I am taking a break from my usual subjects this week and will instead write about writing. I have thought often about what constitutes good style, but have never come to a ready answer. Good writing should be clear, concise, and simple to understand. The author's goal is to make a text easy to understand using the fewest possible words. But beyond this, good writing is difficult to define. Here are a few simple rules that may help, especially for those who routinely split their infinitives or dangle their participles.
In general, specificity is best. Nobody likes reading endless sentences about this and that, which never seem to be going anywhere in particular. Run-on sentences, which go on and on and line after line, can be extremely tedious to read as the reader gets more easily distracted with each passing phrase and with each new idea, like watching the houses and trees go by when you are speeding through the desert on your way to somewhere far away until you are hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere 500 miles from Podunk, Arkansas and have no conception of the original point the author was attempting to make. Using words twice in a sentence is almost always inadvisable, unless those words are of particular importance in the sentence.
Mixed metaphors should be avoided like the plague over the hill. This is a rule our president could use: speaking of Senator McCain, Mr. Bush said, "He's trying to ride the high horse down the low road." Or referring to the economy, "We ought to make the pie higher." What exactly does he mean? Mixing tenses is also incorrect. I forget sometimes how important this was. Everyone should beware of mixing singular and plural in their writing. To quote Mr. Bush again, "Laura and I really don't realize how bright our children is sometime until we get an objective analysis."
It is said that analogies in writing are as pointless as a fifth wheel, though I think they can help convey ideas more effectively. I always attempt to avoid alliteration. It becomes banteringly banal and boring when each word begins with the same letter.
Sesquipedalian language, which uses interminably long and obsolescent words, is egregious gobbledygook and should be eschewed. Nothing sounds more pompous than an amateur rhetorician, ostentatiously constructing clause upon clause as if he were pontificating before some auspicious parliament. Take a lesson from Hemingway: think what you are trying to say, and say it. Do not try to dress it up. Also, it's probably not too good an idea to write in the same way you'd talk. If you fail to avoid this, you don't have to worry about not using double negatives.
I hope I am not being a Tiresias saying that classical references are pass?©. Like the statue of Ozymandias, writing that relies on its readers being familiar with mythology is built on feet of clay. Similarly, it is usually not apropos to use too many foreign words - that would be a faux pas vis-? -vis good writing. Although using Latin is not inadvisable per se, authors - especially in academia - carry it on ad nauseam.
Another rule many professors have forgotten is that the passive voice should not be used. Few things are as soporific as text in which this style is utilized. Sentences that are redundant, repetitive, and make the same point several times using different words must be eliminated. Finally, is it ever really appropriate to use a rhetorical question?
A major grammatical error is the one-word sentence. Avoid! Never use contractions or abbreviations. They're too informal and chatty for most types of writing. Also, using lots of colloquialisms is like way too flaky.
In voicing an opinion, it is better to wear a crown of thorns and carry a wooden cross than excessively use hyperbole. Even so, it is trillions of times better to exaggerate than equivocate. Do not phrase statements in the negative. Above all else, the superlative must be used with caution. Lastly, be careful about overusing the exclamation point!!!
Sentence order is crucially important. Prepositions are not what sentences should be ended with! Proper structure is vital, in all types of writing, whether formal or informal, which, no matter where, should never, with any exceptions, utilize too many subordinate clauses. Remember that pronouns, especially in long-winded sentences, which may take up an entire paragraph of your writing, should be placed near their antecedents. If there is a worse way to end a sentence that a preposition, a linking verb is.
I have been told it is wrong to ever split an infinitive, though this rule is a bit outdated. And there is that old grade school dogma: never start a sentence with a conjunction. This is another rule that can be broken for good cause. The use of punctuation (like parenthesis), although helpful - if used correctly - can be problematic: it becomes too difficult to follow the flow; to understand the point when numerous symbols break up the words. Writing intelligently, one must eliminate dangling participles.
I have noticed in Dublin that the Irish have a tendency to overuse the reflexive. Myself and my other American friends think this is wrong, despite it being a part of the local vernacular.
Finally, multiple proofreads are essential. That is the only way to sure you left words out. Proofreading also helps catch problems with homophones. To many college students neglect to do this.
I hope these rules are helpful, and maybe even entertaining. Writing, like architecture, is somewhere between an art and a craft. Although the author's creativity and inspiration always takes precedent, the guidelines of good style should never be ignored. Good writing takes time. Hemingway would spend days agonizing over one sentence. And good writing takes practice. To paraphrase Alexander Pope, the wit, unlike a knife, becomes sharper with use. Following these guidelines and learning from your mistakes is essential to help you write good.
