I’ve never been a big fan of acronyms. At times they seem like a secret language, one known only to those in the inner circle of a given industry. They can be dangerous – seemingly commonplace to you, completely meaningless to others.

For example, in looking for some marketing tips the other day, I searched a few sites and came up stumped by a number of acronyms that were all Greek to me. Tip – if you’re using your website to showcase your services, don’t use a bunch of acronyms to describe the services you provide. You’re talking over your potential customers’ heads and losing their interest in a hurry.

So when are acronyms useful? Even I’ll admit they come in handy in our busy, fast-paced world. In business emails, if they’re frequently used enough, and understood by your colleagues and clients, even I’ll admit – they are time saving.

Here’s a list of 10 that I like. You might like them, too.

• EOD – End of day
• EOW – End of week
• LMK – Let me know
• IMO – In my opinion
• BTW – By the way
• FYI – For your information
• IDK – I don’t know
• TYT – Take your time
• PRB – Please reply by
• NRN – No reply necessary (Perfect for when you’re trying to stop that train!)

I’d like to take this opportunity to write a little bit about preambles. While it’s important to add that they do nothing more than pad one’s writing with excess wording, it’s equally important to note that they’re completely unnecessary. In addition …

Enough preambles for you? Me too.

Preambles came up during a Clear Writing seminar I was facilitating last week. We listed some of the most common ones:

• I would like to take this opportunity …
• It’s important to add that …
• It is interesting to note that …

A preamble, when used well, is an introductory statement that outlines a document’s purpose. It’s a way to set the stage for what’s to come. But when used poorly, it’s a meaningless phrase attached to the “meat and potatoes” of a sentence.  It does nothing but add excess and fluff to your writing.

For example, instead of writing, “I would like to take this opportunity to extend to you a hearty congratulations”, you could simply write, “Congratulations!”  In just one word, you could convey exactly the same message as you might with 14 words.

In school, we’re taught to pad our essays with transitional phrases. My children have even come home with lists of the phrases they should try to include at every opportunity. Unfortunately, they’re nothing more than preambles.

In the business world, we can live without them. If you have an important message, just write it – simply, concisely, and without excess wording. Save yourself time; save your reader time.

I had just finished presenting a Clear Writing seminar to a group of colleagues from a procurement company. One of the participants told me that she loved the Clear Writing approach to business communication. She wished everyone would write with simplicity and clarity in mind, but said it’s the youngest employees who seem to have the most difficulty with the concept.

I’d heard this before. There’s a simple reason for it, too.

In English class, we’re taught to write a proper essay. A standard approach and format is suggested. And typically, we’re required to write a minimum of 250 words. Or 500 words. Or maybe even 1000 words.

So what happens when we’re writing that 500-word essay and run out of things to say at the 380-word mark? We fill the essay with fluff, padding it with extra wording, duplication and excess. After all, if we don’t reach the 500-word minimum, marks will be deducted.

As a high school student and then a university English major, I remember this situation well. When I entered the business world, I still believed that quantity equalled quality. I still believed that I needed to use large words to sound professional. And I still believed I had to write more to impress.

Wouldn’t it be great to turn English 101 on its head? Instead of writing a minimum of 500 words, students would be challenged to prove their point in 500 words or less. 250 words or less. Or, for the greatest challenge of all – 50 words or less!

And as a teacher, if a student could convince me in 5 words or less … there’d be an A+ on that paper.

It’s no surprise that English is a difficult language to learn, and even more difficult to perfect! With the many rules and multiple exceptions, it’s no wonder we occasionally get a little confused.

Just like excess and difficult wording, misused words can create confusion for your reader. Below are some of the most commonly confused words. I’ve used them in their most common ways to keep things simple and clear!

affect & effect

The verb affect means to produce an effect or change.

Ex. Sunshine will affect the growth rate of many plants.

The noun effect means a result or consequence.

Ex. The student’s poor attendance had a negative effect on his grades.

insure & ensure

The word insure means to guarantee against loss or harm.

Ex. I will make monthly payments when I insure my car.

The word ensure means to guarantee or make certain.

Ex. The office will ensure that each donor receives a tax receipt.

its & it’s

The word its is the possessive form of it.

Ex. The dog chewed its leash.

The word it’s is the contraction of it is.

Ex. It’s a beautiful day!

complementary & complimentary

The word complementary refers to things or people that go well together.

Ex. Blue and yellow are complementary colours.

The word complimentary refers to things that are free (like a bonus gift) or giving someone a compliment.

Ex. Attend the seminar and receive a complimentary breakfast.

Of course, there are many more pairs of commonly confused words in the English language. I’ve listed the ones I notice most often, and I’m sure you have your own list. Feel free to send me your examples at anytime! apitts@clearworkscom.com

You have an important message. It simply has to get through to everyone.  So, what’s the best way to reach your entire audience?

Answer: Clear Writing!

We have some surprising news for you …

• Did you know that nearly half of all Canadians have some difficulty with reading and writing?¹
• Did you know they can only deal with material that is simple and clearly laid out?²

Many even have difficulty locating a single piece of information in a short text that’s free of distracting information.

Yes, nearly half of our population is struggling. And the other half? You can bet they’re too busy to read large amounts of text to gain small amounts of information.

In other words, if your message is lengthy or complex, you’ve just lost your entire audience. Consider Clear Writing and you’ll reach every reader!

^1,2 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), Statistics Canada, 2013

Not only do acronyms cause confusion, but they can also cause embarrassment! Take my son, for example. He has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). I believe it’s a gift and that one day he’ll open it. But for now, it causes frustration and sometimes embarrassment.

When he started Grade 4, he was struggling to get his work completed during class time. For eight days straight, his teacher kept him in during recess to finish it. On Day 8, he complained to me. Right – there’s nothing worse than keeping a child with ADD in the classroom during recess!

I told him that I had a meeting with the teacher the following week, and that he needed to do a little advocating for himself.

I said, “Tell her that you have ADD. She’ll understand.”

He came home from school the next day, proud as punch.

“I told her Mom. I told her – clearly – that I have DNA.”

Apparently, at first she didn’t understand, as I had promised him. Confused, she told him that everyone has DNA. That was shocking news for my son. She asked him to tell her a little more about it. After hearing a list of his issues – difficulty paying attention, getting work done on time, and avoiding distractions – she finally understood.

Wouldn’t it have been easier if he told her he had ADD? Or maybe even “Attention Deficit Disorder”. It would have made for a shorter conversation, and he would have made it out for recess that day. Finally!

Another tip about acronyms – if you use them often in a lengthy report, manual, or book, add a Glossary of Terms at the end and make sure you list all those acronyms, along with what they really mean.

Tricky little things, aren’t they? Meant to make things quicker, they often cause confusion. To me, acronyms are a lot like nicknames for words. And nicknames can cause confusion too. They can be practically relationship-ending! Don’t believe me? Read on …

When I was 25 years old, I started dating a single father. What was I thinking? When I was 30 years old, I married him. Still not thinking, you think? Well, we’re still married, and happily, which means to me that thinking isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.

Wondering what this story has to do with acronyms or nicknames? As our first date approached, I’d heard through the grapevine that he had three children. I figured I could handle it. But during the first couple of dates, we talked about his children, Jim, Rebekah, Miranda, and Mimi. With all these names floating around, I did some mental math and realized he had four children, not three. I’d accepted the fact that there were three children, but FOUR? It was just too much. So I decided I’d better reconsider dating him. Thankfully, I asked him how old they were and the conversation went something like this:

John: Jim is 11, Rebekah is 7, and Miranda is 3.

Me: So how old is Mimi?

John: 3.

Me: You have twins?!

John: What?

Right, ‘Mimi’ was Miranda’s nickname. There were only three children after all. We kept dating and five years later, we got married.

Acronyms, like nicknames, are meant to make things familiar, quick and easy, but it doesn’t always work.

A couple tips about acronyms:

1.  When you use an acronym, define it the first time you use it. Then use the      acronym going forward. If you use the acronym again on a subsequent page of a multi-page document, define it again.

Ex. The Ancaster Avalanche Girls Hockey Association (AAGHA) will hold rep tryouts in April 2014. Visit the AAGHA website for more information.

2.  Don’t assume an acronym is common knowledge. Even in conversation, it’s helpful to use the full form, then state the acronym, and save your colleagues the embarrassment of having to ask for clarification.

More about acronyms in another post. I have a thing about acronyms. Can you tell?

If you just asked yourself, “What the heck is that? Some kind of dinosaur?” … I like you. I really, really like you.

The Thesaurus Rex – something that should have died out along with the rest of the dinosaurs. Say ‘thesaurus’ three times fast. You can’t? Me either. That’s just one of the reasons I don’t use one and don’t think you should either. There’s one exception – one good use for the thesaurus. But first, you need to know why you shouldn’t use one.

1. ‘Thesaurus’ is really hard to say. You don’t want to get tongue tied and embarrassed asking your colleague to hand you that thesaurus. Pleathe and thank you. If you’re reading this out loud to someone next to you, I know that right now … you understand completely.
2. Using the most simple, common, familiar word is always your best bet. There’s nothing more annoying than having to stop in the middle of reading to look up a word in the dictionary. Not only do you suddenly feel inferior to the author, but you also lost your train of thought, and probably your interest in whatever you were reading.
3. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using the same word more than once, especially if you’re just trying to get your message across. Ex. We built our new home in 2014; it was constructed with both beauty and comfort in mind. You can use both ‘built’ and ‘constructed’, but I promise, you really don’t have to.

When is it a good time to use a thesaurus? I go to it when I just can’t seem to come up with the right word. The word I’m using is ok, but not quite on target. In that case, I visit www.thesaurus.com type in the word I was originally using, and search for the ideal word.

And by the way, I still choose a word that’s both common and familiar.