Bad Advice From a Good Writer
…Whatever one wishes to say, there is one noun only by which to express it, one verb only to give it life, one adjective only which will describe it. One must search until one has discovered them, this noun, this
Word choice
Writer’s Diction
The first thing to consider is the difference between the diction of writers and civilians. Writers use one set of words, civilians another. Most of us use words from what linguists refer to as “basic level.” We say, “I’m going …
The Passive Voice Speaks Out
Before the Internet, we had to go to political rallies or beer parlors to collect half-truths and bizarre opinions, but now we simply thumb through collections of them on the Internet. One of these is the notion that writers should …
Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Parts of Speech!?
Our next example is related to the word-parsimony fallacy but even stupider. This is the notion that there are some parts of speech that writers should avoid, namely adjectives and adverbs. On the face of it, this doesn’t seem an …
The Word-Parsimony Fallacy
…The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than