Word Wise

Think Tank

One way to make your writing more forceful and dynamic, whether you’re writing op-eds on behalf of a client or internal memos or even new business proposals, is to avoid using the phrase “I think.” Implicitly, when you write something you believe it to be so. There’s no need to precede it with “I think,” which can actually imply that you aren’t so sure that what you are writing is true or reasonable or sage or valuable. Say you’re a client. Which would you rather hear your hundreds-of-dollars-an-hour communications partner advise? I think a word-of-mouth campaign would create buzz. I think that's what we should implement. A word-of-mouth campaign would create buzz. That's what we should implement. The first example sounds a little namby-pamby, as if though you’re suggesting it you don’t want to take responsibility for it. The second example sounds confident, implying you know your stuff (which, presumably you do). Keep in mind that the French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher René Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” He didn’t say, “I think, therefore I think I am” or “I think, I think, therefore I am.”

Note: Not to be outdone by an upstart like Descartes, it was Dilbert, of course, who said "I get mail, therefore I am" and Gertrude Stein who said "I am because my little dog knows me" and Liz Winston who said "I think, therefore I am single" and, finally, Saul Steinberg who said, "I think, therefore Descartes exists."

Me, Myself, and I

One of the reason so many of us fall back on referring to ourselves as myself (as in “Lucy, Ethel, and myself will attend”) is because we don’t know whether it’s “Lucy, Ethel, and I” or “Lucy, Ethel, and me.” But instead of guessing and at least having a 50 percent chance of being right, we masochistically decide to totally muck things up and use the word “myself” – wrong in this case 100 percent of the time. To those who know the rules, hearing or reading “The only person attending the meeting is myself” or “Max, Jack, and myself will see you later” is like fingernails on a chalkboard. And that ain’t good. Myself and what writer Patricia T. O’Connor calls its self-ish crew (yourself, himself, etc.) shouldn’t take the place of the ordinary pronouns I and me, he and him, and so forth. Learn when to use “I” and when to use “me” and toss “myself” away. Myself and the rest of the crew, in fact, should only be used in two instances: to refer to the subject: “I like to do all the talking myself,” said Oscar Wilde. “It saves time, and prevents arguments.” for emphasis – “I, myself, am made entirely of flaws,” wrote Augusten Burroughs, “stitched together with good intentions.”

Note: We’d never say or write, “Be sure to call I at home tonight,” yet the minute another person is involved we go all wobbly because we’re not sure if it’s “Be sure to call Aida and I at home tonight" or "Be sure to call Aida and me at home tonight." Here’s what to do: Just remove the other person or thing from the sentence. In other words, remove Aida and what are you left with (other than no opera)? "Be sure to call me at home tonight." Voila!

FYI: i.e. and e.g. – aka "id est" and "exempli gratia"

The abbreviations i.e. and e.g. are not interchangeable – i.e. (id est) means “that is” or “in other words” and e.g. (exempli gratia) means “for example.” Both i.e. and e.g. must have commas after them as well as before them, unless they’re preceded by a dash or a parenthesis. Vladimir likes pasta (e.g., cresti di gallo, orecchiette, vermicelli). Estragon likes pasta (i.e., thin pieces of hardened, unleavened dough that are molded into various shapes).

Note: According to AP, the abbreviation aka – "also known as" and, in this case, not to be confused with above-knee amputation, Alpha Kappa Alpha, the American Kitefliers Association, or the American Kennel Association – is formatted just like that (lowercase, no periods; “no spacing is an exception to Webster's,” it notes).

The Eyes Have It

Remember when it was enough for documents merely to be well-written and full of interesting information? Yeah, me, neither. The fact is, documents have to be formatted so they facilitate, not debilitate, a reader's experience. That means putting thought not only into what you say, but how the words on the page or screen look. Offer a variety of "entry points" Entry points, also known as eye candy, are sweet little come-ons that attract readers’ eyes and murmur, “start here, darling …  or maybe you’d like to start here, you tall cool drink of water, you… or over here, snookum-ookums.” Entry points, including headlines, subheads, bulleted lists, bold-face lead-ins, and call-outs:    Allow people to scan the document and still get the gist of it. If you didn’t read the text in this post but only the headline, bold lead-ins here, and section heads, you’d still more or less know what this post was about. You had a choice: You could have read this post horizontally, one line after another, or vertically (The eyes have it/ Offer a variety of entry points/ Use traditional margins/  Align margins on the left). Give readers a choice where to start. You can "enter" a document at any of several points – for instance, in this post, at the headline, the lead, any of its three section heads, or this bulleted list, which you knew immediately by scanning the page was detailed information relating to entry points. Attract the eyes and gives them a place to rest momentarily. Remember, too, that the most effective section heads aren’t those that intrigue, but those that provide information; be clear not cryptic. Use traditional margins Margins provide visual relief and define the space devoted to your words – which is especially important when writing a document that’ll be primarily read on a computer monitor, given all the other things competing for your readers’ visual attention (toolbars, open IM boxes, Post-It notes, and other stuff). White space makes a page more scannable and less intimidating. When margins are narrow visual fatigue sets in – lines with 20 or 25 words are hard to comprehend and follow with the eye. When reading a long line that ends almost at the paper’s edge, the eye tends to meander off the page instead of automatically moving back left and down a line. Align margins on the left Unless for special effect, align margins left (with a ragged right margin), as they are in this post. When you justify margins – in other words, make them even on both right and left to create perfect rectangles of text – it decreases readability because it causes the eye to stop at irregular spacing between words.

Note: Without entry points, here’s what this post might have looked like. Unbelievably dreadful, no? I’d rather stick poison-tipped hot pokers in my eyes than read it (and yet this is what most documents look like!).

Remember when it was enough for documents merely to be well-written and full of interesting information? Yeah, me, neither. The fact is, documents have to be formatted so they facilitate, not debilitate, a readers experience. That means putting thought not only into what you say, but how the words on the page or screen look. Offer a variety of entry points: “Entry points,” also known as eye candy, are sweet little come ons that attract readers’ eyes and murmur, “start here, darling…  or maybe you’d like to start here, you talk cool drink of water, you… or over here, snookum-ookums.” First, entry points, including headlines, subheads, bulleted lists, bold-face lead-ins, and call-outs. They allow people to scan the document and still get the gist of it. If you didn’t read the text in this post but only the headline, bold lead-ins here, and section heads, you’d still know what this post  was about. You had a choice: You could have read this post horizontally, one line after another, or vertically (The eyes have it/ Give readers more than one place to start/ Use traditional margins/  Align margins on the left). They also give readers a choice where to start. You can enter at any of several points – the headline, the lead, any of its three section heads, or this bulleted list, which you knew immediately by scanning the page was detailed information relating to entry points. Lastly, they attract the eyes and gives them a place to rest momentarily. Remember, too, that the most effective section heads aren’t those that intrigue, but those that provide information; be precise, not cryptic. Second, use traditional margins. Margins provide visual relief and define the space devoted to your words –  which is especially important when writing a document that’ll be primarily read on the computer monitor, given all the other things competing for your readers’ visual attention (that is, toolbars, open IM boxes, Post-It notes around the periphery, and other stuff). So be sure to leave enough white space on the page, which will make it more scannable and less intimidating. When margins are narrow visual fatigue sets in – lines with 20 or 25 words are hard to comprehend and follow with the eye. When reading a long line that ends almost at the paper’s edge, the eye tends to meander off the page instead of automatically moving back left and down a line. Third, align margins on the left. Unless told to do otherwise, or for special effect, align margins left (with a ragged right margin), as they are in this post. When you justify margins – in other words, make them even on both right and left to create perfect rectangles of text– it decreases readability because it causes the eye to stop at irregular spacing between words.