Bad writing: the canary in the coal mine

“Bad writing is the canary in the coal mine. It tells you that you don’t know what you’re doing.” (Image by Capri23auto from Pixabay)

Which of these sounds better to you?

  1. “Give me my money back!” he said loudly.
  2. “Give me my money back!” he shouted.

The second is surely far better. Adverbs have their place, but if you can find the right verb to express what you want to say, that is always neater and punchier.

This is one example – a very simple one – of lexical diversity, which is largely about having a good vocabulary and using it well.

“A recent academic study found that lexically diverse hedge funds outperform.”

A recent academic study suggested that lexical diversity may be more important for fund managers than you might think. The study found that “lexically diverse hedge funds” – ones with strategy descriptions that use a rich vocabulary – outperform.

This is perhaps unsurprising. A dull, predictable vocabulary seldom heralds searing intelligence – or great engagement with the task at hand.

But there’s more to it than that. The study also found that lexically diverse hedge funds eschew tail risk and encounter fewer regulatory problems. By contrast, funds with “syntactically complex strategy descriptions” are more likely to violate regulations.  

“Lexical diversity […] has been associated with cognitive ability and honesty,” the study says. “Syntactic complexity […] has been linked to deceptive behaviour.”

“Syntactic complexity has been linked to deceptive behaviour.”

This chimes with our experience of teaching writing. A rich vocabulary stems from engagement and belief. Convoluted sentences happen when writers are hiding something or don’t understand it.

Good writing is important. It’s not just that bad writing gives you away. Bad writing is the canary in coal mine. It tells you that don’t know what you’re doing or what you’re doing isn’t right.

Finding your voice

Retro microphone
Writing voices are trickier to modulate than speaking voices. (Image by tookapic from Pixabay.)

Do you consciously think about your voice as you write? If not, there’s a risk that some of your texts may strike the wrong note.

Writing voices are trickier to modulate than speaking voices because the tone of a text relies only on words and grammatical structures. In writing, we can’t use facial expressions, body language or changes in volume to add nuances to our messages. Perhaps that’s why GIFs and smileys are so popular on social media. It’s not appropriate to use smileys in a fund report or press release, so what can you do instead?

“You should adapt your writing voice to suit your audience and your intention”

Think about how you talk to your granny, a puppy, old university friends, colleagues and clients. Do you use the same vocabulary, sentence structures and vocal pitch regardless of who you are speaking to? Probably not. Similarly, you should adapt your writing voice to suit your audience and your intention.

A good place to start is with your words. Experiment with using more and less formal vocabulary (chief executive officer/CEO/boss; statistics/numbers/stats, for example). Similarly, notice how using contractions such as “it’s” and “won’t” changes the tone of your text.

Experiment with your sentence structures and punctuation too. And notice how serious journalists use very short sentences, rhetorical questions and sentences beginning with “and” or “but” to emphasise key points or to signal a change in direction.

“Don’t lose the connection between your speaking and writing voices”

Most importantly, don’t lose the connection between your speaking and writing voices. Try reading your texts aloud as you write and edit them. If a sentence doesn’t sound right when it’s spoken, it probably doesn’t read well either.

A natural, conversational writing voice exudes confidence and professionalism, and so it’s well worth learning how to make the most of yours.