{"id":1109,"date":"2019-06-05T18:18:32","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T18:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1109"},"modified":"2025-01-21T17:11:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T17:11:03","slug":"revising-for-style-choose-words-that-are-sensitive-to-your-audience","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/chapter\/revising-for-style-choose-words-that-are-sensitive-to-your-audience\/","title":{"raw":"Revising for Style: Choose words that are sensitive to your audience","rendered":"Revising for Style: Choose words that are sensitive to your audience"},"content":{"raw":"As you revise for style, look closely at the language you have used in your drafts. Often, we write words that are fairly common but might be offensive to some readers or make them feel like they are excluded from being valuable members of your audience. Revision is a chance to think carefully about your language choices and to make sure you are considering all potential readers. Below are some examples of language choices that can help you be more inclusive in your writing:\r\n<h2>Gender terms<\/h2>\r\nUse gender-neutral pronouns when appropriate. For example, don\u2019t use the word \u201che\u201d unless you are referring to just a male. Use terms like \u201che or she\u201d when singular or \u201ctheir\u201d when plural. In fact, one easy way to make language more inclusive is to pluralize when possible. For example, a sentence such as, \u201cAny student wishing to go on the trip must turn in his money to the teacher by Friday,\u201d could easily be changed to, \u201cStudents wishing to go on the trip must turn in their money to the teacher by Friday.\u201d Unless you were writing about an all-boys school, the second sentence is a much better choice.\r\n\r\nHere are some other examples:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>police officer rather than policeman<\/li>\r\n \t<li>mail carrier rather than mailman<\/li>\r\n \t<li>humankind rather than mankind<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Racial or ethnic terms<\/h2>\r\nUse terms that are likely to not be offensive to readers. Despite common usage, some terms like \u201cIndian\u201d are not the preferred label for many members of that group. Additionally, it can be confusing because people from the country India can be called \u201cIndian.\u201d Use \u201cNative American\u201d or even \u201cAmerican Indian\u201d instead.\r\n\r\nHere are some other examples:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Latino\/a rather than Mexican<\/li>\r\n \t<li>African American rather than colored or other terms<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Inuit or Native Alaskan rather than Eskimo<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Terms for people with disabilities<\/h2>\r\nTerms referring to disabilities are often insensitive and sometimes even inaccurate. For example, the term \u201cblind\u201d has negative connotations. Think about how we also use it in negative ways: \u201cJill is blind to the fact that her old friends don\u2019t want to hang out with her anymore.\u201d Further, some people may be called blind when they actually have partial vision. The term \u201cvisually impaired\u201d is a better choice for multiple reasons, even when someone has complete loss of sight.\r\n\r\nHere are some other examples:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>mentally disabled or mentally ill rather than retarded or crazy<\/li>\r\n \t<li>hearing impaired rather than deaf<\/li>\r\n \t<li>person with disabilities or a person with a disability rather than cripple or handicap<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<p>As you revise for style, look closely at the language you have used in your drafts. Often, we write words that are fairly common but might be offensive to some readers or make them feel like they are excluded from being valuable members of your audience. Revision is a chance to think carefully about your language choices and to make sure you are considering all potential readers. Below are some examples of language choices that can help you be more inclusive in your writing:<\/p>\n<h2>Gender terms<\/h2>\n<p>Use gender-neutral pronouns when appropriate. For example, don\u2019t use the word \u201che\u201d unless you are referring to just a male. Use terms like \u201che or she\u201d when singular or \u201ctheir\u201d when plural. In fact, one easy way to make language more inclusive is to pluralize when possible. For example, a sentence such as, \u201cAny student wishing to go on the trip must turn in his money to the teacher by Friday,\u201d could easily be changed to, \u201cStudents wishing to go on the trip must turn in their money to the teacher by Friday.\u201d Unless you were writing about an all-boys school, the second sentence is a much better choice.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some other examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>police officer rather than policeman<\/li>\n<li>mail carrier rather than mailman<\/li>\n<li>humankind rather than mankind<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Racial or ethnic terms<\/h2>\n<p>Use terms that are likely to not be offensive to readers. Despite common usage, some terms like \u201cIndian\u201d are not the preferred label for many members of that group. Additionally, it can be confusing because people from the country India can be called \u201cIndian.\u201d Use \u201cNative American\u201d or even \u201cAmerican Indian\u201d instead.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some other examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Latino\/a rather than Mexican<\/li>\n<li>African American rather than colored or other terms<\/li>\n<li>Inuit or Native Alaskan rather than Eskimo<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Terms for people with disabilities<\/h2>\n<p>Terms referring to disabilities are often insensitive and sometimes even inaccurate. For example, the term \u201cblind\u201d has negative connotations. Think about how we also use it in negative ways: \u201cJill is blind to the fact that her old friends don\u2019t want to hang out with her anymore.\u201d Further, some people may be called blind when they actually have partial vision. The term \u201cvisually impaired\u201d is a better choice for multiple reasons, even when someone has complete loss of sight.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some other examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>mentally disabled or mentally ill rather than retarded or crazy<\/li>\n<li>hearing impaired rather than deaf<\/li>\n<li>person with disabilities or a person with a disability rather than cripple or handicap<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1109\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Revising for Style: Choose words that are sensitive to your audience. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Guy Krueger. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: University of Mississippi. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":15005,"menu_order":15,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revising for Style: Choose words that are sensitive to your audience\",\"author\":\"Guy Krueger\",\"organization\":\"University of Mississippi\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"8419efd2-80c1-48b3-95f8-71d9a6798fac, 09dcee92-a9ef-4fa4-b147-10459689ad24, c6818041-f91a-4ca7-b1ec-3887b3827ea5","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1109","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":1056,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15005"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1699,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1109\/revisions\/1699"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1056"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1109\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/olemiss-writing100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}