The Writing Guy

Scott rails (again) against lifeless, abstract, technocratic writing and looks at omitting needless words - inspired by that gem of a book 'The Elements of Style' (Strunk & White).

US National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, used anaphora to great effect in her inauguration poem, 'The Hill We Climb'. Scott explains what the rhetorical device is and how it works.

B2B, corporate writing is suffering from an epidemic of S.O.W.s. They represent lazy, lifeless writing that makes readers' eyes glaze over. Avoid them or find everyday alternatives.

To make the writing process efficient and effective, we must plan. Planning - the most creative and the most neglected part of the process - separates thinking from writing.

At Joe Biden's presidential inauguration yesterday, US Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman recited her soaring poem, 'The Hill We Climb'. Scott looks at one of the many poetic devices she uses - alliteration.

On US President inauguration day, Scott pays homage to Dr Rudolf Flesch, inventor of the Readability Stats in MS Word. Flesch fled his native Austria in 1938 and settled in New York, eventually becoming a US citizen.

This handy function in Word, based on the sterling work of Dr Rudolf Flesch, scores the readability of your writing - and other people's.

Contractions are a useful device for making us sound more personable, more approachable, less corporate, more human.

Personality is the missing link in most business writing, ie taking a position on a topic, or writing with levity, flair or irreverence. Scott cites an example from former client, 'The Economist'.

Scott shows how easy it is to write plain English with some examples, plus a C.R.I.S.P. reminder of the five main benefits.