Business communication building critical skill 3rd by locker module 16

Module 16 Revising Sentences and Paragraphs Revising Sentences and Paragraphs ©2007, The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved... Revising Sentences and Paragraphs Revising Sentence

Module 16

Revising Sentences and Paragraphs

Revising Sentences and Paragraphs

©2007, The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved.

Revising Sentences and

Paragraphs

Revising Sentences and

Paragraphs

 To learn how to

 Build a forceful style.

 Choose between active and passive

voice.

 Make your writing tight and concise.

 Vary sentence patterns.

 Use the right tone.

Revising Sentences

and Paragraphs

Revising Sentences

and Paragraphs

Start by answering these questions:

 What’s “good” style?

 Are there rules I should follow?

 What should I look for when I revise

sentences?

 What should I look for when I revise

paragraphs?

 How does organizational culture

affect style?

To Create Good Style

 Use friendly, conversational

words

 Avoid contractions, slang, and

even minor grammatical lapses

 Edit your writing to sound

confident, even in uncomfortable

situations

 Allow for some individual variation

—use your own “voice.”

Half Truths About Style

necessarily true—decide what

is appropriate based on

audience and discourse

community:

 Write what “sounds” good.

 Never use I.

 Use big words.

To Improve Style

 Get a clean page or screen

 Try WIRMI (What I really mean is)

 Read the draft aloud to someone

 Ask someone else to read it to you

 Read widely and a lot

 Use the techniques on the next

slide

To Revise Sentences

 Use active verbs most of the time

 Use strong verbs

 Tighten your writing

 Vary sentence length and

structure

 Use parallel structure

 Put your readers in your

sentences

To Revise Paragraphs

with topic sentences.

ideas.

 e.g., and, but, however, for

example, after, moreover.

To Deal with Poor Style at Work

about writing.

purposes other than

communication.