Writing

English is an accomodating language. Some dictionaries have recorded considerably more than half a million English words. Some authorities believe that there will be more than a million English words when the recently developed technical terms are included. However, one study indicates that most of us accomplish most of our communication with fewer than a thousand words. English allows us to develop new words to express new thoughts. Although English facilitates communication of complex or new thoughts, effective communication is a challenge. Consider the following sentence.

Tom hit a home run.

That sentence is simple and understandable. It is simple and understandable if you are a native English speaker who is acquainted with the game of baseball. Tom hit what? Tom swung a club (baseball bat) that struck a ball that landed outside the outfield boundaries of the baseball playing area. A full explanation of a home run would require several sentences. We understand the simple English sentence because of our background knowledge. Consider the following sentences.

E = MC² appears to be a simple equation, but appearances can be deceiving.
H2O represents the molecular composition of water.

The number (²) that appears in the first sentence is called a superscript. In the first sentence the superscript indicates that the number represented by C is to be squared. In the second sentence the number (2) is a subscript and indicates that water is composed of two molecules of hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen. Readers who are acquainted with chemistry, physics, or mathematics will read the sentences correctly. Other readers may not interpret the sentences correctly. There are many treatises that are understandable only to readers who have training or experience with the subject matter being addressed even though the English expressions may be flawless.

 The US Army developed some wheeled vehicles that could negotiate a 60 percent grade. A 60 percent grade rises at an angle of 27 degrees from horizontal. Two newspaper journalists encountered the information and wrote articles about the vehicles for their readers. Both journalists mistakenly wrote that the vehicles could negotiate a 60 degree slope. No wheeled vehicle to date (circa 2003) can climb a 60 degree slope. Gravity prevails!

Written communication can fail even though we attempt to communicate effectively. Sometimes we do not intend to communicate effectively. Consider the following paragraph from advertising literature for a major credit card.

Finance charge is calculated by multiplying the daily balance of each segment of your account (e.g., cash advance, purchase, special transfer, and special purchase) by the corresponding daily periodic rates(s) that has been previously disclosed to you. At the end of each day during the billing period, we apply the daily periodic rate for each segment of your account to the daily balance of each segment. Then at the end of the billing period, we add up the results of these daily calculations to arrive at your periodic finance charge for each segment. We add up the results from each segment to arrive at the total periodic finance charge for your account.

If you intend to communicate effectively, you must use language your readers or listeners will understand. If you need to use terms that will probably not be understood, you should explain those terms.

There is only one valid test of written English. If your readers easily understand your message exactly as you intended that it be understood, you have communicated effectively.

You can probably make a substantial number of writing errors that will go unnoticed by many readers. Two errors that will not go unnoticed are use of an incorrect pronoun as a sentence subject or failure to keep the number correct, i.e., singular or plural. The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing you are writing about. You may use the personal pronouns I, he, she, we, and they as the subject or part of the subject.

I am going to a movie. (singular subject / singular verb)
She is going to a movie. (singular subject / singular verb)
He is going to a movie. (singular subject / singular verb)
We are going to a movie. (plural subject / plural verb)
They are going to a movie. (plural subject / plural verb)
Linda and I are going to a movie. (compound subject / plural verb)
She and I are going to a movie. (compound subject / plural verb)
Patricia and Arthur are going to a movie in their automobile. (compound subject; plural verb; plural pronoun)

Do not use the words me, us, or them as a subject or part of a subject. There could be an exception to this guidance if the subject is a proper noun, i.e., the name of a particular toy store.

Ask these questions.

1) Does the sentence I am writing definitely have a subject and a verb?
2) Have I chosen the correct verb tense?
3) If I have used a pronoun in the subject, is it the correct type of pronoun, i.e., nominative case?
4) Are the words that can be either singular or plural appropriately matched? Nouns, pronouns, and verbs can be either singular or plural.
5) Have I used appropriate gender designations?

Protect your reputation

1) Use a word only if you know how to spell the word correctly.
2) Use a word only if you know what the word means, i.e., the dictionary definition of the word.

The English language has the word simplify. The word simplify represents an important concept in the advancement of civilization. We gain an understanding of complex problems by breaking down those problems into simple components that we can understand. A mathematician solves a complex mathematical equation by "simplifying" the equation, i.e., reducing the equation to understandable and solvable elements. We do not have the word, complex (ify), in the English vocabulary. Making a problem more complex is counterproductive. Learn to write simple sentences correctly. You will learn to write well. You will communicate effectively.