Mantex

Tutorials, Study Guides & More

>> Home / Archives for Communication

Oxford Guide to Plain English

by

how to simplify and clarify your writing

This is a new series from OUP – pocketbook guides on the basics of writing and language skills. They’re small, cheap, cheerful, and compact, yet authoritative – the sort of thing which I imagine would be ideal for students or the average person-in-the-street who wants to take on the first principles of improving their language skills. Oxford Guide to Plain English is written by the research director of the Plain Language Commission.

Plain EnglishIt’s presented in a lively and professional manner, and Martin Cutts uses so many real-life examples you know he’s speaking from deeply-felt practical experience. He offers quick tips for creating a clearer style, better grammar, punctuation, and layout. He explains how to avoid jargon and legalese, and how to use plain English instead. And he has no patience with sloppy communication. For instance, have you ever received an official letter like the example he quotes from the DVLA?

I again return your application for renewal of road fund licence and reiterate the correct amount is £130. I have enclosed a photocopy of your original document you will notice it clearly datestamped 2nd December, some two days after Budget day.

Four mistakes in forty-three words is not bad going for a government [in the UK] which claims it is committed to increased efficiency and clarity of communication!

He shows you how to avoid this sort of thing – and how to replace mistakes with clear meaning. There are hundreds of real examples to show how it’s done, including ‘before’ and ‘after’ examples.

There’s a good list of contemporary cliches and expressions to avoid, including the Plain English expressions which can quite easily replace them.

The basic information is very sound. Sentences twenty words or less; plain words rather than elaborate vocabulary; vigorous and active verbs rather than the passive voice; bulleted lists to explain multiple points of argument; strict but minimalist punctuation; planning as an indispensable tool to good structure; and even avoiding too many grammatical rules.

It even includes advice on writing effective emails, and as an advocate of good spatial design in written communication, I was pleased to see that there was a whole section devoted to good layout.

Good value; good advice; and good format if you want something cheap and cheerful as a start-up or a pocket reference.

© Roy Johnson 2009

Oxford Guide to Plain English   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Oxford Guide to Plain English   Buy the book at Amazon US

Martin Cutts, Oxford Guide to Plain English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3rd edition 2009, pp. 272, ISBN: 0199558507

More on writing skills
More on language
More on grammar

Pardon My French

by

Unleash your inner Gaul

Don’t be misled by the title. This book isn’t about swearing or euphemism. It comes from the long tradition of the English writing about French language and culture as if it were that of another planet – but with a certain amount of self-deprecation and lots of affection. Charles Timoney went to live in France speaking only a few remnants of his GCE French – and what he offers here is what he’s learned in the years since – working in the country and learning from his French wife and in-laws. You can avoid making the same mistakes, and even get to understand some of the slang, idioms, and puzzling anomalies which he writes about so amusingly.

Pardon My FrenchThe entries are arranged in themes such as food and drink, travel, education, the office, history, slang, and the family. What you get is not only an explanation of linguistic oddities, but an insider’s glimpse into a foreign culture too. He explains how to survive in a French restaurant for instance, how to order steak well done and even ask for tap water, and why you should not call the waiter ‘Monsieur’.

There are also warnings that gateau doesn’t always mean cake (more likely a biscuit) and how French vegetable names are used as slang insults (Banane = idiot)

Because the French (like the English) have a habit of changing and abbreviating words, this guide is useful for explaining the quasi-slang terms for everyday things – such as apéro (aperitif) DOM – TOM (former colonies) Bac (A levels). He also explains why people in the provinces refer not to Parisiens but to les neufs trois (ninety-three being the number of a particularly low-rated parisian département).

He explains why nobody in their right mind would use the full name L’aéroport Charles de Gaulle when they can more easily use it’s original name of Roissy.

Buried within all the jokes there’s actually a lot of useful information regarding French culture such as getting married, driving round roundabouts, where to sit in a football stadium, and the fact that French cinemas change their films on a Wednesday, not Thursday as they do in the UK.

There’s an excellent chapter on slang (Mec = chap) backslang (Meuf = girl) and even instructions on how to use Merde! politely. It’s the sort of book you read with a permanent smile on your face.

© Roy Johnson 2007

Pardon My French   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Pardon My French   Buy the book at Amazon US

Charles Timoney, Pardon My French, London: Penguin, 2007, pp.233, ISBN: 1846140528

Plan and Manage E-learning

by

Plan and Manage E-learning looks at the practical steps that need to be taken to create E-learning courses and the infrastructure that supports them. It covers all aspects of this process – including planning, course design, materials creation, course delivery, and tutoring. Lewis and Whitlock take a Web-oriented approach to their exposition. Each step is broken down into manageable chunks, and they use a wide range of examples and plenty of checklists to make this a very practical route map in course design.

Plan and Manage E-learningDespite its reliance on technology, E-learning is heavily dependent for its success on personal interaction, and they spend a lot of space offering support for teachers and learners. This is the part of online learning which is often forgotten by people racing to get onto the technological bandwagon. Much of their content is a sensible and practical approach to course planning – every step geared to think carefully about aims and how they are to be achieved. There are lots of checklists of things to take into account when planning, designing, and running a learning program.

They even deal with tricky issues such as online assessment and moderation, as well as the costs of development time, making the materials cost-effective, and cost-recuperation via clever marketing.

This book will be of most use to course designers, heads of department, or training managers who have been given the task of organising learning programs by people who think it’s just a matter of transferring information quickly from paper to screen.

© Roy Johnson 2004

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Roger Lewis and Quentin Whitlock, How to Plan and Manage an E-learning Programme, London: Gower, 2003, pp.185, ISBN 0566084244

More on online learning
More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

Print Journalism

by

essays on journalism – from print to the Internet

More than 12.5 million national newspapers are sold in Britain every day. The figure goes up to 14 million on Sundays. And for every copy of the Guardian sold each day, ten copies of the Sun cross the counter – which is what led former Sun editor Kelvin McKensie to rather cruelly call the Guardian ‘the world’s worst newspaper’. This publication covers every possible aspect of print journalism, and I suspect it has been produced in the hope of becoming a standard text in departments of journalism and media studies.

Print Journalism The chapters are written by ex-journalists now teaching at four universities – City London, Sheffield, Cardiff, and Lincoln – so it seems there must be a regular career path leading out of the Street of Shame and showing other people the best way to get there. Articles in the first section deal with the history, structure, and the financing of print media. Who owns what; which titles sell most copies; and how they make a profit.

There’s a certain amount of overlap and repetition here, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing, because the newspaper and magazine publishing business is a lot more complex than it appears on the surface. The second section gets straight down to practical advice for would-be journalists: how to be a reporter; how to conduct interviews; what makes a good news story; how to write good introductions and structure paragraphs.

Then, moving into the newsroom itself, there are chapters on the role of news editor, what sub-editors do, and how pictures are captioned. The individual essays could profit enormously from more illustrative examples, and almost every page is crying out for graphics.

The would-be journalist is given a detailed breakdown of news features, and more importantly how to successfully pitch your ideas to editors, then how to write them if and when they are accepted.

Once you have written your piece and checked it several times over for style, content, accuracy, spelling, and grammar, it then goes to a features editor who will edit it all over again. There’s a whole chapter explaining this process. It’s a tough world, and this is required reading for anybody who wants to make a success of freelance writing.

You are unlikely to be invited to write comment or opinion pieces, but you could break into print via reviewing. How to write them is explained in detail – and these days its as likely to be reviewing radio and TV programmes as traditional books and theatre performances.

Print journalism is now as we know being challenged by the online world – though you are even less likely to earn income from it. There are essays which analyse the differences between newspapers’ print and online versions, and technical advice on how monitor screen and web browsers affect how and what we read on screen.

There’s also advice on writing blogs and wikis, before the collection winds up with essays on the ethics and law in journalism, copyright, and intellectual property rights – which is one of the best short explanations of a complex issue I have seen for quite some time.

© Roy Johnson 2005

Print Journalism   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Print Journalism   Buy the book at Amazon US

Richard Keeble (ed), Print Journalism: a critical introduction, London: Routledge, 2005, pp.347, ISBN: 0415358825

More on journalism
More on creative writing
More on writing skills
More on publishing

Publicity, Newsletters and Press Releases

by

beginner’s practical guide to promotional writing skills

Oxford University Press have just brought out a series of short beginner’s manuals on communication skills. Their emphasis is on compact, no-nonsense advice directly related to issues of everyday life. Alison Baverstock’s guide shows you how to generate effective publicity and promotional writing skills through careful writing. It’s aimed at anyone who needs to publicise an event, an organisation, or a cause – whether it’s a big commercial business or just your own hobby. She starts from the position that the written word is powerful and important, and that different standards of correctness or informality are required depending on the medium – be it email, letters, press releases, or company reports.

Publicity, Newsletters & Press ReleasesNext comes what she calls ‘promotional writing’ – copy which is trying to persuade, sell something, or convince readers. Her advice is to avoid jargon, and to choose short, clear expression, rather than writing which is striving to impress. You should check your grammar, and avoid the common pitfalls of weak writing – such as split infinitives, misplaced apostrophes, and inconsistent tenses.

She shows how to write press releases to gain publicity, and how to angle a story to make it more appealing. The secret is to make clear distinctions between different media, and she gives plenty of examples, showing how to contact people to advantage in a way that’s more likely to get your story accepted.

The general advice is quite logical. You need to make your appeal for attention attractive, accurate, and functionally effective. This means going into a lot of detail and being rigorous about names, phone numbers, and contact details.

On newsletters she emphasises the importance of the relationship with subscribers. As a newsletter editor myself, I was interested to see that she places maximum importance on the interest of the reader, not on the writer or editor. Obviously, the newsletter should be interesting, and she explains a number of strategies for hooking the reader’s attention.

There are also lots of excellent tips along the way, and examples of good and bad practice based on real-life situations. This guide will be of use to anybody who wants to engage with the world of public writing.

© Roy Johnson 2003

Publicity, Newsletters and Press Releases   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Publicity, Newsletters and Press Releases   Buy the book at Amazon US

Alison Baverstock, Publicity, Newsletters and Press Releases, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.98, ISBN: 0198603843

More on journalism
More on creative writing
More on writing skills
More on publishing

Secret Language

by

Codes, Tricks, Spies, Thieves, and Symbols

Language is itself a code. In its written form it’s an abstract set of signs to represent speech, and in its spoken form an extremely complex set of rules for making intelligent communication using sounds. But if that isn’t complex enough, human beings seem to have a natural tendency to make things even more complicated by inventing all sorts of games, variations, and tricks with language. It’s amazing how far the examples in Barry Blake’s Secret Language go back – certainly to the earliest days of written languages, which have themselves now become a sort of secret code which must be deciphered.

Secret LanguageRather surprisingly, many of the early examples of word squares and double acrostics he discusses come from curse tablets which people believed were effective for anything from defeating fellow athletes in competition, to curing the bite of a rabid dog.

Anagrams, palindromes, acrostics, and riddles all come together in his discussion of the cryptic crossword. These are a surprisingly modern invention, appearing first in 1913, and immediately becoming popular world-wide. There is an entire section devoted to explaining how linguistic tricks inform the setting of clues. He reveals how to interpret them (‘French frock to take off’ = undress) and he throws in some fun examples of word puzzles to solve.

There’s quite a lot on riddles, which are often combined with poetry to create enduring gems such as the Exeter Riddles, and he explains the classic forms of secret codes used by spies and government agents for making messages secure. These are of two types: steganography (which is hiding one text inside another) and cryptography (using a substitution of letters).

Another surprising form of language use he explains is ‘respect language’:

Respect forms of language are often referred.to as ‘mother-in-law languages’, since they are mostly used when a mother-in-law is within earshot. They have the same phonology, morphology, and syntax as the everyday language, but a separate lexicon.

Some people believe that sacred texts contain hidden messages – so when these forms of secret language are used as analytic tools for interpretation of the bible (the Kabbalah) the field is ripe for speculation – though it should be noted that encryption may be suspected more frequently owing to the fact that no vowels were used in classical Hebrew.

Such is belief in the power of words that at its most extreme it takes the form of eating words witten on paper or food – an anthropological form known as ‘contagious magic’. This is still in regular practice of course in the ritual of transubstantiation in the host in Christian churches, where words are transferred (orally) onto wafers for human consumption.

The part of the book I found most entertaining was that on forms of popular secret language – which include rhyming slang, Pig Latin, Polari, back-slang, Tic-Tac, and even L33t – the computer jargon which combines extreme compression, omission, letter substitution, and deliberate mis-spellings.

He concludes with examples of language which are not exactly secret, but in which the communication is not direct – as in the use of irony, euphemism, and deliberate obscurity. These are what he quite rightly puts in the category of ‘everyday oblique’.

And he finishes, logically enough, with instances where language says one thing but references another – as in the use of allusion, quotation, and cultural echoing in which an author or speaker signals a reference to a well known source.

This is a fascinating excursion into an aspect of language studies which includes everything from fun and games to the deadliest forms of subterfuge and political deception.

Secret Language   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Secret Language   Buy the book at Amazon US

© Roy Johnson 2010

Barry J. Blake, Secret Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, pp.328, ISBN: 0199579288

More on language
More on literary studies
More on writing skills
More on creative writing

Semiotics: the basics

by

Semiotics is ‘the study of signs’ – but what constitutes a ‘sign’? Basically, it can be anything. Its significance will be determined by the context in which it appears and the way in which it is interpreted. The colour red can suggest passion, danger, or heat, depending on where it occurs and who perceives it. Daniel Chandler’s introduction to the subject explains the history and the various strands of the subject in everyday language, using up-to-date examples.

Semiotics: the basicsBasically, his account covers the development of these ideas from the nineteenth-century Swiss linguist Saussure, to post-modern cultural theorists of the present day. Semiotics is a subject which can hardly escape the dominance of language as the most developed system of signs. This is because language has what he calls ‘double articulation’. What this means is that small units (words) can be signs, but they can be combined indefinitely with each other to form other, bigger, or more complex signs. However, the theory leads effortlessly into considerations of linguistics, philosophy, and critical theory, as well as cultural media such as television, photography, literature, cinema, and even academic writing. This is in addition to the more obvious day-to-day sign systems of facial expressions, food, clothing, and social gestures.

His guidance through this multi-discipline maze is thoughtful and clear, and even though you have to be prepared to dip your toes into the waters of critical theory, he has a reassuring manner which makes it a pleasant intellectual experience.

I enjoyed his chapters on metaphor, irony, and codes – though a few more examples of how the theory could be applied would be useful. It would also be interesting to consider why something deprecated in one code (switching point of view in film, for instance) is permitted in another, such as narrative fiction.

However, he summarises his exposition with a useful chapter outlining the strengths and limitations of semiotics as an analytic tool. I was slightly surprised he didn’t include more comment on the Internet as a cultural medium, because this book has its origins as a well-established web site where he has been posting help for his students in the last few years.

Semiotic theory claims that it can reveal the codes and conventions shaping what we might otherwise think of as ‘natural’, which makes it a powerful tool for analysing all forms of culture and human communication. This an excellent basic introduction to the subject, with a good glossary, an index, and a list of further reading.

© Roy Johnson 2007

Semiotics   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Semiotics   Buy the book at Amazon US

Daniel Chandler, Semiotics: The Basics, London: Routledge, 2nd edition 2007, pp. 328, ISBN: 0415363756

More on digital media
More on technology
More on theory

Smartphones for Internet Access

by

T-MobileToday’s Internet users are relying on their smartphones or tablets for quick and easy Internet access, rather than laptops and desktops. And no wonder. It’s simply more convenient and portable. However, those with tight finances haven’t always been able to enjoy the benefits of 4G connectivity. But this will all change with the announcement of T-Mobile’s reinvigorated challenger strategy. This offers more affordable options to cash-strapped customers. When subscribers to T-Mobile compare cell phone plans with those of other service providers, T-Mobile comes out on top as one of the most affordable cell phone carriers with reliable service.

With mobile devices increasingly imitating each other’s features, it’s the quality and cost of the service that will determine user choice. T-Mobile’s challenger strategy, outlined by CEO and President Philipp Humm recently, focuses on making 4G services affordable and establishing growth for the business by investing $4 billion on network modernization and 4G evolution.

"We want to be known for delivering the best value in wireless because of the advanced technology we deliver at an affordable price," Humm said. "Over the next two years, we’re prioritizing and investing in initiatives designed to get T-Mobile back to growth in the years ahead—beginning with the transformation of our network."

Over 90 percent of T-Mobile device sales in the fourth quarter were from 3G and 4G smartphones, and data usage as well as smartphone adoption continue to accelerate. This has prompted the telecommunications giant to improve its data services to keep loyal customers happy as well as attract new subscribers.

"Today we operate America’s Largest 4G Network delivering a fast and reliable 4G data experience with Evolved High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+)" T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said. "Launching Long Term Evolution (LTE) next year lets us take advantage of technology infrastructure advancements and benefit from a more mature LTE device ecosystem, while continuing to meet the growing demand for data with a powerful 4G experience."

T-Mobile plans to deliver better performance and coverage to its customers by improving its 4G network infrastructure with "new antenna integrated radios on many of its cell towers." The company may even be the first carrier in North America to accomplish this feat.

These technological developments should give users access to much higher rates of data transfer, and a smoother user experience. For instance, they can produce significant improvements to battery life, and quicker wake-from-idle time. This will be similar to an always-on connection. That’s the sort of service mobile device users increasingly expect in a fully-connected environment.

More on technology
More on digital media
More on online learning
More on computers

The Global English Style Guide

by

writing clear documentation for a global market

Many people who do not speak English as a first language struggle to understand English texts. Human translation is expensive. Machine translation (MT) frequently does not work. Global English offers a solution to these three related problems. Many good style guides exist. Why do technical writers need another guide to writing style? But unlike many other guides, The Global English Style Guide covers grammatical structures, not only particular terms.

The Global English Style Guide The book has more than 200 pages of text (plus 4 appendices) that give detailed explanations of both good practice and bad practice. John Kohl writes clearly, and he explains the reasons for the guidelines. His guidelines are based on practical work at SAS Institute, where he works as a technical author. Most technical writers know some of the guidelines already. For example, restrict the use of the passive voice; use language literally; and simplify the writing style. However, many guidelines may be new. For instance, until I read the book, I used all these sentence structures:

  • However, you can put an adverb in many locations.
  • You can, however, put an adverb in many locations.
  • You can put an adverb in many locations, however.

Now, I put an adverb at the start of a sentence, because in that location, the adverb helps to show the reader the logical connection with the previous sentence.

Both of the following sentences are grammatically correct:

  • Set up the system.
  • Set the system up.

Now, as far as possible, I always use the first structure, and keep the parts of a phrasal verb together. Keeping the parts of the verb together increases consistency, improves machine translation, and helps non-native speakers who do not know the particular verb.

A full chapter and an appendix show how to improve readability and translatability by using syntactic cues. A syntactic cue is a part of language that helps a reader to identify parts of speech and to analyse the structure of a sentence. Sometimes, syntactic cues are optional, but excluding them can cause ambiguity. Kohl gave a humorous example. The grammatically correct sentence, “Do not dip your bread or roll in your soup” has two possible meanings:

  1. Do not dip your bread or your roll in your soup.
  2. Do not dip your bread in your soup, and do not roll in your soup.

If readers are aware of the second interpretation, they know that it is incorrect. However, with technical texts, if a writer does not include optional syntactic cues, a reader’s interpretation may be incorrect.

With Global English, a writer can use all grammatical structures and all terms, unless the guidelines prohibit the grammar or the term. Additionally, the primary rule of Global English is, ‘do not make any change that will sound unnatural to native speakers of English’.

An alternative method for writing clear text is to use a controlled language. With a controlled language, a writer can use only grammar and terms that are permitted. Despite the different methods, many of the Global English guidelines agree with controlled language guidelines.

The subtitle of the book refers to writing documentation. However, most of the guidelines apply to copywriting as much as to technical writing. All writers who want to reach a global audience, to decrease translation costs, or to make their texts as clear as possible will benefit highly from this book.

Review by Mike Unwalla © 2008

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

John R, Kohl, The Global English style guide: writing clear, translatable documentation for a global market. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc. 2008, ISBN 9781599946573.

More on writing skills
More on language
More on grammar

The Myth of Mars and Venus

by

Do men and women really speak different languages?

A notion has sprung up in the last decade or so that men and women use language differently – even that they are psychologically and genetically hard-wired for language in different ways. This notion has solidified around the expression ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’, which was the title of a book which became a best-seller in 1992. This current book is Deborah Cameron’s exploration of gender and language from the perspective of an academic specialist in the field.

Gender and LanguageNot to hold back on her conclusions unnecessarily, she points out that the notion is complete rubbish. There isn’t any proof or justification for it in any of the published research. There are only vague ‘surveys’ and pop-journalism which make claims which evaporate under the scrutiny of rigorous examination. So the question immediately arises – why is this myth so widespread and enthusiastically accepted as a universal truth? Why do people continue to believe it, when it’s not true?

The answer to that question is that like most myths, it is comforting. It panders to prejudice and reinforces stereotypes of both men and women. And it spares us the difficulty of looking more closely at what we think we are observing.

She looks at all sorts of research into the relationship between language and gender, and it all points to the same conclusions – that for any investigation, the context needs to be given; that larger samples need to be taken; that general conclusions about choice of vocabulary, volume of speech, interrupting, and verbal dominance cannot be made on grounds of gender without many other factors being taken into account.

Rather than speaking differently simply because they are women and men, women and men may differ in their patterns of language-use because they are engaged in different activities or are playing different conversational roles.

What one person thinks of as a supportive tag question (isn’t it?) is another person’s facilitation. It all points to the need for more scientific rigour before making rash claims.

The most serious argument she makes is that giving credence to these myths can be a dangerous reinforcement of prejudice against both men and women which when translated into social action can result in discrimination, persecution on gender lines, and even social exclusion.

She also backs up her claims with excursions into sociology and ethnography, illustrating the point that behaviour which is often seen as essentially gendered is just a different way of responding because of a particular role being enacted – irrespective of gender.

She actually takes this further, into areas which seem to border on the philosophy of human existence in a way which reminded me very much of the work of Stephen Pinker. The ‘explanations’ of language/gender difference which stem from Stone Age evolutionary psychology are examined under her clear, realistic gaze and shown to be wanting.

This is only a short book, but there are thought-provoking ideas on just about every page.

© Roy Johnson 2008

The Myth of Mars and Venus   Buy the book at Amazon UK

The Myth of Mars and Venus   Buy the book at Amazon US

Deborah Cameron, The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.208, ISBN: 0199550999

Get in touch

info@mantex.co.uk

Content © Mantex 2016