Terms to Know: Emphasis, Point of View, and Language

• Give an example of a passive voice construction, and then change it to active. Make sure your example is not from the book.
• Describe a situation in which passive voice is effective.
• Explain two of the three types of stylistic subordination.
• Give an example of how subordination can be used to change emphasis.
• What kinds of grammatical units can be made parallel? How should you make them parallel?
• Besides being parallel in structure, good list elements should conform to a series of rules. Explain two from the Writer's Checklist.
• How, according to the Writer's Checklist, should a list be introduced?
• What are four good ways to achieve emphasis?
• Is using "I" ever appropriate in business communication? When is it preferable and when not?
• When is "we" better than "I"?
• What ethical issues arise when you use abstract words, technical or legal jargon, and euphemisms?
• Give three examples of redundant modifiers.
• Give an examples of a padded phrase from this reading; then give one from the more on redundancy handout.
• What are the non-sexist alternatives to "male nurse," "foreman," and "man and wife"?
• What are two ways to avoid sexist pronouns without the cumbersome "his or her"/ "he or she"?
• What other kinds of bias should you avoid in workplace language?
• Give an example of nominalization (adding prefixes and suffixes to simple words)?
• What is one cause of affectation?
• What are three ways to avoid affectation (see checklist)?
• When is it okay to use a highly technical term?
• Explain two types of workplace jargon.
• How many stages of review should you use to proofread a document?
• At what proofreading stage should you correct for abbreviations, capitalization, and proper names?
• At what proofreading stage should you check for consistent use of fonts and headings?
• Give an example of a special red flag from the red flags handout.
• Give an example from under the heading "red flag usage" from the red flags handout.
• From under the heading "not-ever words and usages" from the red flags handout, provide the less wordy alternatives to these words or phrases: "prior to," "in order to," "upon," and "utilize."