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(U) Write Right: Is That Adjective or Adverb Really Necessary?
FROM:
of the Reporting Board (S12A)
Run Date: 12/01/2004
(U//FOUO) Those of you who have taken RPTG3290: SIGINT
Journalism Workshop probably still have copies of the Tight Writing
unit . The governing principle can be summed up in this excerpt:
"SIGINT reporters must approach their jobs with the same frame of
mind as sign writers or telegram drafters, striving to get the
message across immediately. Our products make up a small
percentage of our customers' daily information deluge. If we want
them to be read, we must immediately capture the readers'
attention, hold their attention, and convey the message, i.e. the
intelligence."
(U) The purpose of today's column is twofold: to urge writers both
to be concise, and to examine their writing for unconscious cliches.
Is that adverb really needed? In other words, is it necessary for
the reader's understanding? For instance, was the effort "basically
fruitless" or was it "fruitless"? What does "basically" add? Nothing.
Basically nothing. "Fundamentally," "essentially, "basically," and
"successfully "are some of the most-used superfluous adverbs in all
writing today, not just reporting.
SERIES:
(U) Write Right '04
1. Write Right : Spellcheck: The DoubleEdged Sword
2. Write Right : Don't
Change 'Happy' to
'Glad'
3. Write Right : Is That
Adjective or Adverb
Really Necessary?
(U) We here needn't consider "major motion pictures" (does
anyone make minor ones anymore?), but we could probably save a
considerable amount of bandwidth if everyone who stuck in a
"successfully" or "successful" stopped and thought about it.
"Unsuccessful attempt" is one of the few appropriate uses, and
that's in the negative. "The test was successfully completed" is no
better than "the test was completed"; if you want to convey
something about the test RESULTS, you need a different term.
"The test was completed without delay, with satisfactory results,"
for instance. (We have had a computer programmer argue for "the
system successfully failed over," but we dismissed that as
sophistry...or perhaps jargon.)
(U) We hope all our readers had a Happy and Successful
Thanksgiving!
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108