I’ve been posting lately about the importance of precise language in technical writing. Two weeks ago I described the proper use of credible and creditable. Last week I examined the use of intensifiers. The more I provide examples of how precise language improves technical writing, the more a certain theme seems common.
What is that theme? If you’ve been reading my writing tips regularly, you will likely guess I will say “the failure to distinguish between spoken English and written English.” And if there were your guess, you would be right!
Here’s another instance in which more precise language matters. Speakers of the English language can often use where to mean that. However, when a sentence contains an anticipation of an idea that appears later in the same sentence, that is always more appropriate than where.
Consider the example sentence in the cropped graphic above. The allusion references creates an anticipation for whatever was referenced, which appears after where. Because the sentence anticipates what it later reveals, that and not where is the appropriate word.
Replacing where with that yields
What is that theme? If you’ve been reading my writing tips regularly, you will likely guess I will say “the failure to distinguish between spoken English and written English.” And if there were your guess, you would be right!
Here’s another instance in which more precise language matters. Speakers of the English language can often use where to mean that. However, when a sentence contains an anticipation of an idea that appears later in the same sentence, that is always more appropriate than where.
Consider the example sentence in the cropped graphic above. The allusion references creates an anticipation for whatever was referenced, which appears after where. Because the sentence anticipates what it later reveals, that and not where is the appropriate word.
Replacing where with that yields
The allusion references an earlier report that the firm claimed an exhaustive investigation found no evidence of corrosion.
This sentence sounds awkward but can be corrected by omitting the firm.
The allusion references an earlier report that claimed an exhaustive investigation found no evidence of corrosion.
We have not only used the more appropriate that but also increased the power of the sentence by communicating the same message in fewer words!
Where sentences anticipate ideas, use that not where. More precise language makes more effective technical writing. And more effective writing both makes a more effective presentation and better represents you and your brands.
Where sentences anticipate ideas, use that not where. More precise language makes more effective technical writing. And more effective writing both makes a more effective presentation and better represents you and your brands.
RSS Feed