3 ms·
Write to Express, Not to Impress
- zimpenfish 6y agoEh, it's basically Strunk & White in tweet thread form and we know how professional grammarians and linguists view that (extremely poorly.) First one out of the gate has a terrible example: > NO: The child cried loudly. > YES: The child screamed. There's a significant difference between those two actions. #3 is the classic "Avoid the passive voice". #8 has another terrible example: > NO: I made a decision to exercise daily. > YES: I decided to exercise daily. "I made a decision" gives the impression of a process that ended in the decision - perhaps after contemplation of a midriff that's expanded beyond existing clothes. "I decided" is just "bang decision" with no context. It gives you no feeling for what's happening. #9 is the also classic "Cut wordy phrases". #12 is another terrible example: > NO: The living room lacks sunlight. > YES: The living room is dark. The first one gives texture - perhaps it faces north or the windows are boarded up or the curtains are permanently drawn or the resident is a vampire. The second is just a stark boring factual that you'd get from a child's writing. "The living room is dark. The light is broken. The family have not fixed the light."