COMM 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Warren Buffett, George Orwell, Plain English
Document Summary
A plea for plain english in financial documents. If you abide by these suggestions your prose will be cleaner, more readable and less dense: How to start writing better (cheat sheet): delete the hereins, heretos, hereunders and herebys, as well as aforementioned or witnesseth, mi(cid:374)i(cid:373)ize the a(cid:271)(cid:271)(cid:396)e(cid:448)iatio(cid:374)s a(cid:374)d a(cid:272)(cid:396)o(cid:374)(cid:455)(cid:373)s. afte(cid:396) (cid:455)ou (cid:449)(cid:396)ite (cid:862)the e(cid:272)u(cid:396)ities a(cid:374)d e(cid:454)ha(cid:374)ge. Co(cid:373)(cid:373)isio(cid:374)(cid:863) (cid:374)o (cid:374)eed to follo(cid:449) it (cid:449)ith (cid:862)he(cid:396)ei(cid:374)afte(cid:396), (cid:858)the . e. c. (cid:863) o(cid:396) (cid:858)the co(cid:373)(cid:373)isio(cid:374)(cid:859): avoid long, confusing parenthetical phrases; break your sentences in two. If something is very important, start the secion by sa(cid:455)i(cid:374)g: (cid:862)i(cid:373)po(cid:396)ta(cid:374)t i(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)atio(cid:374) to follo(cid:449)(cid:863) o(cid:396) (cid:862)pa(cid:455) atte(cid:374)tio(cid:374) to this se(cid:272)tio(cid:374)(cid:863: wa(cid:396)(cid:396)e(cid:374) buffett sa(cid:455)s that he p(cid:396)ete(cid:374)ds he(cid:859)s talki(cid:374)g to his siste(cid:396)s (cid:449)he(cid:374) (cid:449)(cid:396)iti(cid:374)g his fa(cid:373)ous shareholder letters. If the writing is straightforward and to the point, it enhances the (cid:272)o(cid:373)pa(cid:374)(cid:455)(cid:859)s (cid:272)(cid:396)edi(cid:271)ilit(cid:455) a(cid:374)d (cid:449)ill (cid:374)ot (cid:396)e(cid:395)ui(cid:396)e dou(cid:271)li(cid:374)g (cid:271)a(cid:272)k (cid:449)ith defi(cid:374)itions and footnotes.
