----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BETTER WRITING SKILLS NEWSLETTER, April 2010 By Tim North of Scribe Consulting www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Better Writing Skills newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE 1. More on starting a letter with "Dear" 2. "Reign" versus "reins" 3. A tip for making your writing simpler 4. Just for fun Your comments and questions are always welcome. Just send e-mail to: info@scribe.com.au Cheers, Tim North (Perth, Western Australia) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. More on starting a letter with "Dear" ----------------------------------------------------------------- Last month, I asked readers "When are you comfortable starting a letter with 'Dear'?". Vanessa wrote in to say: I would use this in a letter where there was a personal element, or you liked the person. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't use it in formal requests e.g. to Telstra or a government agency. I don't know who will read the letter initially. Presenting a different opinion, Leanne said: In most of my daily correspondence (generally emails) to colleagues and friends I would start with 'Hello, Tim' or 'Good Morning/Afternoon, Jane'. However, I am required to email information to a parliamentary committee, comprised of Senators and Members. In this instance I use: 'Dear Members', and conclude: 'Yours faithfully', which is consistent with the structure of formal letters. Here we have two different attitudes toward the use of "Dear". Vanessa is using it when there is a "personal element" to the communication. Leanne, though, is reserving it for formal, impersonal communications such as "Dear Member". Clearly both of these opinions are valid. The use of "Dear" is sometimes personal, sometimes formal. It might be useful to survey your colleagues to discover the preferred usage at your workplace. If there is no consensus, perhaps you'll start a debate that will produce a consistent usage. Thanks to the many people who wrote in. -- (c) 2010 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. "Reign" versus "reins" ----------------------------------------------------------------- My next correspondent, Claire, sent in this text from a newspaper: Until Ms Redmond's reign the Liberals were plagued by leadership turmoil. Ms Redmond took the reigns from Martin Hamilton-Smith in the second of two leadership spills following the "dodgy documents" affair. "The dodgy documents affair": it sounds like the title of a Sherlock Holmes story. (By the way, for my US readers, "dodgy" is a chiefly British and Australian colloquialism meaning untrustworthy.) But did you spot the mistake? "Reign" (with a "g") refers to a period of leadership or control. So saying "Ms Redmond's reign" is correct. "Take the reins" (without a "g") is a reference to the reins used to guide a horse. The phrase also means to take control, but because of its different origin, the spelling is different from the example above. So the newspaper's usage "Ms Redmond took the reigns" is a confusion of the two that should be avoided. "Rain", of course, is the wet stuff. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2010 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. A tip for making your writing simpler ----------------------------------------------------------------- I haven't discussed the active and passive voices for a couple of years, so here's a quick and simple review. Sentences written in the active voice have the following structure: DO-ER ACTION RECEIVER For example: John (do-er) wrote (action) the report (receiver). We misplaced your correspondence. The council reserved its decision. As you can see, sentences written in the active voice all start with the do-er of the action. (Technically, this is known as the subject of the sentence.) Sentences written in the passive voice, though, don't start with the do-er. They typically start with the receiver of the action. (Technically, this is known as the object of the sentence.) RECEIVER ACTION BY-WHOM For example: The report (receiver) was written by (action) John (do-er). Your correspondence was misplaced by us. The decision was reserved by the Council. Okay. We've made a distinction between the two. Now here's the point of all that. Traditional advice has always been that it's preferable to write most sentences in the active voice. Why? Well, the active voice tends to sound simpler and more direct. Also, it often requires fewer words. Compare: John wrote the report. (Active: 4 words) The report was written by John. (Passive: 6 words) Hope this helps. -- (c) 2010 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you know someone who'd like this newsletter? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a friend or colleague who'd find the Better Writing Skills newsletter interesting? If so, please feel free to send a copy of this issue to them. Alternatively, please tell them they can browse back issues here: http://www.scribe.com.au/newsletter.html Thanks for helping to make this newsletter so successful! ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Just for fun ----------------------------------------------------------------- This month you might enjoy this series of five artices entitled "Five simple steps to better typography". The first of these can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/peptsm Enjoy. Tim. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like more help with your writing? ----------------------------------------------------------------- On my web site, you'll find my range of jargon-free, downloadable e-books that will help you to become a better writer. These e-books will help you with business proposals, report writing, term papers, technical writing, grant writing, creative writing and more: http://www.scribe.com.au/ebooks.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- REPRODUCING THIS MATERIAL You're welcome to reproduce the articles from this newsletter that are copyrighted by Tim North, but please don't modify or sell them. Also, please provide a clickable link back to: http://www.scribe.com.au FUTURE MAILINGS You can prevent (or receive) future mailings by visiting this page: http://www.scribe.com.au/newsletter.html This is a GENUINE service, and you will not receive any unsolicited e-mail as a result. 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