Seven Sins of Writing
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Seven Sins of Writing
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Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#2“Avoid the passive voice” is a rule that annoys me. Sometimes, the rule that’s annoying is more important than the person that’s being annoyed.
Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#3Be clear about what the passive voice is:
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2922
> It is clear that some people think The bus blew up is in the passive; that The case took on racial overtones is in the passive; that Dr. Reuben deeply regrets that this happened is in the passive; and so on.
(Needless to say, none of those are in the passive voice. Of course, some people think questions are in the passive voice, so perhaps this education is a lost cause.)
Moving on:
> Concise writing is key to clear communication. Wordiness obscures your ideas and frustrates your reader. Make your points succinctly.
The funny thing is, they wrote this without intending to be ironic.
Finally:
> Each student must meet with their advisor.
They mark this as incorrect, which it is not, and which marks them as being innovative and ignorant. Innovative, in that they're trying to invent new rules for English to follow, and ignorant, in that they think they're being traditionalists.
Cites:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/singular-they-history
> The plural they originated around the 13th century, and it didn’t take long for its singular form to emerge. As professor and linguist Dennis Baron writes in a post at the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known instance of the singular they can be found in the medieval poem William and the Werewolf from 1375. A section translated from the Middle English to modern English reads, “Each man hurried [. . .] till they drew near [. . .] where William and his darling were lying together.” Because most language changes develop orally before they’re written down, this form of they likely had been in use for years by this point.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200121102050/https://www.nytim...
> For the still unpersuaded, he points out that singular “they” is older than singular “you.” Only in the 1600s did singular “you” start pushing out “thou” and “thee.”
Finally, this:
> Each student must meet his or her advisor.
Is marked as correct, but it isn't. Some people don't identify as "He" or "She" and trying to "Grammar" them into submission is simply idiotic.
Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#4“Avoid the passive voice” is a rule that annoys me. Sometimes, the rule that’s annoying is more important than the person that’s being annoyed.
There should be an (n+1)th rule for these lists that's break the rules when you want, just know you're breaking them and do it because you like the result better, not out of sloppiness.
Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#5I’ve always seen recommendations to avoid passive voice in writing. However, when I encounter passive voice it doesn’t bother me. It also is one of my more frequent writing mistakes. Is this still considered bad practice?
Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#6I wish I understood what "wordiness" means. Perhaps it's restating the same simple point three times in as many loose sentences.
People who harp on this point usually point to the writing of Hemingway and similar writers (Carver comes to mind). All of these men are better writers than I am, but I still prefer to read Nabokov. Could Nabokov have "made his point" in fewer words? Almost certainly, but I wouldn't have enjoyed them any more.
Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#7I’ve always seen recommendations to avoid passive voice in writing. However, when I encounter passive voice it doesn’t bother me. It also is one of my more frequent writing mistakes. Is this still considered bad practice?
As a general rule, yes.
Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#8“Avoid the passive voice” is a rule that annoys me. Sometimes, the rule that’s annoying is more important than the person that’s being annoyed.
> a rule that annoys me
None of these are meant to be "rules" in my understanding. The post starts with "In most instances", so it leaves plenty of room for "exceptions" to the list based on what you intend to convey.
Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#9I wish I understood what "wordiness" means. Perhaps it's restating the same simple point three times in as many loose sentences. People who harp on this point usually point to the writing of Hemingway and similar writers (Carver comes to mind). All of these men are better writers than I am, but I still prefer to read Nabokov. Could Nabokov have "made his point" in fewer words? Almost certainly, but I wouldn't have en…
These rules are for students writing essays, not Nabokov.
Re: Seven Sins of Writing
#10I don't understand Sin Seven.