When we are
asked to stand up and speak, we tend to run out of words; sometimes ideas too; even
though we have already prepared. The stage fright is often a common occurrence.
When we sit
to write, we feel like timid mice in presence of a ferocious Grammar Cat. When
we know the subject there is no reason whatsoever that we should not be in a
position to sit down and write @ 20 words per minute, faster if you type.
We don’t
have to do all the grammar exercises that scared us during our school days. But
we definitely have to brush up tenses, auxiliaries & modals, prepositions, articles
etc. Not a tall order; just a few hours of serious work.
How it will
help? You will be able to express yourself clearly, effectively and more
importantly in a style that is appreciated because it is easy to understand.
And then, there are FOUR simple rules to follow:
i.
Choose nouns over adjectives. Nouns give you the
crisp information. Adjectives make the reader wonder. In our written
communication, our objective should be ‘the ease of business’; If it’s a
businessman, he doesn’t want any unnecessary hurdles, and so the reader would
not like to face any hurdles in understanding your message.
ii.
Choose verbs over adverbs. Verbs are giving information
about the actual action, while adverbs describe the quality of action. For
example instead saying “he went to the hospital quickly” it will be more
effective to say, “He rushed to the hospital”.
iii.
You can make your message more effective by
using specific words instead of general words. Instead of saying, “ I will call
you next week about this problem,” say “I will call you on Thursday (or any
other day) afternoon about request by Ramesh for transfer.”
iv.
Choose short sentences instead of the long ones.
But vary the length of the sentences. Otherwise it will appear boring.
You can
easily follow the above simple precepts to make your communication natural, precise
and interesting only when you have belled the Grammar Cat.
Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment