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It’s a good question and one I don’t know how to answer absolutely. The reason why I think it most generally applies to “business writing” is because this area

It’s a good question and one I don’t know how to answer absolutely. The reason why I think it most generally applies to “business writing” is because this area is most likely to value efficiency over others. I don’t think it’s meant to say business folk should write like Hemingway, but that Hemingway is the most popular writer in this style.

kevan 6y ago
>>this area is most likely to value efficiency Agreed. The general style values simple sentences which helps reading speed and comprehension, especially for audiences that don't share your native language. And it reduces fluff. Adverbs, for example, generally don't help make a point in business writing - data does. See the example in that last sentence? I snuck a premise instead of stating it as a hypothesis or providing data to support it. At best that causes confusion for the reader and at worst it can mislead people that aren't carefully watching out for pitfalls like that.
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  What was the sneaky premise? A premise is a hypothesis. We don't explicitly tag all our premises; it's up to the reader to decide if they agree with the premises.
  - kevan 6y ago
    Fair, it wasn't a great example. >We don't explicitly tag all our premises True but we should aim to tag more of them in business writing. It's helpful to clearly state them so 1. You as the writer are crystal clear on the assumptions you're making, and 2. if there's any disagreement on premises you can resolve it before you spend any time discussing which course of action to take.
sanderjd 6y ago
But my quibble is that I don't think Hemingway valued efficiency. It would be much more efficient to write "There was a man in the hospital who had lost his reproductive organs and this resulted in a tragically failed romance" but that is not how he wrote the story, because it's bad literature. But if someone at work asked me to write them an email about it, that's what I would write, because it's much more efficient than a whole novel.

kevan 6y ago

>>this area is most likely to value efficiency Agreed. The general style values simple sentences which helps reading speed and comprehension, especially for audiences that don't share your native language. And it reduces fluff. Adverbs, for example, generally don't help make a point in business writing - data does. See the example in that last sentence? I snuck a premise instead of stating it as a hypothesis or providing data to support it. At best that causes confusion for the reader and at worst it can mislead people that aren't carefully watching out for pitfalls like that.

alisonkisk 6y ago
What was the sneaky premise? A premise is a hypothesis. We don't explicitly tag all our premises; it's up to the reader to decide if they agree with the premises.
- kevan 6y ago
  Fair, it wasn't a great example. >We don't explicitly tag all our premises True but we should aim to tag more of them in business writing. It's helpful to clearly state them so 1. You as the writer are crystal clear on the assumptions you're making, and 2. if there's any disagreement on premises you can resolve it before you spend any time discussing which course of action to take.

sanderjd 6y ago

But my quibble is that I don't think Hemingway valued efficiency. It would be much more efficient to write "There was a man in the hospital who had lost his reproductive organs and this resulted in a tragically failed romance" but that is not how he wrote the story, because it's bad literature. But if someone at work asked me to write them an email about it, that's what I would write, because it's much more efficient than a whole novel.