August 2011
Beginner
25 pages
50m
English
Content preview from HBR Guide to Better Business Writing, 2nd Edition Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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Strike the Right Tone
by Richard Bierck
Business writers agonize over word choice, syntax, and structure. But they often overlook one of the most important steps: matching the tone of the piece to the occasion—and to the audience.
You probably have a keen sense of what’s appropriate when talking to others. But do you apply this judgment in your e-mails, letters, and proposals? Your tone determines whether readers are turned on or put off by your message, whether they laugh with you or at you. To strike the right chord, carefully monitor your energy level and degree of formality.
Energy
Ask yourself, “How hot or cool should this message be?” Here are examples of both extremes.
Hot:
Anyone who hasn’t had his head in the sand lately knows about ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.