The Plain English Approach to Business Writing

Book excerpt: Businessese, academese, legalese--these painful eses appear all too often in memos, letters, reports, and papers. You have probably fallen victim to them yourself, writing "commence" and "prior to" instead of "begin" and "before," burying your main point somewhere in the last paragraph. Now Edward Bailey offers help in The Plain English Approach to Business Writing . Bailey has spent twenty years working in bastions of bureaucratese, helping businessmen and government workers write in direct, effective plain English. This no-nonsense guide is an indispensable office companion. Bailey's approach is surprisingly straightforward: just write as you would talk. Plain English is not only easier to read, it's also easier to write. And it's so effective that many large organizations are endorsing, if not demanding its use in the workplace. Pithy and entertaining, Bailey clearly lays out the dos and don'ts of plain English, illustrating them with examples drawn from such sources as business documents, technical manuals, trade publications, and the works of such writers as Russell Baker and John D. MacDonald. From the basics to the fine tuning, he offers practical advice on clarity, precision, organization, layout, and a host of other topics. This is a book that can be read in an hour--and used for the rest of your life. Features Shows readers how to improve the quality and clarity--and increase the speed--of their business writing Provides a practical model that helps writers get started and stay organized Includes dozens of real-life examples drawn from business documents, technical manuals, trade publications, and the works of well-known writers