A few years ago, we wrote the 7 Cures Series to help people with
various problems they asked us about. The information is still
useful. In this article, I put on my editor's hat and take on
some of my biggest pet peeves, when it comes to writing. - Write
shorter sentences. Break up long sentences. People have been
known to fall asleep in the middle of long sentences. Don't let
that happen to your readers. If necessary, change long,
complicated sentences connected with semicolons to two
sentences. - Use the active voice. The active voice is usually
shorter and more interesting to read. For example, this
sentence: Joe was fired. is not as straightforward as The CEO
fired Joe. The first sentence is vague because you don't know
who fired Joe. Many corporate memos hide behind the anonymity of
passive voice. Only use the passive voice if the object that is
acted upon is truly more important than the actor. - Reduce
redundancy and trim uncessary words. Nothing is "completely
unanimous" or "more unique" and there is