We've now come to the final part of this week's lesson, which is on linguistic features. In this session, what I intended to do, In this session, what I intend to do is to highlight key linguistic features that are relevant to writing an e-guide, in particular, in describing the scenario, establishing the purposes, and proposing strategies. There are three key linguistic features that I would like to discuss that are related to writing an e-guide. They are one, precision, two, conciseness, and three, tenses. The first linguistic feature is precision. Precision means the use of not only appropriate but also accurate words in presenting information and expressing our thoughts. There are two aspects of precision which I would like to highlight, namely accuracy and exactness. Accuracy refers to the use of the appropriate and accurate words while exactness means the use of exact words which is slightly different from accuracy. First, let's consider the use of appropriate and accurate words. As much as possible our choice of words must be accurate so that the intended meaning is clearly conveyed. Casual and inappropriate use of vocabulary usually leads to confusion, misinterpretation of data, as well as misinformation. In some contexts, any inaccurate representations could result in serious implications. Let's take a look at the following two sentences, with a difference of only one word. In sentence 1, the use of less describes the degree of technical competency. On sentence 2, fewer refers to the number of staff members. If this is a company whose nature of business is mining, what implications and impact would both sentences have on the deployment of staff members during peak periods? Well, if the company goes with the assumption that it requires less technical based staff members during peak periods, what it means or what it could mean is that staff members with not so much technical competencies are required during peak periods. There is no mention of the number or the quantity of staff members. On the other hand, if the company goes with the assumption that it requires fewer technical-based staff members during peak periods, what this implies is that the number of technical-based staff members can be reduced during peak periods. Second, let us consider the use of exact words, which refers to the use of words that convey clarity and that avoid ambiguity. Words like fairly, rather, quite, to a certain extent, extremely, mainly, substantially, may sound nice but they could be interpreted differently by different people. Take a look at sentence 3. The new policy on leave guidelines has received an overwhelming positive response from staff members. Overwhelmingly positive may sound impressive, but the definition from one individual to the next may differ. Instead of sharing information in such a manner, as much as possible, make use of concrete words such as numbers, percentages, and values. Now compare sentence 3 and sentence 4. With the use of percentages to concretize overwhelmingly and the qualitative description of positive, the sentence achieves enhanced clarity. [INAUDIBLE] The second key linguistic feature is conciseness. An easy way to lose the interest of any reader is to write in a verbose style. Most people, especially those in upper management positions who are busy, prefer communication that is concise, simple, and clear in the articulation of ideas. Similarly, for an e-guide, what one needs is a quick read to know what to do, and how to perform a task. Therefore, it is advisable for us to keep our sentences short, and to front the key message. This means, to make every word count, or mean something. Let us now compare sentence 5 and sentence 6. If the intent is to describe the subsidiary, the key message should be placed at the beginning of the sentence. Or sometimes it could be placed at the end of the sentence following the concept of keeping the most impactful information until the end. What is not preferred, is to create a distance between the key line of thought as highlighted in sentence 5. Sometimes, for clarity and coherence, it maybe better to break a long sentence into two or several sentences like an example given in sentence 6. The third linguistic feature is tenses. Because of the descriptive nature and orientation of the e-guide, the use of the present tense seems more appropriate. This is except for the reporting of the interviews with the professionals in the industry. As observed in sentence 7, in explaining the background in the first sentence, the past tense is used to signify a past event, where the decision was made. The next sentence, however, is written in the present tense to show that it is current. Not to forget the 7Cs of effective communication elaborated in the second course of this specialization which is strengthening your widening network. These 7Cs are being, clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous. In summary, in this week's lesson on e-guide, we've discussed it's definition and purpose, five key elements relevant to an e-guide and three linguistic features helpful for writing an e-guide. You should, by now, have sought off and started drafting a communications scenario and intended outcomes. Share your draft with your peers and instructors on the discussion forum. [BLANK AUDIO]
