TEEL and CLEAR

Jules : I’m sorry, did I break your concentration?

I didn’t mean to do that. Please, continue, you were saying something about best intentions.

What’s the matter? Oh, you were finished!

Well, allow me to retort.

• Pulp Fiction

I’m going to give you two formulas for self-contained paragraphs.

These suit longer-form marketing, which might be a sales letter, blog article, or an email newsletter.

My old English teachers was named Linda.

She taught me TEEL.

It stands for:

• Topic sentence
• Explanation
• Example
• Link

The topic sentence leads with the idea your paragraph is about. It can be a bold a statement or signpost for what’s about to come. If it’s unclear start a new paragraph.

The explanation builds on the original point. It makes the paragraph longer and adds detail. If the idea requires further breaking down to convey meaning, the explanation is where you would do that.

Examples can be quotes, stats, links to other sites, a reference, or something else that backs up what you’re saying. The reason my English teacher taught me this format was for essay writing. You can’t have an essay without evidence.

The link can either tie back to the opening sentence, the headline, or link into the next paragraph. It’s a closer that keeps things flowing.

I learned TEEL over 20 years ago and it’s still effective. The rise of online writing and mobile phones has seen sentences shorten. Longer paragraphs are rare too. This book has sought to keep things short and sharp as well. But it’s still useful. It can inform when to start a paragraph, separate out waffle, and ensure each cluster of text has a point.

So what’s CLEAR?

I came across it from a young online writer named David Perrell. I binged a lot of his content for a while, and he shared CLEAR. I was so impressed with it I emailed Linda (yes, my old English teacher).

She responded with:

Nice to hear from you and glad to hear you are well…

The CLEAR tip is a good one and I will use it with my senior students. I have been teaching English Language since 2006. It is essentially linguistics, one of my majors at uni, and a different approach to English. I enjoy teaching it very much.

Thank you for thinking of me and all the very best.

So if it’s good enough for Linda, it’s good enough for you and I!

CLEAR works like this:

Connect to the previous sentence

Link to the following sentence

Eliminate anything that adds confusion

Add colourful details

Remove unnecessary words

I like using them together.

TEEL is a way to get the words flowing, you can start with sentences, explain, give evidence, and link to the rest of your writing.

CLEAR is a filter for being more precise in your editing.

It prompts questions like:

• Does this connect to the rest of the marketing?
• Is there anything in here that’s confusing?
• What will add meat here?
• Are there any redundant words?

Stop.

The next chapter will transform the way you write for life.

Are you ready to do this with me?

Okay, then turn the page.