Hi everyone, Niharika here and welcome back to a new lesson. In today’s lesson we are
gonna look at some Business writing Tips. So this lesson is specifically for the people,
who belong to the corporate world. Now many a times we listen to people that who belong
to corporate world, it’s very important for them to write intelligently. Business
writing should be clear, should be concise and should be formal. So how do we do that?
There are certain tips that I have for you that would help you to write intelligently
and of course to write in a very formal manner.
So let’s have a look at these points. The
very first thing that you need to keep in mind is that you need to avoid jokes and cliché.
What is a cliché? For the people who don’t know, cliché is a phrase which is over used,
which is used several times and it has totally lost its meaning now, because it’s over
used, it has lost its originality, so that’s a cliché. So when you are writing in a very
formal manner. You are writing to your colleagues, you’re writing to your boss or to your clients;
please do not add jokes or cliché. Its okay when you’re writing to your friends and
family, but when it comes to formal writing, that’s a complete no no.So no jokes, no
cliché. Cliché like think out of the box or move the needle, Oh! Come on these phrases
have been used several times and it makes no sense to people anymore, so do not use
cliché. The second point that you need to keep in mind is curb your enthusiasm. This
tip is perfect for the people who are over enthusiastic. Well, kind of even I am. I am
very friendly, I am always enthusiastic. So we need to curb our enthusiasm when it comes
to business writing. You cannot add too many exclamation marks, we tend to do that,specially
when we are writing on Facebook or we are texting our friends, we end up using too many
exclamation marks. So please don’t do that when you are writing to your clients or when
you are writing to corporate people, do not do that. Also do not add smileys. That’s
not a cute smiley right? Anyway please do not add smileys in your emails or in your
presentations. It doesn’t look professional, so you need to curb your enthusiasm. Also
you know when you are ending your business email, rather than writing lots of love, don’t
do that, you need to write yours faithfully or best regards. Please don’t end the email
by smileys, by kisses or xoxo, don’t do that. The third point, avoid passive writing.
Now here when I say avoid passive writing, it definitely means that you need to write
actively. Which means you need to use active writing? For example, the instructions will
be given to you by the director of the company, now that’s passive. You need to be direct
and clear, so that people can read quickly. So the structure of your sentence should be,
the subject plus the verb and then followed by the object. So the director will give you
the instructions, that’s how your sentence structure should be. So that’s active writing.
Don’t get into passive writing, it just doesn’t make sense for no reason you are
just exaggerating the material. So you don’t have to do that. The next point, keep a check
on grammar and spelling errors. Yes we belong to the social world, we are so much into Facebooking
and we are so much on twitter, that our spellings and our grammar has totally gone hey wire.
We try to contract most of the words and at times we use Lol’s and Omg’s. Do not use
that when it comes to business writing. It doesn’t look professional. Please do a spell
check and grammar check when you are doing a presentation or when you’re writing business
emails. And then the last point that I really need to tell you guys is that, do not use
slang terms or offensive words. Yes we do have a lot of lessons you know using different
slang words, but this doesn’t mean that I encourage you to use slang terms in the
corporate world. Doesn’t sound professional, doesn’t look professional. Nobody’s gonna
appreciate it, so words like lets hang on and lets catch up, doesn’t look professional.
So do not use slang terms and offensive words, Oh! No that’s a complete no no. We do not
use offensive words when we are talking to our clients or our bosses or our colleagues.
So keep these points in mind and be clear, be concise and of course write formally when
it comes to business writing. I’ll be back with a new lesson. If you have any questions,
do write into us and I’ll try to answer it back. I’ll be back with a new lesson.
Till then you take care.