Four secret tools to enhance your writing skills

Readers found that the removal of simple shallow verbs and the subsequent replacement with powerful action verbs particularly challenging. Please remember that the elimination of all simple verbs entirely becomes nearly impossible.

Instead, avoid all usage of the worst simple verbs: am, is, are, was, were, be, and being. Then, use the remaining shallow verbs sparingly, providing a heavy usage bias towards action verbs: endeavour, intend, etc.

Building on our earlier techniques, let us delve into further meaningful ways to bring our national professional writing standards up to match Kenya’s powerfully competitive professionalism, work ethic, and creativity:

Descriptive adjectives

Remember adjectives from Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and later in greater depth on the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE)? Now adjectives come front and centre again as a significant component of professional writing. Technically, adjectives describe a noun while adverbs describe a verb. In Kenya when we tell a story verbally, we actively describe situations in great depth with passion and excitement. However, when our stories move to written words on a computer or paper, our descriptions turn lackluster.

As an example, would you rather read a sentence in an article about: “the good university campus” or “the vibrant university campus”? Clearly the latter example portrays more depth and specificity that may resonate with the reader.

Now, please decide between the following additional example: “unique strong banking institution” versus “good banking institution”. In the example and in your own writing, avoid simple boring explanatory words that leave out specific details, such as: good, bad, nice, and happy.

Instead, replace your reader’s boredom with excitement and specificity with the following words: strong, solid, enthusiastic, vibrant, warm, welcoming, hopeful, etc.

Become creative and develop your own seemingly endless list of powerful descriptors.

A thesaurus or Microsoft Word’s built-in thesaurus, accessible by pressing “shift” and “F7” simultaneously once you highlight a particular word, often proves exceedingly useful for professionals writing at international levels in searching for better adjectives and adverbs.

Prepositions

We all learned the word during our adolescent education. Remember that a preposition indicates a relationship with a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. Prepositions include the words: of, if, with, to, from, at, in, by, for, and on.

New learners to any language often mix up prepositions: “Deputy President Ruto appeared on television” versus “Deputy President Ruto appeared in television”. Notice how the preposition, the appropriately utilised “on” in the previous sentence, provides detail about the relationship between the noun subject of the sentence, Deputy President Ruto, and the verb “appeared”.

The rule with prepositions in professional writing involves never placing a preposition as the first word or the last word in a sentence. Do not write “the chief did not know what to end the meeting with”, but rather “the chief pondered how to appropriately end the meeting”.

Notice the removal of “with” at the end of the sentence and “to” remained as the only preposition in the second example. International business executives cringe in subconscious disgust upon reading a preposition located as the first word or last word of a sentence.

Further, attempt to minimise the use of prepositions and the accompanying prepositional phrases that include all the words in the phrase following the preposition. While prepositions exist as a useful tool in professional writing, over usage complicates the relationships between words in a sentence.

A secret that separates professional business communicators from recent graduates and mid-level management revolves around the confusing use of the word “this”. Note that high-end international business writing avoids the use of “this” entirely.

On the other hand, less experienced writers frequently utilise “this” to the point that the reader becomes confused about which prior point or subject the writer intends to reference.

Imagine a paragraph containing two separate points, then later sentences containing “this”. Which point does the “this” mean to reference? Then, some writers place “this” as a means to jump back to prior paragraphs entirely. Such references anger readers and create dissatisfaction.

However, it bears repeating, that professional business writers avoid “this” at all costs. In fact, during my own MBA at the University of Chicago, I endured a semester with a professor who forbade the use of “this” to such an extent that he failed any student who submitted a paper that contained the word “this”.

Some helpful techniques to avoid writing “this”: remember that only verbal English utilises “this” because hand gestures and eye contact accompany told communication versus written communication. Next, write more specifically. Instead of “this”, restate the point summarily in one of two words.

A reader already knows the point of the paragraph or article by the time you feel the urge to write down the dreaded “this”. Finally, writers often include short more descriptive phrases, such as: “as stated above” or “as earlier referenced in the preceding paragraph”.

Full word capitalisation

Closing out the fourth writing tip for the week, we mention another common capitalisation error to build upon last week’s Business Talk. Young people and recent graduates around the world and right here in Kenya frequently become the most recurrent offender by including full word capitalisation in their writing.

Instead, let the power of your sentence structure exist as the only emphasis you need.

Prof Bellows serves as the director of the New Economy Venture Accelerator (NEVA) at USIU’s Chandaria School of Business and Colorado State University, www.usiu.ac.ke/gsse, and may be reached on: [email protected] or follow on Twitter: @ScottProfessor.