Grammar Pulis

To write persuasively, you must establish your credibility. Acknowledging your expertise, without sounding pompous and boastful, would help. Talking about your information sources and the amount of research you’ve done, without boring your readers with the methods and research minutiae, would also go a long way. The content, the tone, and the writing style also matter.

Here are four things you can do to write credibly and persuasively:

SPECIFY – Avoid sweeping declarations or vague assertions that people call motherhood statements. Do you really think people would believe you when you say you are striving for world peace? How about talking about how you are serving as a peacemaker by being a mediator in your barangay meetings? Be specific. Paint as precise a picture as possible so that your readers can visualize something real, something tangible.

TESTIFY – Submit testimony. Yours and others’. Always establish that the testimony is borne out of personal experience. Give specific names and dates. Use quotation marks, and make sure you have the testifier’s permission. There is nothing wrong with editing the testimony for syntax and conciseness, but make sure you don’t tamper with the quotes so much that veracity is sacrificed.

AMPLIFY – Bring the focus closer by giving examples to illustrate your point. When you say your resort has 5-star amenities, then enumerate what those facilities are. Better yet, focus on the benefits they will get by patronizing your establishment.

QUANTIFY – Hard data is almost always better than words. Use the language of numbers. Using superlatives like best, most, highest, biggest can ring false; your reader might doubt you or ignore your claims as exaggerations. But saying you have been voted Retailer of the Year for 3 consecutive years since 2007 or that you are the number 1 reseller of XYZ laptops outselling your closest competitor by 207% would better catch their attention and aid their retention.

Remember: In writing persuasively, remember the STAQ formula: Specify, Testify, Amplify, Quantify.