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Test your basic knowledge |
Technical Writing Style Vocab
Start Test
Study First
Subject
:
writing-skills
Instructions:
Answer 42 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can
study here
.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.
This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Based on opinions.
No Actor in Subject
Redundant Pair
Objective descriptions
Subjective descriptions
2. Assumes a chain of events will happen - even thought the evidence does not support the entire chain.
Cultural Idiom
Slippery slopes
Missing the point
Strawmen
3. Can take 2 forms; citing a person who is not an expert in the subject being discussed or failing to describe the reasons that support an expert's opinion.
Appeals to authority
No Actor in Subject
Cultural Idiom
Unity
4. Be brief and to the point - use active voice - avoid redundancy
Conciseness
Post hoc
Negative Language
Passive Voice
5. Slang - cliches - or brand names that belong only to a specific group or culture: e.g.: 'I went home and crashed -' becomes 'I went home and napped -' 'Band-Aids' becomes 'bandages -' 'White Out' becomes 'liquid paper' or 'correction fluid -' etc....
Negative Language
Nominalization
Ad populum
Cultural Idiom
6. Have someone else read your document
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
False dichotomies
Tu quoque
Accuracy
7. 'To the people' argument relies on public opinion to support a position
Missing the point
Faulty Word Choice
Negative Language
Ad populum
8. Three or more nouns together can slow reading. To fix: break these long noun phrases up by adding in articles or prepositions.
Slippery slopes
Begging the question
Unity
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
9. This style error occurs when the person or entity performing the action is not in the subject position of the sentence. To fix: move the actor (what performs the action) to the subject position in the sentence.
Accessibility
No Actor in Subject
Tu quoque
False dichotomies
10. Often found with the word 'not.' Tell readers what they need to know and what they should be doing instead of focusing on what they should not be doing: e.g. - 'You do not not have homework -' is more difficult to read and understand than - 'You have
Parallel construction
Negative Language
Clarity
Subjective descriptions
11. Based on facts - not opinions.
Red herrings
Emphasis Problem
Offensive Language
Objective descriptions
12. The extent to which the elements of a document develop a shared idea.
Redundant Modifier
Clarity
Emphasis Problem
Unity
13. Words that the average 8th grade level reader and below would not be familiar with. Any jargon from a specific field. Use sparingly in technical documents unless you know your audience has the necessary vocabulary. Example: 'Pursuant to our conversat
Redundant Pair
Slippery slopes
Inflated Language
Passive Voice
14. To base a conclusion on a piece of information that is essentially a restatement of the conclusion or to ignore flaws in a core piece of information.
Inflated Language
Nominalization
Begging the question
Non-Specific Language
15. 'You too' attacks points out the hypocrisy of a person who supports a dissenting position.
Tu quoque
Audience recognition
Faulty Word Choice
Nominalization
16. 1. Words that can have more than one meaning in the context of the sentence: e.g. - 'The teacher was mad -' --was she insane or angry? 2. Typos - misspellings - homonyms used incorrectly.
Nominalization
Missing the point
Strawmen
Faulty Word Choice
17. To draw a conclusion that is more extreme than the evidence supports
Audience recognition
False dichotomies
Missing the point
Unity
18. A conclusion based on a sample size that is too small or limited.
Hasty generalizations
Ad populum
Cultural Idiom
Inflated Language
19. Unnecessary intensifier or explainer that is already implied by one (or more) of the words: e.g. - 'very unique -' 'free gift -' 'green in color -' 'round in shape -' etc... To fix: remove extra words.
Tu quoque
Redundant Modifier
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
Clarity
20. Page layout - make headings larger than body text - use highlighting techniques
False dichotomies
Accuracy
Cultural Idiom
Accessibility
21. When sentences are not tied together using the old/new information principle. To fix: New information comes at the end of a sentence to introduce the new idea. Once a writer has introduced the new info - then it becomes old information and is availab
Ad populum
Tie-In Problem
Audience recognition
Audience recognition
22. Are built when a watered down or misrepresented version of one side is described and then attacked.
Strawmen
Misplaced Modifier
Red herrings
Audience recognition
23. Words that pad a sentence without adding anything of value: e.g.: 'due to the fact that' is unnecessary when writers have 'because' to use. 'In order to' does not need the 'in order' portion to communicate the same message.
Subjective descriptions
Unnecessary Words
Begging the question
Accessibility
24. Technical information that your readers are unfamiliar with should come at the end of sentences. Sentences that open with unfamiliar technical terms slow readers.
Misplaced Modifier
Negative Language
Tech Term Placement
Accuracy
25. Two words with the same meaning joined by 'and': e.g. - 'each and every -' 'full and complete -' 'null and void -' 'first and foremost -' etc.... To fix: removed extra words.
Slippery slopes
No Actor in Subject
Redundant Pair
Misplaced Modifier
26. 'Against the person' arguments attacks a person who supports a dissenting position - rather than the position.
Subject/Verb Separation
Ad hominem
Tie-In Problem
Tu quoque
27. The mistaken view that there are only 2 possible solutions to a problem.
Conciseness
False dichotomies
No Actor in Subject
Non-Specific Language
28. Consider the needs of the reader
Audience recognition
Clarity
Hasty generalizations
Dangling Modifier
29. The voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb. This style error hides credit for ideas and can often indicate sloppy research. Passive Voice Formula: ('to be' v
Appeals to authority
Passive Voice
Post hoc
Subject/Verb Separation
30. A tangential issue that is addressed in order to distract the readers from the main problem
Red herrings
Begging the question
Missing the point
Tech Term Placement
31. Spell check
Ad hominem
Slippery slopes
Objective descriptions
Accuracy
32. Assumes a casual relationship between 2 events.
Begging the question
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
Post hoc
Hasty generalizations
33. A modifiying phrase or clause that does not sensibly modify any word or words in a sentence. Usually the actor is missing from the sentence: e.g. - 'Reading a book - the black cat crawled onto my lap.' The cat was not reading the book. To fix: add an
Tech Term Placement
Dangling Modifier
Inflated Language
Non-Specific Language
34. When the writer puts unimportant information at the end of a sentence. The end of a sentence is the last thing the reader remembers and only important information belongs there. Avoid ending sentences with phrases such as - 'however -' 'according to
Ad populum
Emphasis Problem
Slippery slopes
Clarity
35. Language that is not clear or detailed. Non-specific language often related to numbers and times: soon - few - many - several. Non-specific language can include 'it' if it begins a sentence or is without clear prior reference.
Non-Specific Language
Hasty generalizations
Subjective descriptions
Redundant Pair
36. A word or phrase apparently modifying an unintended word because of its placement in a sentence: e.g. - 'when young' in 'when young - circuses appeal to all of us' or 'wearing a ball gown' in the sentence - 'She sat on the lap of a fat man wearing a
Misplaced Modifier
Non-Specific Language
Offensive Language
Audience recognition
37. Use personal pronouns
Audience recognition
Faulty Word Choice
Unity
Appeals to authority
38. Most important trait - Have an understandable message - avoid vague words - answer the reader's questions
Offensive Language
Misplaced Modifier
Missing the point
Clarity
39. This issue makes sentences more difficult to read for the average person. Anytime a writer places words between the subject and the verb - the writer is slowing the action of the sentence. Use sparingly and only when necessary. Subject/Verb Separatio
Tu quoque
Emphasis Problem
Subject/Verb Separation
Unity
40. A series of actions - a list of several things - a bullet list for example - or a sentence that is divided into two parts - in these cases when a main verb control several phrases that follow it - each of those phrases has to be set up in the same w
Accessibility
Post hoc
Parallel construction
Tie-In Problem
41. Language that alienates a specific group or gender: e.g - 'Policeman' becomes 'Police Officer -' 'man-made' becomes 'synthetic -' 'autistic children' becomes 'children with autism -' etc...
Slippery slopes
No Actor in Subject
Conciseness
Offensive Language
42. A verb acting as a noun and hiding the main action of the sentence. Find all the nouns in a sentence - then see if they could be verbs - if they can - they are nominalizations. Use common sense to change all the nominalizations you can without changi
Missing the point
Accessibility
Dangling Modifier
Nominalization