Plain Style: Techniques for Simple, Concise, Emphatic Business Writing [Paperback]

Richard Lauchman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 1993

Simple, straightforward writing is convincing, saves time and prevents misunderstandings but can be hard to achieve. This guide suggests ways to think about writing that can simplify how writers to choose to express their ideas. It examines the reasons why many business people with good skills write long, complicated sentences - then helps them break the habit. The book offers 35 techniques for writing simply, concisely and with emphasis. Readers can learn how to: write with verbs instead of nouns; decide when to use passive versus active verbs; use modifiers correctly; keep equal ideas parallel; and use idiom. The author also discusses how to develop a practical vocabulary, and overcome problems many writers have with ordinary words.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Lauchman, who teaches business writing to corporations, adopts a low-key, practical, sometimes iconoclastic approach to the writing that people are required to do every day "where money changes hands." Writers, he says, should convey and not express. He talks in terms of "the order of words" rather than of dangling participles and misplaced modifiers. The many examples are often humorous and the comparisons excellent (e.g., extra words are compared to too much water in tea). Interestingly, he declares that bad writing is not taught in school but learned on the job and is often perpetuated by company style guidebooks and managerial reviews. Although the book is sometimes redundant and awkward in its attempt not to sound like a traditional grammar, business writers will enjoy it and benefit from it. Of interest to public, academic, and special libraries.
- Nancy Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, N.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A commonly voiced complaint today is that the average person cannot express him- or herself in writing. Lauchman, head of a firm specializing in training professionals to write better, disagrees. The problem, he says, is that writing is often intended to impress others or conceal meaning. He describes the result as counterproductive, irresponsible, and needlessly complex. What Lauchman offers are three dozen guidelines designed to eliminate obfuscating jargon and convoluted constructions. He also dismisses as grammatical "dogma" rigid injunctions against split infinitives and one-sentence paragraphs and offers examples of when such violations may be appropriate. Plain Style is a fine addition to any memo writer's reference shelf. David Rouse

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (October 22, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814478522
• ISBN-13: 978-0814478523
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,899,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rush Style, July 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Plain Style: Techniques for Simple, Concise, Emphatic Business Writing (Paperback)

Sometimes an infinitive can only be split, sometimes a paragraph is just one sentence, and sometimes a sentence has to end with a preposition. PLAIN STYLE business writing breaks the rules when that is what it takes to be what works best for readers and writers: concise, emphatic and simple. The author says that it is always easy to simplify: ape good speaking and think of the reader ready to boil things down, misunderstand and read words, not the dictionary or the writer's mind. Richard Lauchman's entertainingly helpful book works wonders with CLEAR TECHNICAL WRITING by John A. Brogan, TECHNICAL WRITING by William S. Pfeiffer, and THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO GRAMMAR AND STYLE by Laurie Rozakis.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plainly Excellent, March 7, 2008

By 

Glenn Gallagher "scholarly bureaucrat" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Plain Style: Techniques for Simple, Concise, Emphatic Business Writing (Paperback)

Plain Style is an excellent guide to writing more clearly for business. It follows much of the Strunk and White Elements of Style material, and in some ways, duplicates quite a bit of it, but with its own emphasis on business writing, not just all writing. It has great advice such as "In business, readers are ferociously impatient. They expect you to come to the point." Also "If you give the reader a chance to misunderstand you, he will take it.", and "The principal goal of good writing is to convey." Excellent guide.