Clarity, Part 2

The Rules for Writers book has basically been my bible throughout this QRG writing. Below I have chosen four more topics from the clarity section and have explained what they taught me.

Needed Words

This section discussed adding needed words such as that, an, a, the, etc., for clarity purposes. These words are most commonly added when using compound structures or making comparisons in order to ensure that the phrases relate to one another in a way that makes sense. It taught me that it is important to check for clarity throughout sentences, and to add any necessary words in order to fix those problems.

Mixed Constructions

My curiosity about what mixed constructions led me to read this section of the book. Before reading, I thought mixed constructions were having two different subjects in the same sentence; I was close. This section discussed checking sentences to see if they make sense grammatically. Along with that, it mentioned that verbs and their modifiers should match the subject they are describing. When writing, you should be able to check for logical connections; what is the subject you are addressing? Does it make sense?

Variety

One of the most important things to do when writing is to provide variety. This can be accomplished by finding a balance between the different sentence structures and inverting sentences occasionally. By differing the sentence structures, one can avoid sounding monotonous and keep the text flowing smoothly. In the case of inverting sentences, it should only be used if the meaning behind the sentence won't be lost and is good for providing emphasis.

Wordy Sentences

The reason why I chose this section is because I know that I'm guilty of having wordy sentences. After reading, I have discovered some ways to help cut back on my word count. There are many different methods, including limiting the number of clauses used, narrowing the clauses down to phrases or single words, and eliminating redundancies and unnecessary repetitions. While they may seem to provide emphasis, they actually do the opposite, so it is important to be aware while writing.

Bellucci, Marco. "Question mark". August 4, 2005 via flickr.
Attribution 2.0 Generic License

After revising my paper and focusing solely on these four topics, I noticed that a lot of my sentences were either too wordy or had mixed constructions.

For example in this sentence: "To combat this dilemma, reddit user m0llusk, with no previous background on the subject, suggested reengineering the oceans . . .", there are too many topics being addressed at once. It would be much more effective if I restructured the sentence into smaller clauses so it wouldn't be such a run-on.

I also found while revising that I completely forgot to add a verb to one of my sentences.
"Another newer and riskier method proposed by 1995 Nobel Prize winner and atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen."
In my first couple of scans I didn't pick up on this error, probably because my brain knew what I was trying to say and added it for me. Since the verb was nonexistent, the meaning was unclear, causing it to be a mixed construction. This sentence was also originally one long run-on, but I found that there were two separate ideas in it and broke them up that way.