{"id":588,"date":"2011-06-26T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2011-06-26T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/euangelion\/?p=588"},"modified":"2011-06-26T06:00:09","modified_gmt":"2011-06-26T10:00:09","slug":"writing-style-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2011\/06\/writing-style-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Style 7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>I continue my series on writing style with lesson 7 in Williams and Colomb\u2019s book Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (10th Edition)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>. The topic in this post is writing concisely or, as they title it, with \u201cconcision\u201d.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the single most difficult skill to learn in writing is writing concisely.\u00a0 I have a homemade signed affixed to my desk that contains a quote from William Strunk Jr.\u2019s famous book The Elements of Style<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\"\". It reads:<\/p>\n

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>This sign is made of A4 paper. I created it when I was just beginning my Ph.D. in 2002. Writing concisely continues to be one my primary target in writing and more often than not I don\u2019t hit it. Let me put it this way. The first thing I write hardly ever concise. I have found that concision comes through many revisions. This is really a first principle. I think if you set out to write concisely at first, you\u2019ll paralyze yourself. You will be so careful about every word that you\u2019ll not actually get a flow of thought even started. Concise writing comes at the end of a process of writing. It is where the journey must terminate, but it is not the first destination.<\/p>\n

I think Williams and Colombs realize this because they present the five principles of concision in the form of editing strategies.<\/p>\n

1. Delete words that mean little or nothing \u2013 especially \u201cclear our throat\u201d words (e.g. actually, particular, really).<\/p>\n

2. Delete words that repeat the meaning of other words \u2013especially double words (e.g. full and complete, first and foremost, any and all).<\/p>\n

3. Delete words implied by other words \u2013 especially redundant modifiers (e.g. predict future events), categories (e.g. period of time), and general implications (e.g. \u201ctrying to learn\u201d = learning).<\/p>\n

4. Replace a phrase with a word.<\/p>\n

5. Change negatives to affirmatives.<\/p>\n

Williams and Colombs caution the reader with these most memorable words. After stressing concision so strongly they advise would-be writers:<\/p>\n

Readers don\u2019t\u2019 like flab, but neither do they like a style so terse that it\u2019s all gristle and bone (114).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I continue my series on writing style with lesson 7 in Williams and Colomb\u2019s book Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (10th Edition). The topic in this post is writing concisely or, as they title it, with \u201cconcision\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nWriting Style 7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I continue my series on writing style with lesson 7 in Williams and Colomb\u2019s book Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (10th Edition). 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