Good Advice About Bad Writing

Good Advice About Bad Writing Good Advice About Bad Writing Good Advice About Bad Writing By Mark Nichol How does one avoid being a bad writer? Presumably, most people visiting or subscribing to this site needn’t concern themselves with being accused of high crimes against the English language, but allow me to make a distinction between poor writing and bad writing. Poor writing is lazy, careless writing, an attempt to communicate without adequate preparation or care. It is writing replete with passive construction, limp verbs, leaden clichà ©s, mixed metaphors, dangling participles and misplaced modifiers, and other enemies of clear prose. Without vigilance, we are all vulnerable we can easily produce any one of these errors, and perhaps more than one, in a single article or essay or short story. But poor writing is a multiplicity of such mistakes, and it is a sin of omission rather than one of commission: We might commit all these transgressions because we don’t know or recognize them. Bad writing is more of a challenge, because it is a sin of commission: You have to make an effort to write badly though it is easier to achieve than you might think, because many very accomplished, intelligent people do so. How does one manage to join such exalted company? Bad writing is that which demonstrates a surfeit of intention. (Translation: Bad writing happens when you try too hard.) Forty years ago, S. Leonard Rubenstein, now a professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University, wrote â€Å"If a man intends to impress someone, his work will not be clear, because he does not intend clarity: he intends to impress.† And that is when writing often goes bad: Writers let their desire to demonstrate erudition, artistry, or cleverness acceptable in small doses overwhelm their effort to communicate. We see it in academic and technical writing, laden with polysyllabic prose and complicated and extensive sentence construction that obfuscates rather than opens our eyes. We see it in lay nonfiction, when arguments fight themselves, explanations leave us more confused than before, and overwrought overwriting leaves us overwhelmed. We see it in fiction, when novelists and short story writers belabor their narrative with contrived constructions and purple prose. Here are some tips on avoiding the pitfalls of bad writing: 1. Be Fresh The purpose of metaphor and simile is to evoke recognition by comparison or allusion. Write these analogies to aid your readers with your clarity of vision, not to serve your ego, and avoid clichà ©s. 2. Be Clear When drafting expository fiction or nonfiction, record your voice as you spontaneously describe a scene or explain a procedure, transcribe your comments, and base your writing on the transcription, revising only to select more vivid verbs and more precise nouns and to seek moderation in adverbs and adjectives. 3. Be Active Use the passive voice judiciously. 4. Be Concise Write tight. 5. Be Thorough Accept that writing is the easy part; it’s the revision that makes or breaks your project and requires most of your effort. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:36 Adjectives Describing LightDeck the Halls50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases

Reflective writing during nursing clinical placement Essay

Reflective writing during nursing clinical placement - Essay Example It was a night shift in accident and emergency section. I was assisting my mentor, the head nurse in A & E section. A teenager was brought in by the medical staff, he was slender and weak, partially in state of paranoia, and had stains of vomit on his shirt. The person, who brought in the teenager, told us that they have found this junkie from the suburbs of the city. He was caught by the police for using amphetamine in the public. My mentor told me that it was a test of nerves to look after drug abusers. Their states vary extensively, and it is important to determine that which drug has been used, and what was the most obvious mode of intake of that drug. She predicted that amphetamine was ingested orally by this patient, so we had to wash out out his stomach by using activated charcoal.The purpose of activated charcoal is to remove amphetamine from GI by vomiting (Amphetamine.com, 2014). Diazepam and Lorazepam are used to calm down the patient. To recover dehydration intravenous in jection of fluids may be used (Lewis, et al., 2013). Hyperthermia is controlled by using wet blankets and ice packs. Intravenous diazepam is administered during amphetamine overdose when seizures are present. For hypertension nitroglycerin and labetol is recommended . If the state of the patient is in danger, serotonin toxicity must be administered (Amphetamine.com, 2014). Drug addicts are hard to manage, it is not only their physiological state that needs to be considered, but their psychological state must also be taken into the account.

Impacts on the financials of Compass Group Essay

Impacts on the financials of Compass Group - Essay Example Such is the information that is normally available to many users of the statements and the entire statement. The information is considered insufficient hence a recommendation that the adjustments be made repeatedly and even severally while measuring the same amount. This results in uniformity and quality decisions being made, in the process the populace would be in the position of rationalizing their information (Bell 2000). Â   Â   Â  Secondly, it is argued that enhancing disclosure is never enough given enough consideration and those boards of most companies think and take such disclosures in a manner that it does not appear a substitute. The ED proposes that corporations report assets and liabilities as the failure to report or make such disclosures. The proposals further demand that the leased assets and liabilities always be computed and measured on a discounted basis. The proposals require under this ED that the lessee reports all the assets and liabilities of an aggregate of the leases that have existed for a period of not less than 12 months in the balance sheet. This has the impact of a faithful representation of the lessee’s financial position (Fields 2002). In addition to such disclosures, there is an enhancement of transparency concerning the leverage of the lessee. Â   Â   Â   Â   The ED proposals demand that leases be classified as either Type A or Type B leases depending on whether they are a property such as land and building and land or the leases are other than property such as equipment, aircraft, cars or tracks. For Type A leases, the right of use of the asset and the lease liability is recognized and the unwinding of the discount will be recognized separately from the amortization of the right to use. Type B leases, on the other hand, are recognized as Type B with a difference being on the recognition of the unwinding of the discount which is recognized as a single lease cost (Walton 2009).

Long Beach Municipal Cemetery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Long Beach Municipal Cemetery - Essay Example hich is understood to have been developed as a graveyard for Bixby Ranch employees according to the information provided by the City of Long Beach official website. Despite of the presence of a Bixby Mausoleum on the site, none of the Bixby family members are said to have been buried there as the bodies of George and Helen Bixby were exhumed on February 27, 1923 and now lay in the Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles. The cemetery site is home to some standing headstones that date back to as early as 1900s, while a few flat headstones are also present, they have become so deteriorated over the passage of time that it is not quite possible to read the writing on them as the dates and names have become faded. Records suggest that the City of Long Beach assumed the responsibility of a majority of the ground’s maintenance on 10th of July, 1900, for which the Long Beach Cemetery Association was previously accountable for. As per the information provided in the book released by Questing Heirs Genealogical Society, INC., the first interment at the cemetery took place in 1878, which was of a 17-year-old boy named Milton F. Neece. Other famous internments at the cemetery apart from that of Willmore’s are of U.S Congressman Alexander Hamilton Jones, who died on January, 29th, 1901, Amanda Ellen Wiley Harmon, a deaf inventor who died in 1933 and Grace Bush Eads, the first Long Beach school teacher who departed in 1944. It can be interpreted that the demographics of the community surrounding the cemetery have not gone through a substantial change over the past 50 years, with the racial makeup containing a majority of White population followed by African American members, according to the United States Census Bureau. Even though, diversity in the area does exist with Hispanic and Asian inhabitants it is unclear and inconclusive whether they constituted of a major part of the community around the time when the Long Beach Municipal Cemetery was established. However, indication of

The Adventures Of Huckleberry :: essays research papers

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck considers himself to be an ignorant fool, and an over all bad person that should be looked down upon. However, through out his story, without ever realizing it, Huck manages to live through many incredible advetures, and commit unselfish acts that would consider him to be a true hero. It could even be taken to the extent that Huck Finn lived a more down to earth version of Homer ¡Ã‚ ¯s Odyssey. After all, they are both stories of a reliable person going through the biggest adventures of their lives, while facing certain types of monsters, while using their cleverness in order to escape many obstacles. Tho only main difference in this is the fact that while Odysseus faced more mythical challenges, Huck braved through the challenges of his modern society, and the types of people in it. But even so, one could easily say that Huckleberry Finn made almost the exact same journey as Odysseus, with a slightly modern twist added to it. To start, both characters have reasonings behind their journeys as to why they start it. Odysseus began his sea bound adventure because of the fact that he was allowed his freedom from Calypso, who has been holding him captive in hopes of turning him into her husband. So Odysseus is allowed to set sail back to his homeland. Huck set out his adventure because he was attempting to escape from his drunken Pap, who was holding him captive in order to get money. Huck manages to escape on a raft, and set sail. At the end of Huck ¡Ã‚ ¯s adventure, he does in fact end up in what will be his home. The two scenario ¡Ã‚ ¯s are similar for many reasons. For example, both Huck and Odysseus are being held captive for one reason or another. Calypso wanting Odysseus for a husband is just like Pap wanting Huck for his money. To add on to this point, both of them manage to escape throught the use of a raft. The only difference there is the fact that Odysseus is setting sail through the seas, while Huck takes on his adventure through the Mississsippi River. Next in comparison between the two stories would be the use of monsters ¡Ã‚ ± used throught out the adventures. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is forced into fights and challenges that largely deal with monsters, such as the Cyclops, which is a giant, single red eyed beast with the body of a human.

Australian Economic Review Essay

The calculation of poverty lines are published in the year 1987 and latest in the year 1996. (Australian Economic Review) Melbourne Institute analysis of poverty states that as per the year 2005, June first quarter, household disposable income per head stands at $477. 73 per week. View on Australia poverty states that there are 340,000 unemployed people and nearly 800,000 children are growing in jobless families (ACOSS). Payments for unemployed people are very low as just $200 per week for a single parent / jobless people continue to live in poverty. Poverty is evident in Australia due to various reasons such as single-parent families, inadequate education for people in families, unawareness of career opportunities and computer technology or lack of opportunities for employment or under development in suburban areas of Australia where people are not utilizing the resources of job opportunities or disinterested in advancing ahead with good standards of economic living, for all these reasons, in a macro perspective, G8 summit was focused on poverty all over the world. Poverty is prevalent all over the world, where it is quite apparent in some parts of the world and unseen in other parts of the world although the problem of poverty is persistent in gripping the lives of people. It is important here to define ‘poverty’ for clear understanding and demarking the poverty line. Widely accepted definition poverty states that â€Å"an enforced lack of socially perceived necessities†(ACOSS) which means that people are disabled or have deficient money flow to buy enough food, pay rent and stay in a good accommodation, good clothes, lack of clean water and electricity for non-payment of government charged bills which otherwise drive people to compromise and adjust with whatever comes in a way either by choice or by chance and compels to stay satisfied. Alleviation of poverty is a long-term process and mostly it is recurring in several states. In order to completely eliminate poverty, strong laws of social welfare and status of living standards must be construed in order to ensure economic growing of living as a whole in all nations particularly in Australia as this paper discusses. A thorough study and survey, research must be made in order to conclude and identify the ground reasons of poverty. ACOSS view on Australia poverty states that, firstly it is required to raise the income levels of people which will help parents and children to the process of thinking in making good opportunities and also offers satisfaction and comfort in living. Families with low education get placement in lower cadre jobs which carry low salaries, which otherwise emphasize that good and appropriate education is much more important to draw a bigger pay to meet the challenges of life style and family needs. This can never be reversed at any point of time. In Australia there are 11. 3 unemployed people who are not holding even a high school certificate as compared with 3 per cent of people who have a bachelor degree. This would further leaves greater impact on children such that, if 15 per cent of children are doing well whose parents have completed 10 STD, 44 per cent of children are outstandingly doing well whose parents have completed university education. This point clearly indicates that parents need good education, good job, good pay which in turn would help to lead children into a greater success areas. This cannot be achieved by a community or a societal organization whereas from the ground level, the work must begin i. e. from federal government and politicians who have to work hardly in bringing an efficient industries, developing infrastructure and creating employment areas and encourage people to advance in career and education for betterment of economic growth and also in satisfying the basic requirements of its people. In fact, for all governments of all nations, people and meeting the needs and basic demands must be its priority with the fact that, without people’s happiness, there cannot be healthy and prosperous nations. There is a huge gap between rich and wealthy people and poor people, which means that wealthy people continue to expand riches whereas poor and needy people continue to live in deteriorated poverty which is unacceptable and should not be encouraged keeping the future generations of children. A study of UNICEF confirms that Australia has 56. 2 per cent of children who are living with solo mothers which provides a fact that, how difficult it is for single mothers to make a status for living and in settling children. This is further confirmed by Australian Democrats, â€Å"Overall, the results demonstrate that unemployment continues to be a major cause of poverty in Australia and that employment only provides an escape when it comes in the form of a full-time job. Because many of the new jobs created over the last two decades have been either part-time or casual, they have not been sufficient, by themselves, to protect workers and their families from poverty†. (Peter Saunders of Social Policy Research Centre )

Mental Illness And Mental Illness - 1517 Words

Who says you cannot bring the light to mental illness through comedy? So many of us think joking about mental illness can be demeaning to those who suffer from them. Although there are ways, you can help a person get through their struggles with the mental health issues they face, but do we ever ask ourselves the questions we necessarily need to know when it comes to helping someone with a mental illness. Is sarcasm, bad? Is it meant to demean others? Sarcasm can present itself as hostility and insecurity which becomes disguised as humor. When someone is seemingly receiving sarcastic comments or phrases, they feel to be put down and feels as if the person stating these remarks is a jerk. When saying a sarcastic joke has at someone who†¦show more content†¦There are many ways to hurt someone with a mental illness and criticism is not something that becomes prevented when a person is struggling with a mental illness. Even, though we are often criticized within our life, thos e who fight for mental health issues can take criticism to the point where the person may fall into a broader stage than what he/she was into before. Criticism is not the only way to hurt a person with mental illness, but things such as not listening to them. When a person is going through a mental health issue, they have the struggles of people not supporting them and often thats what a person would only need. The support of others helps with the mental health issues. Comedy has also helped with all of these ways to improve a person with mental illness issues. In today’s society, we view comedy, which that involves psychological illness demeaning to those who suffer from the problems, but comedy is not always demeaning to those who have mental illness. Comedy is not always demeaning to those who suffer from mental health issues. It can help bring light to those who have them; Such as comedian Maria Bamford, who suffers from bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disease, and has a history of suicidal thoughts. Comedy gives a person with mental illness the opportunity to fight their struggles as of boosting their confidence, promoting a positive image, and giving them the chance to be themselves. Comedy can help people feelShow MoreRelatedMental Illness : Mental Health Illness2108 Words   |  9 PagesMerriam-Webster, mental health illness is described as a broad range of medical conditions (such as major depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, or panic disorder) that are marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause noticeable grief or disability and that are usually related with a disruption in standard judgement, feeling, mo od, behavior, interpersonal interactions, or daily functioning. 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