Chapter
ft:
Don't
Go
There:
Words
and
Expressions
to
Avoid
323
Danger,
Will
Robinson
Proverbs
are
often
con-
fused
with
clichés,
but
then
again,
I'm
often
confused
with
Cindy
Crawford.
Such

is the way of the
world.
Unfortunately,
I'm not
Cindy,
and proverbs aren't
clichés.
Proverbs are economical
phrases
that
pack a great deal of
meaning in a
brief
wallop;
a
cliché,
on the
other
hand, is
bloated
and meaningless.
Gorgeous George
George Orwell was the pen name of Eric
Blair,
one of the most brilliant
English
stylists
ever. In his landmark
essay
"Politics and the

English
Language,"
Orwell wrote, "Modern
English
prose consists
less
and
less
of
words
chosen for the sake of their meaning, and
more and more
of
phrases
tacked together like
the sections of a prefabricated henhouse." He
concluded: "The great enemy of clear
language
is
insincerity.
When
there
is a gap between
one's
real and one's declared aims, one turns
as
it were instinctively to long words and
exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting
out ink." You've read about Orwell before
in

this book. He deserves more ink, be-
cause
he nailed style in writing.
But
Orwell didn't just complain. Fortu-
nately,
he
suggests
a number of remedies.
I've yet to come across six guidelines
that
make more sense than Orwell's. And here
they are:
1.
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other
figure
of
speech
that
you are used to
seeing
in
print.
(In other words, cut all
those
clichés!)
2.
Never use a long word where a short one will do. (Remember what you learned
in
Chapter

23
on word choice, or
diction.)
3.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. (Look back to Chapter
22.)
4.
Never use the passive voice when you can use the active. (This was covered in
Chapter
22.)
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.
Take
My
Word
for
It
Steer
clear of slanted lan-
guage, too.
These
are emotion-
ally loaded words and phrases
designed to
inflame

readers.
Describing
a lab experiment as
"viciously
maiming helpless rats"
is
an example of slanted lan-
guage. At its most offensive,
slanted language
descends
into
propaganda; at its best, slanted
language
merely
offends readers.
32*i
Part
S: Style:
All
the
Write
Stuff
A
Note on Words and
Expressions
to Avoid for Non-Native
Speakers
If you
are a non-native speaker of
English,

this chapter is
especially
important to you
for
several reasons:
•
Many other countries are not
as
concerned
with
"politically correct"
language
as
America has become recently. Thus, the issue of
sexist
and biased
language
is
not
as
significant or likely to cause offense in your native
language.
•
Ornate and flowery
language
may be considered more polite than direct
dis-
course in your native
language.
This is

true
in
Japanese,
for example. In general,
direct,
blunt
speech is judged
as
very rude
in
Japanese
culture.
•
Certain bodily functions may not be referred to
with
euphemisms in your culture.
However, these functions are cloaked indirect expressions in
English.
Thus,
knowing when to use euphemisms and when not to use euphemisms may pres-
ent special problems for you.
To deal
with
these
issues,
study the documents in your workplace and read well-
respected newspapers such as
The New
York
Times.

Listen to the
language
used by
public speakers and leaders who are held in high esteem. Do
not
rely on television,
entertainers, or sports
figures
to help you master correct
usage.
The
Least
You Need to Know
•
Use bias-free
language.
•
Avoid doublespeak, including
jargon,
bureaucratic
language,
inflated
language,
and euphemisms.
•
Nix on
clichés,
too.
•
Write

simply and directly.
Part
In
Your
Write Mind
Brenda
Starr and
Lois
Lane can
whip
out a story in a
flash,
with
nary a
chipped nail. According to the movies and television, even L.A. lawyers,
New York City cops, and lowly office workers sit at
computer
terminals
and bang out
perfectiy
crafted memos, letters, or reports at breakneck speed.
Hollywood would have us think
that
effective writing
is
a
cakewalk—
without
the cake, of course.
On the

other
hand, we have Hollywood's
picture
of the starving
writer,
toiling away in anonymity in a garret, painfully facing
that
blank sheet of
paper while waiting for the muse. The floor is littered
with
a mountain of
crumpled
pages;
towers of
empty
coffee cups
teeter
against the stained walls.
Of
course,
both
are equally unrealistic views of the writing process, yet
each contains a germ of
truth.
In this
part,
you explore the process of
writ-
ing
and learn how to produce powerful

resumes,
cover letters, business
communications, and personal writing.

Chapter
Business
Writing:
Write
Angles
In This Chapter
•
Design effective business letters
•
Create winning
resumes
and cover letters
•
Send business thank you letters
•
Deliver good news and bad news in writing
Today, there's
stiff
competition for positions, and people who can commu-
nicate often win out over those who can't. Many companies
don't
advertise
at
all,
preferring to do their recruiting through formal and informal
net-

working. The stock market is a wild roller
coaster—and
people are
edgy.
Knowing how to
write
a powerful
resume
and cover
letter
can help you
get
the job you want. If
you've
already got a job, these
tools—along
with
the ability to
write
effective business letters and
memos—can
help you get
where you want to be. Those are the
skills
you learn in this chapter.
328
Part
6:
In
Your

Writ?
Hind
Letter
Perfect
Successful
business writers know
that
an effective document reads well and looks good.
Here are my top
10
ways to make your documents look
as
professional as they read:
1.
Use
white
space
(the empty space on a page) to separate and emphasize key points
within a
letter.
Provide sufficient
white
space around paragraphs, too. Figure 1
inch to
1
Vi
inches on all
sides.
2.
To help readers locate key elements, use indented

lists,
bullets, or
numbers—just
like this book does!
3.
Use
headers
(words or phrases
that
group points) to lead the reader through the
document.
4.
To get maximum impact, put key elements such as
return
addresses and com-
pany contact information in the
top-left
and lower-right quadrants of the page.
5.
Go
easy
on the bells and whistles such as high-
0
1
«^
r\
J_
j-
lighting, decorative devices, fonts, and color.
A_J/

Quoth
the Maven
Templates
(available on
stan-
dard software) can make
format-
ting
business
letters,
resumes,
and memos a breeze.
6. Decide
whether
to justify the right margin (line
up the type), based on the situation and audience.
Justified margins let you add about 20 percent
more
text
on the
page.
However, use
them
only
with
proportional type to avoid distracting, wide
spaces
between words.
7.
For all important business writing, such as letters of application and

resumes,
use good quality, heavy,
white
bond paper and matching envelopes. Tradition-
ally,
local printers typeset letterhead, but a good-quality laser printer and soft-
ware package can create fine letterhead
as
well.
8.
When
possible, limit your letters and
resumes
to one page.
9. Consider your audience's needs and expectations. Show
that
you understand the
purpose for the business communication and the
context
in which it is read.
10.
Use conventional formats, explained in the following section and shown in
Appendix A.
Form
and
Function
Business
letters are single-spaced on
8V2
by

11-inch
letterhead. There are
three
differ-
ent formats you can
use:
the block
style,
the modified block
style,
and the semiblock
Chapter
25:
Business
Writing:
Write
Angles
329
style.
The differences among the
three
styles relate to paragraph indentations and the
placement of
headings
and
closings.
•
The
block
style

has all parts of the
letter
placed flush left.
•
The
modified
block
style
places the head-
ing
in the upper-right corner and the
closing
and signature in the lower-right
corner, parallel to the heading. The
paragraphs
are not indented.
Danger,
Will
Robinson
The
semiblock
style
places the heading in
the upper-right corner and the close
and signature in the lower-right corner,
parallel
to the heading. The paragraphs
are
indented.
Pick

one
letter
style—the
block style, the
modified
block
style,
or the semiblock
style—and
stick
with
it. You're
less
likely
to
make mistakes if you're consistent.
The following list contains the guidelines for the block style. Vary it as explained ear-
lier
if you want to use the modified block or semiblock style instead.
Date
Inside
address
Salutation
Body
Close
Signature
Initials
Enclosures
Copies
Month (spelled out), day (followed by a comma), year.

The recipient's address; place two lines after the date.
Recipient's title, last name, colon (Dear Ms. Streisand:).
Short, single-spaced paragraphs stating the information.
Capitalize the first word, conclude
with
a comma (Yours
truly,).
Place two lines after the last line of the
letter.
Sign
your name in ink. Leave
three
lines of space after the
close
for your signature.
If
the
letter
is typed by someone other than the writer,
insert the typist's initials below the typed name of the
sig-
natory. Capitalize the writer's initials; use lowercase for the
typist's (LR:st or
LR/st).
"Enclosures"
or
"Enc."
indicates
that
additional material is

included
with
the
letter.
List
other recipients alphabetically or by rank
(cc:
Samantha
Harris,
Tracey Jefferson).
330
Part
6:
In
Your
Write
Kissing Cousins
Although no two kinds of
business
letters are identical, they
do
share certain features
besides
their format.
•
They are brief but clear.
•
The relationship between the writer and reader is established at the beginning of
the
letter.

•
Any
necessary
background information is provided.
Danger,
Will
Robinson
Using
e-mail
addresses
like
sonofsatan, hotlips69, and
imababy
will
get you kicked out
of the
pile
so fast
you'll
get
whip-
lash.
Your e-mail should read:
Firstname_Lastname@carrier,
as in

If
action is required on the
part
of the reader,

the action is stated outright.
If
the
letter
is a response, it mentions the date of
the previous contact.
The
tone
matches the occasion. A
letter
to a col-
league
is appropriately friendly, but general busi-
ness
correspondence is formal.
The overall tone is always polite.
Business
communication
falls
into the following general
categories:
letters of applica-
tion, informational letters, and memos. Let's check out these categories.
Resumes and Cover
Letters:
Get on the Fast Track
You don't have to rescue a child from under a flaming Chevy or donate a kidney to get
the job you want (although it probably wouldn't hurt). You
do
have to write effective

resumes
and cover
letters—and
writing is a lot
less
painful than heroics.
A
resume
is a persuasive summary of your qualifications for employment. It is always
accompanied by a
cover
letter.
Employers use
resumes
and cover letters to decide
whom to interview. An effective cover
letter
and
resume
are not like sweat pants: One size doesn't fit
all.
To get you some face time, a winning cover
letter
and
resume
must be tailored to suit the employer's
needs
and your qualifications as closely as possible.
For
that

reason, many people have several different
versions
of their
resume.
Here's how to make your
resume
work for you.
You
Could
Look
It Up
A
resume
is a
persua-
sive
summary of your qualifications
for employment.
_
Chapter
25:
Business
Writing:
Write
Angles
331
Resumes
As
you write your
resume,

emphasize the things you've done
that
are most relevant to
the position for which you are applying and show how you are superior to other can-
didates.
Emphasize
what
you
can do for the company, not
what
the company can do for
you. Be realistic, use the layout to emphasize key points, and relate your experience to
the job you want.
Here are the facts you must include:
•
Name, address, phone number, e-mail address
•
Education
•
Relevant experience
Here are the facts you
can
include:
•
Career objective
•
Previous and current employment
•
Promotions
•

Foreign
language
and computer
language
proficiency
•
Volunteer positions
•
Education and course work
•
Honors and achievements
•
References
Here are the facts you never include:
•
Age
•
Health (It's assumed
that
every candidate's health is excellent.)
•
Religious affiliation, political affiliation
•
Race or ethnicity
•
Gender or sexual orientation
•
Marital status (as in married, widowed, divorced, or
single)
•

Information about children or pets
332
Part
6:
In
Your
Write
Mind
You're expected to put your accomplishments in the best possible light, but
always
tell
the
truth.
Background checks are a hot topic in personnel circles today. Experts say a
decade of litigation has nervous employers turning more and more to professional
background checkers, who
report
that
caseloads are growing at 30 percent a year.
Investigators
find discrepancies or outright
lies
in about one-third of the
resumes
they check.
Gloryoski!
Shooting Yourself in the Foot
Here are the top
resume
turnoffs.

Resume
No-No's
Turnoff
Example
Poor
formatting and exotic fonts
Unnecessary
personal information
Buzzwords
that
obscure meaning
Vague descriptions of achievements
Incomplete contact information
Spelling
and grammar mistakes
John
J.
JobSeeker,
Àn^Àf^ax^t'
I'm a
single
white
male. I'm a Libra.
As
the Director of Integral Operations,
my mission involves convergences in
delivering
synergized solutions to my
strategic
customers.

"I
increased widget
sales."
Instead, say
"I
increased widget
sales
by
25
percent
or $2 million."
Some
people actually forget to
give
their
own names and telephone numbers!
The worst is misspelling the name of
the company or contact person.
Chronological
Resume
There are two kinds of
resumes:
chronological
and
skills.
Although each type of
resume
lists
basically
the same information, the information is arranged very differently.

A
chronological
resume
summarizes your accomplishments in reverse chronological
order (starting
with
the most recent and working backward). It stresses degrees, job
titles, and dates. Consider using a chronological
resume
when
•
Your education and experience are
logical
preparation for the job you want.
•
You have an impressive education or job history.