The Encyclopedia of Business Letters, Faxes, and E-mail

Introduction

Business Writing Basics in the Age of Electronic Communications

Mastering the skills of clear, concise writing can certainly give you an edge in today’s business world, where communications are too often dominated by jargon, double-talk, and weak, watered-down prose. Most business communications today descend into what E.B. White, the essayist and coauthor of The Element of Style, called “the language of mutilation.”

Some examples: A commercial describes a new television series as “the most unique show of the season”—an impossible claim, considering that unique means “one of a kind.” A Detroit automobile manufacturer bases a series of print ads on the theme “new innovations.” Is there such a thing as an old innovation? An advertiser ...