Human Skills and Better Communication
Convoluted prose is difficult to read. The never-ending story of the long and winding sentence can make us lose the will to live.
There’s a way out. And, most of the time, it’s an easy path.
Continue reading “The Long And Winding Sentence: A Way Out”
Poor word placement is one of the causes of mangled meaning. Another is the way we place emphasis in a sentence. It often comes down to just one word.
Continue reading “Word Placement: For Your Eyes Only”
The use of parallel structures, also called ‘parallelism’, is one of the less talked-about techniques in writing. It’s a way to make sure you communicate with clarity and precision.
Continue reading “Parallel Structures Build Better Sentences”
You probably use a variety of visual techniques – things that are designed to appeal to the eye.
Obviously, they are used widely in what are primarily ‘visual texts’ – e.g. advertisements, brochures, flyers, and posters. They might be images, banners, shapes, etc. that accompany text. They might or might not include words.
There are other important visual techniques, though, that add an extra dimension to texts that are primarily written.
Continue reading “Visual Techniques: Let Me Show You What I Mean”
The ‘elevate’ buzzword addiction is yet another example of corporate copycatting. It might have been original, once, as an extension of ‘take it to the next level’ (and aren’t we all tired of that one?) Now, at best, it’s overused; at worst, its use is often meaningless and just plain silly.
Continue reading “The ‘Elevate’ Buzzword: Get Off The Elevator”
What’s happening with the use of why? There’s a lot written about ‘why’ we do (or fail to do) things. Specialists in motivation, therapy, training and coaching and many others often write well about it. But why on earth is ‘why’ a buzzword noun?
Continue reading “The Use Of Why: But Why On Earth?”
We love to use figurative language. It adds colour, interest and extra emphasis to points we want to make. When it’s wrongly applied, though, it ruins the image completely.
Unfortunately, speakers and writers like to copy phrases that have impressed them without thinking about what they really mean.
Continue reading “When Figurative Language Fails”
Your body language can betray your apprehensions and fears – and you might not even realise it.
We’ve all been there….
It might be a meeting, a presentation, a job interview or a sales pitch. It doesn’t matter; these situations have one thing in common. You – at least for some of the time – will be the centre of attention.
Continue reading “Every Body Speaks The Language”
Have you ever fallen into the pit of poor pronunciation?
We’ll start with what is possibly the worst word to mispronounce; it’s a horrible irony.
(True story) I once overheard a language teacher say to her students:
‘It’s absolutely essential you get your pronounciation right’.
The intended advice was excellent but… ‘pronounciation’? No. No.
Continue reading “Pronunciation Pitfalls”
‘May’ or ‘might’? Yes it matters which word you use. Just one of the brilliant things about a shared language is that it brings clarity of meaning. Whenever we communicate, we should at least try to avoid ambiguity and confusion.
Continue reading “May Or Might? Or What?”