Judy Gregory, Author at Judy Gregory Writer

Note to entrepreneurs: ‘educator’ and ‘community’ are not parallel

Parallelism is one of those delicious concepts that help to mark professional writers from amateurs It’s a writing tool that professional writers notice and hunt for, but which readers rarely see It’s part of the invisibility of good writing An editor can improve parallelism and receive almost instant praise from a client: ‘I don’t know what you did, but it reads so much better now’; ‘That’s exactly what I wanted to say, but you’ve worked your magic on it!’Parallelism is...

Anticipate audience expectations

The idea that communicators need to anticipate and meet the expectations of their audiences isn’t new Communication has conventional forms and, by following the conventions and meeting audience expectations, communicators can minimise errors and increase accuracy Audiences learn the ‘communication script’ that is relevant for situations, and expect that script to be followed This seems like a simple enough guideline, but it can be difficult to get it right Sometimes...

Self-publish to your heart’s content, but please pay a proof-reader

We’re all publishers today Nearly every service provider is in the business of creating content and self-publishing as a way to lift their profileThe rush to publish creates clutter, and for many readers triggers what Wurman aptly names ‘information anxiety’ With so much information available, how do readers choose content with value And how do self-publishers create something that stands above the clutter and really provides useful contentOf course, one strategy to achieve...

More or Less, More or Fewer, Fewer or Less …

The distinction between less and fewer often causes confusionThe rule that’s most often given in style guides is to use ‘less’ for quantity and 'fewer’ for number Easier said than done!In 'Troublesome Words', Bill Bryson gives a different rule, and one that I think is easier to apply: use ‘less’ with singular nouns and 'fewer' with plural nouns (so less alcohol, but fewer drinks; less time, fewer appointments)A neat illustration of the less vs fewer problem is a...

Sentencing

One of my writerly pastimes involves pulling apart interesting sentences I like to think about the meaning of sentences, and the choices that writers make Here’s a sentence from a box of Kellogg’s breakfast cereal: ‘The GI or Glycemic Index is a classification based on how quickly or slowly a carbohydrate is absorbed as glucose into the bloodstream’ It's a single sentence that sits alone on the box, under a GI logo Surely there must be a simpler way to...

Silly signs

There's nothing quite like a misfit sign to remind me of how much fun words can be Like this one at Bribie Island McDonald's: 'Parking is reserved for McCafe Drive Thru only'Maybe I'm missing something: I always thought that parking wasn't meant to be part of the drive through...

Alienating an audience: The risk of a ‘me’ focus

I attended a function last night where a speaker alienated a large group of the audience It got me thinking about the way that the focus of a message can make or break a communicator's connection with the people they want to reachIt comes down to a simple question: is this communication about me (and what I want to say to you), or is it about you (and what you would like to hear)Last night's function was a school concert, and the speaker in question was a spokesperson for the church where the...

Infographics as part of journalism

I'm currently enjoying browsing through 'The Best American Infographics 2014', introduced by Nate Silver (Mariner Books)I'm appreciating the way that each artist has put together information in an accessible and quickly understandable way Many of the infographics are about topics that wouldn't normally capture my attention, but put together in this volume they're captivating meMy current favourites are the overview of email's evolution, the depiction of caffeine content in drinks, the...

Text and design need to work together

It's one of the most common bits of advice for writers and designers: make sure that the writer's words and the designer's design work well togetherWriters/editors and graphic designers can't work in isolation from each other They need to collaborate to ensure that the writer's words make sense with the designer's layoutThis particularly seems to apply to headings The example below appeared in my local newspaper this week I guess that the writer has written a complete sentence: 'Join us for a...