"Writing Good English": A Reaction
What is your personal reaction to what you learned about writing from your peers and from Willam Zinsser? Did anything surprise or puzzle you? Do you strongly agree or disagree with any suggestion? Explain why. Answer in paragraphs (but not an essay). Write no fewer than 100 words and no more than 200. Due in time for Friday's class.
24 comments:
Here your rules for Writing Good English from today's class:
Use a good title. X2
Use imagination, metaphor and simile.
Use good structure.
Use descriptive language.
Use the five senses to connect to the reader. X2
Be specific when you are writing.
Use correct information when writing.
Use examples to support your ideas.
Make it interesting.
Read aloud and rewrite as necessary.
Use punctuation to create rhythm and flow.
Stay on the topic. Make the main idea clear.
Prepare yourself before you write (brainstorm). Use logical sequences to create coherence.
Choose your words wisely.
Make it plain.
Write to appeal to someone who will read.
Good writing ends.
Although the student rules created in class do not exactly match William Zinsser’s, they do still sometimes reflect his ideas. Your focus on academic, essay-style, writing was not a surprise to me, but it makes me sigh to think that we have to focus so much on the “dry” and literary styles.
As far as Zinsser’s suggestions go, no doubt you’ve guessed that I chose the article because I personally agree with him. It’s interesting to note that, within our communities, there are two such radically different styles: the Latin filled writing that seems to intentionally confuse us and the Anglo Saxon writing used so effectively by both President Obama and the Bible.
But most importantly for me are a few of the things he says: that there are “words that are in our bones”; that being yourself is the best way to represent your humanity; that “simple is good.” I hope, personally, that my students will heed Zinsser’s advice and, as a result, become better (and more human) writers.
--170 words
Even though William Zinsser didn’t mention that good writing should have an example to support the idea, I would suggest my classmates to do that because it gives an experience to a reader.
So far, William suggested that, “Short is always better than long.” It’s the same recommendation to one of my teachers back home used to tell us, “Writing short sentences will prevent you to not make mistakes in your writing,” he said. Also using “active verbs” into sentences is more useful than using passive verbs because an active verb pushes a story forward and it doesn’t require more explanations.
Most importantly is that a writer has to stick on a topic and avoid going out of the story. Also, it’s good to keep bottom paragraph relates to the above one and think about “What the reader need to know next.” Finally is to write short and simple sentences, so the reader can understand the story clearly.
158 words.
William Zinsser's four principles are the ones I also learned in elementary school in my country. My teacher told me that in having a clear and simple writing tends the readers to nod, as if they really understand what I am writing. Unlike the other articles that make our eyebrows stick to each other (getting confused and give up reading afterwards), a precise and modest writing brings a light feeling. It is because the readers don’t need more time to analyze it. They absorb it right away.
This is also why short but meaningful writing is important. You don’t need to write long words just to impress the readers, like you are a wizard. As Zinsser said, “Be yourself." Write as who you are – a comical, a romantic, a dramatic, a parent, a child, or a crazy one. Do not pretend to be someone you are not.
The last thing I want to say is that in writing, of course, you should put creativity on it, but not too elaborate, so the readers will enjoy and appreciate your “creation” as you have enjoyed writing it with your time and heart.
--190 words
Due to the system of education I have learned in my own country and William's Zinsser's point of view I adopt his ideas about writing good English.On the other hand I have to confess that I followed for about 10 years that fancy words and extraordinary phrases can rish the writing and get high marks.
True to recognize with William that it depends on what country you're from also,I like the egyptian student who said: we talk in proverbs. this is true.I grow up with the egyptian films and their way of talking.
Again here I agree with him by "be yourself and never try to be somebody else" . If you are not writing what you feel don't write .
-121Words
Although our rules discussed in class do not exactly match William Zinsser’s, we do still sometimes reflect his ideas. He focuses on academic, essay-style, writing was quite familiar to me, but I think that sometimes we still cannot consider every rules in one single essay.
Personally, I agree William’s points of view. First, a good writing should be clear enough to let readers understand at the first sight what you want to present. Second, try to be as simple as possible. Readers in the modern world cannot stand complicated and difficult essay any more, I should apply this rule in my essay in the future. Third, shorter article is also an attraction for the readers willing to read your idea.
As for humanity, sometimes when I write an essay, I have to choose which stands would be easier for me to present. Maybe it is my long term goal – be myself.
In our group, we tried to squeeze out dozens of good academic writing techniques. For example: good structure, clear main idea, and use of five senses. I didn’t have any objection to almost all the ideas, but only I think that they are abstract and I wondered if I can really apply them correctly when doing actual writing.
After reading William Zinsser’s article, I found that apparently he had a different standard to my definition of good writing. I used to agree with that the Latin decorative writing style was good method. Probably it defeated me and made me puzzled; therefore, I considered it good. But frankly I hate it.
Zinsser’s article drives me to examine my writing problems honestly. His four writing principles are something I should put in mind now. But most inspired me is his words: “Don’t say anything in writing that you wouldn’t comfortably say in conversation; writing is talking to someone else on paper.” In the past, readers couldn’t read my mind, I considered it good. From now on, I think I should strive to write something which is able to deliver my thought clearly to readers.
---192 words
Good writing has to do with the literary context. To me good writing is something the reader can enjoy; this is why I have some disagreements with Zinsser’s ideas. One idea is Latin words should be avoided because they are long pompous and usually associated with authoritative speech. One of his examples is a letter he received from his broker which featured complex vocabulary. Zinsser goes on to make his point by changing the letter to a simpler form. Personally if an important corporation sent a letter with such casual structure I would find it hard to take the company seriously.
I agree that simple is better, as long as creativity doesn’t suffer in the process. Simplicity is the best way to get a point across, getting a point across alone is not good writing. With no interest for the reader there is no point in sharing ideas. Simple creativity is important.
“All the life has been taken out of the sentence” Zinsser shares about passive-verbs. I feel passive-voice sentences fit well in textbooks, while active-verbs have a place in certain text as well. Every type of word has a purpose; we just need to find a place for them.
-200
As I and my peers have collected as many idea of what good writing is. William Zinsser’s has his own four principles that can be comparable to the list we have created. Keeping sentences clear and organized were my focuses throughout my schooling and I could see where it could be applied from the list and Zinsser’s principles.
William Zinsser, is a strong minded person; with his four principles I could completely understand why he has chosen them. His good writing consists of having clear points, keeping it simple, short is better and to keep what we write in the style that we write in. As there are the two sources of the English language that we obtain; Latin which is said to be useless and Anglo-Saxon words that are much more preferred. There are also active verbs, which make sentences more specific to keep the ideas moving forward.
Overall, I agree with Zinsser’s advice he reveals the truth of what good writing should be and how we should perceive it; “whatever journalistic assignment you’ve been given, all you have to do is tell a story, using the simple tools of the English language and never losing you own humanity”.
--200 words
Last year, during the economic crisis, I deliberately reduced expenses to meet essential needs. Now, William Zinsser helps me cut sentences to the bone. I strongly agree with his rule of “simple is good.” Although I hesitated to scrape the abundant, fancy words which I have intentionally accumulated over decades, I recalled a liberated feeling I got after decluttered my bursting closets. Simple sets me free and helps me focus. I have learned that good writing shouldn’t waste the reader’s time; however, the challenge is how simple nouns, active verbs and confusing English propositions all work together to help me, a Chinese immigrant, show the world that I am properly educated.
--114 words
The manuscript of the speech
“ Writing Good English” by William Zinsser, is an work in rich of inspiring examples. Although the five rules of writing good English are not new to most of us, they are often unintentionally ignored in our writing practice.
Like the author said, our cultural backgrounds distract us—the second language students—from writing “plain and strong” English. Longing to write sophisticated and delicate English language, we restlessly skip over the most important step of writing: simplicity and preciseness.
As the successful writer, editor, and teacher, William Zinsser shows us that simple and precise English writing can be so beautiful. I want to write English like him, if only I could.
116 words
Well, after reading this article from William Zinsser, I could say one word, which is Wow. I extremely enjoyed reading these rules, it makes me feel happy and satisfy of my English level, so now I can say, yes, I can do English 12.
I was surprised when I saw the way he changed the sentences by using passive verbs instead of active verbs, and how the same sentence became smoother, easy to picture ,and more understandable to the readers when he converted into active form.
I strongly agree with the rule that William Zinsser suggested to all of us which is “Short is better than long.” “Simple is good.”For me, I will follow his rules by making my answer for this homework simple and short.
--127 words
William Zinsser noticed four principles that can help students to prove their writing, and he encourages them to write simple, meaningful, but clear. Some of his rules are not acceptable in other languages like Persian and Arabic literally, but the forth rule, humanity, is necessary for all writers to follow it to write a comprehensible writing. As William Zinsser described that is a clever idea to read our essay sentence by sentence, and find the meaning of each sentence; we help our reader to understand the writing and enjoy simultaneously.
He suggests students to write simple and short sentences (while we always find newspaper, letters, and most of writing full of long sentences, and complicated needless words).William Zinsser’ principles make writing more simple for foreign students .
When I was in high school, my teachers always taught me to write my real experiences and feelings. It coincides with Zinsser’s fourth principle: Humanity. Creating bases on reality.
Writing is for readers. Simple writings are obviously easy to follow. In my group, we all agreed with this principle. I had received some confusing letters, and I could not understand why they used those pompous words. When I read Zinsser’s article, I was surprised, amused, and relieved to know even natives cannot understand “some totally unintelligible letter.”
A good writing is plain but not insipid. It is necessary to carefully choose words and sentences to make writings vivid and unique.
My group and I discussed that good writing is about structure, clear idea and sophisticated vocab. It surprise me when William Zinsser says that long Latin usages have so infected everyday language because I was taught to use big fancy words.
I agree with William's four principles. For example, clarity is very important because the reader has to understand what he's reading about or else it's just going in one ear and out the other. I was very surprised when William mentioned short words are better than long words. For example, don't say currently if you can say now, or don't say assistance if you can say help, because of how I was taught.
Lastly, I now understand and agree that simple is good and not having to use fancy words to look smart. What's more important is staying on topic and being creative.
-144 words
I was pleasing when I read the "Short is better. Simple is good." in article "Writing Good English". Because the rules that William Zinsser tells us are good for academic essay, and I have written technical report which is a kind of academic easy for many years. In technical reports, there are almost no adjectives. What it has are just nouns and active verbs. When the adjectives appear, especially frequently, that means there are something wrong, the author want to confuse, to mislead the reader. Sometimes I did it either when I didn't want my boss knowing the result was not as good as he expected. I gave him a lot of adjectives to describe the process of the job I had done, and avoided to talk about what the result really was. Of course it sometimes worked sometimes not. But I never told opposite since I couldn't afford lying.
So, if you are a manager, when you read a report which a lot of adjectives in it, but you can't find the result from first or last paragraphs, you know that is what I've told you.
-- 187 words
I agree William’s comment. Writing good English should keep essays or paragraphs to be “clarity, simplicity, brevity, and humanity.” Based on my experiences, it couldn’t touch reader’s heart that tried to use some special words, complicated sentences, and seldom used structure. Reader prefered to understand what you write rather than appreciate your ability of literature. During discussing with classmates, we suggested to use good words, examples, and organizations to enrich a essay. It was the purpose that making reader to understand what we said, what we imagined, and what emotion we had. It should be clear for reading that we follow Willam’s ideas to write an essay.
There is a concern in one of William’s concepts – “humanity”. In real world, we write some articles to explain something, and promote some ideas (sometimes, they are your boss’s request) to the whole company or customers. Sometimes, we have to follow someone’s styles or instructions to finish a paper or report. Can we follow this concept in any environment in Canada, and not pay a big price? It puzzles me a lot.
I really enjoyed William Zinsser‘s writing and his five rules. They are very useful for those who have English second language.
I am agree when he said “simple is good .writing is not something you have to embroider with fancy stitches to make yourself look smart.”Also I am puzzle with this idea. Does everyone will be agree with this idea? Since I start writing, it doesn’t matter in my mother language or English I am learning use different word make writing vivid. I still remember when one of my Teachers wrote a note for me “my writing is very simple. My vocabulary doesn’t match my English level.
I really enjoyed this writing first time because it is very simple and plain writing. I am agreeing with William Zinsser five rules. If I flows these three rules English is not difficult for me
From Ivana:
William Zinsser has provided us with an article to better our understanding of what our language can be about. Although, they are rules to be followed, they don’t always tend to match but still hold great similarities that reflect one another.
My personal reaction is that I find, simplicity is always an easier read because it allows our reader to understand more clearly. Just as William has said, "Simple is good, writing is not something you have to embroider with fancy stitches, to make yourself look smart." Writing good English doesn’t always mean that the best will be the longest, yet the most interesting! Clear expressions are what keeps the reader wanting to read more.
Writing good English could have many different variations. Everyone has a different opinion and there own style, what’s important is to be consist with the topic in order to keep the flow.
From Noela:
To me writing good English was all about havi ng to know how to write long latin words, but from what I learnt about this reading exercise is that we don’t need to write big English words which are long, making it short and simple, which even other people can understand you to attract an audience, so I totally agree with Zinsser . Anglo-Saxon active verbs are our best friend and it make so much sense to me now because, I was one of those people that think writing long sentence are the best way to write good English, but I am really happy to learn that its not the best way to go, I was also amazed by the different kind of ideas my peers get to come up with in writing good English because they are also similar to what Zinsser is saying, make it clear and simple, short is better than long, one thought per sentence and that is an advice am going to take with me now, I belive it will help me improve in my writing!
It is surprising that no one in our class pointed out William Zinsser’s good writing rules. Even though, I remember from our previous classes, Brad always mentioned about them- “try to make your sentences short”, “One thought per sentence” and “be simple”.
I think our point of views about good writing and Zinsser’s were different in some ways because we are a multicultural class. One country’s writing is different from another. For many years we were trained to write in one way, but now we have to change our writing methods. The second language is always hard to get used to.
In languages I speak, Pashto, Dari/Farsi, and Russian difficult words are necessary for the good writing. English is new to me, so it is helpful to know that it’s not a rule in English. I really enjoyed reading William Zinsser’s “Writing Good English”.
144 words
I found that the list we wrote in class was very different from what William Zinsser was saying in his paper. We were thinking more about the proper stucture of words rather then the right kind of words to put into a sentence.
It is true that when people write in Latin verbs it makes it almost utterly impossible to understand what they are saying. They are just words on a page that do not relate to the reader at all. But when you start to use Anglo-Saxon, everything starts to make sence. The words are easy to understand and they help create a mental picture for the reader.
I agree with William Zinseer one hundered percent. The main key to writing good english is to keep it short and use lots of active verbs. This helps bring people to the same sights and feelings of the writer. Its like painting a picture with simple, understandable words to capture the reader in.
Going over the summary of the group discussions, I was surprised by the enormity of the rules of good english writing. The ideas are valid but full of generalities and without direction. Feeling lost, I read and re-read the text of Mr. William Zinsser's talk. I found the contents very interesting. I agree with his principles of good writing: clarity, simplicity, brevity and to be yourself. Writing should be easily understood, short words and sentences should be used and writing should reflect writer's writing style. I conform to the use of Anglo-Saxon nouns and verbs. They are specific and portray day to day realities. On the other hand, I still like using Latin derivatives, because(I think), these words give color,texture and depth in other forms of literary pieces.
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