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Writing That Works
Short sentences and short paragraphs are easier to read than long ones. And easier to understand.
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
your writing is you. It reveals how your mind works. Is it forceful or fatuous, deft or clumsy, crisp or soggy? Readers who don’t know you judge you from the evidence in your writing.
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
Effective means picking your spots, concentrating your
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
Take the time to boil down what you want to say, and express it confidently in simple, declarative sentences. Remember the man who apologized for writing such a long letter, explaining that he didn’t have time to write a short one.
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
If you have distilled your thinking to its essence, you will probably be able to express it in simple words.
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
energies on a major document or project or speech that will make a difference.
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
When God wanted to stop the people from building the Tower of Babel, he did not smite them down with a thunderbolt. He said: “… let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” He could think of no surer way to keep the tower unbuilt than to garble communications. While the Lord confounded langu
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People seldom act on what they cannot understand. Good results are even less likely if you flood the reader with information that isn’t organized to lead to an action or isn’t relevant to a grasp of the subject.
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
not all readers will detect your lapse. But those who do may be the ones who count.
Kenneth Roman • Writing That Works
Yet another advantage of the active voice is that it tends to push you to decide precisely what you want to say, to be more specific.