Write to Publish by Vin Maskell

Author:Vin Maskell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LAN005000
ISBN: 9781741766707
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd
Published: 1999-01-09T16:00:00+00:00

Avoid pompous words

Often beginner writers add words in their writing that they think will impress their reader by making the writer sound more educated, or more important. Take the case of Peter. He’d left school at fifteen and joined the public service. He worked his way up over the years from clerical assistant to head of department. There he was, seventeen years after joining, head of a department full of people with postgraduate university degrees. Peter was a direct and colloquial speaker.

He was an avid punter and often used racing analogies in his speech as a way of making a point. When he hadn’t made up his mind about which applicant would get a job, he said he was ‘still studying the form’. When he decided to go ahead with a risky but potentially exciting new project he’d tell staff he’d decided to ‘take a punt’. But when it came to putting pen to paper, his confidence evaporated. His memos to staff were dull, wordy and full of jargon.

Sometimes new or nervous writers add words as a shield, believing they can hide behind big words because they are not sure what it is they are trying to say. Look at these examples:

We must action a needs assessment of the downturn in entrance applications for the course.

means

We need to find out why no one is applying for the course.

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