This document discusses various techniques for emphasizing ideas in business communication through mechanics, style, structure, and word choice. It covers emphasizing through formatting like italics, bolding, and font changes. It also discusses emphasis through style using vivid language, simple sentences, emphasis words, beginnings/endings, and active/passive voice. Additionally, it addresses parallel structure, modifiers, and avoiding misplaced modifiers. The overall goal is to help the reader understand how to effectively emphasize important ideas and structure business communications for maximum impact and understanding.

1. Business Communication
Emphasis, Voice, and Style
Adapted from NETA PowerPoint for Essentials of Business Communication by
Lisa Jamieson

2. Emphasis Through Mechanics
• Underlining
• Italics and
boldface
• Font changes

3. Abstract and General
ABC Systems intelligent
software solutions help
companies overcome their
biggest challenges,
empowering innovation
and driving business
forward.
Concrete and Specific
ABC software helps
accounting teams work
faster by automating the
tasks they don’t have time
for.
Emphasis Through Style:
Vivid Language

4. Emphasis Through Style:
Simple Sentences & Independent
Clauses
Because thousands of residents rely on the city’s buses,
poor public transportation is a problem: the daily
schedules are unreliable, and a bus that should arrive
at 8:45 am often arrives at 9:00 am or later.
Poor public transportation is a problem in this city.
Thousands of residents rely on the city’s buses, but the
daily schedules are unreliable. A bus that should arrive
at 8:45 am often arrives at 9:00 am or later.

5. (De)Emphasis Through Style:
Subordination
Although credit cannot be issued at this time,
you can fill your immediate needs on a cash basis
with our special plan.
• Subordinate clause
• Main clause

6. Emphasis Through Style:
Emphasis Words
• important to note
• most of all
• a significant factor
• a primary concern
• a key feature
• especially valuable
• most noteworthy
• remember that
• the principal item
• pay particular attention to
• above all
• a central issue
• especially relevant
• should be noted

7. Emphasis Through Style:
Beginnings and Endings
Poor public transportation is the city’s most important
problem. Thousands of residents rely on the city’s buses,
but the daily schedules are unreliable. A bus that should
arrive at 8:45 am often arrives at 9:00 am or later.
Furthermore, bus drivers often pass groups of people
waiting for the bus because they want to make up for lost
time. Because of this, people often end up late for work or
missing their appointments. If people are to have
confidence in the city, these public transportation
problems must be addressed.

8. Emphasis Through Style:
Active and Passive Voice
Image source

9. Basic Sentence Structure
Actor + Action [+ Acted Upon]
He lives!
Actor Action
I threw the ball.
Actor Action Acted Upon

10. Active Voice
• The actor is at the beginning of the sentence.
The sausage seller bit the hotdog vendor.
Actor Action Acted Upon
• Emphasis is on the actor.
• Direct, concise, and vigorous sentences.

11. Passive Voice
• The actor takes on a passive role in the sentence or is
missing from the sentence.
The hotdog vendor was bitten by the sausage seller.
Acted Upon Action Actor
Amy is loved.
Acted Upon Action

12. When Should I Use the Passive
Voice?
The store was robbed.
Mistakes were made.
The cure to cancer has
been found!
• You want to conceal the
actor or don’t know their
identity
• De-emphasize bad news
• The acted-upon is more
important than the actor

13. Parallelism
• Similar structure for
similar ideas
• Creates balanced
writing

14. Parallelism Continued
What is wrong with the following statement?
• Our primary goals are to increase productivity, reduce costs, and
the improvement of product quality.
Better:
• Our primary goals are to increase productivity, reduce costs,
and improve product quality.

15. Modifiers

16. Modifiers
• A word or short phrase that describes something.
Sherlock Homes is a brilliant, yet eccentric, detective.
Noun Verb Modifier

17. Modifiers
• Modifiers should describe the nearest noun.
Sad to be leaving his office, the receptionist cried at his retirement party.
Modifier Target Noun
• A misplaced modifier describes the wrong noun.
Sad to be leaving the his office, a retirement party was held for the receptionist, who
cried.
Modifier Wrong Noun Target Noun

18. Modifiers
• A dangling modifier has no target.
Sad to be leaving the office, a retirement party was held.
(Was held for whom?)

19. Summary
• Learned how to emphasize ideas through mechanics and
style.
• Improve your message by using parallelism and modifiers
effectively.

20. References
Guffrey, M. E., Loewy, D., & Almonte, R. (2019). Essentials of business communication (9th
Canadian Edition). Nelson.
Jamieson, L. (2019). Chapter 1: Communicating in the digital-age workplace [PowerPoint
slides]. Nelson.
TED-Ed. (2015, September 8). How misused modifiers can hurt your writing - Emma Bryce
[Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/-tX34V_XGeQ

21. Image Sources
Atkinson, A. [n.d.] Grammatical voice [Illustration]. Wrong Hands.
https://wronghands1.com/gallery-june-2011/#jp-carousel-2174