Manuscript readiness check before sending it
Tips to ask yourself before sending a formal document or your manuscript. Checking on your abbreviations, capitalizations and cliché.
Whether it's a memo, report, letter or proposal, ask yourself these questions before sending out anything:
- What's my purpose?
- Have I clearly said what I'm trying to say?
- Are my thoughts coherent and consistent?
- Is my document "reader-centered" rather than "writer-centered"
- Have I checked spellings, capitalizations, punctuations, abbreviations, etc. I'm not sure of?
- Have I eliminated cliches, buzz words, jargons, etc.?
- Have I varied the length of my sentences and paragraphs so as not to bore my receiver?
- Have I chosen the appropriate and best words I want to convey?
- Are my ideas clear and presented in a logical manner?
- Is my document to the point and short as I can get?
- Have I written in my natural voice while maintaining my respect for the person I'm sending it to?
- Does my closing paragraph encourage enough for the other person to act and respond?
Basic Capitalization Rules
- Capitalize the first word of every sentence.
- Capitalize words derived from proper names: British, American, Australian, Victorian
- Capitalize the proper names of people. places and things: John, Paris, London, White House
- Capitalize the days of the week: Sunday, Monday, Friday.
- Capitalize the names of holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter.
- Capitalize titles of offices when used directly before a name: Prime Minister Thatcher, President Obama, Governor Smith.
- Capitalize "vice" when used in front of a name: Vice President Biden
- Capitalize the names of family members when used with a name: Grandma Moses, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Jane.
- Capitalize common names with place names: Seventh Avenue, Amazon River, Wimpole Road
- Capitalize historical events and ages: Reformation, Second World War
Most Common Abbreviations
- a.m. ante meridiem, before noon
- p.m. post meridiem, after noon
- e.g. exempli gratia, for example or example given
- etc. et cetera, and so forth
- ibid. ibidem, in the same place
- i.e. id est, that is
Clichés to avoid
Words and phrases that listeners and readers may be tired of.
- At the end of the day
- At this moment in time
- like (too much use as if it has become a form of punctuation)
- With all due respect
Other terms include:
- absolutely
- address the issue
- awesome
- ballpark figure
- basically
- bear with me
- bottom line
- I hear what you're saying
- in terms of
- it's not rocket science
- literally
- ongoing prioritize
- pushing the envelope thinking outside the box
We need to be clear in our minds before we can also write clearly.
Note: About the clichés, I'm glad to have found one of the clippings I've kept, sent by a friend. The result came from one of the surveys by the Plain English Campaign. It may be more than six years ago or so, still, relevant today.
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