Blog Summary 2: Sharpening, by Ken Marcrorie
I was assigned to blog about an article written by Ken Marcrorie called "Sharpening". In his article he discusses many errors writers make in their works and how to make the pieces more intresting and less wordy. He begins by addressing the use of the verb is and all the forms of be. The writer believes that the overuse of these verbs leave a piece of writing feeling dry and lacking detail. In addition to dryness and lack of detail, these verbs add wordiness to writing that may be uncalled for. Obviously using is and its other forms are many times necessary but the point the author is trying to make is to reduce the use of is as much as possible.
Another issue in writing Marcrorie is concerned with is the use of redundant adverbs. Many times writers will use multiple sayings or words that mean the same thing to describe an action or event. These will make a piece of writing too wordy and undesirable to read. Also many adverbs will steal the effect from the actual adjective used to describe the subject of a sentence.
Finally the author ends with weasel words. Weasel words are vague, unneeded words used to describe something but really has no meaning at all and often leaves the reader wondering exactly what the author is saying. Marcrorie argues that authors should always be certain of what they are saying and to make their statement clear.
I agree to some extent of what the author is saying about being too wordy in forms of writing. Maybe putting in too many descriptive words when one or two does the trick. However, I think that sometimes authors can use more words to their advantage. I think it may depend on many different factors for when you're writing that come into play as to when you should use less or more words to describe something.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything the author was saying in this article. But, I also come from a journalism background where every day you have to cut sentences down. What most people say in four sentences a journalist has to say in one, so it becomes second nature to cut out unnecessary words. Is and it, aren't needed half the time when writers use them, but it becomes natural to use them all the time, and you start to not even notice how often they're used.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author when she states that the same words are being used to much throughout certain text. I often find myself repeating words in papers simply because I run out of descriptive words. In addition to that, I am also guilty of trying to add in unnecessary words to make a paper appear lengthy. I have noticed from peer editing that most students add in unnecessary words to increase the length of their papers as well.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the author that the overuse of words leads to boring content. When words are consistently overused it takes away from what the author is trying to communicate with the reader and causes the reader to get bogged down in wordy writing rather than reaching the true content of the piece.
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of weight to each arguement. As an English Education major, I relish using long, wordy sentences, as well as reading them. However, like Samantha, I too have been in journalism, and brevity is essential. What I believe is that there needs to be a balance between "descriptive and lengthy," and "brief and to the point." I also think we should try to follow the rules of grammar unless stylistically it is called for to do otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author. I find it much more enjoyable to read a article or book thats written in a language I understand. I think when authors try to use to many words it makes their work harder to understand and less clear. I also agree with the author about certain words being over-used being distracting and unnecessary. I think writers should attempt to use several different methods of describing what a certain person or object is doing instead of using the same words.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the the author of the article and the responses from my classmates that responded before me. I'm not an English or Journalism major, but as Erica was saying I also tend to repeat words a little bit more often than I should in my normal writing, and did use to try to use elaborate words to make my writing seem better. But what I came to realize is that I would look better using smaller words that everyone can relate to, versus a "big" word that I used in the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the blog. People who write things need to be more clear and need to use more specific words. Using the words is and it could be used in so many different ways and at times the reader could misinturpret it. The writer needs to use more specific words to help the reader along with understand the message they are trying to get across.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the blog. When somebody is repeating words, such as is, it makes the article,assignment,novel,etc. hard to follow. I know personally I begin paying more attention to the repeated words more then what the actual text means. As for the multiple adverbs, I know from personal experience I tend to do this in my writing, thinking that it will make my paper more interesting. However, I have learned over time that that's not always true. It can and usually does have the opposite affect on the reader.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author of the article. In both fiction and poetry we are constantly being told to reduce our use of to be verbs and adverbs. Sentences, even long sentences, should be to the point. Each line is supposed to be useful and help to progress the story/poem. If it doesn't, there is no need for it. If a writer writes long sentences, they should be interesting and powerful enough to keep our attention.
ReplyDeleteTo a certain extent I agree with the author. Yet, my argument is that not all writing is directed toward the grammatically correct or educated person. Many people do not read on an educated level. Reading, if not for pure interest or leisure, should be easy and thoughtless. Trying to read something that is too descriptive or dynamic is not fun. I understand the author’s ideas about boring and drab writing due to the excess of “natural” words. However, I enjoy reading simple and direct material. So unless its fiction and we are not talking grammatically I would say it’s perfectly fine to write “dry” it’s more comfortable for some readers.
ReplyDeleteThe author says "sharpening writing is not as simple and easy a matter as this chapter suggests." I can whole heartedly agree with this statement. Authors want to get their point across to the reader. In order to do that many authors believe they should use as many adjectives as possible to create accurate imagery. Also some authors use "it" a lot. The author knows what "it" refers to but sometimes using it a lot can confuse the reader and is unpleasant to read. With all this said it is imperative for authors to create multiple drafts of their writings, proofread as much as possible. Doing this will help to make the writing better because the author will catch what they missed the first time when they poured everything on their mind out on paper. Sharpening writing will assist in making the piece more readable, interesting, and will convey the point more effectively.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author, but I must say I had never thought of all the points he brought up. I really liked the part about adverbs stealing the thunder from the adjectives. A lot of the time when I am writing, I try and make a point and it is so easy to get carried away trying to make a point, that it gets too wordy. I found this article very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author in the way that the authors should not have long sentences full of verbs and adverbs that everything should just be short and concise and to the point.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author on how we use "is" and "it" to much. The reason we use them so much is because we are taught at a young age that we need to describe things and the easiest way is using them to add more to our sentences.
ReplyDeleteby: Steven Jennings
ReplyDeleteThe article is helpful since the writer explains ways how many writers often use words to much. The excessive use of the word it, is targeted and explained how to change sentences and how to not use the word so much. The article explains how many words are used too much in sentences and how to cut these smaller words out to make sentences more clear. Cut out the smaller word and make the sentences shorter and more to the point and not fill then up with words not needed. Using many of these small words it, is to be, using these words often make sentences too long and cutting them out can make them more clear and understanding. To sum up what I got from the reading were using weak smaller words can make many sentences dull and more complex than what they should be. Removing these words can make sentences less crowed and clearer to readers.
I really enjoyed Ken Marcrorie’s opinions. I think that writers, including myself, clutter their works with unnecessary words. This act creates works that inspire passive and uninterested reading. His statement concerning the alterative meanings of certain sentences based on word and modifier placement is thrilling. I have considered the interpretive meanings of words, but I have never expanded this idea to the placement of those words, however unnecessary, in a sentence. However, I do not agree that sharing all of the facts all of the time is necessary in all writing. While clarification colors the work with information, it can also elude the reader’s own sense of wonder and interest. Also simple sentences do not always favor the writing style and can easily become too repetitive. Depending on the context, I can savor and detest the author’s argument.
ReplyDeleteI agree, there are many times that I have used similar words within papers to describe separate things. To me this this is just writers being a little lazy when it comes to finding a new describing word. In all honesty just typing whatever word you are using into Google will bring up synonyms for that word.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author that we use certain describing words too much however I think it's kind of double-sided because I feel like my teachers told me to do this all the time when I was little.
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