Before the Text Travels

Five questions to bring to a sensitive communication.

A free, three-page resource for professionals who draft, review or approve workplace and institutional texts. Notice where interpretation deserves closer attention before a text is sent, shared or relied on.

A sentence can read smoothly and still leave questions open.

“The review confirmed that the concerns were addressed.” Does “addressed” mean acknowledged, investigated or resolved? The surrounding document may settle the question. The sentence alone does not.

Small choices can shape who appears responsible, how much certainty a statement conveys, and what readers take for granted. Those readings may change when a passage is forwarded or quoted without its original context.

Five questions. One worked example. A useful brief.

Before the Text Travels offers five prompts on agency, certainty, assumptions, ambiguity and changes of audience or setting. A worked example shows how to turn an interpretive question into a concrete starting point for review.

A short briefing framework helps you record the exact passage, the situation, the question, the consequence and the missing context before seeking professional analysis.

The focus goes beyond grammar, proofreading and plain language. These prompts help formulate questions; they do not provide a risk score, clearance to publish or conclusions about intent, credibility or legal effect.

For people who work with consequential texts

For legal and immigration professionals, institutional decision-makers and communications teams reviewing reports, correspondence, policies or sensitive statements—especially when a text may reach readers beyond its original audience.

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