Writing tips
It is what it is.
It is what it is captured my attention the first three times I heard the phrase. Those three times might have been before 11 on a single workday. The only time the idiom grabbed me was when my nearly-4-year-old granddaughter was patiently explaining one of her daddy’s frustrating habits. When I asked why he behaved that way, she shrugged and said, aptly, “It is what it is.” Now, when I speak those words, I quote her.
A recent Accountemps survey cites iiwii as one of the most hackneyed terms in the workplace. It ranks with “at the end of the day,” a “disconnect” between people and “viral” phrases.
“When business or industry terms become overused, people stop paying attention to them,” says Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Managing Your Career For Dummies. “The best communicators use clear and straightforward language that directly illustrates their points.” My 3 other favorites:
- Leverage: As in, “We intend to leverage our investment in infrastructure across multiple business units to drive profits.”
- Circle back: As in, “I’m heading out now, but I will circle back with you later.”
- Cutting edge: As in, “Our cutting-edge technology gives us a competitive advantage.”
Read more here.
Lesson to be learned: Choose other words instead of using clichés.
Write in 3s
When you list ideas, examples or foreign countries, name 3 at a time. Like 3 strikes in baseball, 3 little pigs and 3 little words. When you mention the highlights of your vacation, name 3.
Three examples sing. Two examples thud. Four examples overdo. Note the difference between:
- 2 adjectives: The future of the stock market looms dark and heavy.
- 3 adjectives: The future of the stock market looms dark, heavy and ominous.
- 2 names: The editors’ names are William Strunk and E.B. White.
- 3 names: Manny, Moe and Jack sell car parts.
- 4 foreign countries: The firm has offices in Iceland, Ireland, Israel and Iraq.
- 2 foreign countries: The mediation firm has offices in Ireland, Israel and Iraq.
Maybe it’s the 3 Musketeers. Maybe it’s 3 coins in the fountain. Maybe it’s the Holy Trinity. Whatever.
Write in 3s.
Write an op-ed.
How to write an op-ed in 5 quick steps.
- Choose a current issue on which you have strong ideas. If it makes you scream, laugh or grit your teeth, you have found the correct issue.
- Identify the publication where you would like to see your article.
- Read at least 10 op-eds in that publication. Check for length, style and relevance.
- Write between 500 and 800 words about the subject, fueling it with your passion.
- E-mail it to the editor for publication.
You know, of course, that op ed means the item is opposite the editorial page. Editorials traditionally run on the left page in a two-page newspaper spread, op eds on the right.
String your verbals.
Verbals are words that carry the idea of action or being but do not function as true verbs. They are mutated verbs that have lost their subjects and tense. As pseudo-verbs, they serve primarily as nouns, adjectives or adverbs. Verbals include participles, infinitives and gerunds. Let’s focus on gerunds.
Gerunds are present participles that function as nouns, naming action or states of being.
- Winning the sales contest was her goal.
- Guaranteeing their products was the company’s downfall.
- Writing a tribute for a memorial service is more difficult than writing a grocery list.
Verbals can be your best friends. They allow you to write extended, interesting sentences, combining multiple concepts, without risking accusations of run-ons and interspersing them with shorter sentences. Read these examples of stringing chains of verbals.
- The talented writer inserts a verbal into her sentence, trying it on for size, switching it from past tense to present, placing it closer to the subject, waiting to engage her readers.
- James Michener’s research style included moving to the locale, immersing himself in the culture, learning all he could, working seven days a week researching and interviewing, then typing his manuscript with two fingers on a manual typewriter.
- Henry Haller served as executive White House chef for five presidents, preparing state dinners, whipping up wedding cakes, delighting 1,300 Vietnam POW’s.
In each case, the verbal-free copy would be longer and duller. Can you find ways to string verbals in your prose?
Assure/Ensure/Insure
Three little words — assure, ensure and insure — can wreak havoc in writing. Consider:
My two-volume 1937 Webster’s Universal Dictionary of the English Language, “profusely illustrated, being the unabridged dictionary by Noah Webster, LL.D.,” defines
- assure as To make certain.
- ensure as Same as insure.
- insure as To underwrite.
But today Ensure means an adult nutrition shake. The word makes reasonable people snicker. I suggest you drop it from business writing. Totally.
Write insure when you’re discussing property liability and annual check-ups.
Use assure to mean “put the mind to rest.”
What do you think?
