Good writing is good business.  Simple, straightforward writing saves time, creates good faith, and prevents expensive misunderstandings.  But why is it so hard to achieve?

This incisive guide suggests ways to think about writing -- what it should look like and sound like, as well as what it should accomplish -- that can simplify how writers choose to express their ideas.  It examines the reasons why many businesspeople with good skills tend to write strange, needlessly complicated sentences -- and shows them how to break the habit.

Plain Style offers 35 practical techniques that foster simplicity, conciseness, and emphasis.  For example, readers will learn how to:

• Write with verbs instead of nouns
• Decide when to use active versus passive constructions
• Recognize wordy phrases and redundant expressions
• Distinguish the uses of "that" and "which"
• Put modifiers in the right place
• Use idiomatic expressions

"Finally, a book that looks at the English language with humor and compassion, and brings us back to what we really meant to say."
Marcia B. Riley, Director of Training and Development
Student Loan Marketing Association

"Call us naive, but when we pick up a book on how to improve your business writing, it had better be pretty damn well written. And Plain Style: Techniques for Simple, Concise, Emphatic Business Writing is. Moreover, the author's common-sense attitude toward writing is refreshing. . . . If you're training fellow workers to be better writers, borrow from it; if you want to sharpen your own writing, depend on it. Plain Style won't let you down."
Curriculum Review

"Here's a throughly practical guide to better communication."
Orange County Register

"The author, in an exemplary plain style that's clear, forceful, persuasive, and humorous, explains how to write for a business audience. He hacks away at the thicket of phony "rules" you may have picked up over the years . . . and he shows how clear, concise, and "emphatic" writing makes you more effective on the job. This excellent short guide to writing will serve you well."
Soundview Executive Book Summaries

"Plain Style is a fine addition to any memo writer's reference shelf."
Booklist

"Lauchman, who teaches business writing to corporations, adopts a low-key, practical, sometimes iconoclastic approach to the writing that people are required to do every day "where money changes hands." He talks in terms of "the order of words" rather than of dangling participles and misplaced modifiers. The many examples are often humorous and the comparisons excellent. . . . Business writers will enjoy and benefit from Plain Style."
Library Journal