Appropriateness and Accuracy

Since practical writing is a technical job, writers should pay attention to both the content and the form of the writing. Content is related to the language used in the writing whereas form refers to the structure of the writing. Apart from the content, the form adopted in practical writing is important. For example, if a Chinese letter is structured wrongly, the writer may be considered uneducated, at least not well-educated. Therefore, the form of practical writing usually gives the first impression to the audience. Whether it is god or not determines the success or failure of the communication.

Then, how to make practical English writing good is a question for language user to address. When we write something practical, we should pay much attention to two main aspects - appropriateness and accuracy. This requires writers to have a general knowledge of pragmatics and linguistics, for appropriateness is related much to pragmatics and accuracy to linguistics. By appropriateness, we mean that what is written should be appropriate. That is to say, the form of language should vary according to different situations. For example, if the writing is a personal letter, the language should be informal; whereas if the the writing is a public document, the language should be formal. Similarly, a fact expressed in a mathematical equation may not be effective in a report addressed to a managerial reader. The same is true of the format of the writing. Practical writing may be wither as long as book or as a slip of note. Which format should be chosen is based on a different situations and purposes.


It is important to make documents appropriate to the goals one has in mind when writing them, the reader's purpose in reading them, and the specific institutional contexts in which they are written and read. All practical writing should also be appropriate to the specific institutional context that motivated its creation. It should not only serve the writer's and the reader's purposes but also conform to the goals and conventions are sometimes clear and explicit. For example, in large companies, the specific goals of various documents, as well as preferred form and style, are often described in company correspondence and style manuals.


By accuracy, we mean that what is written should be accurate and precise. It is, therefore, necessary to cultivate accuracy in practical writing. Accuracy, which is careful conforming language to truth and fact, has three main aspects: document accuracy, stylish accuracy and technical accuracy. Document accuracy refers to to the proper coverage of the topics in appropriate detail. Often an accurate document needs to focus clearly on a problem. Document accuracy is generally cultivated by a clear problem statement and by a preliminary outline. These writing tools help writers focus their writing effort by reducing their data in a way that solves a theoretical or practical problem. In comparison with document accuracy, stylish accuracy concerns the careful use of language to express meaning. Accurate language requires the careful use of paragraph and sentence structure and word choice to describe and analyze the topics effectively. As a writer, one gains command of accuracy by studying the elements of style and by learning to apply those elements to drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. Stylistic accuracy is also a matter of using words precisely. The third type of accuracy is technical, which requires stylistic accuracy but is not based solely on it. The effective document in science and technology must be grounded in a technically accurate understanding and representation of the subject. Technical accuracy depends on the writer's conceptual mastery of the subject and its vocabulary, as well on his or her ability to analyze and shape data with a minimum of distortion. In science and technology, enormous creative energy is given to mastering this technical aspect of subject development.