2. Write the way you speak
• Remember: You are communicating with
one person at a time the way you would
talk to a friend or family member
• Reverse engineering: Think about how
you talk, then write with a similar
vocabulary, syntax, grammar, and
cadence.
3. How to Sound Like a Real Person
• Say your sentences before you write them
down
• Don’t use words in a recording that you
wouldn’t say at other times
• Don’t use syntax that does not occur naturally
• Use the present progressive tense: clock is
striking midnight, people are sipping coffee.
Pretend you have a person on the phone to
whom you’re describing exactly what’s going
on.
4. How to Sound Like a Real Person
• Put the attribution before the quote
• Simple sentences: Simple structure. One
idea per sentence. Subject, verb, direct
object.
• Avoid generalities: many people think,
studies show
• Make scripts reflect colloquial speech
• Easy on the titles
5. How to Sound Like a Real Person
• Get rid of the passive voice
• Get rid of the hypothetical questions: Have
you ever wondered?
• Remember the audience is made up of
listeners, not readers
• Watch out for grammatical errors: The letter
describing the four separate studies reads like a mystery
novel.
6. How to Sound Like a Real Person
• Avoid needless repetition of words
• Get rid of clichés, acronyms, superfluous
names and numbers
• Spell out foreign words or hard-to-
pronounce so you won’t trip yourself up as
you read.
