Chapter 4

Buried verb

A verb that is needlessly converted to a wordy noun expression (for example, give consideration to instead of consider).

Buzzwords

Technical but often empty expressions such as optimize, incentivize, and leveraging that have become fashionable and often are meant to impress rather than express.

Cliché

An expression that has become exhausted by overuse.

Editing

Improving the content and sentence structure of your message.

Evaluating

The process of analyzing whether your message achieves its purpose.

Exuberance

Overly enthusiastic words such as very, definitely, quite, completely, extremely, really, actually, and totally. Used excessively, these words are considered unbusinesslike.

Font

A specific set of print characters (such as italic) within a typeface family (such as Times New Roman).

Justified

A margin style in which lines are flush at both the left and right margins.

Long lead-in

A sentence introduction that contains unnecessary words (for example, This is to inform you that...).

Margins

The white space on the left, right, top, and bottom of a block of type.

Microblogging

Short messages exchanged on social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

Proofreading

Correcting the grammar, spelling punctuation, format, and mechanics of a message.

Ragged right

A margin style in which every line begins at the left margin, with an uneven right margin; also called left-justified.

Redundancies

Expressions that repeat meanings or include unnecessary words (e.g., past history, new innovations).

Sans serif

A typeface that excludes the small features that appear at the ends of strokes in serif typefaces; a clean typeface that is widely used for headings, signs, and material where continuous reading is not required.

Serif

A typeface that has small features at the ends of strokes.

Skim value

Content and format that allow a reader to browse a document quickly and grasp main ideas.

Slang

Informal words with arbitrary and extravagantly changed meanings that quickly go out of fashion.

Trite expression

A stale phrase borrowed from a period when the "language of business" was formal and flowery.

Unnecessary fillers

The expressions there is/are and it is/was that often delay getting to the point of the sentence.

White space

Empty space on a printed page.

Zombie noun

Also called "buried verbs," zombie nouns cannibalize and suck the life out of active verbs (e.g., deliberate becomes deliberation). Such nouns often end in -tion, -ment, and -ance.