Sometimes, people use jargon to compensate for their own insecurity. They think that using big words makes them look like a big shot. But truly high-status people don’t have anything to prove – they just want to make themselves clear.

The content of your writing is the words you put on the page. But just as important is the context in which those words are read – who the reader is, what they know, how they feel and what’s going on for them at the time

you can write a user story. This is a brief sentence, written from the reader’s own perspective, that sums up what they want and need. It takes the form: When [A], I need to [B] so I can [C]. Where A is the reader’s situation, B is the task they need to do, and C is the goal they want to achieve.

Some words express the possibility that something might happen – for example, verbs like ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘may’, ‘might’ and ‘should’, or phrases like ‘has the potential to’. When you use these words, you’re suggesting that something else might be needed as well, but you’re not saying what it is.

If you’re telling the reader something new, put it towards the end of the sentence. For example: While standard chargers take two or three hours to charge a phone, the new type can do the same job in 20 minutes.

The reader’s emotions matter because they affect how they receive your message. If they feel anxious, or angry, or frustrated while reading, it will be harder for them to process your message and take it on board.[152]

everyone benefits from a second opinion on their work, no matter how clever they are. If people seem to be very clear when writing or talking about their ideas, it’s often because they’ve done a lot of thinking before that point, giving them a mental ‘library’ of words and phrases they can draw on.

When the bricks are well made, the wall will be strong.

A nominalisation is a thing made out of an event or action (in grammar terms, a noun formed from a verb). For example, ‘consideration’ instead of ‘consider’, or ‘assessment’ instead of ‘assess’.