My Book
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mark merrens wrote:
One may write a million words and still say nothing.
Perhaps, but after having written a million words, you will at least be able to write "nothings" more competently -- and that's what to aim at: competence. Not "brilliance" or "creativity", but being able to write words that convey meaning, and being able to structure information to best effect. When you can do that, you can write anything. Other people's opinions on what makes good writing are completely irrelevant, unless your objective is to write precisely how they write (thereby losing any uniqueness that you may be able to offer), and courses, style guides, etc. are no more than other people's opinions, expressing absolute rules (which are not rules at all). I always advise people to get: -- The smallest grammar book they can find, because there are less than 200 actual rules of grammar, so a big book will be full of either waffle or opinionated discussion, study it, and only ever break those rules if it's really necessary (the number of people I've had to bash over the head for using "would'a ~~ would'a" for a subjunctive doesn't bear counting, and "people who don't understand what Passive Voice means" might as well be a mass noun). -- An equally small book on the rules of punctuation, and follow those rules (I'll send a few of the boys around to visit the next person who tells me that a comma represents a pause). But too many hopefuls expend all their energy on learning "rules" that are not rules, and then treat most of the actual rules with disdain and rigidly fixate on a few that others have opinions on. E.g: Q: What is the difference between "less" and "fewer"? A: There isn't one. Q: Can I end a sentence with a preposition? A: Unless you're writing in Latin, go ahead (most sentences accused of ending with a prep actually don't, anyway, because most words that we use as preps have other functions, and are therefore not preps all the time). Q: What's the best way to check for dangling modifiers? A: Don't bother. If they're part of reported speech, then they're just accurate reported speech; if not, does it read well? That's what you have to check for. Q: How do I avoid using passive voice? A: You don't. Avoiding passive voice means avoiding half the usage of at very least every transitive verb. You might as well cut a few fingers off. Etc. Etc. Etc. If you want to call what I say arrogance, go for it, but y
Mark_Wallace wrote:
If you want to call what I say arrogance, go for it, but you couldn't be more wrong.
Trust me, I have often been more wrong. :)
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
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mark merrens wrote:
One may write a million words and still say nothing.
Perhaps, but after having written a million words, you will at least be able to write "nothings" more competently -- and that's what to aim at: competence. Not "brilliance" or "creativity", but being able to write words that convey meaning, and being able to structure information to best effect. When you can do that, you can write anything. Other people's opinions on what makes good writing are completely irrelevant, unless your objective is to write precisely how they write (thereby losing any uniqueness that you may be able to offer), and courses, style guides, etc. are no more than other people's opinions, expressing absolute rules (which are not rules at all). I always advise people to get: -- The smallest grammar book they can find, because there are less than 200 actual rules of grammar, so a big book will be full of either waffle or opinionated discussion, study it, and only ever break those rules if it's really necessary (the number of people I've had to bash over the head for using "would'a ~~ would'a" for a subjunctive doesn't bear counting, and "people who don't understand what Passive Voice means" might as well be a mass noun). -- An equally small book on the rules of punctuation, and follow those rules (I'll send a few of the boys around to visit the next person who tells me that a comma represents a pause). But too many hopefuls expend all their energy on learning "rules" that are not rules, and then treat most of the actual rules with disdain and rigidly fixate on a few that others have opinions on. E.g: Q: What is the difference between "less" and "fewer"? A: There isn't one. Q: Can I end a sentence with a preposition? A: Unless you're writing in Latin, go ahead (most sentences accused of ending with a prep actually don't, anyway, because most words that we use as preps have other functions, and are therefore not preps all the time). Q: What's the best way to check for dangling modifiers? A: Don't bother. If they're part of reported speech, then they're just accurate reported speech; if not, does it read well? That's what you have to check for. Q: How do I avoid using passive voice? A: You don't. Avoiding passive voice means avoiding half the usage of at very least every transitive verb. You might as well cut a few fingers off. Etc. Etc. Etc. If you want to call what I say arrogance, go for it, but y
Sheldon: More wrong? Wrong is an absolute state and not subject to degradation. Stuart: It's a little wrong to say to say a tomato is a vegetable, it's very wrong to say it's a suspension bridge.
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Sheldon: More wrong? Wrong is an absolute state and not subject to degradation. Stuart: It's a little wrong to say to say a tomato is a vegetable, it's very wrong to say it's a suspension bridge.
I think "wronger" is a much more satisfying word. I'll have a word with the Queen, and get her to put it in the dictionary.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!