Writing That Works

The old rule is simple: Don’t use “like” in any case where “as if” or “as though” would fit comfortably.

The only way some people know you is through your writing. It can be your most frequent point of contact, or your only one, with people important to your career — major customers, senior clients, your own top management. To those women and men, your writing is you. It reveals how your mind works. Is it forceful or fatuous, deft or clumsy, crisp or

yourself whether if you were the reader, would you take action on the basis of what is written.

There are only 266 words in the Gettysburg Address. The shortest sentence in the New Testament may be the most moving: “Jesus wept.”

Yet another advantage of the active voice is that it tends to push you to decide precisely what you want to say, to be more specific.

Take the time to boil down what you want to say, and express it confidently in simple, declarative sentences. Remember the man who apologized for writing such a long letter, explaining that he didn’t have time to write a short one.

The only way some people know you is through your writing. It can be your most frequent point of contact, or your only one, with people important to your career — major customers, senior clients, your own top management. To those women and men, your writing is you. It reveals how your mind works. Is it forceful or fatuous, deft or clumsy, crisp or

If you have distilled your thinking to its essence, you will probably be able to express it in simple words.

Had the copywriter written, “He always acted as if he knew what he was talking about,”