Tone And Style

• Style signifies mechanical and technical

aspects of writing specific to the subject or
topic
• Tone means attitude conveyed through writing
whether it is
Formal/ Informal
Subjective/ Objective
 Technical Writing
Technical writing:
• is a specific form of writing
• is written with an objective- give direction,
instruction or explanation
• is meant for target readership
• Tone and style varies according to genres(types)
of writing; eg. An email and a lab report differs
• Tone and style in Technical Writing must be edited
and revised before final submission
 How to make technical Writing Better?
Step 1
Revision must be done for Conciseness
• A Concise sentence is a short, direct statement.
• Each Concise sentence conveys only a single thought or
information
• Eg. “The deadline of this project has been extended up to
next month”.( Concise) ( Correct)
• “The deadline of this project has been extended up to next
month along with the postponement of shipping goods and
curtailing the retirement benefits of the company”. ( Not
concise but confusing)( Incorrect)
 What to Avoid?
• Avoid using Redundant( repetitive phrases)
• Eg. each and every ( and every is repetitive)
• end result ( result itself means that which
comes at the end)
• Absolutely essential ( essential means
absolute)
• Completely eliminate ( eliminate means
complete)
 TASK TO BE DONE BY STUDENTS
• Select the concise words from the following
list of redundant words:
1) Enter into
2) Fellow teammate
3) Final conclusion
4) Cancel out
5) The month of May
What to Avoid in Technical Writing
• Avoid words like basically, stuffs, sorts, kind of
things etc.
• Avoid Wordy Phrases and replace it with a
single word
• Eg. Make an adjustment- adjust
• Make a decision- decide
• Provide assistance- assist
 Task for Students
• Write a single word against the phrases below:
1) A large number of
2) In the present time
3) Due to the fact that
4) In order to
5) In the near future
 Making Concise sentences
Some Examples
• 1) Keep this information on file for future
reference. ( Not concise)
Ans: File this information.( Concise)
2) Ideally, it would be best to place the billing ticket
just below the monitor and above the keyboard.
( Not concise)
Ans: Place the billing ticket between the monitor and
the keyboard. ( Concise)
3. The police conducted an investigation into the
matter.
 Task for students
• Convert the following into concise sentences:
• 1) We need to act on the suggestions that the
supervisors offer us.
• 2) Due to the fact that we reduced the weight
of the AEV, we used less energy.
• 3) There is a danger of poor communication
causing a bad outcome in the team project.
II. Revising for Clarity in a Sentence
• A sentence should convey exact meaning. It
must not be ambiguous ( confusing)
• Eg. No managers are not required to submit
their reports.( Not clear)
• Managers are all not required to submit their
reports( Not clear)
• Ans- All managers are not required to submit
their reports.( Clear)
 Avoid Ambiguous Pronouns
• Eg. Jack hates his assistant because he is
competitive.( who is competitive? Jack or his
assistant?)
• Ans- i) Jack is competitive, and that is why, he
dislikes his assistant.
• ii) Jack hates his assistant because the
latter( assistant) is competitive.
 Avoid Telegraphic Writing
• Eg. The reactor operator told the management
several times he expected accident.

• Ans- The reactor operator had told the

management several times that he expected
an accident.
 Avoid Ambiguous Modifiers
• Eg. Only press the red button in case of
emergency.( keep pressing the red button?)
• Press only the red button in case of
emergency.( there are other coloured buttons
too?)
• Ans- Press the red button in case of
emergency only.( specific purpose is given)
When to use Active/Passive Voice?
• Eg. You have not paid the bills.
• Ans- The bills have not been paid.

• Identity of a person should be Revealed

• Eg. It was decided to hire him.
• Ans- Our company CEO decided to hire Mr. X.
Avoid sentences starting with ‘ there’ and ‘if’
Eg. There is a need for further study of this
program.
Ans- This program needs further study.
Eg. If teams cooperate, the project will be
successful.
Ans- The project will be successful if teams
cooperate with each other.
Avoid Redundancy
Eg. During that period of time, the membrane
area became pink in color and shiny in
appearance.
Ans- During that time, the membrane became
pink and shiny.
 Check for Coherence
• Coherence means:
i) Ideas should flow from one sentence to the
next
ii) Each meaningful sentence includes both old
and new information
iii) Start with a topic sentence and elaborate on
it
iv) Place key word at the end of a sentence
• When a piece of writing jumps from idea to
idea with no clear transitions or consistency, it
lacks coherence and can be hard to
understand.

• The work of writing is simply this: untangling

the dependencies among the parts of a topic
and presenting those parts in a logical stream
that enables the reader to understand you.
 Example
• The Pythagorean Theorem states that the sum of the
squares of both legs of a right triangle is equal to the
square of the hypotenuse. The perimeter of a triangle
is equal to the sum of the three sides. You can use the
Pythagorean Theorem to measure diagonal distances.
For example, if you know the length and width of a
ping-pong table, you can use the Pythagorean
Theorem to determine the diagonal distance. To
calculate the perimeter of the ping-pong table, sum
the length and the width, and then multiply that sum
by 2.
 Avoiding vagueness
• E.g. Trust is a vital aspect in a business
relationship.
• In a business relationship trust is a vital
element.( trust is the keyword in this sentence –
Option two has the right emphasis)

Avoid ‘it’ opener in a sentence

- It was his bad attitude that got him fired.
Ans- He was fired for his bad attitude.
 Things to be Deleted in a Sentence

• Delete unwanted prefaces( opening):

Eg. I am writing this letter because I wish to
apply for the post of an editor.( This is a bad
opening)
Delete weak verbs: eg. Please take into
consideration my case.
Ans- Please consider my case.
• Delete ‘to be’ constructions
- This product seems to be superior.
Ans- This product is superior.
Delete too many prepositions in a sentence
Delete needless qualifiers:
- It seems that I have made an error.
Ans- I have made an error.
 Make negative sentences into positive
- Although James has graduated from excellent
management school and is highly resourceful
and he has no experience.( Negative)
- Although James has no experience, he has
graduated from excellent management school
and is highly resourceful.( Positive)
 Tone
• Formal Tone is used for formal writing( official,
business, academic writing)
• Informal tone is meant informal writing( writing to
friend or relatives)
• Use familiar words ( do not use bombastic words)
• Avoid jargons( cool headed, dumb)
• Avoid racist references( negro, red Indian etc.)
• Gender references must be avoided in general- eg.
Use ‘ Chairperson’ instead of ‘Chairman’, Use ‘Actor’
instead of ‘Actress’etc.