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On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 18:10:09 +0200, Erez Perelmuter <erezp -at- team -dot- co -dot- il> wrote:
> Are you familiar with a software tool that can enrich the text and wording of an existing
> English document so they will look more text-wise professional ? For example to change
> "I am happy with your performance" may be upgraded to: "I am completely thrilled with
> your outstanding achievement,"
>
> What do you think of such a tool ?
Erez,
On the off chance that you're not kidding, I have to say that whether
such an automated tool exists or not (I hope it doesn't, but wouldn't
be surprised if it does), turning a piece of software loose on your
text to make it more "professional" is a *terrible* idea.
Computers don't understand linguistic nuance very well, as anyone who
has ever tried to use Microsoft Word's so-called grammar checker can
attest. If you want to set a certain tone in your writing, find a
good (human) editor to work with, as software isn't up to the task.
To take the example you provided -
"I am happy with your performance" is perfectly good, plain,
serviceable English and in no need of an "upgrade."
"I am completely thrilled with your outstanding achievement" is
hyperbolic and exaggerated, and in fact appears much less
"professional" than the original. It also sounds insincere and even
potentially sarcastic to my ear, and almost like a parody of someone
who has taken some kind of pop-psychology personnel management course.
Bigger words and more flowery language are in no way more
"professional" than simple declarative sentences in plain English.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
If you are interested in standardizing language used in performance
reviews or business communications, there are a number of software
packages that will allow you to choose canned phrases and paragraphs
from pre-written texts, and you can also buy packages of
already-written business letters for all occasions, etc. I have no
idea what the quality of these offerings might be like, however.
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