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(U) Write Right: Is That Adjective or Adverb Really Necessary?
(repost)
FROM:
of the Reporting Board (S12A)
Run Date: 12/16/2004
(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.
(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) This article first appeared on December 1st.
"(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