CHAPTER 10

Make It Easy
Creating Reader-Friendly Documents

Beyond the structure of your document, there are other elements that will make your document reader-friendly.

Personal Pronouns

Your documents should sound like they are written by one human being to another, not generated by a computer to a nameless audience. For lawyers writing contracts, referring to the parties as “Buyer” and “Seller” (or “Tenant” and “Subtenant”) is necessary and efficient. But in a cover letter to a client, referring to yourself as “Smith & Jones, LLP” is unnecessarily formal. Some people believe using personal pronouns in business writing is somehow less dignified or official. Let’s revisit the Constitution. The very first word of the preamble is a personal pronoun—“We.” If personal pronouns are good enough for the Constitution, they are perfectly acceptable in your correspondence.

Because your writing should be focused less on yourself and more on the other person, there should be far more “you’s” than “I’s” in your writing, roughly two-to-one. Remember: It’s all about the other person. If you review your document and find a lot of sentences beginning with “I,” chances are you’re making the document more about yourself than about the audience.

Write Short Sentences

Aim for a maximum of 17 words per sentence. Once a sentence exceeds that length, it becomes hard for our brains to process the information. Your reader will likely need to read the sentence at least twice to understand the content.

Many reports and emails include a short clause followed by a colon and then a list of bullet points, often clauses themselves. Technically, the clause and list together are all one sentence. However, the punctuation and spacing isolate the ideas for our brain, and therefore accomplish the same effect as writing shorter sentences. Using lists of bullet points has the same effect as writing shorter sentences and is helpful to your reader.

With regard to bullet points, remember the concept of “parallel construction.” All of the bullets should have the same structure. If the reader reads the introductory clause and then any one bullet in the list, in many cases, she will be reading a complete, grammatically correct sentence.

In order to complete the project on time, we must:

order copies of the files on Monday.
review the files by the end of next week.
discuss the issue with the client.
create a reasonable timeline.
report to the managing director on the project for approval.
begin work on phase one by the end of the quarter.

Each bullet point starts with a verb. Each bullet is written to encourage action and accountability. You can read the introductory clause, then drop down to any one bullet and you have a complete sentence.

The same sentence becomes confusing very quickly if you mix up the structure of the bullets.

In order to complete the project on time, we must:

order copies of the files on Monday
reviewing the files by the end of next week
the issue should be raised with the client
a reasonable timeline should be created
report to the managing director on the project for approval
work on phase one should begin by the end of the quarter.

Because the structure of the bullet points changes as we read through them, it’s hard to grasp the main point of the sentence.

Vary Your Sentence Length

If you read the chapter on body language, you already know that variety in the volume, speed, and tone of your voice is what keeps your listener engaged. In your writing, variety in the length of your sentences has the same effect. You will, of necessity, need to write some long sentences. Sometimes we have to share complex thoughts. In that case, write a long sentence. But two or three long sentences in a row become burdensome for the reader. She gets tired and decides to skip to the next paragraph, hoping things are better there. If it takes you 20 words to convey your thought, so be it. Just make sure the next sentence is fewer than 10 words.

By the same token, you can’t write a paragraph of nothing but five-word sentences. It will sound too choppy and curt to your reader. Aim for that perfect combination of Hawthorne and Hemmingway.

Don’t Overwhelm the Reader

Keep paragraphs to a quarter of the page at most; anything longer is visually intimidating. The novel The Da Vinci Code is a great example of the benefit of giving people information in small pieces. It was a hit on the summer reading list years ago, in part, because it was so easy to read. The longest chapter in the book is four pages. Because Dan Brown told his story in easily digestible pieces, everyone flew through the book in record time.

Think about when you are reading a document. When you turn the page and see a long, dense paragraph, what is your gut reaction? For most of us, it’s like the seven stages of grief, in rapid succession:

Shock—OMG! That’s a ridiculous paragraph!
Denial—I do not really have to read this, do I?
Anger—I can’t believe he [the writer] didn’t make this easier.
Bargaining—I bet I can just skim this, or better yet, skip it entirely. No one will know.
Guilt—Why am I whining? At least I didn’t have to write it.
Depression—It’s already been such a long day. I can’t believe this is how it ends.
Acceptance—Oh, geez. Let’s just get through it. Here goes.

If you’re the writer, why make someone go through all that?

If you don’t believe people really react that way, consider the following, and be completely honest with yourself.

You’re reading a report. A new paragraph starts at the bottom of the page, but it clearly continues on the next page. What do you do before you start reading that paragraph? Be honest. I know I turn the page to see how long the paragraph is before I start reading. If the paragraph goes halfway down the next page, I am not happy as I turn back and start reading. But if the paragraph is short and looks easy, it’s one of the day’s little wins.

Short paragraphs are even more important when you write emails. The reader could be viewing your document on a small screen. When the text fills the screen, reading it feels like work. If there are frequent breaks, it’s easier for the reader to stay engaged. We’ll discuss this further in Chapter 11, “Hit Send with Confidence.”

The length of your paragraphs contributes to the overall look of your document. An interesting document uses plenty of white space and occasional headings and subheadings that tell the reader where to find certain information. Here are two examples of layout. Look at each page. Irrespective of content, which simply looks more interesting?

If eyeballing the page doesn’t work for you, try to keep your paragraphs to about five sentences. If your sentences aren’t too long, your paragraphs won’t be either. Your document will be more reader-friendly.