Air Force Effective
Writing
Tongue and Quill Exercise
1. List the 7 steps to effective communication.
2. In Step 1 of the communication process, we
need to be smart about the “human factor;”
therefore, effective communication requires
us to analyze the audience. The journey into
audience analysis actually involves knowing
about three things:
Tongue and Quill Exercise
3. The T&Q refers to “logical arguments” as a
series of statements to persuade others. We
need to be smart about logical arguments
because “If you understand how arguments
are constructed and where they go wrong,
you’re less likely to buy into somebody else’s
muddy thinking.” Therefore, what four
elements need attention when communicating
to persuade others?
Tongue and Quill Exercise
4. Identify 12 types of evidence
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Tongue and Quill Exercise
5. __________ __________try to persuade the
heart, not the head.
6. False cause, also known as ______ ______
fallacy, occurs when you assume one event
causes a second event merely because it
precedes the second event. (Maybe a third
factor caused the other two events.)
Tongue and Quill Exercise
7. While the organization pattern, ________,
discusses similarities and/or differences, the
_______ pattern shows how
ideas/actions/conditions may lead to other
ideas/actions/conditions.
Tongue and Quill Exercise
8. The draft for most papers and speeches has a
3-part structure that includes these types of
paragraphs: ____________, ________, and
_____________.
• The ____________ statement in the
introduction paragraph is the one sentence
• you’d keep if you had only one, while the
__overview__________ statement is like a
good roadmap by clearly identifying the main
Tongue and Quill Exercise
9. The ____________ statement in the
introduction paragraph is the one sentence
you’d keep if you had only one, while the
____________ statement is like a good
roadmap by clearly identifying the main
points.
Tongue and Quill Exercise
10. Generally, ______ transitions (e.g., first,
next, finally) improve the flow of ideas within
a paragraph, while the ______ transitions (e.g.,
Now that we’ve covered X, let’s talk about Y.)
link separate paragraphs or major sections of a
paper.
Tongue and Quill Exercise
11. By using mostly active voice, your writing is
clear, concise, and alive. Rewrite the
following passive sentence so that it reads in
active voice.
PASSIVE: Better sentences will be written by
you.
ACTIVE: ______________________________
Tongue and Quill Exercise
12. When editing your work, the 3-step
approach—1st pass, the Big Picture; 2nd pass,
the Paragraph Structure/Clarity; and 3rd look,
the Sentences/Phrases/Words—means you’ll
need to read your papers at least three times to
do a good job. Identify the editing technique
that helps you catch errors because it requires
you SLOW DOWN and uses two senses—
SEEING and HEARING?
Tongue and Quill Exercise
13. A drill team with 12 members is competing
during Field Training.
team-singular subject; is-singular verb; members is
object of prepositional phrase, not the subject
Correct / Not Correct
Tongue and Quill Exercise
14. The commander’s main concern are untrained
Airmen.
Linking verb needs to agree with the subject
(concern), not the complement (Airmen)
Correct / Not Correct
Tongue and Quill Exercise
15. Everyone within the four squadrons
participates in Field Day.
Everyone (singular) participates (singular)
Correct / Not Correct
Tongue and Quill Exercise
16. Everyone needs to eat their meal while
sitting at attention.
Correct / Not Correct
Tongue and Quill Exercise
17. The trainees need to eat their meal while
sitting at attention.
Correct / Not Correct
Tongue and Quill Exercise
17.Three lieutenants arrived late; their supervisor
was angry with them.
Correct / Not Correct
Tongue and Quill Exercise
19. Air Force Instruction (AFI) 33-119, Official
Messaging, provides guidance on official and
authorized use of e-mail. List three of the six
situations that are prohibited when using
government communication systems.
Tongue and Quill Exercise
20. The template for the Official Memorandum
(p. 184) indicates the number of blank lines
between the last line of the last paragraph and
the first line of the signature block. How
many?
Tongue and Quill Exercise
21. The template for the Talking Paper (p. 209)
indicates that the identification line at the
bottom of the paper must include the following
six items:
Tongue and Quill Exercise
22. The T&Q discusses two types of bullets,
the __Single-Idea_____ bullet for talking
papers and the _AccomplishmentImpact_____ bullet for performance reports
and award submissions.
Tongue and Quill Exercise
23. Will you go by car, train, or plane?
Open / Closed
24. OPEN
plane?
Will you go by car, train or
25. How do you abbreviate “Second
Lieutenant?”2d Lt_
Tongue and Quill Exercise
24.Will you go by car, train or plane?
Open / Closed
Tongue and Quill Exercise
25. How do you abbreviate “Second
Lieutenant?”
Tongue and Quill Exercise
26. In titles and headings, all words are
capitalized except articles (the, a, an), short
prepositions (at, by, of), and
_____________________________________
Tongue and Quill Exercise
Questions?