Getting your writing to sound natural is a challenge that even native English speakers can struggle with, since the vocabulary and tonality we use in writing is often profoundly different from when we are speaking! Perhaps this is due to colloquial English being meant to deliver intent quickly and efficiently (and because we are prone to running out of breath)… whereas we can afford to be a little more long-winded and use more elegant sounding words in writing.
However, if we tried to directly convert how we speak onto paper (or vice versa), the results may not always appear natural. So how do we make writing sound natural without sacrificing on meaning? Join Wordsmith and let’s get editing through the power of sound!
Be proud to read aloud
In Neil Taylor’s book Brilliant Business Writing: How to Inspire, Engage and Persuade Through Words, Taylor brings up how important it is to identify words that are only intended for writing – like ensure for example. “You’d never say in a million years, ‘Oh, by the way, darling, if you’re going to the shops later, can you ensure that you pick up a pint of milk?’,” Taylor writes. Indeed, you’d have trouble finding anyone who intentionally uses ensure as part of their daily vocabulary when make sure is a much more natural sounding alternative.
Which brings us to the trick of reading out aloud.
“The most useful thing you can do to test if your writing is working or not is to read it out,” explains Taylor. “Out loud, if possible, but if you work in an open-plan office and that feels just a wee bit embarrassing, you can train yourself to do the same thing in your head. After all, that’s what your readers will be doing too.”
If your reading rhythm feels off, it could be because you used a writing-only word. Here are a few of the culprits that we could think of and their easier counterparts:
· Ensure – make sure
· Thus / therefore / nevertheless – so
· Distinct – special or unique
· Philanthropy – charity
· Admissible – allowed
· Approximately – about
· Endeavour – try
· Inception – beginning
· Thereafter – afterwards
According to Taylor, a lot of the problems we have with writing-only words is because of their unfriendly pronunciation. He brings up the simple test of asking various people what their favourite words were and why – the most common reasons being “the rhythm [of the word], the “way they feel in their mouth”, or “the shape it makes their face feel”.
It’s a little bizarre to have to think about the tangible aspects of our words, but words that are phonologically pleasant can and will affect how readers experience your writing – for example, words like no or taco are both easy to read and pronounce with clear vowel and consonant sounds, whereas anemone or colonel don’t follow conventional English pronunciations and can be confusing to read (especially for non-native English speakers). A bad experience filled with tough words will often result in them indirectly associating their struggle with whatever you are trying to sell!
Aside from the pronunciation of your words, reading aloud is also a good gauge of your punctuation (or lack thereof). If you start feeling out of breath at any point, it’s a clear sign your sentences are too long. “The important thing to remember here is that punctuation was invented for actors, to tell them where to breathe when they were looking at a script,” comments Taylor. “Keep that in your head and you can’t go very far wrong, really.” Use en dashes and commas to put breathers into your sentence, or better yet, split your points into independent sentences – bonus: standalone points are visually more impactful too!
Avoiding boredom
Beyond word optimisation and pacing, reading out aloud can also help you identify signs of boredom. How often have you read something and you find your tone shift from neutral to deadpan, frustrated or even trail off into silence? This can happen subconsciously when you find the material tedious to read – be it logical incoherencies, the choice of topic and/or the presentation.
The best way to do so is to have someone else read your writing out loud. If you notice the tonality change as they read, mark it down and ask for their opinion on that specific section. It’s important to ask because not all readers pay attention to their tone – this may help you better understand what they dislike and why your writing isn’t captivating enough!
On the subject of boredom, Taylor believes lists to a major cause of lost interest. “Lists are usually, by their nature, pretty boring. So if you have more than two or three things listed in a sentence – especially if each thing in the list is made up of a few long words – it becomes incredibly difficult to sustain your attention and your interest,” explains Taylor.
Instead of cramming a bunch of objects into your sentence, arrange your list as a series of bullet points. “Then, if it is boring, at least people can see there’s a list coming and skip it, if that’s what they want to do.”
Boredom can also arise from when you have multiple sentences of the same length. This is because the reading rhythm becomes repetitive and robotic. Like a radio broadcast on repeat and there’s nothing the reader can do about it. It’ll make your audience want to stop reading and they’ll probably dislike you.
The solution? Weave together both short and longer sentences! As long as the pacing makes sense and the delivery of your points aren’t affected, always aim for sentence variety.
But is it believable?
Have you ever put on an uncanny voice while reading? According to Taylor, we do this subconsciously whenever we are reading something that we don’t believe or feel disconnected with. He dubs this “the radio advertising voice” – the voice of someone who would write like that.
We often put on such a voice for corporate ads, because they often exaggerate how great the savings are and pressure you to check out their deals are now. Exclamation marks and overenthusiasm cause the same effect as well. We all know the person writing the ad is probably a little dead inside, but they are forced to put on a mask of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, modern consumers are inherently cynical and sharp at discerning whether ads sound genuine or not.
“The key to finding out if you’ve got the tone right is to keep reading what you’ve written out,” advises Taylor. “If you can read it out and still sound like you, you’ve got it. If there’s a squirm in your voice, you need to go back and hone it until you’ve got something that feels more authentic.” You could always ask a colleague to help you out as well (ideally someone who is unfamiliar with what you’re working on) – having an objective pair of eyes is really handy in such cases.
No: We’re passing on the incredible savings to you this Christmas with Vouis Luitton’s 12 days of ultimate Christmas deals!
Yes: Celebrate the festivities with Vouis Luitton’s 12 days of Christmas specials
Editing out loud can feel bizarre at first, but we think it’s a vital step that gets overlooked. It might seem counterproductive to also have to think about the effects of pronunciation and rhythm while editing, but you’d be surprised how many consumers value comfortable reading experiences. Remember, you can’t truly tell how a sentence presents itself without physically pronouncing the words – if you are in a workspace with other people, a whisper will do just fine!