Appropriate 🤷♀️ Words
When writing, create credibility at the word level by using contextually appropriate words and phrases.
| Use | Avoid |
|---|---|
| Concrete, specific | Abstract: resource, aspect, item, facility |
| Concise, economical | Verbose: scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific Redundant: recur again, cooperate together |
| Clear | Ambiguous: as/since, and/or (😱 Guilty!) |
| Current | Archaic: we deem it advisable, we hereby acknowledge, amongst, whilst, perusal |
| Formal | Abbreviations: eg, etc, ie, viz (😱 Guilty! Well, not viz, at least!) Colloquialisms: a stint with, in the throes of Contractions: OK, I’d, it’s, we’d, you’ll, don’t 😱 …} |
| Dictionary | Coined words: crowdsourcing, criticality, biosimilar, relatable Initialisms & acronyms are clear only if known to the reader. |
| Original | Buzz words/clichés: synergy, ballpark figure, gameplan, revenue driven, going forward, at the end of the day |
| Simple | Pompous: sedulously, eschew, polysyllabic profundity, esoteric, quotidian |
| Appropriate jargon | Unnecessary/unfamiliar jargon: to the arboreal primates 🤣 |
| Consistent terminology | Thesaurus syndrome: firm, company, organisation, corporation; program, project, job, assignment |
| Authoritative | Apologetic: Due to time constraints Equivocal: Tends to stem from Defensive: After reading this report, I hope you find it satisfactory. |
| Sincere | Presumptuous: I presume you will do me the courtesy of a reply. |
| Measured | Hyperbolic: Those statistics have been around for decades. |
| Impartial | Biased: Obviously, we prefer to use our own experts. Polemic: Everyone should be able to read statistics. |
| Positive | Negative: bar, fail, decline, reject, exclude |
| Correct | Incorrect spelling/confusable words: affect/effect; lead/led; principal/principle, stationary/stationery |
| Familiar | Foreign: modus operandi, quid pro quo, fait accompli, chutzpah |
| Inclusive: Every employee enjoys their time off. | Discriminatory: generic ‘he’ or ‘she’: Every employee enjoys 'his' time off. |
| Weasel, crutch words: absolutely, actually, apparently, as it were, basically, certainly, clearly, definitely, essentially, frankly, fundamentally, generally, highly, literally, merely, naturally, obviously, quite, really, simply, to be honest, very, virtually |
Primary source: Australian English Style Guide P. Peters 1996.
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