Page 213 - DENG102_COMMUNICATION_SKILLS_II

Communication Skills-II

notes Parallel structure smoothly links ideas and adds a pleasing rhythm to sentences and paragraphs,
thereby enhancing coherence.
Don’t: The news dispatcher is competent and a fast worker.
Do: The dispatcher is competent and fast.
Don’t: The new grade of paper is lightweight, nonporous, and it is inexpensive.
Do: The new grade of paper is lightweight, nonporous, and inexpensive.
Don’t: The training programme will cover

l Vacation and sick leaves
l How to resolve grievances
l Managing your workstation
Do: The training programme will cover
l Vacation and sick leaves
l Grievances resolution
l Workstation management
Don’t: One management consultant recommended either selling the children’s furniture division
or its conversion into a children’s toy division.
Do: One management consultant recommended either selling the children’s furniture division or
converting it into a children’s toy division.
Don’t: Gladys is not only proficient in word processing but also in desktop publishing.

Do: Gladys is proficient not only in word processing but also in desktop publishing.
In the last two sets of sentences above, note that correlative conjunctions (such as both/and, either/
or, and not only/but also) must be followed by words in parallel form. Be especially careful to use
parallel structure in report headings that have equal weight and in numbered lists.

14.1.10 control Paragraph length

How long should a paragraph of business writing be? As with other considerations, the needs of
the reader, rather than the convenience of the writer, should determine the answer. Paragraphs
should help the reader by signaling new ideas as well as by providing a physical break. Long
blocks of unbroken text look boring and needlessly complex. And they may unintentionally
obscure an important idea buried in the middle. On the other hand, a series of extremely short
paragraphs can weaken coherence by obscuring underlying relationships.
Essentially, there are no fixed rules for paragraph length, and occasionally one or ten-sentence
paragraphs might be effective. However, most paragraphs of good business writers fall into the
60 to 80 word range-long enough for a topic sentence and three or four supporting sentences.
Although a single paragraph should never discuss more than one major topic, complex topics
may need to be divided into several paragraphs. Your purpose and needs of your reader should
ultimately determine paragraph length.

In the end please note the statement given by Sir Earnest Gowers
“If he (the person you are replying to) is rude, be especially courteous.
If he is muddle-headed, be especially lucid. If he is pig headed, be patient.
If he is helpful, be appreciative. If he convicts you of a mistake, acknowledge it
freely and even with gratitude”.

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