This is a transcript of one of the videos in the plain language training course Writing well at work. There are references to slides and visual material that are only available by viewing the video.
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Comply with your style manual
The next thing to be aware of, as you are reviewing your work is to be aware of the style manual that is in use inside your organisation. Most organisations have a style manual of some sort. It will give you ideas on how things should be phrased or how the organisation wants things to be phrased, how they want bullet points set out and a whole bunch of things.
Please keep keep to whatever the style manual says. If you do something different to what’s in your style manual, it is likely to jar your readers. It’s going to slow them down and they might start focusing on the style error that you’ve included rather than focusing on the content in your work. So most of the time you can just do whatever the style manual says and focus on your content.
Be aware that there is a difference between style and substance. And it is possible to write correct text, that is, it fits in with everything in the style manual. It is possible to write correct text that is absolutely useless. So do focus on substance.
There’s a bunch of style manuals around. If your organisation doesn’t have one, one I’d recommend is the Australian Government style manual. You can see some of the content on the screen now of what that provides. Most state governments also have a style manual, so have a look at that as well.
Just a couple of common things to mention in terms of style.
Non-discriminatory
You’ll always be writing using non discriminatory language. So you’ll use gender neutral titles – words like chairperson and principle. And I think it’s good if you can avoid that his or her type construction. That just seems to me to be a bit clumsy. So instead of writing, a motorcyclist must remove his or her helmet when being breath tested, I’d rephrase that and just write it as motorcyclists must remove their helmets when being breath tested.
Be careful with and/or
Please be careful with the and slash or. That can introduce some ambiguity. Sometimes it might be better to write apples or oranges or both to remove the ambiguity. It makes it clear that I could have one item singularly, or I could have them both together.
Sometimes writers write and slash or because they weren’t sure themselves. They couldn’t figure it out. They didn’t know whether to write and or or. Hmm. How about I write both of them and let the writer and the reader decide and choose your own adventure? Please don’t do that. Think it through and think through what is the best and most appropriate term to use.
Often you’ll find that it’s the word or. So here’s an example here.
If tree hollows and/or active nests are present, a nest box installation and active nest relocation plan will be submitted. Well, think through the logic of it and you’ll find that the word ‘all ‘or’ works just fine. If tree hollows or active nests are present, well go and do those things. Well think through the logic. If a tree hollow is there, will I do it? Sure I will. If active nests are there, will I do it? Yeah, sure I will. If they’re both there. Will I not do it? No, of course not. And so the word ‘or’ works well in that example.
Here’s another example. Nesting animals should be left in situ until young have fledged and/or left the nest. Well. The word ‘or’ works just fine. Nesting animals should be left in situ until young have fledged or left the nest. Think through all the different combinations, all the different possibilities and you’ll see that the word all works just fine.
Take care with acronyms
Another thing to be careful of in documents is acronyms. Now, if you’re going to use an acronym, the way I’ve got it on the screen is the way to do it. We provide the name of the entity or the thing that you’re talking about, and then put it in brackets unless it’s a well known acronym. So that’s how you use acronyms.
But the problem with acronyms is that readers hate them.
You see what an acronym is is a piece of obscure code that the writer has created. It’s a jumble of letters the writer has injected with a special meaning and said to the reader, look, I’d like you to remember this special piece of code while you were reading my document. While you’re grappling with all the ideas that I wanted to talk about, please remember this piece of code. You can forget that piece of code when you get to the end of the document, because it’s no longer relevant. By the way, I’ve given you 17 in the first paragraph. Please remember them all.
That’s why readers hate acronyms. It does make it harder for people to read because I’ve got all these codes to remember as I grapple with the content.
Now I’m not saying never use an acronym, but please think about the impact that you are having on your reader every time you introduce an acronym. Sometimes it might be kinder to explain the term in full every time you come to it, because you only mention it two or three times in the document. Other times, using the acronym is really helpful because it’s the way your organisation talks about this thing and it would be really helpful for your reader to learn them. So think through the acronyms and don’t just use them because you can.
Here is a way of avoiding an acronym. We could have the Environment and Heritage Steering Committee and then create an acronym for that. But the other way of writing that might be to introduce the Environment and Heritage Steering Committee and in any subsequent reference to them, just call them the committee. That won’t work all the time, but it is a way of avoiding an acronym.
Also be aware of some awkward phrases. I’ve seen things like I would like to invite you to. It almost sounds as though I’d like to invite you to the party, but I’m not. Why don’t we just write I invite you to. That reduces the word count and gets the point straight away.
Take care when using apostrophes and upper case
We only use apostrophes in contractions in words like don’t, can’t, or wouldn’t where we’ve contracted the word from do not, cannot, that sort of thing, or to indicate ownership. So it’s Tom’s book or bikers’ rights. So the apostrophe goes before the S if it’s an individual after the S if it’s a group. We don’t throw apostrophes in just because there happens to be an S there.
Also, be careful with capitals. We only use those at the beginning of the sentence or a heading of the names of people or specific things or entities. We don’t capitalise words just because we think they’re important.
Correct your spelling
So we’ll talk about the Australian Government and I’ll use a capital G because that’s the title of the entity. But when I go to the generic form, I’ll talk about governments around Australia. I will talk about the General Manager. That’s the title with capitals. But I’ll go to the lower case when I’m moving to the generic form – managers will speak at team meetings.
And also be careful about the way you are spelling words. Often there’s a choice between a British way of spelling something and an American way of spelling something. Make sure the spell check in your document is set to the right language. If you’re writing in Australia, you are going to use British style most of the time.
Here’s a few examples: we’re going to write organise with the S. Colour with the our, dialogue with the UAE on the end, analysed with an S. Double L in words like equalled and travelled and fulfilled, but only a single S in focused. And this one here, programme versus program, is not so much British versus American, but most of the time we’re going to be writing using program.
Two types of bulleted lists
In setting out bulleted lists, remember that there are two types of bulleted lists
One where each bullet point is a complete sentence. In that case, you’re going to use sentence punctuation for each of your bullet points.
The other type of bulleted list is where each bullet point extends the original lead and extends the sentence. In that case, you’ll probably use minimal punctuation. But check with your style guide.
OK, so here’s an example where the bulleted list all of those bullets are a sentence in their own right, so they all start with a capital and end with a full stop. Here’s an example where each bullet continues the lead in and so we’ve got minimal punctuation.
So all those types of issues should be defined in your style guide. Know what it says and follow it.
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