Communicating with Precision
Completion requirements
This is a nice guide for improving or "tightening up" your writing, ensuring clarity, concision, and directness, as described in the article. This is useful for any information exchange writing. Over the next week, note how often you use passive voice, are too wordy, or use cliché expressions or qualifiers.
Precise Wording
1. Replace abstract nouns with verbs.
Verbs, more than nouns, help convey ideas concisely, so where possible, avoid using nouns derived from verbs. Often these abstract nouns end in –tion and –ment. See examples in the following chart.
| Abstract Noun | Verb |
| acquisition | acquire |
| analysis | analyze |
| recommendation | recommend |
| observation | observe |
| application | apply |
| confirmation | confirm |
| development | develop |
| ability | able, can |
| assessment | assess |