Tips for Style in Language

Contents

  1. Use an oral style.
  2. Be precise.
  3. Be concrete.
  4. Be concise.
  5. Be appropriate.
  6. Be vivid.
  7. Orwell's Points on Style

George Orwell's 1984 tells how language can change the truth. Orwell saw the same problems in the real-world political discourse of his day. Stale images, lack of precision, dying metaphors, muddled verbs, pretentious diction, meaningless words all clog language.

Bad language is not the worst of it. "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought," Orwell argues in the essay "Prose and Politics." "If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration."

If bad language makes for bad government, it certainly makes for bad business. Managers and executives can sharpen their business vision as they sharpen their language skills.

 

  1. Use an oral style.
    1. Be conversational.
    2. Use repetition.
    3. Keep structure clear.
      1. Use signposts.
      2. Use previews.
      3. Use internal summaries.
    4. Use short sentences.
    5. Use short words.
    6. Use contractions.
    7. Fragments are acceptable.


  2. Be precise.
    1. Make sure you are using the proper word and grammar.
      1. "between you and I"
      2. "each and every"
      3. "He likes ice cream, whereas I prefer yogurt."
      4. "irregardless"
      5. "reason is because"
    2. Make sure your figurative language is clear.


  3. Be concrete.
    1. Use the most specific words possible.
    2. Examples
      1. a person  John
      2. individuals  customers  grocery shoppers
      3. problem  too expensive  that's $2,500 we don't have.
      4. study  research and discuss  read documents, hear testimony, deliberate for several hours.


  4. Be concise.
    1. Use the fewest words necessary to make your point.
    2. Examples
      1. It has been determined that your services are no longer necessary.  I've decided to fire you.
      2. We sustained losses through death by misadventure.  We shelled our own troops.


  5. Be appropriate.
    1. Use language that fits the formality of the occasion. In general, the more formal the occasion:
      1. the more serious the tone
      2. the more subtle the humor
      3. the more elaborate the sentences
      4. the greater the numbers of figures of speech
      5. the greater the departure from everyday word choice
    2. Use jargon and slang with caution.
      1. Doctors have their own language--medicant--which makes journal articles 1/2 to 2/3 longer than if they were written in English.
      2. "negative deficit" = profit
      3. "strategic misrepresentation" = lying
      4. "If competitive advantage can be achieved from just-in-time participatory management styles, then bottom-line oriented organizations can better facilitate their gain-sharing systems to network for the new global technologies. At my company, for example, detected causalities fluctuate between generic niche discontinuities and complementary enculturative yield functions." Harvard Business Review quoted in William Lutz, Doublespeak.
      5. See more examples of business clichés that can conceal instead of reveal meaning.
    3. Use language that is respectful and inclusive.
      1. gender
      2. race


  6. Be vivid.
    1. Use strong verbs.
      1. active instead of passive

        On January 25, 2002, National Public Radio Host Noah Adams talked with Democratic Gov. Paul Patton of Kentucky about his change of heart over black lung compensation. Gov. Patton was pushing to reverse a bill he signed into law in 1996 making it harder for coal miners to seek compensation for having black lung disease. In he interview, the forthright Patton admitted having made a mistake. At first, however, he spoke the classic political use of passive voice, "Mistakes were made." Before he even finished the sentence, he stepped out from behind the passive voice and said boldly, "We made mistakes." Hear the interview here.

      2. verbs instead of verbals
        1. Verbs instead of nouns: "discuss" instead of "discussion."
        2. Verbs instead of participles or gerunds: "run" instead of "running."
    2. Use imagery.
      1. Sight
      2. Sound
      3. Taste
      4. Smell
      5. Touch
        1. texture and shape
        2. Pressure
        3. Heat and cold
      6. Muscle strain
      7. Internal sensations
    3. Use stylistic devices
      1. Simile and metaphor
        1. All language is metaphorical in a sense. I.A. Richards said that we cannot speak more than two or three sentences without using a metaphor. Consider "run."
        2. A metaphor has a tenor--the idea we are communicating and a vehicle to communicate that idea. "He (tenor) is a bear (vehicle)."
        3. Metaphors are crucial to understanding. They allow us to understand something we do not know by comparing it to something we do know. Metaphors let us see things in new ways.
        4. A compelling metaphor is a great aid to teaching or persuasion.
        5. Metaphor is critical in human communication, including business.
          1. Employees as "associates"
          2. Work groups as "teams"
          3. Employees as "cast members" (Consider the influence of this metaphor.)
          4. Dean Kane and the "Segway HT"
        6. In sales and any kind of motivation, the words we use to communicate an idea act as blinders to lead the audience in a particular way of seeing.
        7. For more on metaphor, see the material on memory.
      2. Personification
        1. "Success is calling us."
      3. Hyperbole
        1. "These cost overruns are killing us."
      4. Repetitive language
        1. Repeat words or phrases within a single paragraphs or throughout a speech.
      5. Alliteration and assonance
        1. "Let us believe, in spite of doubts and dogmas, and tears and fears, that these dear words are true of all the countless dead." Robert Ingersoll
      6. Antithesis
        1. Not only...but also
    4. Use fresh language.
    5. Vary the rhythm of your sentences.
      1. The syntax should vary.
      2. The length should vary.


  7. For a summary, keep Orwell's points in mind (Read the whole essay).
    1. "A scrupulous writer [or speaker!], in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:
      1. What am I trying to say?
      2. What words will express it?
      3. What idiom or image will make it clearer?
      4. Is the image fresh enough to have an effect?
      5. And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly?
      6. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?"
    2. Orwell summarizes all this with 6 rules.
      1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
      2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
      3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
      4. Never use the passive voice where you can use the active.
      5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
      6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous

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This page was last modified on Thursday, January 16, 2003.
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