Introduction:

this exercise is adpated from ENGL 106 Handbook generated by the LAS Department of Otis College

"Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in uneccessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon . . ." from Simplicity by William Zinsser

The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what-these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence...

How can [we] achieve such freedom from clutter? The answer is to clear our heads of clutter. Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other. It's impossible for a muddy thinker to write good English. He may get away with it for a paragraph or two, but soon the reader will be lost, and there's no sin so grave, for the reader will not easily be lured back...

Writers must therefore constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Surprisingly often they don't know. Then they must look at what they have written and ask: have I said it? Is it clear to someone encountering the subject for the first time?...

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard."

Zinsser goes on to say, "With each rewrite I try to make what I have written tighter, stronger, and more precise, eliminating every element that's not doing useful work." We're going to try to do the same thing today.

Instruction:

Part 1: Work on the exercises below. Choose two examples of the five under each section and correct the sentence. Email your answers to your instructor.

Part 2: Working on your own, choose a paragraph from Paper I. Revise that one paragraph keeping the principles below in mind and re-write it --- email it to your instructor.

These two parts should be turned in as one file.

On to the Exercises