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