Tone and Style Continued

by Kevin C. Peters, Research Specialist, GrantStation.com

We began our discussion of tone and style in the previous section by focusing on taking language cues from potential funders and using active language when writing inquiries and proposals. Here, we delve into how language choices affect your readers.

Unload Your Language

The concept of “loaded language” refers to words that evoke a specific emotional response. For example, if we say that a company's policies are “raping the environment,” the general idea isn't much different than saying the policies are “causing environmental damage,” but the emotional effect is much different.

Usually, you want to avoid overtly loaded language because you do not know how your readers will react.

For example, let's say that you are applying for a grant for a program that will offer after-school math tutoring to local high school students. In your inquiry, you write that the program is necessary because the math programs in many of the county's schools are “abysmal.”

If a board member of one of the organizations from which you are seeking...