{"id":697,"date":"2012-12-02T08:30:55","date_gmt":"2012-12-01T19:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=697"},"modified":"2012-12-02T08:33:02","modified_gmt":"2012-12-01T19:33:02","slug":"the-cat-sat-on-the-mat-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=697","title":{"rendered":"The cat sat on the mat.  Again."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=696\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-696\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-696\" title=\"Tiger\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Tiger-293x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"293\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Tiger-293x300.jpg 293w, https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Tiger.jpg 404w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 293px) 100vw, 293px\" \/><\/a>\u2018It has shrunk!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Yes,\u2019 I told the document\u2019s author.\u00a0 \u2018I removed some of the words and phrases that added nothing to either the substance or the tone.\u00a0 But if you think I have been too severe \u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Umm \u2026 no,\u2019 she said.\u00a0 \u2018It reads better.\u00a0 But it has made it rather short.\u00a0 It\u2019s now only about half as long.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>What is it that leads so many writers of business documents to value the thud factor over clarity and style?\u00a0 Readers of business documents are, in the main, busy people.\u00a0 They have neither the time nor the inclination to struggle through a badly written <em>War and Peace<\/em>.\u00a0 The want simple, succinct documents that are easy to read and easy to understand.<\/p>\n<p>What do I need to know?<\/p>\n<p>Why do I need to know it?<\/p>\n<p>And what do I need to do next?<\/p>\n<p>Phrases like \u2018notwithstanding the aforementioned\u2019 and \u2018in light of the fact that\u2019 seldom add anything useful to answering these questions.\u00a0 But they do encourage readers to start skip-reading.\u00a0 And, once this happens, there is a good chance that the reader may inadvertently skip your key point (or points).<\/p>\n<p>I have said it before, but it\u2019s worth saying it again.\u00a0 If you want your reader to know that the cat sat on the map, simply tell them: The cat sat on the mat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018It has shrunk!\u2019 \u2018Yes,\u2019 I told the document\u2019s author.\u00a0 \u2018I removed some of the words and phrases that added nothing to either the substance or the tone.\u00a0 But if you think I have been too severe \u2026.\u2019 \u2018Umm \u2026 no,\u2019 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=697\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}