| |
| |
| Preface | |
| |
| |
| Introduction | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Million-Dollar Memo | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Secret of the Million-Dollar Memo | |
| |
| |
| How to communicate, not just inform | |
| |
| |
| How find--and fill--your reader's needs | |
| |
| |
| What's so important about a memo? | |
| |
| |
| |
| Changing Your Approach | |
| |
| |
| To write a memo: the old way | |
| |
| |
| To write a memo: the new way | |
| |
| |
| The "need" test | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Mechanics of Making a Memo | |
| |
| |
| To write--or to dictate | |
| |
| |
| The word processor as memo producer | |
| |
| |
| Appearance is everything--at first | |
| |
| |
| |
| The $2.98 Memo | |
| |
| |
| |
| A Typical $2.98 Memo | |
| |
| |
| |
| Business Language | |
| |
| |
| Why people use it | |
| |
| |
| How business language holds you back | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Enemies of a Million-Dollar Memo | |
| |
| |
| |
| How to Lighten Your Language | |
| |
| |
| |
| Forsake Phony Fancies | |
| |
| |
| |
| No More Nounery | |
| |
| |
| Noun clusters | |
| |
| |
| Verbs turned into nouns | |
| |
| |
| Nouns turned into verbs | |
| |
| |
| Why we fall victim to nounery | |
| |
| |
| How to replace nounery | |
| |
| |
| |
| Turn the Passive Voice Around | |
| |
| |
| Why the passive voice doesn't work | |
| |
| |
| How to avoid the passive voice | |
| |
| |
| |
| Weed Out Wasted Words | |
| |
| |
| |
| Clear Up Glaring Grammar Gaffes | |
| |
| |
| Unclear agreement | |
| |
| |
| Unparallel constructions | |
| |
| |
| Comma blunders | |
| |
| |
| |
| Techniques of a Million-Dollar Memo | |
| |
| |
| |
| Phase 1: Think Like Your Reader | |
| |
| |
| Language is not a common ground | |
| |
| |
| How to get into your reader's head | |
| |
| |
| |
| Phase 2: Write From the Right Side of Your Brain | |
| |
| |
| Writing versus editing | |
| |
| |
| How to write freely | |
| |
| |
| How to learn through writing | |
| |
| |
| A writing exercise | |
| |
| |
| Writing the new way | |
| |
| |
| |
| Phase 3: Switch to the Left Side, and Edit | |
| |
| |
| Shaping your manuscript | |
| |
| |
| Finding the unifying force | |
| |
| |
| Meeting your reader's needs | |
| |
| |
| Effective endings | |
| |
| |
| Making your memo good to read--two checklists | |
| |
| |
| |
| Tone--Your Attitude, in Writing | |
| |
| |
| How to identify the tone of your memos | |
| |
| |
| How to control your tone | |
| |
| |
| |
| Style--You in Your Writing | |
| |
| |
| Five techniques for letting your style shine through | |
| |
| |
| |
| Punctuation--The Voice Behind the Writing | |
| |
| |
| Commas | |
| |
| |
| The enclosers | |
| |
| |
| Brackets | |
| |
| |
| Parentheses | |
| |
| |
| Quotation marks | |
| |
| |
| The connectors | |
| |
| |
| The semicolon and dash | |
| |
| |
| The colon | |
| |
| |
| The apostrophe | |
| |
| |
| The hyphen | |
| |
| |
| |
| Spelling--Write It Right | |
| |
| |
| |
| Prepositions--Little Words Mean a Lot | |
| |
| |
| Preposition combos that cause confusion | |
| |
| |
| Words that take only one preposition | |
| |
| |
| |
| Metaphors--Don't Mix Them | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Follow-up--The Final Flourish | |
| |
| |
| |
| Other Applications of Your Million-Dollar Memo Skills | |
| |
| |
| |
| How to Write a Nicely Spoken Letter | |
| |
| |
| |
| How to Write a Letter for a Job | |
| |
| |
| Making your own professional profile | |
| |
| |
| Your letter of application--the gentle art of persuasion | |
| |
| |
| |
| How to Write a Complaint Letter That Gets Results | |
| |
| |
| Write a mad-rag | |
| |
| |
| Complain with style: seven rules | |
| |
| |
| Putting the rules into practice | |
| |
| |
| What to do if you still get no response | |
| |
| |
| |
| How--and When--to Write for a Raise | |
| |
| |
| Making your value known | |
| |
| |
| Putting it in writing | |
| |
| |
| The power of enthusiasm | |
| |
| |
| Stating your needs | |
| |
| |
| |
| How to Write a Technical Memo | |
| |
| |
| Technical booby traps | |
| |
| |
| The search for elegant simplicity--in four steps | |
| |
| |
| |
| How to Write a Highly Readable Technical Report | |
| |
| |
| The pyramid of value | |
| |
| |
| The title | |
| |
| |
| Recommendations | |
| |
| |
| Table of contents | |
| |
| |
| Findings | |
| |
| |
| Discussion | |
| |
| |
| A discussion checklist | |
| |
| |
| Common problems with reports | |
| |
| |
| The appendix | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Million-Dollar Method in Brief | |
| |
| |
| |
| Think Differently | |
| |
| |
| Think: I want to talk to someone | |
| |
| |
| Think: I want to communicate | |
| |
| |
| Think like your reader | |
| |
| |
| |
| Write Differently | |
| |
| |
| Write freely and ceaselessly | |
| |
| |
| Find your unifying force | |
| |
| |
| |
| Make It Clear and Simple | |
| |
| |
| Write what you mean | |
| |
| |
| Use action verbs | |
| |
| |
| Use verbs instead of nouns | |
| |
| |
| Use prepositions instead of prepositional phrases | |
| |
| |
| Write English | |
| |
| |
| Avoid redundancies | |
| |
| |
| Cut out cliches | |
| |
| |
| The final check | |
| |
| |
| Epilogue: Language for the Fun of It | |