The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "The ABC of Writing".

1. 1
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
COMMUNICATIONS
The ABC of Writing

2. 2
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
The written content in this Slide Topic belongs exclusively to Manage Train Learn and may only be reprinted
either by attribution to Manage Train Learn or with the express written permission of Manage Train Learn.
They are designed as a series of numbered
slides. As with all programmes on Slide
Topics, these slides are fully editable and
can be used in your own programmes,
royalty-free. Your only limitation is that
you may not re-publish or sell these slides
as your own.
Copyright Manage Train Learn 2020
onwards.
Attribution: All images are from sources
which do not require attribution and may
be used for commercial uses. Sources
include pixabay, unsplash, and freepik.
These images may also be those which are
in the public domain, out of copyright, for
fair use, or allowed under a Creative
Commons license.

3. 3
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

4. 4
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
In the current revolution in communications, the means by
which we are able to talk to each other have multiplied at
an astonishing rate. We can now speak to each other
directly and instantly on all sorts of mobile phones. We can
see each other over any distance via computer video. We
have access to information in the palm of our hands.
Despite this, the need for old-fashioned written
communication has not changed. The written word still
remains the most powerful tool for expressing the nuances
of our views, ideas and feelings. We write to confirm spoken
agreements. We write to make ourselves clear. We write to
clarify our thoughts. Effective writing means writing that is
accurate, brief and clear.

5. 5
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
THE ABC CHECK
The ABC check is a check on the Accuracy, Brevity and
Clarity of a piece of writing. You can run the ABC check on
any piece of written communication after your first draft.
A for Accuracy. You need to check that what you have
written is factually true, grammatically correct, well-spelt
and has a logical flow
B for Brevity. Modern conventions prefer written
communications to be brief. This means a preference not
just for the briefest of communications but the brief word,
brief sentence and brief paragraph.
C for Clarity. A written piece of communication is usually
written in order to clarify ideas or reports. You can run a
series of clarity checks by looking out for jargon, clichés,
overblown expressions, gobbledygook.

6. 6
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
CHECKING FOR MEANING
One way to check the meaning of what you've written is to
see your memo, letter or report from the reader's point of
view. Could it be misinterpreted?
1. Ask yourself whether your phrases and sentences are
open to meanings other than the ones you intended. If
so, re-write them.
2. Take your phrases and sentences out of context. Ask
yourself if the meaning changes. If so, re-write them.
3. Try to read your draft the way your readers will. Will
their particular standpoints mean they see things you
never meant? If so, re-write them.
The 500 most common words in the English language have
16,000 different meanings!

7. 7
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
THE NEED TO BE SPECIFIC
Written communication is often in written format because
of a need to report, record and legalise, in other words, to
lay down what is accurate.
So,...
1. If you can tell them about "5% rate of interest", don't
say "moderate growth of assets".
2. If you can tell them about "20ft by 40ft", don't say
"enormous".
3. If you can tell them about "Your report of 16th
December", don't say "your recent communication".
4. If you can tell them about "the Finance Director", don't
say "a higher authority".
5. If you can tell them about "the meeting on July 16th",
don't say "a future meeting".

8. 8
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION
Whether we like it or not, the impact of any written
communication is lost as a result of poor grammar, mis-used
punctuation and bad spelling.
Grammar is the art of using words according to set
conventions and rules. An understanding of the eight key
grammatical terms is essential in all written communication.
These are: nouns; pronouns; verbs; adverbs; adjectives;
prepositions; conjunctions; and capital letters.
Punctuation is the art of marking off, by means of certain
conventional signs, the divisions of a sentence so as to bring
out the meaning more clearly. The nine most frequently met
signs are: full stops; commas; semi-colons; colons;
apostrophes; quotation marks; brackets; and interrogation
and exclamation marks.

9. 9
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
WRITE TO BE UNDERSTOOD
There is one simple rule in writing. It is that you should
write, not so that you can be understood, but so that you
cannot be misunderstood. That's the purpose of
punctuation, as the following story shows.
An English professor wrote the following words on a
blackboard:
"A woman without her man is nothing"
and asked the class to punctuate it.
All the males in the class wrote:
"A woman, without her man, is nothing."
All the females in the class wrote:
"A woman, without her, man is nothing."
"The written word, if there is any ambiguity, will always be
read negatively." (Richard Denny)

10. 10
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
SPELLING
Spelling words incorrectly can destroy an otherwise good
piece of written communication. At best poor spelling is a
niggling irritation; at worst, it can cost you a piece's
credibility. If you write regularly, you need to learn how to
spell. Reading more and writing more is the best way to
improve your spelling. If you are an infrequent writer, you
should make use of friends who can check your reports for
spelling; you can also use word processors with checkers.
But sometimes you need to check the checkers:
"I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC;
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it,
I'm sure you're pleased too no,
Its letter perfect in its weigh,
My checker tolled me sew." (Janet Minor)

11. 11
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
UNINTENDED HUMOUR
Unintended humour in a piece of writing is great to chuckle
about later on; it may not go down so well at the time.
The following are all actual published phrases which
conveyed only one meaning to the original writers.
1. "Home Secretary to act on porn videos."
2. "If you think our products are unsatisfactory, you should
see our manager."
3. "Here is a list of staff broken down by sex and age."
4. The following are taken from reports made out by car
insurance claimants:
5. "To avoid collision, I ran into the other car."
6. "The other car bumped into me without warning me of
his intention."
7. "The accident was due to the road bending."
8. "I consider neither vehicle was to blame, but if either
was it was the other one."

12. 12
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
IS THIS WHAT YOU MEANT?
These are examples of explanations by car insurance
claimants, who may not have seen the funny side of their
report at the time:
1. "An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and
vanished."
2. "I was on my way to see the doctor with rear end trouble,
when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an
accident."
3. "The pedestrian had no idea which way to go, so I ran
over him."
4. "I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my
mother-in-law and headed down an embankment."
5. "I had been driving my car for 40 years when I fell asleep
at the wheel and crashed."
6. "I knocked down a man, he admitted it was his fault as he
had been knocked down before."
7. "Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided
with a tree I haven't got."

13. 13
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
THE WRITE WORD
"I used to think I was poor,
Then they told me I wasn't poor,
I was NEEDY.."
Then they told me it was
Self-defeating to think of myself as needy,
I was DEPRIVED.
Then they told me deprived
Was a bad image,
I was UNDERPRIVILEGED.
Then they told me underprivileged
Was overused. I was DISADVANTAGED.
I still don't have a penny,
I still need compensating;
But I have a GREAT vocabulary.
(Found on a school notice-board)

14. 14
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
POMPOSITY
Pomposity is the practise of exaggerating our descriptions of
simple items or experiences so that they sound more
important than they really are. The result is that what
should be clear is at first unclear until we remove the
grandiose cover hiding it.
These are examples of how pomposity and euphemisms
creep in to advertising and official reports...
1. a car dealer described their vehicles as "pre-
experienced" (ie second-hand)
2. a Canadian Fire department uses the official term "in a
non-viable condition" for people who are dead
3. the US Defence Department uses the following official
descriptions: "vertically-deployed anti-personnel
devices" for "bombs"; and "aerodynamic personnel
decelerators" for "parachutes".

15. 15
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
BUREAUCRATESE
Bureaucratese is the language used by officials and
administrators when referring to regulations.
It owes more to procedural correctness than to correct
expression.
This is an extract from a circular to staff on travel claims...
"The actual return fare to the employee's permanent place
of employment (or residence, if less) at the class
appropriate to his or her grade will be allowed plus day
subsistence for the period from the end of the 24-hour cycle
for night subsistence to the time of arrival at his or her
permanent place of employment (or residence) within the
limit of night subsistence for the nights of absence over the
weekend.“
The sentence has 72 words and no doubt read well to the
person who wrote it!

16. 16
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
TAUTOLOGY
Tautology is the grammatical expression for using words and
phrases which are unnecessary and add nothing to the
meaning of what you are writing.
There are three common types of tautology...
superfluous adjectives, as in the expressions "the true
facts"; "a distinct asset"; "a grave danger"; "an acute crisis";
"in" phrases as in the expressions: red in colour; circular in
shape; five in number; large in size;
doubling up, as in the expressions: "joint co-operation";
"link together"; "enclosed herewith"; "past history".
All of these expressions can be shortened with no loss in
meaning but a gain in style.

17. 17
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
PRUNING
First drafts of all written communication are likely to contain
more material than you need. Lengthy writing indicates an
over-eagerness to get your point across whereas the best
written reports, memos and letters are simple, assertive and
to the point.
You can prune all of the following:
Words: Anglo-Saxon words are better than Latinised words,
eg "help" is better than "assist"
Phrases: avoid padding out phrases, eg instead of "along the
lines of" use "like" and instead of "due to the fact that..."
use "because"
Sentences: aim for sentences of between 12 and 15 words
each
Paragraphs: stick to one idea in each paragraph and keep
them to under 15 lines of typing
Pages: aim to summarise on just one page; if your
communication is longer, use an appendix.

18. 18
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
SHORT AND SWEET
Concise expression is not only a time-saver, it also conveys
more certainty. The longer you go on, both in writing and
speech, the more doubt and confusion you sow.
Look at the number of words in the following:
1. Pythagorean theorem = 24
2. The Lord's Prayer = 66
3. Archimedes' Principle = 67
4. The 10 Commandments = 179
5. The Gettysburg Address = 286
6. The Declaration of Independence = 1300
7. US Government regulations on the sale of cabbages =
26,911
"For effective communication, use brevity. Jesus said,
"Follow me". Now that's brief! He could be brief because of
all that he didn't have to say." (Jim Rohn)

19. 19
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
KISS
The mnemonic KISS stands for Keep It Short and Simple.
The shortest exchange of letters ever recorded was between
novelist Victor Hugo and his publisher shortly after the
publication of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1831. It
went like this...
Dear Paul,
?
Victor
To which his publisher replied,
Dear Victor,
!
Paul
On receiving a letter or email, people first look at who it's
from, then the PS, and then the letter. But only if it is short.
Otherwise, it goes to the bottom of the pile.

20. 20
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
THE FOG INDEX
The fog index is a way of measuring sentence and word
lengths. The formula was developed by Robert Gunning of
the Clear Writing Institute of Santa Barbara in California.
This is how to work out the Fog Index for any piece of
writing:
1. A sample of 200 words is taken from a report. The
average number of words per sentence is worked out.
For example: 23.
2. Words with more than three syllables are counted and
then halved. For example: 25
3. The two figures are added together to form the fog
index. In this case: 23 + 25 = 48.
In conversation, most people use a fog index of between 30
and 35. This is also the average of most newspaper articles
and is therefore the standard to aim for if you want a
readable written style.

21. 21
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
CLARITY IN OPERATION
This is the start of a management briefing (!) sent out by the
head of an organisation on changes in communication plans
in the firm.
"Over the past few weeks and months, it has become quite
apparent that the management of our network
telecommunications and computer information operations
are in effect one area of Management Services and so I have
therefore decided to bring this enlarged and still expanding
operation together under the umbrella of one manager with
effect from 8th June. I have asked John Potts to undertake
this role with the title of Communications Director.“
The fog index of the whole piece from which this extract
was taken is a worrying 52.

22. 22
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
7TH GRADE, 9TH MONTH
COMMUNICATIONS
Try to keep your communications clear and simple, the level
that someone in the 7th grade, 9th month of school could
understand. And don’t worry; this won’t offend those with a
greater level of education because they’ll understand it too.
When you’re tempted to complicate things, remember:
1. There are only 3 pure colours but look at what
Michelangelo managed to do with them.
2. There are only 7 notes but look at what Mozart
managed to produce
3. There are only 3 monosyllabic words in “God is love”
and 80% of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is composed of
single-syllable words.
After all, would you say you had “the upper part of a hog’s
hind leg with oval bodies encased in a shell” for breakfast.
Or bacon and eggs?

23. 23
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
MUDDLE
Abbreviations can be a stumbling block to readers who are
not in the know and don't know what they stand for.
Sentences using several abbreviations can become
unwieldy.
Philip Duggan offers the following tongue-in-cheek extract
of what he calls "computer-speak" from a house magazine:
"Sciolist Ltd announce that they have been awarded
exclusive rights to develop an Extended Range of Acronyms
(ERA) programme. MD, Nigel Ian Turner (NIT) stresses that
Multi-User Groups (MUGs) will benefit immensely by using
the company's High Yield Product Efficiency (HYPE) system
in conjunction with their existing Computer Oriented
Network (CON). Customers subscribing to HYPE and CON
are guaranteed a Maxi Usable Double Data Link Entry
(MUDDLE)."

24. 24
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
BUZZ-WORDS
The Canadian government is credited with inventing the
phrase "buzz-words". These are impressive-sounding
phrases which give the appearance of being meaningful but
are in fact quite meaningless. It is only our snobbery to
appear knowledgeable and up-to-date with the latest
fashion that encourages us to use such phrases.
Buzz-words can usually be easily replaced by simpler words
or phrases.
1. For "business process re-engineering" say "a review of
the way we do business“.
2. For "knowledge management strategies" say "ways to
make the best use of what we know“.
3. For "innovative thinking initiatives" say "how to get
good ideas".

25. 25
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
CLICHÉS
In the days of manually-prepared printing presses, printers
used to keep well-used phrases on a stick already made up
and able to be inserted as required. In French, the name for
the stick is "le cliché", hence the word that we use for any
well-used phrase.
Clichés abound in daily speech but are often out of place in
reports where every word must earn its place.
Everyday examples of clichés are...
1. full and frank discussions
2. after all is said and done
3. in the fullness of time
4. at the end of the day
5. to all intents and purpose
6. run that one by me again
7. a level playing field
8. moving the goalposts.

26. 26
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
SLANG AND JARGON
Slang and jargon are words whose meaning is restricted to
those "in the know". Originally slang was a form of language
used by thieves.
The Oxford Dictionary of Slang contains over 10,000 slang
words and phrases. There are 138 synonyms for a fool, 100
abusive terms for an unpleasant person and 500 alternatives
for the sexual act.
Slang and jargon are often contrived as a means of bonding
people together. Most groups have their own private
language. Prisoners, for example, have words for the length
of prison sentences: a newspaper is a month; a pontoon is
21 months; a handful is 5 years; and a Nevis is 7 years.
Slang and jargon are out of place in written communication
unless you are writing for those from your own group.

27. 27
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
The aim of using politically-correct language is to avoid
creating unfair impressions in the reader's minds because of
our own biases and prejudices.
While many politically-correct phrases have become
acceptable in common parlance - "senior citizens" sounds
much better than "old-age pensioners" and "ethnic groups"
better than "coloured people" - other words such as "dust-
person" for "dustman" and "chairperson" for "chairman"
have a bit of a way to go.
One problem of the English language is the absence of a
pronoun for male and female.
"If the English language had been properly organised then
there would be a word which meant "he" and "she" and I
could write: "If John or Mary comes, heesh will want to play
tennis" which could save a lot of trouble." (The Christopher
Robin Birthday Book by A. A. Milne)

28. 28
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

29. 29
|
The ABC of Writing
Communications
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn