TABLE OF CONTENTS In written communication it is almost always better to use simple and straightforward language, especially if you are dealing with practical and straightforward people.
Here is an example of written communication from someone who seems incapable of being straightforward.
| MEMORANDUM | |
|---|---|
| To: | Belinda Wasserman, Production |
| From: | Tom Robinson, Customer Services |
| Subject: | Recent developments |
| You asked me to comment on the problems we have been experiencing recently with regard to maintaining adequate inventory for meeting agreed performance criteria for meeting customer orders for made-up fabrics for the mail-order market. Our position is already well known. There have been extreme difficulties in the recent period and this has had negative effects, particularly in terms of customer complaints. These are up by a considerable margin of late. Regarding quality, we have not become aware of any substantial variation from the normal picture. Finally, packaging standards appear to be experiencing some degree of deterioration as more has come back as damaged in the post. Fabric-based motor accessories do not appear to present a problem as at this moment in time.
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There are all sorts of things wrong with the way this memo is written. For example, the first paragraph wouldn't have been necessary at all if he had used an informative title for the memo. What does 'Recent developments' mean?
I want to concentrate on the words and phrases Tom uses, however.
In the English language there are many different...
