firefox
02-07-2008, 06:12 AM
Here's a good article I read about improving one's writing ability:
URL: http://www.lewrockwell.com/kramer/kramer10.html
Avoid common mistakes.
By far the most common mistake I see on the Internet is using "your" instead of "you're" (I almost phrased this as "confusing 'your' and 'you're,'" but that's inaccurate, because most people clearly don't even know there is such a thing as "you're.") "Your" is a possessive pronoun, such as: "Kramer, your article was 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back." "You're" is a contraction of "you are," such as: "Kramer, you're a mediocre writer who's better suited for picking up trash in the park."
Other typical errors are confusing "whose" and "who's"; "its" and "it's"; "then" and "than," etc.
Cultivate good headlines/titles.
This is an area I struggle with; I seem to have little imagination for clever titles, and I marvel at some titles I see, and especially at people who are able to think of numerous clever possibilities for one article almost instantly. The main reason this is important is the more people you can "grab" with your title, the more people will read your article.
As an example, probably the best title I've seen in the past year was for a December article on Politico.com by Jeremy Lott and W. James Antle III, which was about Ron Paul's amazing ability to raise money and recruit supporters – despite the fact that he's not only offering them no government hand-outs, but is specifically telling them that they won't get any if he can help it (but in exchange, of course, they'll get their freedom). The article was titled The Audacity of Nope, which was a play on the title of Barack Obama's New York Times Best-seller, The Audacity of Hope.
Write "tight."
Probably the quickest way someone can look like an amateur writer is by cluttering his prose with unnecessary or redundant words.
An example of a cluttered sentence is: "In my opinion, I truly think that LewRockwell.com is one of the very best news sites on the Internet." A tighter version is: "In my opinion, LewRockwell.com is one of the best news sites on the Internet." But you generally don't need to label obvious opinions as such, so an even tighter version is: "LewRockwell.com is one of the best news sites on the Internet." Even a stronger statement, such as: "LewRockwell.com is the best news site on the Internet," is still obviously an opinion and doesn't need to be labeled as such.
Once you learn to look for unnecessary words, you'll be amazed at how many you'll find. Another example, which is subtler than the previous one, is: "I used to have a red bicycle," which can be tightened to: "I had a red bicycle."
A common type of clutter, which is sometimes seen even in prolific, professional writers, is the use of "intensifiers," which are usually unnecessary and/or redundant.
As an example, in his book on the American class structure, Class, English professor Paul Fussell described author John T. Molloy's research into the class implications of men's clothing as "really quite impressive research." This conveys no more information than just "impressive research."
Other examples are phrases like "most favorite" or "very best," because such things have no degree: something is either the best according to some criterion, or it's not; something is either your favorite, or it's not. For example, instead of writing: "My favorite types of ice cream are vanilla and strawberry, but my most favorite is chocolate," write: "I like vanilla and strawberry ice cream, but my favorite is chocolate."
An example of a different type of redundancy can unfortunately be found in my last article, where I let the phrase "unforeseen beforehand" slip by me. Non-redundant versions are: "unforeseen" or "unseen beforehand."... and much more.
URL: http://www.lewrockwell.com/kramer/kramer10.html
Avoid common mistakes.
By far the most common mistake I see on the Internet is using "your" instead of "you're" (I almost phrased this as "confusing 'your' and 'you're,'" but that's inaccurate, because most people clearly don't even know there is such a thing as "you're.") "Your" is a possessive pronoun, such as: "Kramer, your article was 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back." "You're" is a contraction of "you are," such as: "Kramer, you're a mediocre writer who's better suited for picking up trash in the park."
Other typical errors are confusing "whose" and "who's"; "its" and "it's"; "then" and "than," etc.
Cultivate good headlines/titles.
This is an area I struggle with; I seem to have little imagination for clever titles, and I marvel at some titles I see, and especially at people who are able to think of numerous clever possibilities for one article almost instantly. The main reason this is important is the more people you can "grab" with your title, the more people will read your article.
As an example, probably the best title I've seen in the past year was for a December article on Politico.com by Jeremy Lott and W. James Antle III, which was about Ron Paul's amazing ability to raise money and recruit supporters – despite the fact that he's not only offering them no government hand-outs, but is specifically telling them that they won't get any if he can help it (but in exchange, of course, they'll get their freedom). The article was titled The Audacity of Nope, which was a play on the title of Barack Obama's New York Times Best-seller, The Audacity of Hope.
Write "tight."
Probably the quickest way someone can look like an amateur writer is by cluttering his prose with unnecessary or redundant words.
An example of a cluttered sentence is: "In my opinion, I truly think that LewRockwell.com is one of the very best news sites on the Internet." A tighter version is: "In my opinion, LewRockwell.com is one of the best news sites on the Internet." But you generally don't need to label obvious opinions as such, so an even tighter version is: "LewRockwell.com is one of the best news sites on the Internet." Even a stronger statement, such as: "LewRockwell.com is the best news site on the Internet," is still obviously an opinion and doesn't need to be labeled as such.
Once you learn to look for unnecessary words, you'll be amazed at how many you'll find. Another example, which is subtler than the previous one, is: "I used to have a red bicycle," which can be tightened to: "I had a red bicycle."
A common type of clutter, which is sometimes seen even in prolific, professional writers, is the use of "intensifiers," which are usually unnecessary and/or redundant.
As an example, in his book on the American class structure, Class, English professor Paul Fussell described author John T. Molloy's research into the class implications of men's clothing as "really quite impressive research." This conveys no more information than just "impressive research."
Other examples are phrases like "most favorite" or "very best," because such things have no degree: something is either the best according to some criterion, or it's not; something is either your favorite, or it's not. For example, instead of writing: "My favorite types of ice cream are vanilla and strawberry, but my most favorite is chocolate," write: "I like vanilla and strawberry ice cream, but my favorite is chocolate."
An example of a different type of redundancy can unfortunately be found in my last article, where I let the phrase "unforeseen beforehand" slip by me. Non-redundant versions are: "unforeseen" or "unseen beforehand."... and much more.