Here are two short readings on writing—aren’t English
teachers the best? Not only do you get to write but you also get to read about
writing…
READING 1:
FROM Orwell's essay, “Politics and the
English Language”
A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will
ask himself at least four questions, thus:
What am I trying
to say?
What words will
express it?
What image or
idiom will make it clearer?
Is this image fresh
enough to have an effect?
And he will probably ask himself two more:
Could I put it
more shortly?
Have I said anything
that is avoidably ugly?
One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a
phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think
the following rules will cover most cases:
Never use a
metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in
print.
Never use a long
word where a short one will do.
If it is possible
to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the
passive where you can use the active.
Never use a
foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an
everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these
rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
READING 2 from Twain's Rules of Writing
(from Mark Twain's scathing essay on the Literary Offenses
of James Fenimore Cooper)
1. A tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere.
2. The episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the
tale, and shall help develop it.
3. The personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the
case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses
from the others.
4. The personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall
exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there.
5. When the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the
talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be
likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning,
also a discoverable purpose, and a show of relevancy, and remain in the neighborhood
of the subject in hand, and be interesting to the reader, and help out the
tale, and stop when the people cannot think of anything more to say.
6. When the author describes the character of a personage in
his tale, the conduct and conversation of that personage shall justify said
description.
7. When a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged,
tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven-dollar Friendship's Offering in the beginning of
a paragraph, he shall not talk like a Negro minstrel at the end of it.
8. Crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader by
either the author or the people in the tale.
9. The personages of a tale shall confine themselves to
possibilities and let miracles alone; or, if they venture a miracle, the author
must so plausably set it forth as to make it look possible and reasonable.
10. The author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in
the personages of his tale and their fate; and that he shall make the reader
love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones.
11. The characters in tale be so clearly defined that the
reader can tell beforehand what each will do in a given emergency.
An author should
12. _Say_ what he is proposing to say, not merely come near
it.
13. Use the right word, not its second cousin.
14. Eschew surplusage.
15. Not omit necessary details.
16. Avoid slovenliness of form.
17. Use good grammar.
18. Employ a simple, straightforward style.
Restaurants are integral to the social fabric of communities, serving as meeting points for friends, families, and colleagues. In this essay, we examine the societal importance of restaurants beyond their culinary offerings. From historic cafes where intellectuals gather to trendy bistros frequented by artists, we explore how restaurants foster connections, dialogue, and cultural exchange. Dive into the heartwarming stories of how these establishments become woven into the social tapestry of their neighborhoods, becoming much more than just places to dine. Visit our website.
ReplyDelete