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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. 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
Objective descriptions
Tie-In Problem
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
Missing the point
2. 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
Unity
Strawmen
Accessibility
Negative Language
3. 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.
Redundant Pair
Parallel construction
Red herrings
Dangling Modifier
4. Consider the needs of the reader
Ad hominem
Audience recognition
Unity
Unnecessary Words
5. Technical information that your readers are unfamiliar with should come at the end of sentences. Sentences that open with unfamiliar technical terms slow readers.
Tie-In Problem
Tech Term Placement
Slippery slopes
Accessibility
6. A conclusion based on a sample size that is too small or limited.
Begging the question
Parallel construction
Slippery slopes
Hasty generalizations
7. Based on facts - not opinions.
Objective descriptions
Ad hominem
Begging the question
Passive Voice
8. To draw a conclusion that is more extreme than the evidence supports
Conciseness
Ad hominem
Post hoc
Missing the point
9. 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...
Dangling Modifier
Tu quoque
Offensive Language
Missing the point
10. Are built when a watered down or misrepresented version of one side is described and then attacked.
Appeals to authority
Strawmen
Conciseness
Post hoc
11. Assumes a casual relationship between 2 events.
Post hoc
Conciseness
Dangling Modifier
Accuracy
12. Page layout - make headings larger than body text - use highlighting techniques
Audience recognition
Misplaced Modifier
Accessibility
Redundant Modifier
13. Most important trait - Have an understandable message - avoid vague words - answer the reader's questions
Audience recognition
Unity
Dangling Modifier
Clarity
14. Assumes a chain of events will happen - even thought the evidence does not support the entire chain.
Slippery slopes
Tu quoque
Conciseness
Audience recognition
15. 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
Slippery slopes
Misplaced Modifier
Negative Language
Faulty Word Choice
16. 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
False dichotomies
Unnecessary Words
Subject/Verb Separation
Red herrings
17. 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.
Accessibility
Emphasis Problem
Non-Specific Language
Misplaced Modifier
18. 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
Tech Term Placement
No Actor in Subject
Ad hominem
Emphasis Problem
19. Have someone else read your document
Hasty generalizations
Accuracy
No Actor in Subject
Ad hominem
20. 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.
Begging the question
Tech Term Placement
Unnecessary Words
No Actor in Subject
21. 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.
Audience recognition
Inflated Language
Redundant Modifier
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
22. 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.
Begging the question
Appeals to authority
Misplaced Modifier
Clarity
23. 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.
Clarity
Subjective descriptions
Missing the point
No Actor in Subject
24. Be brief and to the point - use active voice - avoid redundancy
Conciseness
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
Post hoc
Non-Specific Language
25. Based on opinions.
Faulty Word Choice
Audience recognition
Subjective descriptions
Emphasis Problem
26. 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
Parallel construction
Objective descriptions
Accessibility
Passive Voice
27. Spell check
Non-Specific Language
Accuracy
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
Audience recognition
28. 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
Parallel construction
Nominalization
Unity
Non-Specific Language
29. 'To the people' argument relies on public opinion to support a position
Ad populum
Negative Language
Dangling Modifier
Unnecessary Words
30. 'Against the person' arguments attacks a person who supports a dissenting position - rather than the position.
Accuracy
Accessibility
Ad hominem
Nominalization
31. Use personal pronouns
Negative Language
Emphasis Problem
Audience recognition
Non-Specific Language
32. 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
Hasty generalizations
Audience recognition
Parallel construction
Negative Language
33. The mistaken view that there are only 2 possible solutions to a problem.
Accessibility
Emphasis Problem
Clarity
False dichotomies
34. 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.
False dichotomies
Unity
No Actor in Subject
Unnecessary Words
35. 'You too' attacks points out the hypocrisy of a person who supports a dissenting position.
Hasty generalizations
Tu quoque
Clarity
Accuracy
36. 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....
Cultural Idiom
Parallel construction
Appeals to authority
Redundant Modifier
37. 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
Objective descriptions
Redundant Modifier
Inflated Language
Dangling Modifier
38. The extent to which the elements of a document develop a shared idea.
Unity
Accuracy
Clarity
Slippery slopes
39. A tangential issue that is addressed in order to distract the readers from the main problem
Red herrings
Dangling Modifier
Parallel construction
Non-Specific Language
40. 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
Inflated Language
Hasty generalizations
Red herrings
Post hoc
41. Three or more nouns together can slow reading. To fix: break these long noun phrases up by adding in articles or prepositions.
Audience recognition
Begging the question
Ad populum
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)
42. 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.
Accuracy
Faulty Word Choice
Red herrings
Stacked Noun (Noun + Noun + Noun)