Reviewing the Elements of Style

Writing style is a subject clearly distinct from grammar and syntax. As applied to writing, style is a literary manner, which distinguishes the work of every writer. In his work Some Secrets of Style, Henry Brett wrote of literary style that 'there are many marked contrasts between the styles of our great writers. But, however widely these styles differ, all the great writers possess in common the attribute of style.' Though hard to define, styles vary in simplicity, strength, the melody and cadence of words used and many other qualities.

Nor is literary style some vague quality that only fiction writers possess. It is equally important in technical writing - and non-fiction literature out-weighs novels and other forms of fiction by a thousand to one. Technical literature, like fiction, comes in many grades. Some is good, some mediocre, and some next to unreadable. Whether it is good or bad, technical literature still has that quality we call style. In this respect, it has much in common with works of fiction.

The writer Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) distinguished between the two kinds of literature when he wrote of the difference between 'the literature of knowledge' - non-fiction - 'the function of which is to teach,' and 'the literature of power' - fiction - 'the function of which is to move'.

The technical writer's main purpose in writing is to inform in five definable ways, which are to: provide information; direct; persuade; obtain comment and opinion; and obtain agreement.

There are two types of style: literary style with which we are concerned here and d 'house style'. Many corporations and organizations in the public and private sectors have a form of style and lay out for writing documents of various kinds. This is known as 'house style'. Newspapers, magazines, journals and book publishers have their own specific house style. Writers in such organizations, private or public, have no choice in the matter. They are required to conform to the house style. Similarly, copy destined for publication in a journal, or as part of the proceedings of a conference, must conform to rules of submission specified by a publisher's editor and are usually strict as to what is permissible and what is not.

A publisher's 'house style' defines the form, layout, paragraph numbering, punctuation and even spelling required. A given house style might demand the use of American spelling convention (program as compared with programme, the preferred British and Canadian spelling). House rules specify the physical appearance of various types of documents to effect the overall impression readers receives. Among a number of excellent style manuals readily available we might mention The Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press), Words into Type (Prentice Hall, 1974), and Webster's Standard American Style Manual (Merriam-Webster Inc., 1985).

In following an organization's or publisher's house style, the writer has no option. The writer's writing style is another matter and, although writers develop their own style there are a few simple rules to follow that are worth following; all geared to make any writer's copy easy to read.

1. WRITE SIMPLE SENTENCES
Again, one must emphasize the use of simple sentences. Most people who read technical literature have no time for long-winded passages. Short statements are best. Long sentences are difficult to scan. An overlong sentence, like an overlong document, is less likely to be read. Conversely, the shorter the paper, the greater its chance of it being read.

Say what you are going to write about. Full-time writers call the opening statement the 'hook'. They usually provide a barb to make the hook stick. When Antonio says, 'In soothe, I know not why I am so sad', we are intrigued. We know that the reason for his sadness will soon be made clear. It is.

Anyone familiar with Robert Chuse's text book Pressure Vessels knows of the disaster that occurred in 1905 in Brockton, Massachusetts. A boiler in a shoe factory exploded, killing 58 people and injuring 117 others for a total of 175 people in the factory at the time of the explosion. The incident marked the beginning of development of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boilers and Pressure Vessels Code. This code has become an international standard. Chuse wanted a compelling statement that would arrest the reader's attention. He used the Brockton disaster in the introduction to his text.

3. AVOID CLICHÉS
To quote H. W. Fowler, writing in Fowler's Modern English, 'Cliché means a stereotype; in its literary sense it is a word or phrase whose felicity in a particular context when it was first employed has won it such popularity that it is apt to be used unsuitably and indiscriminately.' Also, one might add, clichés are so often used to excess they lose their freshness and originality, become worn and jaded. Writers who wish to interest their readers, even in regulations, policy papers and procedures, would best avoid the crutch that clichés provide: 'Refine' is better than' fine tuning'. 'Test' is superior to 'put to the acid test'. 'Take (specific) action', not 'appropriate action' or worse 'appropriate actions'.

4. WRITE WITH VIGOUR
Active writing holds the reader's interest. Passive writing bores. When you state 'It is proposed that appropriate actions will be taken to make the next test more meaningful', you write with a detachment that irritates the reader. It is better to state with candour, 'The test failed. We will test again to make sure we get better data', which is more truthful and direct. The Operations for Quality Assurance for Nuclear Power Plants (CAN/CSA-N286.5-M87), a relatively short standard, uses appropriate 32 times in every clichéd phrase imaginable: 'appropriate action', 'appropriate operations', 'appropriate members', 'appropriate procedures'. Observant readers will wonder why.

5. AVOID EUPHEMISMS
Good technical writers avoid the paths taken by political speech-writing hacks, over-educated educators, and administrators in the health care industry. To quote H. W. Fowler again, 'a euphemism is a word substituted for blunt precision or a disagreeable truth.' In the same way that people pass away but do not die, equipment operators do not make mistakes: they take 'inappropriate actions'. Euphemisms are the fog that obscures the blunt truth of fact.

6. USE A DICTIONARY
A dictionary is the writer's most useful writing tool. Use the word that seems most precise, but know its meaning. When a writer confuses the meanings of words, the reader is justified in concluding that the writer doesn't know any better. Ignorance does not foster respect. 'Affect' has a different meaning from 'effect'; 'it's' is not the same as 'its'; 'imply' and 'infer' can have opposite meanings.

The typist reading the writer's mature but illegible handwriting types 'mental stress' instead of 'metal stress'. The mistake is overlooked. 'Public concern' was once published as 'pubic concern' a print run of 50,000 flyers. 'Principle of operation' appears as 'principal of operation'. This kind of thing amuses the tolerant reader, but embarrasses the writer.

The problem with the spelling programmes of electronic word processing equipment is that none of the words in the examples given would be highlighted. Each of the words wrongly used are part of the language. There is no substitute for the writer's or proof-reader's eye and sense of what is correct, although the future may provide such a function. At present this cannot be done by a computer programme.

8. AVOID VAGUE MODIFIERS
To write of a 'very accurate gun sight' is deceptively vague. It is better to state a known fact. 'At a range of ten miles, the gun sight is accurate to within 1 second of arc.' 'A slightly inaccurate reading' could mean the gun sight is off target by one mile in ten. 'Nearly on schedule' is not as precise as 'one week behind schedule.' If you deal with facts, state them.

9. BE CONSISTENT WITH NUMBERS
Are you certain that your reader has the same understanding of numerical symbols as yourself? Do not take your reader for granted when quoting numbers or numerical data. Always be explicit. Write $10,000, or ten thousand dollars.

10. WRITE WITH CONFIDENCE
Technical writers who do not understand their subject should not write about it until they do. That means research. When they do understand their subject they should write with confidence. Come to the point quickly. Write with the expert authority you have on the subject, and do so with the simplest words at your command.

There are two voices in writing, the active and passive. Active writing is superior to passive writing because it is more direct, requires fewer words, and is easier to understand. It is easier, simpler and more direct to write 'The management supports' than 'The management is supportive of'.

People who are required to follow a written procedure, which is a required way of doing something, do not resent being told directly how to do it. This is essential in some process industries and trades. Welders, fitters, system operators, laboratory technicians prefer this directness. This being so, it is better to be instructive in a plain style that allows little or not interpretation.

Use of the imperative commands. It is important to write procedures (see the passage on How to Write Procedures) in the imperative style because those who must follow a given procedure expect to be told what to do. Placing the verb at the beginning of a sentence is the basis of written instructions. When you write 'Go', 'Write', 'Do', 'Hop', 'Skip', 'Jump' they are, standing alone, nothing less than commands, instructions, orders, directions. Placing the verb in the first position gives a sentence its imperative style and makes the point abundantly clear.

The writer of the following passage, using the imperative voice, unequivocally stated the intent of the procedure:

'Obtain evidence', 'obtain ... appraisals', 'Reimburse the employee ... ' The writer writes in both the active and imperative voice. See also the ten rules given here. They are imperative statements.

Three important tools in the writer's tool kit are jargon, punctuation and the use of pronouns. They influence the quality of your writing and are immensely important as a measure of good writing. You may speak as you wish, but be sure that you write well, for those who read what you write will gauge your worth.

When anyone mentions jargon it is mostly used in its pejorative sense. No one has anything good to say about it, yet, like snow, it has its uses. It comes dry or wet. Let's take the dry type first.

Jargon is a vocabulary given popular usage in some specialist service. Every industry and professional calling employs jargon. It is a learned vocabulary, the intention of which is to create a form of shorthand among those who use it. It can save a great deal of time. Hayakawa, a leading semanticist, says that jargon serves a useful purpose. It can express difficult and complex ideas in a concise way. When a police constable tells the control operator, 'I've got a B & E. Give me back up' he or she means that a burglary is taking place and the support of another patrol car is required. That's jargon. It saves time and explanation.

The Europeans have developed a jargon for ships plying the English Channel. In ship to shore communication they say, 'Say again' if the message is not clear, not 'I don't get that' or 'would you repeat that please' or some similar expression.

Too often, the other kind of jargon, wet snow, gets in the way. It serves as a cover, a social function of conferring prestige on its user and arousing awe in people who don't understand it. 'Gosh, he must be smart - I can't understand a word he says.' Whenever the social function of a learned vocabulary becomes more important to its users than its communicative function, communication suffers and jargon breeds like a culture on moldy cheese. For this reason, be on your guard. Look askance at all jargon. Unless it helps your reader understand you, shun it.

That goes farther than merely deciding you won't use jargon. You'll run into it at every turn. Do not allow it to get into what you write. Clichés are part of the jargon ragbag: 'When push comes to shove', 'At the end of the day', 'The bottom line is' - and so on and so forth.

Even hearing such tired language is enough to make the stomach turn and the toes curl. When you see such phrases in the written word you may be sure the writer has little or no interest in what he or she have written. To begin making your toes curl from now on, the metaphor about getting a snow job is never more apt than when applied to hackneyed writing that includes jargon.

Punctuation is an aspect of writing with which most people, including writers, have difficulty. Style books devote a lot of space to the subject: where to use commas, colons, semi-colons, brackets, dashes and apostrophes is a question even the best writers sometimes have a problem answering. Of all the conventions of punctuation none is more difficult for most people than the correct use of the apostrophe, so let's deal with the basic rules. There are four:

RULE 1: To show or signify possession. Possession goes with nouns, not pronouns: Jack's book meaning 'the book of Jack'; Charlotte's Web meaning the 'web of Charlotte'; men's locker room (locker room of men); women's issues (the issues of women); children's toys (toys of children). Men is the plural of man; women is the plural of woman; children is the plural of child. It is therefore illogical to write mens' locker room' with the apostrophe following the s or in 'womens' issues' to follow the s with the apostrophe. If you wish to check the correct position of the apostrophe in such cases think of the object, quality or characteristic belonging to (or more simply of) the noun: person, place or thing.

RULE 2: To indicate a missing letter in a word or phrase: that's, meaning 'that is'; we'll, meaning 'we will'; he'll for 'he will'; it's to replace 'it is'. The convention it's invariably means 'it is' and not something belonging to it (a relative pronoun). Consider the statement 'The valve is made of brass. Its function is to control the gas. It's an important part of the oven.' The first 'it' is a relative pronoun for oven; in the second case, the apostrophe s, i.e. 's, is a contraction of the verb 'is', that is, you are back to 'it is'. The best way to avoid error is to not write contractions unless you are sure of what you mean.

RULE 3: To signify the plural of a single, stand-alone letter: e.g. mind your p's and q's. Do not use it to indicate the plural of abbreviations: CTIE's, CTIG's. The plural of CTIE is CTIEs and of CTIG, CTIGs.

The singular pronouns he, she, me him, her, him, I and it are fairly self-evident. They stand in the place of proper names for a person, place or thing. Similarly, we, they and you are for nouns in the plural. All very straightforward. Well, not exactly. Many speakers, educated or otherwise, have a problem with the use of pronouns. Asked during an interview if he had been faithful to his wife, Prince Charles replied, 'Yes, until it had become clear that it [their marriage] had irretrievably broken down, us both having tried ... ' (Us both having tried! Should be We both ... ) Prince Charles is the man who one day hopes to rename 'The Queen's English' to 'The King's English'. Shakespeare, who was hopeless at grammar, fares no better. In The Merchant of Venice is the line,' All debts are settled between you and I.' (Should be 'you and me'.) For the record, the grammar of this writer is poor, to say nothing of his typos and spelling errors, requiring a sharp editor!

Relative pronouns such as they, them and those are more frequently used in the type of writing that covers student texts. You might write 'There are too many procedures in the department. They are reviewed annually.' In this case, they is a relative pronoun standing for the 'procedures of the department'. If, however, you write 'There is a group of procedures in the department' the relative pronoun would be it, which stands in the place of 'group' in the collective singular, not they.

A weakness of the English tongue is that it has no neutral-sex third person singular pronoun. This offends some and presents a difficulty to many. For this reason, four-legged pronouns of the type he/she, him/her, himself/herself present is a major problem in the acerbic battle for equality of the sexes. How do you deal with such words and terms as manpower, manhole, man-hours, chairman and other constructions that includes the syllable 'man'? The answer is simple.

First, if it is natural to say he or she, him or her, himself or herself, then use these compound pronouns. Don't compromise clear writing for ugly and unnatural conventions. And who is to say a convention is ugly and unnatural? In a hundred years, four-legged pronouns may sound as music to the ear. For the present, however, one has to take account of how the best writers deal with the matter, which is to circumvent the problem.

Gender is a word that is firmly part of the grammar and syntax of the language. It can be masculine, feminine or neuter. When advocates of gender-neutral language insist on purging 'man' and replacing it with 'person' or some other gender-free construct they mutilate the language, though this is clearly a matter of opinion. Language is constantly changing. Like the new pronouns, gender may in time find universal acceptance as having the same meaning as sex, but as one commentator remarked, 'Nouns have gender. People have sex.'

In short, the use of the word 'gender' in writing is a thorny topic that raises proponents of what is acceptable and what is not to the heights of passion. It can only be resolved with commonsense and understanding for what makes good writing.

Jargon, punctuation and the use of pronouns have been discussed because they are strong elements in the creation of good writing: jargon because it affects style; punctuation because its use is essential to clarity; and pronouns because, when improperly used, detract from the quality of your writing.

When a design change request is rejected the designer will give written reasons for the rejection. The memorandum will be signed by the Section Supervisor and returned with a copy of the design change to the originator. A copy will also be sent to the Record Data Centre for retention in the correspondence file.

The reason for quoting this example is to mention the use of shall and will. In the modern idiom shall is archaic, more suited to legalese than written instructions. Grammatically, shall is used in the first person singular as in 'I shall', and denotes the 'plain future'. Will, on the other hand, conveys an implication of intent that brooks no misinterpretation. 'You will do this' - no two ways about it. You cannot instruct a welder 'The welder shall ... ' with certainty that he will do as instructed because he does not use the word in everyday speech. It is better to write will, which he does understand, and to leave shall to those who write government regulations and other legal documents in which the word has a legitimate and useful role to serve.

In the earlier quoted book Some Secrets of Style, Brett discussed the use of particular letters that conditioned the meaning of words in which they appeared. The letter H, he wrote, is generally used in words that denote effort: heave, huff, hug, hill, harpoon, heft, and hiccup. L is often associated with words to do with length: long, lap, log, longitude, latitude, lumbering. R goes with words that have the quality of roughness: grate, groan, harsh, hoarse, rasp, rattle, rumble. S is used in words that describe things that slide and slither: snake, slip, slide, slurp, slump, slough, scurry. Wordsworth put such words to good effect to describe the hissing slide of skates. "All shod with steel, We hissed along the polished ice ... "

Used at the beginning of a word, S does useful service in the language. Used at the end of words, the letter has a snake-like quality and can be a dangerous customer. Do not pluralize qualities and attributes without careful thought. For example, we have already used the word 'actions' as an example of stilted phrases, i.e. 'appropriate actions'. Some corporations and institutions have become immune to the pointless pluralizing of words. An obvious example is procedure, which, like sheep, was once both singular and plural. It is, however, true that 'procedures' is now accepted usage and no one gives it a second thought when it is used in its singular sense.

If, however, someone added an 's' to sheep, or to information as in 'What informations do you have?' the educated reader would be taken aback. By the same logic, we 'take action', 'provide information', and 'give notice' (not notifications). Beware of redundant plural letters, as well as of useless suffixes and prefixes.

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