• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Plain Text

Copywriting that means business

  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Contact

A to Z of Plain Text

Z – ZEN: MINIMALISM IN SENTENCES

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

The business world is notorious for ignoring one of the best ways to keep writing readable: short sentences. Take this fictional, yet typical, opening sentence of a press release: “Anycompany, a leading developer of best-in-class hardware solutions for business-to-business supply-chain optimisation, today announced a strategic partnership with leading retail systems integration consultancy Anyconsultancy to provide […]

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

Y – YANKS: UK AND US ENGLISH

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

There are no writing topics of any substance that begin with the letter ‘Y’. So under the colloquial title of ‘yanks’, let’s discuss the two variants of English most commonly used in business writing. Although many think it so, there is no qualitative difference between American English and British English. There are, however, big differences […]

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

X – EXACTITUDE

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

Okay, it doesn’t begin with X. But exactitude, or accuracy, is a crucial aspect of business writing: Spelling mistakes — Although spellcheckers should never be relied on as the sole way of checking documents, their ubiquity means there is really no excuse for basic spelling errors. Despite this, at the time of writing Google produces […]

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

W – WEB, WRITING FOR

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

The world wide web is a fantastic publishing medium. Anyone, anywhere, with a web browser can access it; it’s easy to update materials; quick and cheap to publish; and adding links to other pages enhances the value of your own. But the web was not designed to be an all-purpose display medium. Computer screens are […]

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

V – VAGUENESS

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

If your reader has to guess what you mean, you’ve failed as a communicator. “Pedestrians are requested to proceed with caution on these steps during inclement weather” Perhaps the council’s signwriters, who crafted this example, are paid by the letter. “Slippery when wet” or “These steps may be hazardous in the rain” would be a […]

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

U – UNNECESSARY WORDS

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

“I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter”. (Seventeenth century philosopher Blaise Pascal) Concise writing is hard to produce. The trouble with some words is that they are, basically, overused and unnecessary. To all intents and purposes, they are redundant. The end result […]

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

T – TELLING STORIES

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

Much writing in business assumes that readers are more interested in a lengthy explanation of, say, a product’s features than an interesting narrative explaining why it is good. So we get sentences like this: ‘X’s core product suite delivers an open, robust, cross-platform scalable solution for the indexing, categorisation and integration of disparate information feeds.’ […]

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

S – SPEECHES AND PRESENTATIONS

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

Business people spend a great deal of energy and time preparing, delivering and listening to speeches and presentations. This is not always enjoyable: presenters struggle to get complex slides and notes together and audiences fight to stay awake. However, if you follow some simple rules, giving and receiving presentations can be a happier experience for […]

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Top posts through the years 31st October 2022
  • Copywriting across the spectrum: TOV and why it matters 11th March 2019
  • Another book on “business bullshit”? I call bullshit 26th November 2018
  • Our acclaimed copywriting workshop is back! 19th May 2017
  • Why copywriting is a craft, not an art 15th March 2017

Categories

Tags

Briefing copywriters Brochure writing Business jargon Capitalisation Case study writing Email copywriting Language development Language miscellany Nouns as verbs Powerful copywriting Powerpoint presentations Public sector copywriting Snappy copy Social networking Structuring copy Web copy Writing concise copy Writing straplines Writing white papers

Footer

Latest From Our Blog

  • Top posts through the years 31st October 2022
  • Copywriting across the spectrum: TOV and why it matters 11th March 2019
  • Another book on “business bullshit”? I call bullshit 26th November 2018

Menu

  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • About Plain Text
  • Privacy Policy

Search Plain Text

  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • About Plain Text
  • Privacy Policy

© 2025 · Plain Text Limited · Website by Dewar Green · Photography by IDB Creative