--- title: The Good, the Bad, and the Email (Act I of IV) description: When I first tried email, I had to ask my secretary to print each one, so I could read it and dictate a response over her shoulder. image: https://www.wordrake.com/hubfs/Slide132.png --- #### WordRake is joining BriefCatch. Discover how BriefCatch Next builds on WordRake’s trusted editing technology — and what this means for WordRake customers. [Learn about the transition →](https://www.briefcatch.com/wordrake) [![logo](https://www.wordrake.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported%20images/logo.png?width=285&height=18&name=logo.png)](https://www.wordrake.com/) Edit for brevity & simplicity in Microsoft Word & Outlook - [Buy](https://www.wordrake.com/writing-improvement-software-buy) - [Software](https://www.wordrake.com/software) - [About](https://www.wordrake.com/editing-software-for-writing-professionals) - [Reviews](https://www.wordrake.com/reviews) - [Writing Tips](https://www.wordrake.com/writing-tips/writing-tips-listing-page) - [Resources](https://www.wordrake.com/resources) - [Support](https://www.wordrake.com/editing-software-help) # Writing Tips Our best writing tip? Edit for clarity and brevity with WordRake. It’s an automated in-line editor that checks for needless words, cumbersome phrases, clichés, and more. [![Download a 7-Day Free Trial](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3365575/03068b7d-1c87-45f8-9e1a-71ce6c0ece3c.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3365575/03068b7d-1c87-45f8-9e1a-71ce6c0ece3c) ## The Good, the Bad, and the Email (Act I of IV) # Understanding How We Use Email *With summer upon us, this seemed like a good time to revisit the method of communication that nearly put the U. S. Postal Service out of business. Just between the two of us, I miss the old days, arriving at the mailbox one minute late, the taste of glue on my tongue. I know you do, too. Those were good times. After much thought, however, I have decided that email might be around for a while, so we should make peace with it and figure out how to use it effectively. In that spirit, today and for the next three weeks, we will explore the art and science of email.)*   When I first tried email, I had to ask my secretary to print each one, so I could read it and dictate a response over her shoulder. When I learned how to use it myself, I remember feeling a little jaunty. Words I would never write on paper seemed to fly from my fingertips, loose stuff, funny stuff, CLEVER STUFF! I loved hitting “Reply All” to let EVERYONE know how clever I was! I could hardly contain myself!   I have mostly recovered from those days, but a vestige remains. Psychologists call this the "**online disinhibition effect**." It’s similar to wearing a mask at Mardi Gras, which frees us to drink bourbon through a straw and goose strangers.   However psychologists try to explain it, we approach email with a different mindset. In an article titled “Email’s Dark Side: 10 Psychology Studies,” the author notes:   People consistently **overestimate their ability to communicate effectively** with email.”   A 2010 study found that “participants lied 50% more when they negotiated over email compared with pen-and-paper.” One of the reasons, surmised researchers:   “**Emails are less permanent**: it feels closer to chatting than writing a letter.”   And therein lies the crux of the problem: Subconsciously, a sheet of paper and an envelope *feel* permanent, and this informs how and what we write. When we know it will be around for a long time, we try harder to do it well. Email feels like it’s going straight into someone’s ear, rattle around for a moment, then head out the other side. So why should we care? ## Transform your legal briefs from good to great with a sophisticated style editor. Your writing is essential to your legal practice. Let WordRake help you create clear, concise writing. [![Take My Writing from Good to Great](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3365575/db9a14b8-aabb-4be8-bfb7-9e3dfa3ebf55.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3365575/db9a14b8-aabb-4be8-bfb7-9e3dfa3ebf55) ![businesswoman-on-pc-desktop-mockup-template](https://www.wordrake.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Version%205.0%20Realistic%20Mockups/businesswoman-on-pc-desktop-mockup-template.png?width=1920&height=1440&name=businesswoman-on-pc-desktop-mockup-template.png) Here’s why: wisely or unwisely, we have embraced this medium to communicate important things, and the devil-may-care informality inherent in its use inspires us not to worry about typos and grammatical slips and bloated phrases, even as we use it to develop business, assuage clients, and convince regulatory agencies.   Remember that each of us has three vocabularies: 1. Our reading or comprehension vocabulary – by far the largest; 2. Our writing vocabulary – in the middle; and 3. Our speaking vocabulary – the smallest and least grammatical.   When speaking, we use, and tolerate (to a point) others using, *ers* and *uhs* and *sos* and *wells* and *likes*, and confusing *who* with *whom* and *lay* with *lie* because most of us can’t think fast enough when we speak to get it all grammatically correct; plus we have tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language to help us communicate. Our writing must be more precise than our speech because we have only words to convey our meaning.   Email is a weird hybrid existing between speaking and writing. In that gap, our email mindset might be loose and informal, but our business recipients do not forgive our typos, grammatical slips, and bloated, unnecessary, abstract, sometimes nonsensical phrasing. That’s where the tension lies: we write it as though the message is impermanent; they judge it and us as though it’s permanent.   If we’re to use email to communicate without embarrassing ourselves in front of colleagues and clients, we must understand that tension between the mindsets of permanence and impermanence and err on the side of precision.   For the next three weeks, we will explore how to communicate effectively in email, from addressing to editing to signing off.   Stay tuned next week for *Guess Who’s Coming to Email* (Act II of IV). [Sun Valley Serenade](https://www.wordrake.com/writing-tips/sun-valley-serenade) [Hanging with Criss and David](https://www.wordrake.com/writing-tips/hanging-with-criss-and-david) - - - ### [Improve Your Writing with WordRake Try this revolutionary editing software free for 7 days. Now available for Mac or Windows.](https://www.wordrake.com/) [Try Free for 7 Days](https://www.wordrake.com/trial/) ### Writing Tips in Your Inbox ### Related Writing Tips [Gone with the Email (Act IV of IV)](https://www.wordrake.com/writing-tips/gone-with-the-email-act-iv-of-iv) [Close Encounters of the Email Kind (Act III of IV)](https://www.wordrake.com/writing-tips/close-encounters-of-the-email-kind-act-iii-of-iv) [Guess Who's Coming to Email (Act II of IV)](https://www.wordrake.com/writing-tips/guess-whos-coming-to-email-act-ii-of-iv) **[See All Tips](https://www.wordrake.com/writing-tips/writing-tips-listing-page)** Search this site on Google Search Google ### About Gary Kinder ![Gary Kinder](https://www.wordrake.com/hubfs/Wordrake%20December2017%20/Images/garykinder.jpg) WordRake founder Gary Kinder has taught over 1,000 writing programs for AMLAW 100 firms, Fortune 500 companies, and government agencies. He’s also a *New York Times* bestselling author. As a writing expert and coach, Gary was inspired to create WordRake when he noticed a pattern in writing errors that he thought he could address with technology. In 2012, Gary and his team of engineers created WordRake editing software to help writers produce clear, concise, and effective prose. It saves time and gives confidence. Writing and editing has never been easier. WordRake takes you beyond the merely grammatical to the truly great—the quality editor you’ve always wanted. See for yourself. [![Download a 7-Day Free Trial](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3365575/03068b7d-1c87-45f8-9e1a-71ce6c0ece3c.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3365575/03068b7d-1c87-45f8-9e1a-71ce6c0ece3c) ### How Does it Work? WordRake is editing software designed by writing expert and *New York Times* bestselling author Gary Kinder. Like an editor or helpful colleague, WordRake ripples through your document checking for needless words and cumbersome phrases. Its complex algorithms find and improve weak lead-ins, confusing language, and high-level grammar and usage slips. WordRake runs in Microsoft Word and Outlook, and its suggestions appear in the familiar track-changes style. If you’ve used track changes, you already know how to use WordRake. There’s nothing to learn and nothing to interpret. Editing for clarity and brevity has never been easier.   ![demo_poster_play](https://www.wordrake.com/hs-fs/hubfs/demo_poster_play.png?width=286&height=133&name=demo_poster_play.png) × © 2026 WordRake, LLC. 8415 154th Avenue NE,  Suite 200, Redmond, WA 98052. All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy](https://www.wordrake.com/privacy) *|* [Technology](https://www.wordrake.com/patents) *|* [Contact](https://www.wordrake.com/contact)