Working with Words in Business and Legal Writing & Better Punctuation in 30 Minutes a Day. . - Bookshelf: Books in Brief - book review

HR Magazine, Jan, 2003

Working with Words in Business and Legal Writing

By Lynne Agress

Perseus Publishing, 2002

123 pages

List price: $13.50

ISBN: 0-7382-0562-1

By Ceil Cleveland

Career Press, 2002

222 pages

List price: $11.99

ISBN: 1-56414-626-X

Why do employees often fail to take a new workplace rule seriously? Sometimes the problem lies not in the policy itself, but in how HR or managers communicate IT to employees. Nothing sabotages the impact of an official memorandum more than having it tacked up by the water cooler with grammatical, spelling or usage errors circled in bright red ink.

Just as managers find it useful to take refresher courses on business principles, they may also find it worthwhile to revisit the rules of grammar and effective communication. "Writing is not merely puffing words on a page. It is using words that make sense, that express an idea in the clearest possible way, says Lynne Agress in Working with Words in Business and Legal Writing.

Too often, business communiques contain unnecessary thoughts and phrases, which can bury the message. Agress offers an example of an unnecessarily complex policy statement:

"Many employees are using the fax machine and the Internet for reasons not necessarily pertaining to the normal conduct of business. For this reason, we are limiting the use of the fax machine and access to the Internet to those employees who are conducting business directly related to the carrying out of normal business."

Contrast that 54-word monster with this simple 13-word statement:

"The fax machine and the Internet may be used for company business only."

"Next time you proofread a letter, pretend you are going to get $100 for every word you can eliminate," she says.

In her book Agress provides other pointers for better business communications:

* Watch out for useless words. Eliminate meaningless phrases like "as you know." Trim redundant words.

* Avoid jargon. Your reader may not understand the words being used, and you may be using them incorrectly. Terms like "parameter," "paradigm" and "methodology" are frequently misused. If you can't define a word, don't use it, Agress advises.

* Check grammar. One common mistake is misusing "I:" and "me." (Some correct examples are "Give copies to your supervisor and me" and "Your supervisor and I should get copies.") Gender-neutral language confuses many writers. The phrase "An employee should ask their supervisor ... is incorrect. Either change the first half ("Employees should ask ...") or last ("... ask his or her supervisor").

* Use active voice. Active-voice sentences ("We reviewed several programs.") are shorter and easier to understand than passive voice ("Several programs were reviewed.")

* Beware of incorrect punctuation. Commas, dashes, semicolons and periods aid the flow of writing and help ensure proper meaning. Leaving off apostrophes and question marks can alter the meaning of sentences.

Ceil Cleveland's Better Punctuation in 30 Minutes a Day provides a series of exercises that remind readers of the principles of punctuation and grammar.

For example, Cleveland offers a simple explanation for two words that often confound business communicators: "which" and "that." The latter, she notes, "introduces a part that is almost always necessary in the sentence, and 'which' introduces a part that is often not necessary." The sentence "the policy that is described in this memo applies to all" is correct, as is "the policy, which was reviewed by our attorney, applies to all."

Books such as Working with Words in Business and Legal Writing and Better Punctuation in 30 Minutes a Day can help HR professionals and managers improve their grammatical skills, which can enhance communications with employees.