Vocabulary Bank

the informal, elliptical exchange between colleagues that carries the message a formal review cannot — 'you'd want to know' rather than 'I feel I should tell you that'

the working-memory cost of processing a sentence — in a difficult conversation, the counterparty is running on a fraction of their normal bandwidth, and every extra clause is bandwidth spent

the short, elliptical sentence — 'I'm sorry. Truly.' — that carries weight because every recoverable word has been cut; the fully-spelled-out version reads as a template

the two- or three-word sentence a manager can only deliver if they are, in the moment, prepared to be present in the room

the intentional stripping of every clause a listener can recover from context — the register that makes the short remaining sentence audible under emotional load

the last conversation with a leaver — an exchange whose signal-to-noise ratio depends on how much the interviewer is prepared to leave unsaid

the failure mode in which a full-form answer introduces a word the counterparty had not raised — and, once introduced, cannot be withdrawn

the failure mode in which a full-form answer introduces a word ('performance', 'competence', 'trust') the counterparty had not raised — and, once introduced, cannot be withdrawn

the dated, signed, elliptical document that opens the possibility of exit — the fewer full-form clauses it contains, the less bureaucratic its arrival

the Sunday-evening paragraph whose register decides, in advance, whether the manager will, on Monday, actually be able to deliver the message

'so', 'one', 'do so', 'not' — the small words that carry a whole clause without opening the noun the room has not yet named

the team-level condition in which candour is possible without humiliation — sustained by elliptical, not exhaustive, honesty

the fully-spelled-out register the messenger reaches for to insulate themselves from the sentence they are about to say

the exit or severance discussion in which the ratio of full to elliptical sentences on the manager's prep sheet predicts whether the message will, in the room, be delivered at all

the retention discussion in which substitution ('would you consider one?') carries the offer without repeating the noun the counterparty has not yet named

the fully-spelled-out version of the compassion or reason clause — grammatical, exhaustive and, in the room, protective of the messenger rather than the receiver

the retrospective — can the counterparty, a fortnight later, reconstruct both what was said and that they were told with respect for their bandwidth in the moment