This book is the text of an in-service training course prepared for Internal Revenue Service employees as part of the IRS Writing-Improvement Program. The course, conducted by the correspondence method, is intended primarily as a means of self-development. In addition to the text, it consists of a workbook containing 10 objective-type quizzes, a set of solution sheets, and templates for quick grading.

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Only the text itself is for sale by the Superintendent of
Documents.

This course and its companion course, Effective Revenue Writing 2, are part of the continuing writing-improvement program of the Internal Revenue Service.

Effective Revenue Writing 1, the basic course, was prepared by Lucile B. Spurlock and Luthera B. Dawson, employee development officers in the Training Division.

Effective Revenue Writing 2, the advanced course, was written for the Service by Dr. Calvin D. Linton, dean of Columbian College, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

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Foreword ...

HIS BASIC COURSE and its companion course, Effective Revenue Writing give anan opportunity for self-development an opportunity for brushing up on the basic elements of good writing which all writers must know if they are to communicate ideas clearly and effectively.

They supplement and complement the IRS Writing-Improvement Workshops and the GSA Plain Letters Workshops that many Revenue writers have attended. Writers tell us that these Workshops made them realize that their writing is an essential part of the work they do; that it is, in fact, often the only evidence of the work they have done. They tell us, too, that the Workshops stimulated them to look critically at their own writing, to try to diagnose its weaknesses, and to do something about improving it.

These two courses, then, are for those writers who want an intensive review of both basic and advanced writing principles.

Effective Revenue Writing 1 gives a review of the functions that various parts of the English language perform. This functional approach may differ from the approach you took in your earlier study of grammar, when you learned the names of the eight parts of speech and memorized a set of unalterable rules governing their use. We have tried to present grammar in a practical way, one that you can use in your work, by showing the function of words, how they are used-that is, whether they name something, describe it, tell about an action, or connect one thing with another.

Effective Revenue Writing 2 is an advanced course which, though it also stresses writing principles, builds on the foundation laid by this basic. course. It is not a course on grammatical theory; instead, it is a course designed to guide the experienced writer in his efforts to make his writing more effective.

Both courses (unlike other IRS correspondence courses) are printed in book form, so that they may be used not only as correspondence courses but also as desk reference books.