Issues Relating To Style and Tone

• Definition of Style

• Definition of Tone

• Gunning Fog Index

Definition of Style in Professional Communication

Style is the “signature” or “fingerprint” that a writer places on his/her writing by the conscious and unconscious choices that he/she makes in diction, syntax, punctuation, use of images and allusions, and use of ideas; the arrangement, coherence, and emphasis given to these matters also contribute to style.

Style may be categorized as having three major levels: high, middle, and low. Only the middle style is suitable for most professional communication needs. This level of style is usually broken into three sublevels, each directed at one of the major audiences of professional communication:

High middle style for expertsMiddle middle style for managersLow middle style for the public

Definition of Tone in Professional Communication

Tone is the attitude toward the audience and/or subject expressed by a writer, and it contributes to the effect that writing has on the audience.

Tone should, ideally, be neutral toward both audience and subject matter; however, variations in the degree of formality expressed are acceptable in professional communication; i.e., tone may vary from very informal to very formal, depending on audience needs.

Avoid using a tone that creates bias or prejudice toward the audience or subject matter.

The Gunning Fog Index

The Gunning Fog Index, a means of identifying the appropriate audience of a passage of writing, can be calculated using the following method:

1. Take a full passage that is around 100 words (do not omit any sentences) and find the average sentence length (divide the number of words by the number of sentences).

2. Count words with three or more syllables (complex words), not including proper nouns (for example, Djibouti), compound words, words with common suffixes such as -es, -ed, or -ing, or familiar jargon; find the percentage (for example, +13%) of such words in the passage.

3. Add the average sentence length and the percentage of complex words.4. Multiply the result by 0.4, giving a number that equals the number of years

of education needed by a reader to comprehend the passage in question.