Write like you speak. Learn to use the basics of punctuation. Capital letters, full stops, commas – these are all essential tools in a writer’s arsenal.

Tip #1. Start each sentence with a capital letter and end it with a full stop.

You’d be amazed at how often this basic rule is ignored. A sentence doesn’t end with a ‘,’ or a ‘:’ or a ‘;’. It ends with a full stop ‘.’ .

Tip #2. Keep your sentences short.

Don’t write long, rambling sentences, with lots of commas and sub-clauses. If in doubt, stick in a full stop and start a new one.

Tip #3. Use paragraphs to break up your text.

A big block of text is very uninviting to the reader. Use paragraphs to break up your text and make it more accessible. Each paragraph should express a particular idea/thought/point.

No paragraph should contain more than five or six sentences, if at all possible. Much more than that and it becomes too dense.

If appropriate, use sub-headings to break up the text. These can act as signposts to guide the reader through what you have written.

So, there you have it. Five common mistakes and how to avoid them. Cut these out and you’re well on your way to being a better writer.