The Toolkit of Formal Writing

• Formal strategy documents in executive settings require precision, objectivity, and measured tone. Mastering nominalisation, the passive voice, hedging, and cohesion ensures your revenue strategy sounds authoritative yet diplomatic.
• Technique
• Purpose
• Example
• Nominalisation
• Turn actions into abstract concepts to increase formality.
• To allocate resources -> Resource allocation is critical.
• The Passive Voice
• Focus on the process or result rather than the actor.
• We devised the diagnosis -> A rigorous diagnosis was devised.
• Hedging
• Soften claims and express prudent professional caution.
• This will fail -> This would appear to carry certain risks.
• Cohesion
• Connect complex arguments smoothly across paragraphs.
• The former approach yielded results; the latter underperformed.
• Remember
• Convert strong verbs into abstract nouns (e.g., to diagnose -> diagnosis) to elevate executive tone.
• Use the passive voice when the agent is irrelevant or to maintain an objective, corporate standpoint.
• Employ modal verbs of probability and epistemic verbs (seem, tend, appear) to hedge strategic claims.
• Maintain textual flow by referencing prior statements with cohesive devices like 'the former' or 'respectively'.
• Examples
• Rigorous resource allocation was deemed necessary by the executive team in Boston.
• It would appear that the current revenue mix is shifting towards recurring streams.
• The diagnosis was finalised in Chicago, whereas the guiding policy was drafted in Seattle.
• Common mistakes
• We feel that our growth thesis is definitely going to win.
• It could be argued that the growth thesis holds considerable merit.
• Management made a decision to cut costs.
• A decision was made to streamline operational expenditures.

Complete the sentences

• A thorough (diagnose) ____ of the revenue engine was conducted in New York.
• It (appear) ____ that the growth thesis requires immediate revision.
• Precise (allocate) ____ of capital is demanded by the board in London.
• The strategic pillars (articulate) ____ by the sales director during the summit in Austin.
• The former strategy emphasised recurring revenue; (respective) ____ the latter focused on one-off deals.
• It (tend) ____ to suggest that strategic drift has occurred in Manchester.

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