Part 2

Question 1

Positive Emphasis

Answer 1

Positive Emphasis means focusing on the positive rather than the negative aspects of a situation.

You can create positive emphasis by deemphasizing negative information.

Question 2

How to create Positive Emphasis

Answer 2

1. Avoid negative words and words with negative connotations.
2. Focus on what the reader can do rather than on limitations.
3. Justify negative information by giving a reason or linking it to a reader’s benefit.
4. If the negative is truly unimportant, omit it.
5. Put the negative information in the middle and present it compactly.

Question 3

You-attitude

Answer 3

You-attitude is a concrete way to show empathy and the foundation of persuasion.

Question 4

How to create You-Attitude

Answer 4

1. Talk about the reader, not about yourself.
2. Refer to the reader’s request or order specifically.
3. Don’t talk about feelings, except to congratulate or offer sympathy.
4. In positive situations, use you more often than I. Use we when it includes the reader.
5. Avoid you in negative situations.

Question 5

Memos and Letters

Answer 5

Memos go to other people in your organization.

Letters go to people outside your organization.

Question 6

Block and Modified Block

Answer 6

Block format is the format most frequently used for business letters; readers expect it; it can be typed quickly because everything is lined up at the left margin.

Modified block format creates a visually attractive page by moving the date and signature block over into what would otherwise be empty white space. Modified block is a traditional format; readers are comfortable with it.

Question 7

Planning

Answer 7

• Analyzing the problem, defining your purposes, and analyzing the audience; thinking of information, benefits, and objections; choosing a pattern of organization or making
  an outline; and so on.
• Gathering the information you need—from the message you’re answering, a person, a book, or the web.

Question 8

High context

Answer 8

In high-context cultures, most of the information is inferred from the context of a message; little is “spelled out.”

Question 9

Low context

Answer 9

In low-context cultures, context is less important; most information is explicitly spelled out.

Question 10

Polychronic culture

Answer 10

Polychronic cultures
emphasize relationships.

Question 11

Monochronic culture

Answer 11

Monochronic cultures
treat time as a resource.

Question 12

Reader benefits

Answer 12

Reader benefits are benefits or advantages that the reader gets by
* Using your services.
* Buying your products.
* Following your policies.
* Adopting your ideas.

Question 13

Purposes of Writing

Answer 13

1. To Inform
2. To Pursue
3. to Build good-will

Question 14

PAIBOC

Answer 14

P: What are your purposes in
writing or speaking?

A: Who is (are) your
audience(s)? How do
members of your audience
differ? What characteristics
are relevant to this particular
message?

I: What information must your
message include?

B: What reasons or reader
benefits can you use to
support your position?

O: What objection(s) can
you expect your reader(s)
to have? What negative
elements of your message
must you deemphasize or
overcome?

C: How will the context affect
reader response? Think
about your relationship to
the reader, morale in the
organization, the economy,
the time of year, and any
special circumstances.