NCO Primary Leadership Subjects
Emphasis
Emphasis puts action into your writing. Strong sentences help sell your ideas. Your
Introduction
readers become part of the action or situation you describe and your writing holds
their interest.
Action writing focuses on the following rules for writing Army correspondence
Action writing
discussed in Section I:
Put the main point up front.
Write in the active voice.
Use personal pronouns.
Avoid sentences that begin with "It is," "There is," or "There are."
Normally, your sentence structure emphasizes what's important by putting the main
Put the main
point at the beginning. Putting the key part in the middle of the sentence may cause
point up front
your reader to miss your point. However, to relate a sequence of events, you should
progress from the least important to the most important event.
Examples:
In order to understand the commander's intent, a standard
WEAK:
sequence of field orders is prescribed to include all
essential instructions.
A standard sequence of field orders enables the
STRONG:
commander to include all instructions necessary to make
his intent understood.
MISLEADING
PROGRESSION:
"Honey, the house burned down, I wrecked the car, and
the dog ate your slippers." Continued on next page
Continued on next page
3-38
Writing Mechanics and Composition
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