- vocabulary and form of words,
- tone,
- format, and
- tense.
Vocabulary and Form of Words
Use consistent vocabulary—strong, accurate, definitive terms—in informative or instructional text so your readers know what to expect and are not guessing about a term. Too many synonyms can confuse your reader, and sometimes, synonyms are similar but not exact. Also, when using synonyms, you may run out of strong words and use trite synonyms—nice, great, strong, etc.—which damage your credibility through nonspecific language. Using synonyms also complicates your ability to apply an old/new pattern, which improves the flow of your narrative by creating natural transitions between sentences. (I address the old/new pattern in a previous blog post.)Frequently, my students complain that using consistent vocabulary—using a term over and over in the text—sounds redundant and immature, as if the writer has a limited vocabulary. They may use pronouns (and sometimes, they create modifier issues by using vague or misplaced pronouns) in lieu of a term to create variance in the text. Variance is acceptable, but you must ensure that the reader can follow your thought process, and consistency in your vocabulary will help your reader.
Tone
Use a consistent tone in your text to present yourself professionally and to not distract your reader. If you begin with a formal tone, using technical words and a professional tone, and then change your tone or add "noise"—unanticipated humor, informal language, slang, inappropriate content (like a story in the middle of instructions—you damage your credibility and confuse your reader.Format
Use a consistent format when presenting your information. Format is focused more on design elements—e.g., font type, size, bold/italics, and inclusion of rules under headings—but format helps the reader to navigate through the document, understand the hierarchy of the text (e.g., headings versus subheadings), and find information faster. Consistent format allows the reader to understand your organization and also makes your document appear more credible and professional. Have you ever seen a Web page that had headings in different colors or sizes? And if you noticed the inconsistency, did you create an opinion about the page or the writer? Format needs to be consistent (and aesthetically pleasing, a discussion beyond the scope of this post) so the reader can focus on what you are saying rather than on apparent errors in your format.(For consistent format, use a cascading style sheet for Web pages or a template for your blog. You can also create a style sheet in Microsoft Word. These style sheets allow you to apply a previously established format rather than guessing each time you need to format text, an image, a caption, or another element of your document.)
Tense
Consistency in tense is necessary to accurately communicate when an action has happened, is happening, or will happen. Thus, consistent tenses affect the information that you share with your reader. American's struggle with verb tenses, probably because writers do not understand them. My students tell me that they get confused when we begin to talk about imperfect, conditional, perfect, past, present, future,... and they confuse "voice" with "tense."Tense is related to time, so set your mind on a time and be consistent in presenting that time. APA style recommends that reference to authors is always in past tense because the writer has already published the intellectual property we are referencing. Keeping that in mind has helped me to use tense more consistently in my writing.
Also, focusing on the purpose of a particular part of a document—e.g., future for a timeline in a proposal, past in the reporting of a progress report, present in discussing opinion in a blog post—can help you keep your tense consistent.
