6.8 Constructive, Positive Language
Unless there is a specific reason not to, always use constructive, positive language wherever you can. It is important to consider how you want your reader to feel, and what may make your reader feel that way. Your goal is to write constructively, which means to use beneficial or helpful phrasing to convey your message to your reader. Positive language benefits your writing by creating an encouraging tone which is likely to be well-received.
The following examples offer negatively worded sentences which are then edited into more constructive, positive language. As the audience for these messages, how would you react upon reading each one?
Examples
Negative: Your car will not be ready for pickup until Friday.
Positive: The car will be ready for pickup on Friday.
Negative: Your holiday time is not approved until your manager clears it.
Positive: The holiday time will be approved when your manager clears it.
Negative: A decision will not be made unless all board members agree.
Positive: A decision will be made when all board members agree.
Negative: The event cannot be scheduled without a venue.
Positive: The event will be scheduled when the venue booking is finalized on Friday.
Note that the last two sets of examples use multiple negatives in one sentence, which you should try to avoid. When readers encounter more than one negative in a sentence, their brains have to do more cognitive work to decipher the meaning (Maldonado & Culbertson, 2021).
Writing constructively requires an awareness of potential audience reaction; it does not require a lot of additional vocabulary. In most of the examples presented above, just a few words were changed to create a positive tone.
In general, you should strive for that positive tone in professional writing. However, sometimes you’ll need to communicate information that is unpleasant, such as delivering bad news or rejecting a request. Communicating constructively is possible and arguably needed in these situations. Regardless of the message, how can you ensure you are communicating constructively?
Adopt an adult-to-adult approach: that is to say, avoid talking to your reader in a patronizing tone, and likewise avoid sounding unwilling to take responsibility. Aim to communicate respectfully, responsibly, confidently, and cooperatively — as one responsible adult to another. For example, the way the writer uses the word “we” can mean cohesion between the members of the business, but it can also become patronizing and shift power from the reader to the writer’s perspective. This may sound like the control is in the sender rather than the receiver. For example, if a company has three software products and they state “We offer three products” the focus becomes the company’s capability rather than the choice of the buyers. If the sender states “You have options to choose from three products” the focus becomes the choice of the receiver.
Be courteous: focus on the reader as much as possible. Use “you” unless it results in blaming (one effective use of passive verbs is to avoid assigning blame: “mistakes were made”). Use traditionally accepted forms of courtesy and politeness.
Focus on the positive: emphasize what you can do rather than what you can’t. Try to avoid negative wording and phrasing (no, not, never, none, isn’t, can’t, don’t, etc.). Focus on what can be improved.
Be genuine: apologize only if you have made a mistake. Take responsibility and promise to do better. Be authentic in your expression. Avoid relying on cliches or standard phrases not common to your own way of speaking or writing. Make reasonable claims that can be backed up with evidence. Keep in mind that over apologizing habitually may result in a decrease in perceptions of competence.
This section is adapted from “You” Approach and Constructive Language’ in Communications for Professionals by Susan Oaks, licensed under CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International, except where otherwise noted.
