ROBERT F. ABBOTT
offers three free chapters from his book, A Manager's Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results. He also offers free subscriptions to Abbott's Communication Letter, a free newsletter that helps you enhance your career through improved business communication, at .
PS : to sponsor poetry
visit Poetry Sponsors
 |
ROBERT F. ABBOTT
Write and Speak for the Ear
You and I may not aspire to write great books or make great speeches.
But almost all of us want something to happen when we write or speak.
And, the more we tailor our words for the ears of readers and listeners,
the greater our chances of getting the results we want.
By writing for the ear, I mean that spoken words can have more power
than written words. After all, when we have important messages, we
prefer to deliver them verbally and personally, rather than by sending
a written message.
Of course, it's not practical or possible to deliver every message
verbally. But, if we can capture some of the nuances of the spoken word
we can increase the power of our messages. When we write for the ear,
our writing undergoes some subtle but important changes. Our words,
sentences, and paragraphs change in several important ways.
Consider the number of pauses that occur when we speak. Most of us
pause often, more often than when we write. To capture those pauses,
use commas or one of the other 'slowing' punctuation marks, such as
colons and semicolons.
Writing for the ear also means shorter sentences. And even fragments
of sentences. As you can imagine, speech tends to greater spontaneity
than written expression, which means shorter sentences and more
fragments.
Many of the same principles hold when we make formal speeches or
presentations. Especially if we speak from prepared notes.
Whatever we say, when we speak publicly, has to go in through listeners'
ears. And so, if you'll allow me to belabor the obvious, we need to write
speeches for listeners' ears, not our mouths.
You can call on many quick and easy techniques. For example, use
short words whenever possible. Words such as 'many' rather than
'numerous'; 'use' rather than 'utilize'; and 'need' rather than 'require'.
You can also speak for the ear by using common words rather than jargon
or technical words. Step back from your speech, after writing it, and ask
yourself if you use words that a child will understand.
We also want vivid words, words that fire up our imagination, that paint
new images on the canvases of readers' minds. Descriptive words that
convey action and emotion, words that drive ideas into our heads.
Use active verbs and not passive verbs. Banish words like 'is', and 'are'.
Also, check for the word 'being' and rewrite to get rid of it. Bring in verbs
that do something.
Now that you've got the words you want, put them into short sentences.
One short sentence. Followed by another short sentence. But, every once
in while add a longer sentence for variety and to reduce the chances of
boring your audience. And, keep the ideas simple within those long
sentences.
I'm biased, I know. After spending the better part of a decade writing and
reading radio news copy, I think it's a good idea to write for the ear.
Try it for yourself. Write something, read it out loud, and ask yourself
about the effect it's likely to have on readers. Re-write as necessary,
and read it aloud again. Repeat the process a few times. By the time
you finish you should have a well-crafted piece of writing, even if no
one ever reads it aloud or hears it spoken.
©2006 ROBERT F. ABBOTT |
 |
|
|
|
www.poetryrepairs.com v06.10:110