Use action verbs. Instead of saying something like, “The ball got kicked by Christina,” say “Christina kicked the ball.” By making your sentences and syntax active instead of passive, it makes your readers more apt to understand you.
Read your words aloud. If you finish a piece and aren’t sure if it sounds right, read it aloud slowly. Gather an audience of friends and family, asking them what they think.
right-writing.com: William Strunk Jr. (co-author of a great little book, “The Elements of Style”) writes: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences.”
Specific detail is vital, as the other co-author, E.B. White, once advised: “Don’t write about Man, write about a man.”
Note this from writing teacher William Zinsser: “Look for the clutter in your writing, and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Re-examine each sentence that you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? … Simplify. Simplify.”
Here’s good advice from George Orwell: “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 word 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.”
Essayist Sheridan Baker noted similarly, “Never use a long word when you can find a short one. … Pick up every sentence in turn, asking ourselves if we can possibly make it shorter.”
Ehow.com.Tips & Warnings
Never rush writing. Writing requires patience and time to produce great results.
Never compare yourself to another writer. Writers have their own style and voices; no two are alike.
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