We had a fantastic, interactive session with a group of PR agency professionals at our Writing 101 workshop for PRCA MENA last week. Not only did we review writing strategy, and examples of successful (and not so successful) written content, we also looked at writing structures and some of the golden rules and common mistakes.
This week, we wanted to share some of the errors that we see most often in written content (stay tuned for more tips next week!)
1. Over-Capitalisation (see what we did there!)
A huge bugbear for us! More and more, people seem to be using capitals for absolutely anything and everything – as a way of drawing attention or demonstrating the importance of the word. You don’t need to use capitals to do this – capitals are used when referencing proper nouns- specific names, places, and days/months/holidays, as well as after a full stop or colon. If you are addressing or quoting your mum – using Mum as her name, it’s with a capital M, if you are referencing her as I have in this sentence, and talking about my mum or your mum, then no need for a capital as you’re not using it as her name.
When it comes to headers and subheaders, you do not need every word to be capitalised, just the first one.
2. Adding redundant words
When we write creatively and are telling a story or describing something, the temptation is to use a lot of adjectives, but be careful, less is more! Think about whether these words actually add any value to your writing – in our online hyper-connected age, we need our writing to be as concise and direct as possible – there’s no point adding flowery adjectives and empty descriptions.
This becomes particularly noticeable when the two words communicate the same thing, for example a free gift (if it’s not free, it’s not a gift), an unexpected surprise (you cannot have an expected surprise). This often happens when using multiple adjectives, you don’t need to say ‘unnecessary, redundant words’ as they say the same thing, so just choose one. The same applies when talking about a new innovation (by definition an innovation is new).
Some of the other more common examples include referring to the ‘following dates/times below’ (you don’t need following and below), saying ‘but nevertheless’ (you can remove either of the words and the meaning is the same), also talking about discounts using ‘xx off on a range of products’ (you don’t need off and on – they contradict each other).
3. Creating long sentences and paragraphs
Read your writing aloud, can you get to the full stop without taking a breath? If not, then break it up. Short sentences allow for easier scanning, understanding and absorption of the message. They have more impact and ensure less confusion. Keep your writing as punchy as possible, and ensure lots of white space and multiple paragraphs, rather than big chunks of text.
4. Reverting to the passive tense
In order to engage our readers, and keep their attention, our writing should be active, rather than passive. Use simple sentence structures – Subject Verb Object – and you’ll reduce your word count, and have more impact on the reader. As an example, rather than saying ‘XX was introduced by XX’, think about simply saying ‘XX introduced XX’.
5. Using auxiliary verbs
There is no need to add auxiliary verbs to your text, we’re trying to keep it short and impactful remember! So, rather than saying ‘we will be introducing’ or ‘XX will be launching XX’, you can simply say ‘we will introduce’ or ‘XX will launch XX’. The auxiliary verbs add nothing to your meaning, so take them out!
6. Incorporating unnecessary punctuation or spacing
Simplicity is the key in our writing, particularly in this part of the world where the majority of people are not native English speakers. This applies to both your writing structure and your choice of words, don’t overcomplicate things! You also don’t need to double-space after a full stop.
7. Fluctuating between British and American spellings
Know what your brand standards are. What is your company language? If it is is British spelling, then this should be consistent across internal and external communications – reflected on the website, in brochures, in company emails, on internal posters, and through your PR and social media content.
Make sure you update your spell check language so that your writing does not autocorrect to the wrong one without you noticing!
8. Being inconsistent with number formats
Your brand’s written style guide should not only include the language, but also how times, dates, phone numbers, and prices are written. Again, that format should be followed across all communications – there’s nothing worse than seeing a piece of writing or social media content where the formatting changes halfway through the text – it looks sloppy and unprofessional.
9. Incorrect use of articles
No matter whether this is as a result of writing and speed and therefore technically a typo, or whether it’s because the writer doesn’t know the difference between the words, getting articles wrong stands out and reflects badly on the writer/organisation. When proofreading, make sure you check there/their/they’re, your/you’re, etc, as it can be easy to miss these.
10. Confusing homophones
Homophones are words that sound the same, but which mean different things, and which can often have different spellings. Again, these are not picked up in a spellcheck as they are technically correctly spelt words, so you need to take your time proofreading to make sure you pick them up. The most common examples we see include advise/advice, complimentary/complementary, and people using the phrase ‘would of’, which should be ‘would have’.
This post is just a snapshot of some of the most common mistakes that we see – how many of these are you guilty of?? Take a look through your last piece of writing and you may be surprised by more than you think (we were)!
Next week we’ll share some of the golden rules for writing in terms of structures and formatting, meanwhile if you’d like to know more, or get some help with your writing, please do email us: sam@footstepcommunications.com
