More nouns! The ANTE editing code

In this quick podcast, we discuss being clear about what you’re referring to in your writing with the editing code ANTE. There can be long rhetorical distances between whatever we’re talking about and the next “this, “that,” or “they” referring to it :-)

For example, when we write case studies for our clients, there are a lot of perspectives to keep track of:
- We, OSP, are writing the piece.
- The case study describes our client’s client and refers to their customers or users, too.
- Make your readers’ lives easier by using more nouns and fewer pronouns.

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Episode Transcript

Carl Richards (00:07):
Hi, I'm Carl from OSP. And this is communicate
connect grow the OSP podcast. Ontoday's episode, we're talking
about being clear what you'rereferring to in your writing
with the editing code ANTE aboutour podcast. If you want to be a
more effective writer, a moretransparent editor, develop
clear strategic thinking, orlearn from our network of expert

(00:30):
friends and colleagues. That'swhat we're here for. We divide
our episodes across threethemes, communicate, connect,
and grow. This is a communicateepisode, and we're talking about
being clear what you'rereferring to in your writing
with our editing code aunty.

(01:03):
The ANTE editing code falls intothe word choice part of the
editing process. It's aboutaccuracy and terminology. In our
documentation about this code,it says Be clear about what this
that and they are referring to.

Felicity Brand (01:18):
Hello, my name is Felicity brand. And I'm a
Communications Consultant atopen strategy partners. The
editing code aunty is about wordchoice, and it's about being
accurate. It's about being clearwho or what you're referring to.
And it brings to mind thatcomedy sketch who's on first,

(01:41):
you don't want to confuse yourreader. Technology communication
can often be stacked with nounphrases, or complex clauses. And
sometimes they can be longsentences, which makes it easy
to lose the thread of who orwhat you're referring to. When
you stack noun phrases, which iscommon in communication about

(02:04):
technology. It increases thecognitive load on the reader. So
they need to kind of rememberthe points that you've made. If
you're not clear who or whatyou're referring to, it's very
easy to get lost. So that's whatthis ANTE code is about. We
don't want to confuse thereader, we want to be clear what

(02:25):
we're talking about.

Christine Beuhler (02:26):
I'm Christine Bueller. I'm a Communications
Consultant at open strategypartners and I do a lot of
writing and editing. throughoutmy day to day work, though I'd
say me personally, it's a bitmore heavy on the writing. The
ANTE code is just clarifyingwhat this that and they refers

(02:53):
to throughout the piece.

Jeffrey A. McGuire (02:55):
Me again, Jeffrey A. Mcguire call me
"jam." I do a bunch of writingand editing here at OSP. And
this code, Aunty, we spell it an t e. I'm multilingual. And one
of my hobbies, frankly, isdeconstructing words and
learning about their origins. Ifyou know the word, anteatal, or
antebellum, "ANTE" means beforeprevious antecedent, all of

(03:19):
these things mean somethingbefore antebellum before the
word antecedent before death orchange, and antenatal before
birth, right. So And frankly, inAmerican English, in its purest
form, we use the word ante forthe bet that you put in before
you see your cards in poker orwhatever game you're playing if

(03:40):
you're if you're gambling. Andin my mind, when we were
capturing these writingprinciples, and trying to
encapsulate them in the codes,this was another version of keep
your context, clear what comesbefore to explain something that
I'm saying Now

Carl Richards (04:00):
Let's explore how you use this code as an editor.

Felicity Brand (04:03):
As an editor, what we can do to try and
resolve possible confusion inthe text is to anticipate what
we thought the author was goingfor, and flag it and get the
writer to clarify that we canguess but it's much better to
get the writer to review thatpiece. So one way to resolve

(04:25):
that could be splitting asentence into two.
Alternatively, you can add extrawords, we generally go for
clarity, we're aiming forconciseness in our writing, but
in this case, if adding extrawords adds clarity, it's much
better to do that than be briefand ambiguous.

Christine Beuhler (04:46):
When I'm using the ante code. In my work
day as an editor. I don't alwaysknow what I'm coming into as
thoroughly as the writer does. Imight Do not have as much
background on project or theclient or, you know, a specific

(05:06):
area of technology, making surethat like all the pronouns, all
the this, that those that arebeing referred to, throughout
the piece are really clearlydefined, it just makes it easier
for me as an editor to kind ofgrasp the purpose of the piece
more quickly,

Jeffrey A. McGuire (05:25):
as an editor. Anytime I come across a
vis or a vet, or a Vai, thismeans that so and so or they
apply to a situation, I want tobe so sure that the reader
understands exactly what we'rereferring to. And that can be

(05:46):
really hard. I said somewherethat the distance between
whatever the subject is, andthen adding a vis, that can be
so far away, that it can beconfusing for readers. And we'd
like people not to have to thinktoo hard or decipher what it is
we're doing, we're trying to beclear. So instead of saying,
this means so and so it meansmeans these code factors imply

(06:10):
that or not use a pronoun, butuse a synonym or something just
to be perfectly clear. Becausewe might have a situation where
I am writing a case study for myclient. And then so the case
study is written from my clientsperspective. My client has a
client, who I've interviewed,perhaps, and they are speaking

(06:31):
about something, and if I startto quote someone, and repeat
things, I've got a client voice,I've got a client of the client
voice, I have technology names,I have processes, I have
implications, and that can alljust get wild. So it's really
important to get super clearabout what is what, and make
those connections as obvious aspossible that this weird form of
context that I tried to sum upas ANTE.

Carl Richards (06:55):
As a writer, how do you approach this code,

Felicity Brand (06:58):
As a writer, you consider ANTE, when you're
thinking about your address,first person or second person
address, you need to beconsistent throughout the
article at OSP. We do a lot ofcase studies, that can get
tricky, because we are writingfor our client's client. And

(07:20):
that means there's a lot ofpoints of view in play, which
means it can be confusing, whoyou're talking about when

Christine Beuhler (07:27):
I would say, as a writer, I use that ANTE
code, like throughout the entireprocess of writing something,
technology can be kind ofobscure, you know, you have to
keep like teams, processes,platforms, departments, tools,
languages, all separate andclear. Sometimes, you know, I

(07:50):
don't know what something iseither. And so I think Auntie
prompts me to ask more questionsabout anything I don't
understand or that I may notknow about. And so I think it
helps for me to be more specificin my writing, and just, you
know, more curious about whatI'm writing.

Jeffrey A. McGuire (08:12):
As a writer, I try very hard to stay away
from converting too many nounsinto verbs, especially, and to
some degree converting verbsinto nouns, because I don't want
the ambiguity. So as I'mwriting, I very much try to keep
things straightforward, and nonrepetitive. So if I've said

(08:35):
something once, maybe it's bestnot to say it, or to put things
together into one sentence or abullet list or somewhere where I
can make things clearer. Sothese vague references this
thing I mentioned that time, ashumans, we mostly understand
that it's mostly fair to use it,it's not a mistake. But it's not

(08:57):
necessarily the clearest way wecan say something. So I'm trying
to be clear as a writer,

Carl Richards (09:02):
For the reader to have a great experience. Here's
why this editing code isextremely important.

Felicity Brand (09:08):
And it is so important for readers because we
don't want to confuse them. AtOSP. One of our writing
principles is clarity. That ANTEediting code falls into this
clarity area. When you don'thave ANTE, we can confuse the
reader. They won't understandthey may end up feeling Why Why

(09:33):
can't I get it? We don't wantreaders to reread a piece of
content to try and understandit, particularly when it's
something that's avoidable,through good editing.

Christine Beuhler (09:44):
I think that the ante code is important to
the reader because it's kind ofanother signifier that what
you're about to read is clearand well researched. And it's
like, quality work. I know thatI as reader, if I start a piece,

(10:05):
and there's a lot of this thatday, that is not explained, I'm
going to feel like that piece isnot for me, maybe it's not for
me as the intended audience,like, there's an acronym that I
don't understand, I'm gonna belike, Oh, if I keep reading, I'm
not going to understand what'sgoing on what's being talked
about. That's why ante isimportant

Jeffrey A. McGuire (10:24):
For the reader, we do a really
functional form of communicationat OSP, for ourselves and for
our clients. We want to helppeople explain things clearly.
And we want to help peopleunderstand things as quickly and
easily as possible. And in bothcases, the clarity of
explanation in creation shouldmake the ease of understanding

(10:47):
greater and I want people to beable to not struggle to learn
that my clients offering givesthem all these benefits, they
could get this and that. And theother thing for using whatever
it is that we're that we'rehelping explain, it's an ease of
consumption issue, I reallywould like people to come in and

(11:07):
get the point and move on,better informed.

Carl Richards (11:27):
If you're familiar with that old Abbott
and Costello comic sketch who'son first, you'll know how
important this code is. We'dlove to see your favorite

(11:51):
examples of a confounding pieceof writing where the ante was
not clearly established. Shareyour examples or questions with

(12:11):
us via Twitter at openunderscore strategy or email
Hello at open strategypartners.com. This was one of
the editorial codes we use atOSP. We'll be sharing more of
Thank you for listening andsubscribing about our three

(12:35):
themes on the podcast. You'llhear from different members of
them as we go. If you'd like tolearn more. In the meantime,
the OSP team hosting episodesover time, communicate all
things communication. We sharehow we tackle writing, editing,
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(12:57):
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(13:21):
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(13:42):
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Until next time, thanks forlistening to communicate,
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Jeffrey A. McGuire (14:30):
We'll have to we'll have to work out
something that combines thewords aunt, ant, anti with an I
and ante with an E and pretendthat we can be super clever that
way