3 ms·
There are also two types of writing. Writing to convey a point and writing poetically. This is supposed to be advice so it would suit it more to be understandab
by adam-a 14y ago
There are also two types of writing. Writing to convey a point and writing poetically. This is supposed to be advice so it would suit it more to be understandable rather than beautiful.
Having said that I assumed she was making a joke in the first paragraph, she seems to calm down a lot after that. Surely the irony of
> I’ve seen young writers contort their prose into incomprehensibly pretentious muddles, all in a disastrous bid to sound more erudite than they are.
is apparent to the author.
- kscaldef 14y agoI'm not sure why it should be, as there's no irony to be found. That sentence is neither contorted nor incomprehensible nor a muddle nor a disaster. One might argue on the issue of whether it's pretentious, but given the target audience of other academics I would lean towards saying it's not.
- vacri 14y agoThe sentence is contorted. It's correct, but that doesn't mean it's not contorted - it scans poorly and is not particularly readable.