Writing for Business Success/Effective business writing/Emphasis



On this page, we identify some techniques for creating emphasis in written communications, to attract and hold the attention of your audience.

The correct amount of emphasis in business communications can help readers easily understand the intended message. However, what is considered appropriate emphasis can differ drastically in this age of texting and social media. Remember that business communications are a part of a professional setting. While humans write the communications, the situation remains one company communicating to another or to a customer. This is not a personal communication that might include emotion or symbols for emotions.

In the examples above, notice how italic, bold, or underlined fonts all provide emphasis in a similar fashion. Any of the three are equally helpful, and the choice should be made based on what the organisation or the writer prefers.

When thinking about emphasis in a message, we could compare it to thinking of salt in food. Some salt is helpful and enhances the dish, but too much salt is off-putting and may even be sickening!

Acknowledgements
The content on this page (apart from the activity) was adapted from Word choice and tone, authored by Susan Kendall and provided by Lumen Learning under a CC-BY-4.0 licence. The content is part of the online course Business communication skills for managers.