Technical Writing - Style and Language - Villareal Alona F.
Technical Writing - Style and Language - Villareal Alona F.
Technical Writing - Style and Language - Villareal Alona F.
WRITING
Style and Language
Alona F. Villareal
PUP-MBAENG507 -Student
Sunday 11:00am to 2:00pm
TECHNICAL
WRITING
Style and Language
Alona F. Villareal
PUP-MBAENG507 -Student
Sunday 11:00am to 2:00pm
Alona F. Villareal
Alona F. Villareal
Alona F. Villareal
Writers’ styles are determined by
the way writers think and
transfer their thoughts to paper
i.e., the way they use words, sentences,
images, figures of speech, and so on.
Alona F. Villareal
Standard English can be divided
into two broad categories of style.
Alona F. Villareal
Usually a work of specialist writing to other specialist
Writing that embodies laws or regulation
Vocabulary is specialized and precise
Writers tone is impersonal and objective
Does not use contractions, slang or dialect
Sentence construction may be elaborate
Active voice are use whenever possible as well as
sentence variety and subordination
Alona F. Villareal
Relaxed and colloquial way of writing
Can be found most on personal email or business correspondence,
nonfiction books of general interest as well as on a mass-circulation
magazines
Less distance between reader and writer because the writer’s tone is
more personal
Vocabulary is made up of very familiar words
Approximates the cadence and structure of spoken English while
conforming to the grammatical convention of written English
Alona F. Villareal
Use of language that is more
formal, technical, or
showy than necessary to
communicate information
to the reader.
Alona F. Villareal
Writers easily slip into affectation through the
use of long variants words
5. Elegant Variation
Alona F. Villareal
Causes of Affectation
1. Impression - Some writers use pretentious language in an attempt to impress the
reader with fancy words instead of evidence and logic.
2. Insecurity - Writers who are insecure about their facts, conclusions, or arguments
may try to hide behind a smoke screen of pretentious words.
3. Imitation - Perhaps unconsciously, some writers imitate the poor writing they see
around them.
5. Initiation - Writers who are new to a field often feel that one way to prove their
professional expertise is to use as much technical terminology and jargon as possible.
6. Imprecision - Writers who are having trouble being precise sometimes find that an
easy solution is to use a vague, trendy, or pretentious word.
Alona F. Villareal
REALITY
ILLUSION
a fleeting or temporary false impression
i.e., magic tricks are optical illusion
Delusion
a belief in something despite evidence to
contrary (a belief based on self deception))
FANTASY
Alona F. Villareal
1. Don’t act like a Scrooge!
(Literature – A Christmas Carol)
Does not include detail about the 4. He studies all the time and is a
reference regular Einstein!
(Historical figure)
Often used in comparison through a
metaphor or simile
Alona F. Villareal
Alona F. Villareal
1. Ambiguous pronoun reference
Alona F. Villareal
I got a dig bick.
Awkwardness the quality of being awkward
(embarrassment, self-consciousness, discomfort, uneasiness)
You that read wrong.
Any writing that strikes readers as awkward —
that
t his,
a tasaforced
w k w a ror
d unnatural
w h e n y o—
u impedes
r e a d t htheir
a t wunderstanding.
rong too
and said “moment” after awkward.
This is awkward.
Alona F. Villareal
Eliminating Awkwardness
Strive for clarity and coherence during revision.
Check for organization to ensure your writing develops logically.
Keep sentence construction as direct and simple as possible.
Use subordination appropriately and avoid needless repetition.
Correct any logic errors within your sentences.
Revise for conciseness and avoid expletives where possible.
Use the active voice unless you have a justifiable reason to use the passive voice.
Eliminate jammed or misplaced modifiers and, for particularly awkward
constructions, apply the tactics in garbled sentences.
Alona F. Villareal
Refers to words and expressions that offend because they make
inappropriate assumptions or stereotypes about gender, ethnicity,
physical or mental disability,Race
age,and
or sexual orientation.
Ethnicity
Biased language, which is often used unintentionally, can defeat your
purpose by damaging your credibility. Sexual Orientation
Alona F. Villareal
One of the most difficult biases to avoid, because gender-
based language is ingrained in most societies.
Alona F. Villareal
Race and
Some expressions about different racial and ethnic groups
Ethnicity
are considered demeaning and offensive
Alona F. Villareal
Some words and phrases regarding age are considered
condescending.
The most prominent stereotype states that with seniority comes
not only wisdom but also the failing of a person’s strength and wits
(senile.)
Likewise, the prejudices against youth and their “impulsiveness”.
Alona F. Villareal
Health and Disability does not define a person. Some people
Disabilities
prefer words such as “special”, “challenged” and
“differently abled”, but others find them discriminatory.
Alona F. Villareal
Sexual Orientation
Alona F. Villareal
“Clarity is power.
Clarity is essential The more
to effective clear what
communication
exactly
with it is you
your readers. want, achieve
You cannot the more
your
purposeyour brain
or a goal likeknows how
persuasion to clarity.
without
get there.”
-Author Unknown-
Alona F. Villareal
A logical method of development and an outline.
Coherence and unity
Clear Transition
Proper emphasis and subordination
Pace
Point of view
Precise word choice
Alona F. Villareal
Clichés are expressions that have been used for so long
that they are no longer fresh but come to mind easily
because they are so familiar.
Alona F. Villareal
When you are making a comparison, be sure
that both or all of the elements being
compared are clearly evident to your reader.
Alona F. Villareal
The things being compared must be of the
same kind.
Alona F. Villareal
Be sure to point out the parallels or differences
between the things being compared. Do not
assume your reader will know what you mean.
Alona F. Villareal
A double comparison in the same sentence
requires that the first comparison be
completed before the second one is stated.
Alona F. Villareal
Do not attempt to compare things that are
not comparable.
Alona F. Villareal
The comparison method of development can
help readers in an audience understand a
difficult or an unfamiliar subject by relating it
to a simpler or more familiar one.
Alona F. Villareal
Determine the basis of comparison
whole by whole method
part by part method
Alona F. Villareal
Whole by whole method
all the relevant characteristics of one item are
examined before all the relevant
characteristics of the next item.
Alona F. Villareal
Part by part method
help readers consider the various characteristics of
all the item being compared
could accommodate further comparison
(such as temperature ranges, special warnings, and
common use, in the example)
Alona F. Villareal
Use of Tables
Alona F. Villareal
Conciseness means that extraneous
words, phrases, clauses, and sentences
have been removed from writing
without sacrificing clarity or appropriate
detail.
Alona F. Villareal
1. Modifiers that repeat an idea implicit or
present in the word being modified contribute to
wordiness by being redundant.
Alona F. Villareal
2. Coordinated synonyms
that merely repeat each other.
Alona F. Villareal
3. Excess qualification
Alona F. Villareal
4. Expletives, relative pronouns, and relative
adjectives, although they have legitimate purposes
Alona F. Villareal
5. Circumlocution (a long, indirect way of expressing things)
Alona F. Villareal
Achieving Conciseness
Use subordination to achieve conciseness..
Avoid affectation by using simple words and phrases.
Eliminate redundancy.
Change the passive voice to the active voice and the indicative mood to the
imperative mood whenever possible.
Eliminate or replace wordy introductory phrases or pretentious words and phrases.
Do not overuse intensifiers, such as very, more, most, best, quite, great, really, and
especially. Instead provide specific and useful details.
Alona F. Villareal
A shortened
Often usedspelling
in speechof and
a word or phrase
informal writingwith an
apostrophe substituting
They are generally not for the missing
appropriate letter or
in reports,
letters.
proposals, and formal correspondence
Alona F. Villareal
Defining key terms and concepts is often
essential for clarity.
Terms can be defined either formally or
informally, depending on your purpose, your
audience, and the context.
Alona F. Villareal
Is a form of classification.
Define a term by placing it in a category and then
identifying the features that distinguish it from other
members of the same category.
Alona F. Villareal
Explains a term by giving a more familiar word
or phrase as a synonym.
Alona F. Villareal
State definitions positively; focus on what the
term is rather than on what it is not.
Alona F. Villareal
Avoid circular definitions, which merely restate
the term to be defined and therefore fail to
clarify it.
Alona F. Villareal
Avoid “is when” and “is where” definitions. It fail
to include the category and are too indirect.
Alona F. Villareal
1. Extended definition
2. Definition by analogy
3. Definition by cause
4. Definition by components
5. Definition by exploration of origin
6. Negative definition
Alona F. Villareal
1. EXTENDED DEFINITION
When you need more than a simple definition to explain an idea.
Explores a number of qualities of the item being defined.
It developed depends on the audience and on the complexity of the
subject.
Readers familiar with a topic might be able to handle a long, fairly
complex definition.
Readers less familiar with a topic might require simpler language and
more basic information.
Alona F. Villareal
1. EXTENDED DEFINITION
The easiest way to give an extended definition is with specific
examples. Examples give readers easy-to-picture details that
help them see and thus understand the term being defined.
Alona F. Villareal
2. DEFINITION BY ANALOGY
Can help the reader understand an unfamiliar term by showing its
similarities with a more familiar term
Alona F. Villareal
3. DEFINITION BY CAUSE
Some terms are best defined by an explanation of their causes.
Alona F. Villareal
4. DEFINITION BY COMPONENTS
Sometimes a formal definition of a concept can be made simpler
by breaking the concept into its component parts.
Alona F. Villareal
5. DEFINITION BY EXPLORATION OF ORIGIN
Alona F. Villareal
5. DEFINITION BY EXPLORATION OF ORIGIN
Alona F. Villareal
6. NEGATIVE DEFINITION
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Refers to a sentence or phrase in which the person
being spoken or written to is explicitly named.
It is often used in presentations and in e-mail messages.
Person’s name in a direct address is set off by commas.
Alona F. Villareal
Use of an additional negative word to reinforce
an expression that is already negative
Alona F. Villareal
Barely, hardly, and scarcely cause problems
because writers sometimes do not recognize that
those words are already negative.
Alona F. Villareal
Not unfriendly, not without, and similar constructions are
not double negatives.
Because in such constructions two negatives are meant to
suggest the gray area between negative and positive
meanings.
Alona F. Villareal
The correlative conjunctions neither and nor may appear
together in a clause without creating a double negative,
so long as the writer does not attempt to use the word not
in the same clause.
Alona F. Villareal
Negative forms are full of traps that often entice
writers into logic errors.
Alona F. Villareal
The sentence can be corrected by stating
the idea in more positive writing.
Alona F. Villareal
Emphasis is the principle of stressing the most important
ideas in your writing.
Position Repetition
Climactic Order Intensifiers
Sentence Length Direct Statements
Sentence Type Long Dashes
Active Voice Mechanical Devices
Alona F. Villareal
1. POSITION
Alona F. Villareal
2. CLIMATIC ORDER
Alona F. Villareal
3. SENTENCE LENGTH
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4. SENTENCE TYPE
Alona F. Villareal
5. ACTIVE VOICE
Alona F. Villareal
6. REPITION
Repeat key terms, as in the use of the word remains
and the phrase come and go in the following
sentence.
Alona F. Villareal
7. INTENSIFIERS
Although you can use intensifiers (most, much, very)
for emphasis, this technique is so easily abused that
it should be used with caution.
Alona F. Villareal
8. DIRECT STATEMENTS
Use direct statements, such as “most important,”
“foremost,” or someone’s name in a direct address
Alona F. Villareal
9. LONG DASHES
Alona F. Villareal
10. Mechanical Devices.
Alona F. Villareal
Written English includes two broad
categories: standard and nonstandard.
Alona F. Villareal
STANDARD ENGLISH
Alona F. Villareal
NONSTANDARD ENGLISH
Alona F. Villareal
NONSTANDARD ENGLISH
Alona F. Villareal
NONSTANDARD ENGLISH
Alona F. Villareal
Colloquial English
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Dialectal English
Is a social or regional variety of the language that is
comprehensible to people of that social group or region
but may be incomprehensible to outsiders
Alona F. Villareal
Localisms
A localism is a regional wording or phrasing.
e.g., a large sandwich on a long split roll is variously known throughout the
United States as a hero, hoagie, grinder, poor boy, submarine, and torpedo.
Alona F. Villareal
Slang
Is an informal vocabulary composed of figures of speech
and colorful words used in humorous or extravagant ways
Alona F. Villareal
Slang
Sometimes, however, slang becomes standard because
the word fills a legitimate need.
Alona F. Villareal
Slang
SLANG MEANING
chill relax
Skyscraper and date go on a date
someone who works or
wonk
studies excessively
Alona F. Villareal
Is an inoffensive substitute for a word or phrase that could
be distasteful, offensive, or too blunt.
Alona F. Villareal
Is a word that fills the position of another word,
phrase, or clause. It and there are common
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause. Itexpletives.
and there are common expletives.
Alona F. Villareal
Sometimes necessary to avoid awkwardness, but
they are commonly overused, and most
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause. Itsentences
and there are common can be better stated
expletives. without them.
Alona F. Villareal
In addition to its grammatical use, the word
expletive
is a word means
that fills the position of anotheran
word,exclamation
phrase, or or oath,
clause. It and there are common expletives.
especially one that is obscene.
Alona F. Villareal
Is an imaginative expression that often compares
two
is a word things
that fills that
the position areword,
of another basically
phrase, or not alike but have at
clause. It and there are common expletives.
least one thing in common.
Alona F. Villareal
They help establish understanding between the
specialist
is a word and
that fills the position the word,
of another nonspecialist
phrase, or
clause. It and there are common expletives.
Alona F. Villareal
Must be consistent to be effective
wordShould
is a that fills the not
positionovershadow
of another word, phrase,the
or point the writer is
clause. It and there are common expletives.
trying to make.
Better to use no figure of speech at all than to use
a trite one
Alona F. Villareal
Avoid figures of speech in global communication
is a wordand
that fillsinternational
the position of another correspondence
word, phrase, or because
clause. It and there are common expletives.
people in other cultures may translate figures of
speech literally and be confused by their
meanings
Alona F. Villareal
1. Analogies
Is a comparisons that show the ways in which two
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause.objects or concepts
It and there are common expletives. are similar, often used to
make one of them easier to understand.
Alona F. Villareal
2. Hyperboles
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3. Litotes
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4. Metaphors
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5. Metonyms
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6. Personification
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7. Similes
Alona F. Villareal
Is writing that suffers from an overdose of traits
guaranteed to make it stuffy, pretentious, and wordy
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause. It and there are common expletives.
Overuse of big and mostly abstract words,
affectation (especially long variants), buzzwords,
clichés, euphemisms, inappropriate jargon, stacked
modifiers, and vague words
Alona F. Villareal
Is writing that attempts to sound official
(officialese), legal (legalese), or scientific;
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause. It and there are common expletives.
it tries to make a “natural elevation of the
geosphere’s outer crust” out of a molehill
Alona F. Villareal
Is a group of words that has a special meaning apart from
its literal meaning
Idioms are often constructed with prepositions that follow
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause.adjectives (similar
It and there are common to), nouns (need
expletives. for), and verbs (approve
of ).
Some idioms can change meaning slightly with the
preposition used, as in agree to (“consent”) and agree with
(“in accord”).
Alona F. Villareal
Often provide helpful shortcuts.
In fact, they can make writing more natural and vigorous.
Alona F. Villareal
Avoid them, however, if your writing is to be translated into
another language or read in other English-speaking
countries.
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause. It and there are common expletives.
Because no language system can fully explain such usages,
a reader must check dictionaries or usage guides to
interpret the meaning of idioms. See also English as a
second language and international correspondence.
Alona F. Villareal
Are adverbs that emphasize degree, such as
very, quite, rather, such, and too.
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause. It and there are common expletives.
Although intensifiers serve a legitimate and
necessary function, unnecessary intensifiers
can weaken your writing
Alona F. Villareal
Eliminate those that do not make an
obvious contribution or replace them with
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
specific
clause. It and there are commondetails.
expletives.
Alona F. Villareal
Some words (such as perfect, impossible, and final)
do not logically permit intensification because, by
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
clause.definition, they
It and there are common do not allow
expletives. degrees of comparison.
Although usage often ignores that logical restriction,
to ignore it is to defy the basic meanings of such
words.
Alona F. Villareal
Is a highly specialized slang that is unique to an
occupational
is a word that orword,
fills the position of another a professional
phrase, or group.
clause. It and there are common expletives.
Alona F. Villareal
If all your readers are members of a particular
occupational group, jargon may provide an
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
efficient
clause. It and means
there are common expletives.of communicating.
Alona F. Villareal
EXAMPLE OF JARGONS
BP – Medical shorthand for blood pressure
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
Debugging
clause. - discovery
It and there are common expletives. and correction of errors in
software
AWOL – Absent without leave
Alona F. Villareal
Is a noun form of a verb that is often combined with vague and
general (or “weak”) verbs like make, do, give, perform, provide.
Avoid
is a word nominalizations
that fills the when
position of another word, youorcan
phrase, use specific verbs that
clause. It and there are common expletives.
communicate the same idea more directly and concisely.
Alona F. Villareal
If you use nominalizations solely to make your
writing sound more formal, the result will be
is a word that fills the position of another word, phrase, or
affectation.
clause. It and there are common expletives.
Alona F. Villareal
THE END
THANK Y OU
…NOT YET