Basics of Written Communication

Limitation of Oral Communication

Everyone human in this world has communicated with other humans in the oral or written form. Oral communication has many parameters which create ambiguous situations in life. The speaker wants to say something but the listener is not able to understand the information. Oral communication has following key success factors:

• The volume and tone of speaker should be pleasant and audible

• Speaker should use the words which are understood by the listener

• For physical presence of speaker and listener, the body language also matters, any negative body language creates problems in communication which provoke negative emotion in either listener and speaker

• There can be noise of traffic or office which creates problems in the listening of the listener and the information is lost during the communication process

Thus the communication is not effective because of the above factors. Written communication overcomes the above drawbacks with more acceptable and precise solution.

Written Information

The writer has to express the information which is suitable for the reader in a pleasant and precise manner. The following should be clear in the communication:

• The message should be clear – An email which mentions change the plan should mention the reference, and the details of the change.

• The reader should be able to understand the information – Use the words which the reader is able to understand without using dictionary.

• The information should not be vague – If a person invites other person to party "Let's go to the Royal Bar", the reader should be aware of the Royal Bar in the locality or the writer has to give landmark or address of the Bar.

Information Coding

The written information is coded according to the local language preferences. There are rules for the coding which are called grammar. Consider a person (Abhijeet) wants to communicate with his friend at some other physical location. The person has to communicate using message on chat messenger like Gtalk. He has to write the message to inform his friend Gaurav that he had lunch and he should not wait for him. The message follows:

Abhijeet: [12:50 AM]: I had lunch, you may have lunch.

Gaurav: [3:10 PM]: OK

The message indicates to Gaurav that Abhijeet had lunch. The time is clear also the writer and the reader are clear. This means the communication is clear and precise which is possible with written communication.

Building Blocks of Information

The building blocks of the information are the sentences. The sentences have classes of words which make the phrases or clauses. There are formats to exchange the information like letters, books, Webhelp, Journals, articles, magazines. For example, consider the format of an introduction email:

From: test@test.com

To: contact@xyz.com

Subject: Introduction letter

Dear Sir,

Tell about business …

Details of the services or product …

.Give offer to meet …

I look forward for mutually beneficial relationship.

Regards,

XYZ

Marketing Manager

Xyz.com

Similarly, there are formats for the books, articles, userguides, webhelp, websites, blogs. Refer top local grammar for details.

Sentence Structure Analysis

Consider a sentence for structural analysis– the details follow:

Ram is a good software programmer.

The sentence parts follow:

Ram: Noun

Is: verb

A: Article

good: adjective

Software: noun

Programmer: noun

Here good software programmer is the noun phrase. The subject is Ram. The sentence makes sense if it is present at a suitable place in the communication in an email, textual chat, book etc.

Writing Process

The writing process has following major steps which is essential for successful communication. The process follows:

• Research – audience analysis, selection of words for the communication

• Decide the problem and make it precise

• Prepare a base frame for the draft

• Write draft

• Check for quality of English: Punctuation, meaning, grammar

• Review from others

• Incorporate review changes

• Check for quality of English: Punctuation, meaning, grammar

• Publish to audience

Take feedback from the audience and incorporate the relevant changes in next version of the document.

Source by Vinay Lal

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