According to journalist William Zinsser, a writer must be clear in order to write well. A writer who fills his/her pages with pretentious words, flattery prose, or intricate syntax clouds up his/her sentences and prevents the reader from fully understanding the message at hand. Therefore, Zinsser contends that good writing is achieved when bombastic language and confusing words are avoided. Indeed, stripping “every sentence to its cleanest components”, removing excess verbiage, and molding words into coherent, simple structures prevents the reader from getting lost in a whirlwind of words and thus allows him/her to fully grasp the author’s message (Zinsser 6). In short, clarity leads to writing that is done well.
In the book, entitled Style: Lessons in clarity and grace, Joseph Williams and Joseph Bizup discussed unclear writing and ways to resolve unclear writing. Williams & Bizup posited that the standard language rules for English commenced from geography and economics. While other rules, came about due to the need for efficiency. Regardless of the reason, the rules came into existence, there are several grammatical rules that affect writing the standard English language. Williams & Bizup attributed clear writing as the choice of the author and correctly, using grammar rules, aids in writing clearly.
effective because it allows the reader to envision the workspace. “Grammar is not just a pain in
After identifying the basic structure of a message, a critical thinker must ask, “What words or phrases are ambiguous?” (p. 40) An ambiguous word or phrase is one that has multiple possible meanings. Ambiguous words or phrases in an argument create the need for clarification of the meaning before a reader can fully evaluate the argument.
It is very important for the audience to have an understanding of the message the writer is trying to say. Singman’s article is full of different techniques which make her article intelligible for a majority of her audience. The techniques being used make the argument of the article more effective After writing this essay it has helped me to view writing differently. The way we put words together can make a huge difference to your audience. This is the reason why we need to be for careful with our word choice, depending on what we want our audience to take from our writing. We also need to understand that not everyone will be able to understand if we do not put it in a format that is clear to the
Chapter seven begins by explaining an example that would make the case against using ambiguity. In fact, the title of chapter seven is “Avoid Ambiguity”. While it is true that vague statements leave questions unanswered, the traditional idea behind gathering information is to find specific details and clear communicated
I wasn’t sure how best to express the idea in the headline, so I wrote several versions:
The author is constantly bringing up things like accused, possibility and allegedly. When news reporters are writing a report they usually use defines instead of speculations. This seems to suggest the author does not wish to take
According to Browne and Stuart (2018), ambiguity refers to the existence of multiple possible meanings for a word or phrase. There are several ways a writer can do to decrease the likelihood that any ambiguous words or phrases are detracting from the communication. They are as follows: locate key terms or phrases in the issue and conclusion and define and or explain them; locate key terms or phrases in the reason and define and or explain them; and identify abstract words in the core argument. The more abstract the word, the more likely the author will need to clarify it (Browne & Stuart,
Nevertheless, the most complex level of usage that McCrimmon discusses is the formal level of usage. One point of the formal structure is that the sentences are “relatively long and involved” (193). The sentences in scholarly articles typically follow rules, which makes them more difficult to read than other types of writing. Further, these writings also use “extensive vocabulary” (193). There are often words that most people would not know the meaning of unless they are professionals in that field. In addition, sentences in the formal level “make no attempt to establish
Based on the use of language,the kinds of adjustments that I can make about is that the whole time while he was talking to Sonia, his actions towards her screamed out what social sciences call, the “horns effect.” A negative judgement about a person based off of your first impression of them. mick continues to talk to Sonya very pushy. And most of the time she listens silently. Which is a nonverbal cue that she doesn't want to talk to him or see him. His syntax is the workings of a jerk. For instance telling the waiter “Hey, honey, bring me a cup of this, would ya?” Also by saying hey baby, don't forget about that coffee. Nother judgment about Nick is that he has poor listening skills. Sonya tells him more than once that she would like to be
ambiguity which, once resolved, leads the contemplator to the same conclusion as I do that in fact,
There are three ways how “embeddedness” and “ambiguity” provide understanding on the challenges associated with governing crimes against the environment. Firstly, the ambiguity between the illegal and legal markets may facilitate transnational environmental crime (TEC), which leads to problems in controlling it. An example of a symbiotic relation between illegal and legal actors is the outsourcing of electronic waste, as an illegal actor does the dirty work of disposing e-waste internationally for a legal actor (Bisschop 2012, 235; Lecture 10 Slide 4). Therefore, because illegal e-waste transportations require the contribution of both actors, difficulty in governing this form of TEC is understood in the problems of placing accountability.
Specialists in descriptive grammar (linguists) examine the principles and patterns that underlie the use of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. In contrast, prescriptive