Written Communications Flashcards
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________ means your business document is not just technically well written but it accomplishes what you want it to accomplish and achieves its goals.
impactful
A __ revenue-to-cost ratio is a good ___ for your marketing materials.
5x roi
Two of the characteristics of impactful writing are that it is _____ and ________ appropriate.
clear contextually
Impactful communication isn’t about you it’s about your _____.
reader
Shift your ______ from yourself to your reader.
focus
______ writing means changing the focus from what you want to say to what your _______ needs to know.
impactful audience
What your writing ________ to do, is irrelevant in writing.
intended
The reader’s ________ is their reality.
perception
No amount of after the fact explaining will ever change an audience’s _____ _______ about a written document, especially if it was negative.
first impression
The _________ _________ ______ is a concept that suggest that we tend to assign deliberate intent to others actions but consider extenuating circumstances when considering our own.
fundamental attribution error
The fundamental attribution error is a ________ _____.
perception error
You must begin from the readers _________ every time you write; this must precede the mechanics and logistics of your writing.
perspective
Don’t write what you _____ to say, write what your reader _______ to know.
want needs
Your ________ should have nothing to do with your writing approach.
personality
___________ is a middle ground between friendliness and no-nonsense.
professionalism
The _______ mirrors the expansion of the language.
dictionary
Language can change when the meaning of a word changes or ___________ based on usage.
expands
Language can change when brand new words become ____________.
accepted
Language can change when _________ or __________ words get pushed out of the lexicon.
older unused
__________ is the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge.
lexicon
Language ________ as a reflection of and as reflected by our culture.
changes
Language and culture ______ each other.
reflect
It’s important to have a ______ of how people are using language in today’s culture because that has implications for how they ______ language to be used.
grasp expect
________ are words that are combined into one word. For ex., solopreneur or glamping.
mashups
Mashups are a direct reflection of the relationship between language and _______.
culture
There is a _______ _______ we have to walk between using language that doesn’t damage a professional relationship but also gets to the point a little more quickly than some of us may want it to do when writing for professional context.
delicate balance
When we communicate we generally have a _______, a _____, or an _______; especially when we communicate in a professional context.
purpose goal intention
Every word has two levels of _______. Its denotation and its connotation.
meaning
________ is the dictionary definition of a word.
denotation
_________ is the implied and inferred definition of a word based on how we’re using it. For ex., words like grass or lift will have different definitions to different people at different times.
connotation
Connotative meaning is not _______ in a word.
inherent
The words you choose when you communicate should be:
correct, concrete, clear, contextually appropriate
We sometimes use a word that sounds like the word we mean but isn’t; this is known as _________.
malapropism
__________ is using two words that sound ______ but mean different things.
Malapropism alike
One of the implications of using the ______ word is how the reader then perceives you.
wrong
In written communication you are your ______. Readers (potential employers and/or clients) view your words as an _______ of you.
words extension
Choosing the correct word also means thinking about where it must be ______ to communicate the intended meaning.
placed
Even the correct word, incorrectly placed can create a different meaning or a ______________; For ex., My favorite new TV show is The Walking Dead. My new favorite TV show is The Walking Dead.
miscommunication
Research has found that readers tend to find writers who make mistakes (even in short documents like email) less __________, less ________ and less ________.
conscientious intelligent trustworthy
When we use a ________ word we’re choosing one with less possible variance in the connotative meaning. For ex., “I need you to do this better.” What does better mean?
concrete
In business writing forget the _______ and say exactly what you mean; get to the point quickly but _________.
flourish effectively
Pay attention to unnecessary _________ and avoid using two or more ______ words.
repetition similar
_________ is often a sign or result of a lack of confidence in ones writing.
redundancy
Readers view the authors of redundant writing as less _______, less _______, and _______.
intelligent effective annoying
Said another way, “In other words”, or “I guess what I mean to say is”, are all _______ of redundancy.
signs
_______ usually has very little purpose and is in fact rather empty.
jargon
Phrases like deep dive, toe the line, streamlined, think outside the box, leading or bleeding edge are phrases and words that get _______ so much that the _________ of their meanings gets lost.
overused specificity
________ _________ means when you write you should place yourself in the context in which your message will be read not the context in which it is written.
contextually appropriate
Because we each participate in numerous ________ within a given day its incumbent upon us to be selective about choosing contextually appropriate language numerous times every single day.
subcultures
______________ word choice can be innocuous when communicating with a friend but can have negative consequences in the professional realm.
imprecise
Sometimes failing to consider the ________ can lead us to choosing a word that is correct in meaning but wrong for the ________.
context context
When thinking about whether to use a comma you need to think about the ________ elements of the sentence.
essential
If a word or phrase is essential to the sentence do NOT use _______ around it.
commas
The ________ of commas indicates that everything in the sentence is critical to its meaning.
absence
If a word or phrase is ____ ______ and simply adds detail DO set it off with commas. For ex., Judith’s favorite movies, Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, both star Humphrey Bogart.
not essential
Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, is his best one. This is an _______ use of commas because you need to know his best play; its essential to the meaning of the sentence.
incorrect
That and which are not __________.
interchangeable
If the phrase is integral to the sentence thus you’re not setting it off with commas use “_____”.
that
If the phrase is NOT integral to the sentence thus you’re setting it off with commas use “_____”.
which
Use a comma between two _________ clauses joined by coordinating or correlative __________.
independent conjunctions
An __________ _______ is a group of words that could stand on its own as a sentence.
independent clause
When two independent clauses are joined by a conjunction such as; and, but, or, neither, or nor, then you want to use a comma _______ the conjunction.
before
When an independent clause (a complete sentence) is preceded by a fairly long ________ ______ you separate those with a comma.
dependent clause
Its called a dependent clause because it ________ on the other one to form a complete sentence.
depends
If the dependent clause is at least as ____ as or ______ than the independent clause you’re probably safe to choose the comma.
long longer
Separate two ________ that modify the same _____ with a comma if the word “and” can be used between them without altering the meaning. For ex., I’m lucky to have a supportive, easygoing boss.; It would make just as much sense to say “My boss is supportive and easygoing.” So yes the example sentence should have a comma.
adjectives noun
Do not use a comma between _________ adjectives. For ex., My dad still has his old leather glove from high school.
cumulative
A cumulative adjective is two adjectives where the first adjective ________ the following adjective or the ______ of it and the noun that follows them.
describes idea
The ________ comma or serial comma is used when you have items in a series and you use a comma before the “and”.
Oxford
The argument for using the serial comma is that it adds ______. For ex., I’d like to thank my parents, Theresa and Tad. The meaning of the sentence changes if you add a comma after Theresa.
clarity
Use a _______ to separate two independent clauses NOT separated by a conjunction.
semicolon
If you do ___ have two independent clauses you may ___ use a semicolon!
not not
A semicolon must be ________ and ________ by an independent clause!
preceded followed
When you have items in a _______, and one or more of those items contains a comma, you must use a semicolon to separate the items in the _______. For ex., This course will cover ethical paradigms, including utilitarianism and moral relativism; communication theories; and leadership approaches. This punctuation tells the reader that the phrase “including utilitarianism and moral relativism” is NOT one of the major items in the ______ of what the course will cover but rather relates directly to “ethical paradigms”.
series series series
There is often more than one correct option for ______ punctuation.
proper
_________ ______ should be used to directly quote a person or an excerpt from some written material such as a book, song, report, etc.
quotation marks
Quotation marks should be around the titles of _____ _____ such as titles of book chapters, titles of articles within magazines, titles of poems within books of poetry, etc.
minor works
Quotation marks can be used to indicate ________ from a potentially questionable or offensive phrase. For ex., If you wanted to make reference to Hitler’s “final solution” you’d likely want to use quotation marks to indicate that you find it untoward.
distance
Commas always go _____ the closed quotes.
inside
Ex., Jackson has made the assertion that “all lead supervisors should receive a raise,” but I don’t agree with him. There is no comma _____ “that” because when introducing a quotation you do NOT use a comma if you use the word “that”. You DO use a comma if you don’t use the word “that”.
after
The word “that” makes the introduction to the quote and the quote itself a _________ sentence.
seamless
_______ quotation marks should only be used when you’re providing a quotation within a quotation.
single
_______ should always go inside the closed quote marks.
periods
The rule for semicolons when it comes to quotation marks is the _________ from the rule for commas and periods.
opposite
Semicolons go ______ the closed quotes.
outside
When it comes to asking where exclamation points and question marks go in regards to quotation marks, it depends. The consideration is completely ______. It simply depends on which part of the sentence is excited or interrogative. Is it the overall sentence or is it the quoted material?
logical
An ________ clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question like meanings.
interrogative
Unnecessary quotation marks are known formally as _____ quotes; people seem to misuse them when they want to emphasize something.
scare
Instead of using scare quotes, if you want to use a word or phrase you should use _____ not quotation marks.
italics
Its recommended that you _____ or be judicious with italics.
avoid
If you choose a _____ word in the first place you shouldn’t need to italicize the word at all.
strong
Major works such as books, plays, magazines, poetry volumes, paintings, sculptures, and entire albums should be ______.
italicized
You should italicize ___________ words or terms that have not yet been adopted as common english expressions.
foreign
__________ foreign words like sushi and croissant are not italicized.
conversational
Foreign words ___________ as words are italicized. For ex., “Foreign words that have been adopted into English include sushi and croissant.”
introduced
The hyphen is the ______ of the dashes.
shortest
Use a hyphen to divide a word with more than one syllable when it falls at the end of a __________ line.
typewritten
Hyphens are used with words that have _______ that are separate from their ____ words such as ex-husband or anti-semitic.
prefixes root
As language changes many words that used to be _________ have become accepted as one word. For ex., co-worker and un-sportsmanlike are now coworker and unsportsmanlike.
hyphenated
The most common misuse of the hyphen is its _______ in compound modifiers.
absence
A _________ modifier is when two adjectives work together to modify (describe) the noun that follows them. For ex., Ten-page report
compound
If not written correctly compound modifiers can create _______. For ex., the difference between an “old bookstore” (an old store that sells books) and an “old-book store” (a store that sells old books).
confusion
Ex., Geospatial planning is a time- and labor-intensive task. This is sometimes called a ______ compound modifier; without a hyphen “time” would look like a standalone noun and cause confusion; therefore placing a hyphen after the first and second parts of the compound modifier correctly indicates that the task is both time intensive and labor intensive.
split
En dash is ______ than the hyphen.
longer
The __ ____ is not used very often but used primarily to separate numbers in date ranges.
en dash
Do not use the en dash to ______ the word “__” or “___” in a sentence. For ex., World War II took place from 1939 to 1945. or The event had between 100 and 200 attendees.
replace to and
If you’ve written out the words “from” or “between” you should write out “to” or “and”. This is an example of ________.
parallelism
Em dash is the ______ dash.
longest
The __ ____ is used to indicate an interruption in thought or speech.
em dash
Most people mistakenly use a ______ rather than an em dash.
hyphen
Em dashes function similarly to commas around __________ clauses. For ex., Because Lee has opened his third new business—his first two were massive successes—he has a stable financial future.
nonessential
You may also use an em dash to set off or emphasize an _______ at the end of a sentence but in that case use only one. For ex., Lee has opened his third new business—his first two were massive successes.
insertion
An em dash gives you the _____ emphasis; semicolons give you less (or middle of the road) emphasis; and a parenthesis gives you the least amount of emphasis in a sentence, making it seem almost like an _______.
most afterthought
Family nouns and job titles should only be ________ when you’re using them as the name or part of the name. For ex., For many years, Father worked alongside the chief executive officer as well as President Rankin.
capitalized
___________ has nothing to do with respect or importance, its just about whether or not its being used as part of the persons name.
capitalization
Always capitalize _____ _____ (not general) of academic courses.
specific names
Don’t capitalize the names of ______.
seasons
______ capitalize directions when referring to a part of the country. “For ex., Head south to get to the South.
only
Subject-verb agreement means if you have one subject you must have a ______ verb; if you have two or more subjects you must have a _____ verb.
singular plural
A ______ is a word that takes the place of a noun; like he, she, it, this.
pronoun
__________ are the nouns to which pronouns refer; _________ can either precede or follow the pronoun. For ex., Kate said she would take the books back to the library. - she is the pronoun and Kate is the _________
antecedents antecedents antecedent
Just like subjects and verbs, pronouns and their antecedents must also _____ in number. For ex., If anyone wants to get ahead in business, they have to build strong networking skills.- is wrong; If you want to get ahead in business, you have to build strong networking skills.- is correct
agree
An ________ pronoun is a pronoun that refers to non-specific beings, objects, or places. For ex., anything, something, each, anyone, and everyone.
indefinite
Indefinite pronouns are usually ______.
singular
In most cases and writing its safer to only use they as a ______ pronoun.
plural
Be sure your antecedent reference is always _____.
clear
A _______ _______ is a noun phrase with two or more terms joined by “and”; when joined by “and” that _______ _______ can be thought of as plural and a plural pronoun is required. For ex., Rita and Joe sent their proposal to me yesterday.- is correct
compound antecedent compound antecedent
Its usually pretty clear how to make compound antecedents agree with their pronouns because the “____” between them makes it obvious.
and
Antecedents using ________ conjunctions usually trip people up.
disjunctive
Disjunctive conjunctions are the words “__” or “___”.
or nor
When an antecedent uses a __________ ___________ the pronoun must agree with the noun its closest to. For ex., Either Scott or Martin will leave his key for you.- is correct; “his” agrees in both number and gender with both of the nouns in the ______________ ___________.
disjunctive conjunction disjunctive antecedent
Pronoun _____ refers to the pronouns function in the sentence.
case
There are 3 types of pronoun case:
possessive, subjective, objective
________-case pronouns indicate ownership or possession. For ex., His paperback. Her motorcycle. Our corporation.
possessive
Two possessive pronouns people struggle with are
their and its
_________ are words that sound the same but mean different things.
homonyms
“There” is a _____, and “they’re” is short for “they are”.
place
“Its” is a possessive pronoun and “it” is a ______ like his, hers, and ours.
pronoun
__________ are used to make words possessive not plural!
apostrophes
To make a singular word possessive you ___ apostrophe “s”; this rule is true even when the singular word ends in “S”. For ex., James’s guitar is out of tune.- is correct
add
The fact that a name ends in “_” has nothing to do with how to make it _____________.
s possessive
The exception to the apostrophe rule is ________ names that end in “S”. For ex., General Motors’ factories - is correct
corporate
To make a plural word possessive make the word plural ____, then possessive; For ex., I will visit all my coworkers’ offices.- is correct; the word coworker is made plural simply by adding “S”, then add an apostrophe after the “S”.
first
Usually in English when a word ends in “S” we make it plural by adding “__”.
es
For ________ plural nouns like child→children; man→men, etc., that do not end in “S” add an apostrophe “S”.
irregular
When you don’t have a plural noun but have two or more separate nouns, if the two subjects possess the same object together consider them ____ ____ and place an apostrophe “s” at the end of that ____; For ex., Bob and Sally’s business.
one unit unit
_________-case pronouns indicate that the pronoun is the subject of the sentence and is typically the person or thing doing the action; it comes _____ the verb (at least in statements, though not in questions).
subjective before
