TM 7-1: Examples of Positive Emphasis
Looking at Situations Positively
Situation
Sentence Emphasizing
the Positive
The bottle is half empty.
The bottle is half full.
You are putting your floor
samples and
demonstrators on sale.
These machines have been
in use several hours a day
for the past year.
All floor samples and
demonstrators are on
sale, so you get great
savings on machines that
have already
demonstrated their
quality and durability in
the store.
Your models haven’t sold
well this year, and as a
result, you have more cars
to get rid of in your endof-season clearance sale
than do your competitors.
While other dealers can
offer you only leftovers,
Midstate Motors still has
a full line of all our bestselling cars for you to
choose from.
TM 7-2: Exceptions to Positive Emphasis
Use negatives for
 Building credibility when giving
bad news.
 Helping people to take a problem
seriously.
 Delivering a rebuke with no
alternative.
 Creating a “reverse psychology” to
make people look favourably at
your product or service.
TM 7-3: Revising for Positive Emphasis
The Best Revision May Depend on the
Situation
Negative
Positive
1. If I can do anything else to
help, please do not hesitate
to call me.
1. If I can do anything else to
help, feel free to call me.
or
Is there any other
information you need?
or
OMIT THE SENTENCE.
2. I’m very sorry about any
inconvenience that may
have resulted from my
delay in getting this
information to you.
2. OMIT THE SENTENCE.
or
I’m sorry I couldn’t get this
information to you
sooner.
or
The new advertising
campaign is a success.
Figures for the third
quarter are finally in, and
they show . . .
TM 7-4:
Five Techniques for De-emphasizing
Negatives
To de-emphasize negative
information
 Avoid negative words and words
with negative connotations.
 Focus on what the reader can do
rather than on limitations.
 Justify negative information by
giving a reason or linking it to a
reader benefit.
 If the negative is truly
unimportant, omit it.
 Put the negative information in the
middle and present it compactly.
TM 7-5: Common Negative Words
Afraid
Bad
Careless
Delay
Delinquent
Deny
Difficulty
Disapprove
Dishonest
Dissatisfied
Eliminate
Error
Fail
Fault
Fear
Impossible
Inadequate
Incomplete
Inconvenient
Injury
Loss
Misfortune
Mistake
Missing
Neglect
Never
No
Not
Problem
Reject
Sorry
Terrible
Trivial
Trouble
Wait
Weakness
Wrong
Unclear
Unfair
Unfortunate
TM 7-6: Achieving the Proper Tone
To achieve the tone you want
 Use courtesy titles for people
outside the organization you don’t
know very well.
 Be aware of the power
implications of words.
 When you must give bad news,
consider hedging your statement.
TM 7-7: Making Apologies
If you’re planning to make an
apology, remember that
 Apologies can have legal
implications.
 You don’t need to apologize if an
error is small and you’re correcting
the mistake.
 You don’t need to apologize if
you’re not at fault.
 Necessary apologies should be
early, brief, and sincere.