The Toolkit of Formal Writing

• Formal logistics reports require precision, objectivity, and measured diplomacy. This section reviews nominalisation, the passive voice, hedging, and cohesive devices to elevate your corporate writing.
• Technique
• Informal Approach
• Formal Equivalent
• Nominalisation
• We reduced costs because we improved asset utilisation.
• Cost reduction stemmed from improved asset utilisation.
• Passive Voice
• Our team achieved strong revenue growth.
• Strong revenue growth was achieved by the operations division.
• Hedging
• High fuel prices will hurt our margins.
• Fuel price volatility may potentially impact operating margins.
• Cohesion
• The former strategy worked well; the latter failed.
• While the former initiative succeeded, the latter underperformed.
• Remember
• Use nominalisation to turn actions into abstract nouns, increasing the density of your analysis.
• Employ the passive voice to shift focus away from the actor and onto the metrics or freight operations.
• Utilise hedging verbs (seem, appear) and modal adverbs (arguably, presumably) to soften claims.
• Ensure logical flow using cohesive markers such as 'respectively', 'that said', and 'conversely'.
• Examples
• It would appear that fleet renewal contributed significantly to cash conversion.
• Strict cost control was maintained throughout the fiscal year.
• Arguably, the quarterly earnings surpassed market expectations in Chicago.
• The respective operating ratios for Boston Logistics and Seattle Freight were 88% and 91%.
• Common mistakes
• We think EBITDA dropped because the market changed.
• It is suggested that EBITDA decreased due to shifting market dynamics.
• Management made a decision to slash capital expenditure.
• A decision was made to reduce capital expenditure.

Complete the sentences

• Substantial improvements in (UTILISE) ____ were recorded across the Dallas terminal network.
• It (SEEM) ____ that the annual report requires further editing before publication.
• Throughout the (FISCAL) ____ , strict financial discipline was maintained by the board.
• Our steady (GROW) ____ can be attributed to robust intermodal contracts.
• A comprehensive review of (CAPITAL) ____ was conducted in Atlanta.
• Arguably, the company (PERFORM) ____ its regional competitors in New York.

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