• repair of streets and potholes
• removal of snow
• collection of trash
• collection of recyclable goods
• repair of highway guard railings
The turnaround time from first report to completed repair has taken,
on average, 23 percent longer than it did last year.
“I cut the entire last sentence. I didn’t need it. The more I kept my
focus on my objective, the better my writing got.”
Notice how Stuart eliminated repetitive words and phrases, aligned
construction to ensure a parallel structure, and simplified the content.
What do you think? Is it clearer? Certainly it’s shorter. What’s your
view? Is it more reader friendly? Is it more usable by Stuart’s boss at a
town meeting?
Most people agree that it is better. Stuart applied the principles we’ve
discussed in a methodical manner, and his writing improved. “Plus,”
he explained, “I learned to write keeping parallel construction and avoiding
redundancy in mind. By writing cleaner communications in the
first place, I speeded up the entire process.”
E
When you begin to write with the four tactics in mind, it will take you
less time to produce better communications, and your efforts are more
likely to succeed.
In this chapter, you’ve learned how to write concisely and clearly, add
a positive tone, and maintain parallel construction. You’ve seen how
assimilating tips to avoid these pitfalls helps you write tighter, more readable
initial drafts.
Whether you wrote with these four tactics in mind, or revised to apply
them, your communications are close to complete. You’re ready to confirm
that your grammar and punctuation are correct.
In the next chapter, you’re going to learn to decide what level of proofreading
is appropriate for you and your projects in advance, and you’ll
use specific proofreading techniques to quickly and easily find grammar
and punctuation errors.