How to Eschew Obfuscation to Improve Business Writing Skills

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By toogie2
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The late great William Safire admonished writers to Eschew (give up) Obfuscation (hiding your meaning behind fancy words like "obfuscation").

Clear plain speaking is an important business writing skill that we often overlook in our attempts to be correct or formal. We cloud our meaning with more than just fancy words. Sometimes we over-explain and hide our meaning behind too many words, or wander off into side points.

Luckily it's pretty easy to "eschew obfuscation" and improve our writing skills. You just have to be sure to apply a three step process to your rewrites.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Find difficult and fancy words, and replace them with strong, plain and direct words. Be alert for slang or business jargon. It's tempting to use lines like "It's essential that we missionize our prioritational goals." That does not speak well for your business writing skills, however, or for your organization. Be direct with: "We must prioritize our goals to suit our core mission."
Step 2

Use the right nouns and verbs, and then cut as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. When you use words like "very," "really" or "almost" you may be trying to make up for a weak noun or verb. English has a wide vocabulary. Find a better word rather than piling on more words. Or maybe your noun is just fine. Do you really need to say "excessive waste"? Isn't all waste considered "excess" by definition?
Step 3

Cut to the chase. Look for whole sentences and sections that you can just cut out. Extra material dilutes your meaning and wastes everyone's time and attention. For instance, the sentence "we must prioritize our goals to meet our core mission" is something others already know. Why not cut straight to the point and say what you think the priorities should be an why?

We learned in school to write longer and more complicated essays, but to really improve your business writing skills, be simple and direct. Don't waste anyone's time. Others will thank you for it.