Technical Writing Must be CLEAR

© 2010 Ugur Akinci
Technical writing has to be clear, linear, and logical.
Technique:  Write in simple sentences that anybody can understand
Avoid compound sentences with multiple clauses.
Here is the most basic sentence structure in English:
SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT
If a sentence does not have this structure, try to rearrange the components of the sentence so that it reads better and faster.
ORIGINAL: The temptation to do it should be resisted.
BETTER: Don’t do [VERB] it [OBJECT]!
(Second person singular SUBJECT is implied by the IMPERATIVE mood).
– – –
ORIGINAL: The result would be confusion on the part of your readers.
BETTER: You [SUBJECT] would confuse [VERB] your readers [OBJECT].
More examples:
ORIGINAL: Bankruptcy was the bad management’s doing.
BETTER: Bad management led to bankruptcy.
– – –
ORIGINAL: Our goal was to upgrade the servers and we did achieve that goal.
BETTER: We upgraded the servers.
– – –
ORIGINAL: Quadratic function is the category that Equation 123 belongs to.
BETTER: Equation 123 is a quadratic function.