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Re:When did writing in major newspapers become so bad? by prepend on Monday March 08, 2021 @12:07PM (#26388177)
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.

Re:When did writing in major newspapers become so bad? by kevan on Monday March 08, 2021 @12:32PM (#26388627)
>>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.

Re:When did writing in major newspapers become so bad? by alisonkisk on Monday March 08, 2021 @12:45PM (#26388864)
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.

Re:When did writing in major newspapers become so bad? by kevan on Monday March 08, 2021 @01:45PM (#26389783)
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.

Re:When did writing in major newspapers become so bad? by sanderjd on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @11:31AM (#26400425)
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.