Consulting Journal: Words

Words: 'It'

by David Blakey

Am I really going to advise you to avoid using ‘it’? Yes, I am.

[Monday 16 December 2002]

You may be surprised that I should tell you to avoid the word ‘it’ when you write. There are two problems associated with ‘it’. One is the ambiguity that it can cause. The second is the fear that it tries to hide.

Ambiguity

Many consultants often make a mistake when they write: they use ‘it’ too freely and too frequently. Consider the following statement.

It is a mistake often made by consultants that they use ‘it’ too freely and too frequently.

Does that sentence sound familiar to you? Does it remind you of the style of many consultants' reports? Does it remind you of some of your own reports? It is the kind of sentence that we learned in school. While it is grammatically correct, it can be confusing.

We do use the word ‘it’ frequently. I used it five times in the previous paragraph. But note how I used it. First I wrote the question ‘Does that sentence sound familiar to you?’ Then I used the same structure for the next question, but I used ‘it’ instead of ‘that sentence’. You understood that I was referring to ‘that sentence’ because of the similar structure of those two questions.

Then I wrote a third question in the same structure, which reinforced the subject. The ‘it’ in the third question also refers to the same sentence. By now, the meaning of ‘it’ was firmly established, so that I wrote ‘It is the kind of sentence ...’ and you still knew what the ‘it’ referred to.

It is easy to write sentences that can be ambiguous.

We used our methodology throughout our review. Its results are summarized below.

Am I writing about the results of the methodology or the results of the review? They could be two entirely different things.

I keep my stationery supplies in a box in the trunk of my car. I also keep a charger for my mobile phone in it.

Do you know whether the charger is in the box in the trunk or whether it is in the trunk but not in the box?

Read carefully everything that you write. Watch for simple mistakes that can destroy the meaning of a sentence. Look out for ‘it’. Check for ambiguous subjects. In the example about the charger in the box or in the trunk, I had ambiguous subjects. Whenever you use ‘it’ to refer back, check that there is only one possible subject. If there is not, then re-phrase the sentence.

I keep my stationery supplies in a box in the trunk of my car. I also keep a charger for my mobile phone in the box.

You were probably taught in school that you should avoid repetition. In this example, my repetition of the word ‘box’ is actually a clarification. By avoiding repetition - and using ‘it’ - I could introduce ambiguity.

You don't have to produce long complex sentences. You can join two statements using semi-colons or colons: this can often help you to avoid repetition. Use a semi-colon when two statements can stand alone; use a colon when the second statement expands upon the first.

Fear

Consider this.

It is clear to us that improvements should be made quickly.

This is a weak and passive sentence. The consultants seem not to have taken positive action that resulted in them perceiving or concluding that the client needs to make improvements quickly. Instead, this conclusion seems to have forced itself upon them.

This construction is used when consultants are afraid to present their conclusions to the client. Perhaps the client is resistant to change. Perhaps the client expected that the consultants would report that the current situation should continue. There is no point in trying to mask the conclusion. It is not the consultants' fault that this situation exists. If the client does need to make improvements, then the consultants should say this.

One interesting aspect of this weak form of sentence is that it is often doubly passive. As well as saying that ‘it became clear’, which gives the consultants a passive role, it also states that ‘improvements should be made’. This gives the client a passive role, too.

Positive, confident consultants write ‘You should make improvements quickly’.

Just searching for ‘it’ will not reveal every instance of the passive voice in your reports, but it will help you to detect many of them. It is a symptom, not a cause.

[ List articles on Words ] [ View printable version ]