Writing That Works, 3e_ How to Communicate Effectively in Business - Kenneth Roman [61]
8. Handle numbers consistently
Newspapers generally spell out numbers ten and under, and use numerals for 11 and up. Book publishers follow other rules. Whatever you do, be consistent.
It is easier to grasp big numbers when you write $60 million rather than $60,000,000.
9. Make charts easy to handle — and interesting
If your document includes wide charts, don’t make the reader turn it sideways to read them. Use horizontal foldouts.
Consider whether your charts need to be in the body of your document at all. Might they go at the end, as appendixes? Your document will look less formidable if it is uninterrupted by graphs and charts. If you do use charts, color adds variety and interest.
Number your appendices and separate them clearly with tabs. This makes them easy to find.
10. Number your pages, even in early drafts
If inserted material messes up the numerical order, use 1A, 1B (in handwriting, if necessary), and so on. Nothing is more annoying than trying to find a particular passage in an unnumbered document.
Before printing your final draft, run your eye over it with these techniques in mind. What can you do to make it look more interesting? Where will your meaning be illuminated by subheadings, italics, boldface, indents, underlines, enumeration? Write for the eye as well as the mind.
Legalese — and Hard to Penetrate
(We didn’t make this up. This is precisely how it came.)
RESOLVED, that this Committee hereby: (1) approves (a) the compensation for the Officers of the Corporation for its fiscal year 2000; (b) the total award for the fiscal year 1999 performance under the Corporation’s Annual Performance Plan (the “APP”); (c) (i) the grants of Nonqualified Stock Options and Restricted Shares under the Corporation’s Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “LTIP”), and (ii) the grants of the Corporation’s Common Shares and the corresponding payments of “gross-up” compensation to account for the tax on such grants, all the foregoing grants and payments to be effective as of the next Valuation Date and at the Fair Market Value determined as of such Valuation Date, all such terms as defined in the LTIP; and (d) the revision beginning with fiscal year 2000 of the Performance Factors and Bonus Factors in Attachment 1 to the APP; (2) recommends to the Board of Directors the compensation and grants of Nonqualified Stock Options for the Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, all of the actions referenced in clauses (1) and (2) above as shown in Exhibits 1 to 6 presented to and filed with the minutes of this meeting; and (3) authorizes the Corporation’s Executive Committee to make, with respect to participants in the APP who are not Officers of the Corporation, any further awards or adjustments in awards under the APP, provided that the sum of all such awards and the individual awards approved in accordance herewith do not exceed the total award approved herein.
Still Legalese — but Possible to Grasp the Gist of It
(Not a word changed)
RESOLVED, that this Committee hereby:
Approves
The compensation for the Officers of the Corporation for its fiscal year 2000;
The total award for the fiscal year 1999 performance under the Corporation’s Annual Performance Plan (the “APP”);
The grants of Nonqualified Stock Options and Restricted Shares under the Corporation’s Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “LTIP”) and the grants of the Corporation’s Common Shares and the corresponding payments of “gross-up” compensation to account for the tax on such grants, all the foregoing grants and payments to be effective as of the next Valuation Date and at the Fair Market Value determined as of such Valuation Date, all such terms as defined in the LTIP; and
The revision beginning with fiscal year 2000 of the Performance Factors and Bonus Factors in Attachment 1 to the APP;
Recommends to the