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Principles I
To compose effective messages, we need to apply certain principles. They
provide guidelines for choice of content and style of presentation- adapted to
the purpose and receiver of the message.
Completeness.
Conciseness
Consideration
Concreteness
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Completeness.
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Answer all questions asked.

Give something extra, when desirable.

Check for the five “W’s ” questions- Who, What, When,
Where, Why and any other essentials such as how.
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Answer all questions asked.
Whenever you reply to inquiry, try to answer all questions-stated and imply.
The reaction of the recipient to incomplete reply is likely to be unfavorable.
The recipient may think the respondent is careless or is purposely trying to
conceal a weak spot.
If you have no information on a particular question, say so clearly.
 If you have unfavorable information in answer to questions, handle your reply
with tact and honesty.
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Give something extra, when desirable.
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The word when desirable is essential.
Sometimes you must do more than answer the senders’ specific
questions.
They may not know what they need, or their questions may be
inadequate.
For example, suppose you received the following inquiry letter
from an out-of-town member. I think I would like to attend my first
meeting of the league, even though, I am not acquainted in your
city. Will you please tell me where the next meeting will be held.
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If you answered only this one question, your letter would be
incomplete. Realizing that your reader is a newcomer to your city
and to your meeting, you should include in your reply a welcome
plus such needed details as directions for reaching the building;
parking facilities; day, date, and time of the meeting and maybe
the program for the next meeting.
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Check for the five “W’s ” questions- Who, What, When,
Where, Why and any other essentials such as how.
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Another way to help make your message complete is to
answer, whenever desirable, the five “W’s” questions.
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This method is useful when you write requests,
announcements, or other informative messages.
For instance, to order merchandise, make clear what you
want, when you need it, to whom and where it is to be sent,
and how payment will be made.
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Conciseness



Eliminate wordy expressions.
Include only relevant statements.
Avoid unnecessary repetition.
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Eliminate wordy expressions.
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use single-word substitutes instead of phrases
whenever possible without changing meaning.
For example,
Wordy expression
at this time
due to the fact that
for the purpose that
Concise
now
because
for; to
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in order to
to
from the point of view
as
in the most cases
usually
in spite of the fact that
although
during the time that
while
please do not hesitate to write please write
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Include only relevant statements.
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Be sure to include relevant fact, stick to the purpose of the
message, omit information obvious to the receiver, and avoid
long introductions and unnecessary explanations.
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Avoid unnecessary repetition.
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Sometimes repetition is necessary for emphasis. But when the
same thing is said two or more without any reason, the message
become wordy and boring.
For instance, use a shorter name after you have mentioned the
long one once. Use initials rather than repeat long name. King
Saud University. KSU
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Consideration

Focus on “You” instead of “I” and “We”.

Show reader benefit or interest in reader.

Emphasize the positive, pleasant facts.

Apply integrity and ethics.
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Focus on “You” instead of “I” and “We”.
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Your receivers are usually more concern about themselves than about
you or your company.
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They are more likely to read your message when they see their name
and the pronoun “you” rather than “I” “we” or us.
For example, we will ship soon the goods in your May 4 order.
“I”, “we” attitude. It is better to write. You should receive by may 8
the Apex screens you ordered may 4. “you” attitude.
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Show reader benefit or interest in reader.
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Whenever possible and true, show how readers will benefit from
whatever the message asks or announces.
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They will be more likely to react favorably and do what you suggest
if you show that benefits are worth the effort and cost.
For example, you will be glad to know that we now have a walk-up
window open 8-12 a.m. and 4-8 p.m. every weekday.
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The following message shows the reader’s benefit.
You can now take care of your banking needs also at our new walkup window. It is open with a capable teller to serve you 8-12 a.m.
and 4-8 p.m. Saturday through Wednesday.
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Emphasize the positive, pleasant facts.
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This means stressing what can be done instead of what cannot be done and
focusing on words your recipient can consider favorably.
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For most people negative words like no, cannot, never, impossible trigger
unpleasant emotional reactions.
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By making clear what you can or will do, you (by implication) often make
clear what you cannot do, without using a single negative word.
For example, it is impossible to open an account for you today. “negativeunpleasant”. As soon as your signature card reaches us, we will gladly
open an account… “positive-pleasant”.
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Apply integrity and ethics.
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We also need to apply integrity-high moral standard, personal
honor, truthfulness, sincerity to our written messages.
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without “integrity”, business communication would prove
worthless, and our confidence in people would be shattered.
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Ethics is concerned with what is right human conduct.
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Codes of ethics provide standards enabling us to determine the
fundamental distinction between right and wrong human
behaviour.
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Concreteness

Use specific facts and figures.

put an action in your verbs.

Choose vivid, image-building words.
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Use specific facts and figures.
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Whenever you can, substitute an exact statement or a figure for a
general word to make your message more concrete and convincing.
For example, this computer reproduces campaign letters fast. “
vague and general”.
this computer types 400 personalized 150-word campaign letters in
one hour. “concrete and convincing”.
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put an action in your verbs.
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Strong verbs can activate other words and help to make your
sentences definite.
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To compose strong sentences, you should use active rather than
passive verbs.
For example, a full report will be sent to you by the supervisor.
“passive voice”. The supervisor will send you a full report. “active
voice”.
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Put an action in your verbs instead of in nouns.
Seven verbs- be, give, have, hold, make, put, and take might be
designated as “deadly” verbs.
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when the action they introduce is hidden in a “quiet noun”.
For example, Mr. Omer will give consideration to the report. “action
hiding in a Quiet Noun”. Mr. Omer will consider the report. “action in
the verb”.
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Choose vivid, image-building words.
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Among the devices you can use to make your message forceful,
vivid, and specific are comparison, figurative language, and
concrete instead of abstract nouns, and well-chosen adjectives
and adverbs. “Comparisons” . Help the recipient to build
meaningful picture.
For instance, this is pure clover honey, made by honeybees.
“Vague” .
Honeybees have gathered nectar from approximately 4½ million
clusters of clover and traveled about 150,000 miles or equal to
six times around the world to deliver this package of Bradshaw
honey to you. “Vivid”
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Figurative language. Figures of speech may express an idea more
vividly than literal language.
For example, X product helps you to lose your double chin in four
weeks, if you use X as directed. “literal”.
If two chins quarrel for a place on your collar, X product helps
settle the argument. Only one chin remains after you use X just
four weeks as directed. “figurative”.
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Concrete nouns instead of abstract nouns. Concrete nouns
represent subjects your recipient can touch, see, smell, hear, or
taste. Abstract nouns as subjects designate intangible concepts.
They bring only vague “pictures” to the person’s mind.
for example, consideration was given to the fact that…“abstract”.
The committee considered the fact that… “concrete”.
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Business Communication Principles II
To make our messages easily understood, friendly, and accurate
we should also apply the remaining “C” principles.
Clarity
Courtesy
Correctness
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Clarity
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Choose short, familiar, conversational words
Construct effective sentences and paragraphs.
Achieve appropriate readability
Include example, illustrations, and visual aids, when
desirable.
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Choose short, familiar, conversational words
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Use short word instead of long one, use familiar word that the
reader can easily understand.
For example, use the words after, not subsequent. Pay, not
remuneration. announce or declare, not promulgate…etc.
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Avoid technical and business jargon whenever possible. If
you must use them, define them.
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Construct effective sentences and paragraphs.
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Important characteristics to consider are length, unity, coherence,
and emphasis.
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For length, It is better to use short sentence. The suggested
sentence length about 17-20 words. The general rule in business
writing is to keep paragraphs as short as possible. The first and last
paragraph of a letter and memo should preferably be kept to no
more than four or five lines.
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For unity to express main idea, unity means that you have one
main idea regardless of sentence structure (simple, compound, or
complex).
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Coherence, for clear meaning. In a coherent sentence, the
words are correctly arranged so that the ideas clearly express
the intended meaning.
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Place the correct modifier as close as possible to the word it is
supposed to modify.
For example, his report was about managers, broken down by
age and sex. “unclear”.
His report focused on age and sex of managers. “clear”.
Ali could not drive to work in his car with a broken leg “unclear”.
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Emphasis, for forceful, clear expression. The quality that gives force
to important parts of sentences and paragraphs is emphasis. Writers
must decide what needs emphasis, and then choose correct sentence
structure. In a complex sentence the main idea should be placed in
the main clause, and the less important points are in the dependent
clause.
For example, the airplane finally approached the speed of sound,
and it became very difficult to control. In this sentence the two ideas
have equal value. “ no emphasis”.
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if the important idea is that “the airplane was difficult to control”. The
sentence must be as the following. As it finally approached the speed
of sound, the airplane became very difficult to control. “emphasis” the
main idea is in the main clause.
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Achieve appropriate readability
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In this case, You should adapt your business letters so that their
word-and-sentence level will be appropriate for your recipients’
general education level. From “Fog Index Guide”, two factors
measure your letters readability: sentence length and percentage of
hard words. This index helps you to determine the educational level
of your writer.
For instance, if you have a letter, you can determine the educational
level of the writer: first find the average sentence length by dividing
the number of words by the number of sentences. Secondly, find the
percentage of hard words by dividing the number of hard words by
the number of words. Finally, multiply the total of the two equations
by 0.4. the result is the measuring of the educational level of the
writer.
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Include example, illustrations, and visual aids, when
desirable
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When you have complicated or lengthy explanation in letter or
report, you can improve the clarity by giving your recipients
an example, analogy, or illustration.
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Furthermore, visual aids-such as headings, tabulations,
itemizations, pictures, charts-are definite aids to clarity and
easy understanding.
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Also, typographical aids can be useful. Some important
statements may be underlined, numbered, colored, or typed in
all CAPITALS or italics or on short lines with wider margins.
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Courtesy
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Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful, and appreciative.
Omit expressions that irritate, hurt, or belittle.
Grant and apologize good-naturedly.
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Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful, and appreciative.
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Tact instead of bluntness.
For example, your letter is not clear at all; I cannot
understand it. “Tactless, Blunt”
If I understand your letter correctly,... “Tactful”
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Omit expressions that irritate, hurt, or belittle.
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Irritate expressions that should be avoided, particularly when
used with “you” and “your”.
Expressions such as I do not agree with you, irresponsible,
we do not believe, we find it difficult to believe that, obviously
you overlooked, you failed to, you leave us no choice, you
should know...etc.
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Also you should avoid talking down to “belittling” to a person,
it is considered to be a form of discourtesy.
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Grant and apologize good-naturedly.
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Whenever you grant a customer’s request, begin your letter
with the best news first and inject a courteous, ungrudging
tone. If a request has caused you extra work, you may
tactfully tell the customer somewhere in the letter but not the
first paragraph.
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Occasionally, you may get a “nasty” letter from a customer
who is wrong in his or her accusation. A courteous reply can
lead not only to an apology from the customer but also to
future staunch loyalty as a booster for your company.
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Correctness
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Use the right level of language.
Check accuracy of figures, facts, and words.
Maintain acceptable writing mechanics.
Choose nondiscriminatory expressions.
Apply all other pertinent C qualities.
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Use the right level of language.
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The three levels of language-formal, informal, and
substandard- overlap because of our ever-changing
language. The first two-formal and informal language are both
correct, but they are different from one another, have different
uses, and should not be interchange. The formal language is
used for writing legal documents, academic researches…etc,.
The expressions used are long, un-conversational, and
impersonal.
In contrast, the informal level refers to business language-for
letters, reports, and newspapers…etc,.
The expressions used are short, well-known, and
conversational. The following list is an example of formal and
informal level: formal
informal
anticipate
expect
endeavor
try
utilize
use
terminate
end
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interrogate
ask
Check accuracy of figures, facts, and words.
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Absolute accuracy is essential for effective written messages.
When figures, facts, and words are incorrectly used, they can
cause serious problems.
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In English, some words are often confused.
The following are a few of many words that are often confused
in usage: (a, an), (anxious, eager),
(between, among), (biannually, biennially), (continual,
continuous), (counsel, council), (effect, affect), (eminent,
imminent), (imply, infer),
(lay, laid, laid; lie, lay, lain), (principal, principle), (which, that,
who), (who, whom).
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Maintain acceptable writing mechanics.
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This includes correct punctuation, capitalization, syllabication,
and spelling- plus correct sentence and paragraph structure. It
also includes using correct format for letters, memos, reports,
and envelopes.
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Two common weaknesses in writing mechanics deserve
special mention: incorrect spelling and careless omissions.
The careless omission refers to omissions of punctuation
marks or words needed for grammatical accuracy.
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Choose nondiscriminatory expressions.
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Another important requirement for correctness is “equal
treatment of the sexes” and non-bias toward people of
different races, ethnic origins, and physical features.
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Try to choose nondiscriminatory language when you refer to
occupational roles and achievements, personal
characteristics, physical and mental attributes, humanity at
large, names, and various title designations
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Apply all other pertinent C qualities.
The End
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