The Language of

Technical Writing
|MODULE 2

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 1.
Practice
Conciseness
CONCISENESS
The quality of being short
 and clear, and expressing
 what needs to be said
without unnecessary words.

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Practicing Conciseness
WHAT
TO DO:

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1. TRIM YOUR “FAT”
• "fat” are the unnecessary words and phrases
that weigh down your text. Remove these
useless parts whenever possible.
Ex.
very, just, type, due to the fact that, actually, at
this moment in time, and so forth. 

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1. TRIM YOUR “FAT”
DON’T SAY SAY

Very slow Sluggish

Very confused Perplexed

“due to the fact” “therefore”

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 2. ELIMINATE REDUNDANCIES
• If you use more than one word, phrase, sentence, or
paragraph to convey the same information without
further clarifying the main point, eliminate all but the
best one.
• Example
He is a man who is very ambitious. > He is very ambitious.

Spain is a country which I have always wanted to visit. >

I have always wanted to visit Spain.

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3. AVOID THE POMP
• Outside of poetry, flowery and eloquent words
are rarely useful when writing clearly and
concisely.
Example:
• Pomp: We made such a grandiloquent verbal exodus from
the gathering that everyone in our immediate proximity
was agog, their mouths fluctuating and trilling in surprise.
• Simple: Our parting comments left everyone at the party
speechless and surprised.

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 2.
Active Voice
VS.
Passive Voice
 When the subject of a sentence performs the
verb’s action, the sentence is in the active voice
Ex. Monkeys adore bananas.
 A sentence is in the passive voice, when the
subject is acted on by the verb.
Ex. Bananas are adored by
monkeys.
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 USE THE
ACTIVE
Generally, try to use the active voice
VOICE
whenever possible. Passive voice sentences
often use more words, can be vague, and
can lead to a tangle of prepositional
phrases.

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 3.
Use Non-Sexist
Language
• Gender-neutral writing
uses language that does not stereotype either sex nor
appear to be referring to only one sex when that is not
the writer’s intention. In this article, you’ll see why
gender-neutral writing is important for technical
writers to use, what gender-neutral writing is not, and
how you can use gender-neutral writing in the
documents you develop.

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 4.
Avoid using words
that explicitly
favor one gender.
 Technical communication’s goal is to convey
information to an audience, in a form that the
audience can understand and use. We should
avoid, if possible, anything that interferes with
clear communication.
If part of our audience is insulted (or offended,
irritated, confused, or misled) or stumbles over the way
we express ourselves, that reaction will interfere with
the reception and understanding of our message.

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WHAT
NOT TO
DO:
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 Do not use “he” as a generic pronoun; use it only to refer to men and
boys.
 Do not use “she” as a generic pronoun; use it only to refer to women and
girls.
 Do not use “they” as a singular pronoun unless you are confident that
your audience won’t mind. This usage is gaining in popularity and
acceptance, but a lot of people dislike it or stumble over it.
 Avoid phrases such as “he or she” and “he/she” or made-up words like
“s/he.”
 Do not use a feminized noun (e.g., manageress) when the normal noun
(manager) covers both sexes.

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DO NOT SAY SAY
 Chairman  Chairperson
 Spokesman  Spokesperson
 Fireman  Firefighter
 Flight  Flight Attendant/Cabin
Steward/Stewardess Crew
 Policeman  Police Officer
 Mankind  Humanity

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WHAT
TO DO:

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1. Bypass the  Imperative mood (Do
this.).
problem of gender  Second person (you)
instead of third
whenever possible. person (he, the
user).
You can use:  First person plural
(we), as used, for
example, in parts of
this article.
 
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2. Use plural
nouns and plural
pronouns
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3. Avoid pronouns
completely when
you can.
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4.Rewrite the
sentence or
passage.
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 5.
Avoid using jargons,
gobbledygook
horse-and-buggy or
verbal dead words.
 Jargon is unnecessarily complicated
language used to impress, rather than
to inform, your audience.
 These expressions are long,
pretentious and high-sounding; words
that have no significant or necessary
place in the sentence.

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Don’t say Say
riverine avifauna river birds
involuntarily undomiciled homeless
The patient is being given positive-
The patient is on a respirator.
pressure ventilatory support.

Most refractory coatings to date exhibit a

lack of reliability when subject to the
The exhaust gas eventually damages the
impingement of entrained particulate
coating of most existing ceramics.
matter in the propellant stream under
extended firing durations.

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 References:
https://techwhirl.com/gender-neutral-technical-writing/
https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/words/avoid-jargon/
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/conciseness
https://www.scribendi.com/academy/articles/write_concisely.en.html
https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/style/ccs_activevoice/?fbclid=IwAR2fQTtsh
vE80jTkPoIX8_xSgnr7FF078x22lLSZw3iE0k4xrtKuNVnn3TE
The Elements of Style, 2011

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THANK
YOU!
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