187
Chapter 8 Writing Style
The promotion will begin on September 15. Consequently, sales should
be brisk during October.
Your account is seriously past due. As a result, your charge privileges
are temporarily suspended.
Let’s examine the reasons for the new procedure. First, we need a
process that is more effi cient.
Transitions prepare the reader for what is coming and move the reader
from one idea or set of ideas to another. This aids the reader’s understanding
of the message. Transitional words and phrases also add balance to sentence
length when used to connect two short sentences.
Notice how paragraph two below reads more smoothly than the paragraph
one, while paragraph three overuses transitions. The transition words are
shown in bold.
Paragraph 1
We are increasing the price of the new merchandise. Regular customers
will still get a discount on large-volume purchases. They will be able to
take advantage of this discount only if they place orders every 60 days or
less.
Paragraph 2
We are increasing the price of the new merchandise, but regular
customers will still get a discount on large-volume purchases. However,
they will be able to take advantage of this discount only if they place
orders every 60 days or less.
Paragraph 3
We are increasing the price of the new merchandise, but, on the other
hand, we will still give a discount to our regular large-volume purchasers.
Accordingly, these purchasers will be able to take advantage of this
discount only if they place orders every 60 days or less.
Without transitions, your writing will sound choppy, the relationship
among ideas will be unclear, and readers may be confused. But, when
these connectors are overused, your writing will sound overly wordy as
in paragraph three. Choosing the right transitions and moderate use of
transitions will help you achieve a smooth and readable writing style.
The English language has many useful transitional words and phrases that
serve various purposes in sentences. To use them appropriately, you need to
be aware of when and where these words and phrases add meaning and make
the writing more effective. Figure 8-2 lists commonly used transitions and
their purpose.
Choose Direct or Indirect Approach
Paragraphs may be constructed using a direct or indirect approach. These
topics are discussed in Chapter 7. With the
direct approach,
the topic sentence
is followed by descriptive details. The direct approach is a very readable format
and is most often used in business writing. With the
indirect approach,
details
precede the main idea of the paragraph. The indirect approach is useful when
you must give the reader bad news. Such an arrangement allows you to present
reasons before directly stating the bad news. Consider the following examples.