“There’s little sales value in fine writing”, John Caples.
Individuals interpret the same word differently. This is mainly down to the connotations and overtones a word has within a sentence. To avoid confusion, use specific illustrations to bring clarity to your writing.
According to Rudolf Flesch, writing that is easy to read has around 139 syllables per 100 words or below. Clarity also comes from using as few simple words as possible to convey your ideas, and depending on the medium your writing appears on, sentences should have an average length of 18 words.
Simple copy avoids uncommon words that have unusual spelling.
It has varied sentence lengths that create rhythm. Like this.
Answering these questions will help you evaluate your writing before publishing:
- Have I said what I meant to say?
- Is my writing as concise as possible?
- Can you rewrite your work to simplify your message further?
Why does simple writing matter?
Albert Joseph shares the thought that communication only happens when your encoded message is decoded and accurately understood by a reader.
Looking for conjunctions within complex sentences and using them to break the sentence into smaller pieces helps readers decode your message. At the same time, punctuation can be used to blend choppy sentences together.
Here are three tips on how you can use punctuation when writing:
- Turn commas into full stops when it makes sense
- Remove commas altogether within a sentence if possible
- Use semicolons to tie short sentences together
Conclusion
There are no fixed rules in the English language – but remember this – simple copy is built on a foundation of solid ideas, robust facts, and a library of surrounding information that adds context to the message.
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