Things-to-remember for effective communication (Part 2)

Avoid excessive use of the infinitive. The use of infinitive (to verb-to give, to learn) tends to make the style impersonal and formal.

Action in the infinitive (impersonal, indirect)	Action in the verb (direct)
It is the duty of the cashier to disburse salaries	The cashier disburses salaries.
It is my job to supervise...	I supervise...

Avoid jargon. Jargon creates difficulties in understanding, and it makes the style formal and stiff, so better avoid jargon. In the business field, jargon consists of the use of words like ‘instant’, ‘ultimo’, ‘as per’, ‘we beg to’, ‘and oblige’, ‘same’, etc.

Formal and stiff	Simple and preferable
This is to acknowledge...	Thank you for your...
We will contact you at an early date.	We shall write to you soon.
Attached hereto; attached herewith; enclosed herewith; enclosed please find.	Attached..., or enclosed...
Would you be good enough...	Would you please...
Contents noted.	(This phrase should not be used.)
Your letter of even date...	Your letter of 23rd July...
We hand you our latest quotation, enclosed herein.	Enclosed is our latest quotation.
Your letter of the 26th to hand.	Thank you for your letter of the 26th.
Beg to say, beg to inform	Avoid 'beg'.
Instant, inst.(of the same month); ult., ultimo (of the previous month); prox., proximo (of the next month)	Write the month.
Under (by) separate cover	Either avoid this phrase or say, separately...
We regret to...	(Be positive.)
We shall advise you	We shall let you know
As per; in accordance with	According to
And oblige	Avoid it, or say, thank you.

Avoid ambiguity. If your message can mean more than one thing, it is ambiguous. Ambiguity is very often caused by

1. A careless use of personal pronouns:
Rajiv told Ramesh that he was not being considered for promotion. In this sentence, it is impossible to understand whether it was Rajiv or Ramesh who was not being considered for promotion.

2. Indecisive placing of adverbs. One of such adverbs capable of causing trouble is ‘only.’ Look at the following sentences.
Only the report has been checked by the Manager. (only the report and nothing else)
The report has only been checked by the Manager. (has only been checked and no further action has been taken)
The report has been checked by the Manager only. (by only the Manager and no one else)
A bookseller received the following letter:
“Please send me urgently two copies of Business English and Indian Economy.”
The letter is ambiguous. The bookseller had to enquire whether the customer required two copies of each book or two books in all.

3. Faulty punctuation.
On a busy road, which was under repair, the following sign appeared: “GO. SLOW WORK IN PROGRESS”.
The instruction should have been “GO SLOW. WORK IN PROGRESS”.
“The marketing manager”, said the Chairman, “is a fool”.
Now, look at a different placing of inverted commas and the difference in meaning it makes: The marketing manager said, “The Chairman is a fool”.

4. Sometimes words have two or more areas of meaning. Ambiguity is caused if these areas are confused. A very interesting example of this kind of ambiguity is provided by the following slogan:
We dispense with care.
The word ‘dispense’ has two areas of meaning.
Dispense: to prepare medicines.
Dispense with: to get rid of, to dismiss.
The above slogan was actually used by a chemist, who wanted to claim that at his shop, medicines were prepared carefully. But, he only succeeded in saying that at his shop they had no use for being careful.

Use short sentences. Whether your communication is oral or written, use very short sentences. Long sentences tend to be complex and demand greater concentration. And nobody has time or patience for long sentences. As a rule, if a sentence runs beyond thirty words, it is better to break it up into two sentences.