Module 15 and 16

Module 15 discussed the importance of choosing the right word.  Bypassing can occur when two people denote the same word for different meanings.  The book identifies the fact that the word "risk" carrys many meanings which include financial risk, health risk, etc.  When communicating it is important to ensure that both the persons giving and recieving the information have the same understanding about the context in which the word is used.  Another aspect of communication is connotation, or the emotional associations that accompany a word.  For example, most readers would find the word nosy to have a negative connotation.  An appropriate substitute would be the word curious.  Try to follow the rule that "shorter is better" when choosing words to communicate with (ie use list instead of enumerate).  The reason behind this is that they can be more easily understood by the reader.  A writer should choose words carefully depending on the audience.  Though some forms of jargon are acceptable, many are not in the business world.

Module 16 deals with the revision of sentences and paragraphs.  How formal you should make your documents once again depends on your audience.  If you have talked with someone prior to writing the document, an informal, friendly style may be most appropriate.  When possible, you may use humor to keep the readers attention and build goodwill.  Revision is crucial in business communication because damaged relationships are usually difficult to restore.  Things you should do when revising your sentences is to: use active verbs most of the time; use verbs to carry the weight of your sentence; tighting your writing by not making your sentences to wordy; vary sentence length and structure; use parallel structure; and put your readers in the sentence.  The topic of your paragraphs should be listed early to inform the reader of what you are going to be discussing.