When my children were finishing primary school (year 6 in the UK) they took a series of national tests called SATs to measure their progress. Teachers encouraged them to use ambitious ‘wow’ words to score highly on the writing task. My daughter embraced the challenge with gusto and for a time peppered her conversation and the simplest written statements with words like ‘euphoric’, ‘despondent’, ‘jovial,’ ‘stupendous’ and ‘winsome.’ Amusing and somewhat precocious for a ten-year-old… but she was only following instructions!
Of course, it’s a wonderful thing to savour the rich variety of vocabulary available in the English (and every) language. And you need variety in any text to stave off boredom. But good writing doesn’t rely on complex or intimidating vocabulary. In fact, these tend to reduce effectiveness.
In a novel, the author aims to draw their reader into a fictional world they’ve created, building an atmosphere and holding their attention with a compelling narrative. In poetry, writers use descriptive language subtly to convey situations and sentiments, sometimes requiring interpretation and active reflection. In most cases, the reader has personally chosen these texts and is willing to put in some effort, if needed, to make the most of the experience.
In business writing, from emails to websites, we usually want to share information or opinions, provide instructions, show value or motivate action. Clarity is key. Some people may be reading your message eagerly, but others may have stumbled on it or are reading it out of necessity. So let’s make it easy for them to get to the end and understand the content. There’s room for creativity and thoughtful language selection, particularly to represent the brand or the organisation’s ethos. But being clear must be the top priority.
Just like my daughter in year 6, we all like to impress at times. But does it help our readers?
Here’s the same sentence, written in two ways:
We need to go to the bank and ask about a new company account, because the old one isn’t good enough anymore.
This expresses the information clearly and concisely: there’s no doubt about the action needed.
We have an exigency. We are obligated to progress to the bank, and enquire within, regarding a new current account, as the antecedent no longer caters to our requirements.
An exaggerated example, but it shows the peril of over-using a thesaurus (or too many of the ‘wow’ words we learned at school!) This sentence is longer and more confusing. It’s off-putting to have to put thought into the meaning of functional copy like this – in fact you would probably laugh or roll your eyes at the pompousness of writing like this.
This doesn’t mean you need to dumb down everything you write. A thesaurus is a wonderful tool: I use one all the time to help me vary my language, particularly if I have to describe the same action or situation repeatedly and I don’t want to bore the reader. As a word lover (thankfully – I’m in the right job!) I revel in the diversity and sophistication the thesaurus offers, but I choose my alternatives wisely.
Complex vocabulary has its place, especially for precision in scientific, technical or academic papers. It’s all about what the audience is familiar with. If a term is well known to your readers, or if you define it to inform them better about the topic, include it! But don’t use uncommon vocabulary for the sake of it.
I think George Orwell nailed it with these writing rules in ‘Politics and the English language,’ published in 1946:
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
The style guidelines I write for clients are more detailed and specific, but they’re based on exactly these principles. Thanks, George – I’d hire you any day!
Photo credit: Alex Shute via Unsplash