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When it comes to business writing, there many factors that
can make or break it. One of those factors is consistency. Sadly, while consistency
is one of the fundamentals of business writing, many still overlook it.

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‘Why is consistency important?”

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Consistency is important because you must achieve engagement
and impact with your writing. An inconsistent piece of document can hardly do
either.

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Inconsistency may also distract your readers as they read
the document. When they see an irregularity, their brain will automatically try
to decipher if it signifies something different, important, or simply bad
writing practice.

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Consistency also makes a document look more professional. In a business environment, looking more
professional is certainly the way to go. To help you out, we provide a list
below containing four writing elements that deserve special attention when it
comes to consistency.

Consistency in Spelling and Grammar

Are you writing in American or British English? When you’ve
made your choice, then everything must be spelled according to your chosen
style. Be careful about mixing these two styles.

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To check if your spelling and grammar are consistent, you
can check your writing on the
online spelling and grammar checker. The tool will highlight and correct
any misspelled words easily.

Consistency in Writing Dates

There’s no single correct way to write dates. As long as you’re
consistent, you’re good. Some of the styles you can use are:

• 1^st January 2020
• 1 January 2020
• 1 January, 2020
• January 1, 2020
• January 1^st, 2020

If you dislike using too many commas, then the first two are
the obvious choices. For the latter three, you will need to use another comma
after the year to make a sentence correct, like this:

• On January 1^st, 2020, the aliens visited
  earth for the first time.

Consistency in Writing Capitalizations

Consistent capitalization structure across your business
document helps keeping the document look organized.

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Take a look at the headers you just wrote. Are you capitalizing
every word in there except for the adjectives? Good for you. Make sure all the
headers are following that structure.

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Now, what about lists? If you have any lists, each item must
also follow the same capitalization standard. For instance, when you’ve decided
to capitalize a certain term. Keep doing so consistently throughout the
document to make sure the document looks neat and professional.

Consistency in Writing Numbers

The basic rule is small numbers (one to ten) should be spelled out while large numbers should
be written as numerals to save
space. That said, numbers that begin a sentence are always spelled out like
this:

• Two
  Boeing 737 MAX crashed in a span of less than a year. (Correct)
• 2 Boeing
  737 MAX crashed in a span of less than a year. (Wrong

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OK, that’s our short reminder on which part of your writing
that you must ensure to be consistent. Here’s a tip to make your business
writing more consistent: develop your own Individual Style Guide (ISG).

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An ISG contains all of your preferred approach in business
writing. The guide serves as your personal standard on the choice of words,
style, grammar, and many more.