The Craft of Writing: A Short Primer. Why is writing important? Communication is a basic social need...

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The Craft of Writing: A Short Primer

Why is writing important?

• Communication is a basic social need for humans

• It is your daal-chaaval

• It will sharpen your thinking!

Is there something like “bad” writing?

• Recognition of the fact that systems of grammar differ from one language to another can serve as the basis for serious consideration of the problems confronting translators of great works of world literature originally written in a language other than English.

• When we recognize that different languages have different grammars, we can consider the problems of those who translate great works of literature into English.

What are the causes of “bad” writing?

• We believe that writing complicated sentences is equal to deep thought

• We approach a blank page as if it is a minefield of potential grammatical mistakes

• We freeze up when mastering a new field

• We just don’t know that we write unclearly! But, why?

How will this module help you write more clearly?

In this module, the intuitive sense that you have as a reader about “good” and bad” writing will be made available to you as explicit principles as a writer.

Some health warnings

• These are tools, not rules• The principles you learn in this module are

principles of writing. • These principles are primarily meant to

improve your writing skills in English. • These principles (at least early on) are

more about re-writing than writing.

How to become a better writer?

• Apply (sometimes selectively) what you have learnt in this class with discipline

• Work hard

• Create an oasis for yourself (in time and space)

Story -- Action & Characters!

• Once upon a time, when Little Red Riding Hood was walking through the woods, the wolf jumped out from behind a tree and frightened her.

Characters: Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf

Action: walking, jumped, frightenedSubjects: Little Red Riding Hood, the wolfVerbs: walking, jumped, frightenedNominalizations: _________

Nominalization

• A noun derived from a verb or an adjective.

• The word illustrates its meaning: When we

nominalize the verb nomalinalize, we create the nominalization nominalization.

Verb → Nominalization

Discover → Discovery

Resist → Resistance

React → Reaction

Fly → Flight

We sang → Our singing

Adjective → Nominalization

Careless → Carelessness

Indifferent → Indifference

Proficient → Proficiency

Beautiful → Beauty

Industrious → Industriousness

Some verbs and nominalizations are identical:Hope → HopeResult → ResultRepair → Repair

How to identify the characters: Hidden characters

• A decision was made in favour of doing a study of the disagreements.

This sentence could mean either of these, and more:

• We decided that I should study why they disagreed.

• I decided that you should study why she disagreed.

How to identify the characters: Abstractions

• To understand what causes psychiatric disorder, studies should look for more than one variable rather than adopt a strategy in which they test only one biological variable or assume that a single gene is responsible for psychopathology.

Diagnose the following sentence:

• Once upon a time, as a walk through the

woods was taking place on the part of Little

Red Riding Hood, the wolf’s jump from

behind the tree occurred, causing her fright.

• Once upon a time, as a walk through the woods was taking place on the part of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf’s jump from behind the tree occurred, causing her fright.

• Subject• Verb• Characters• Action

Principle of Clarity 1: Make Main Characters Subjects!

• Notice that the characters (Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf) in this sentence are not the subjects.

Principle of Clarity 2: Make Important Actions the Verbs!

• Notice that the important actions (walk, jump, and frighten) are not the verbs.

• Once upon a time, when Little Red Riding Hood was walking through the woods, the wolf jumped out from behind a tree and frightened her.

• In order to reassemble the new subjects and verbs into a sentence, you may have to use conjunctions like since, because, although, when, how and why.

Diagnosis

• Recognition of the fact that systems of grammar differ from one language to another can serve as the basis for serious consideration of the problems confronting translators of great works of world literature originally written in a language other than English.

• When we recognize that different systems of grammar differ from one language to another, we can consider the problems translators of great works of literature confront.

• When we recognize that different languages have different grammars, we can consider the problems translators of great works of literature confront.

Revision

Some happy consequences

Your sentences are more concrete. Compare:

• There was an affirmative decision for the expansion of the Cabinet by the Prime Minister.

• The Prime Minister decided to expand the Cabinet.

Some happy consequences

Your sentences are more concise. When you use nominalizations, you have to add articles like a and the and prepositions like of, by, and in. Compare:

• A revision of the programme will result in increases in our efficiency in the servicing of our clients.

• If we revise our programme, we can serve our clients more efficiently.

Some happy consequences The logic of your sentence is clearer. Instead

of fuzzy prepositions, you will link clauses with subordinating conjunctions that spell out your logic (because, although, if etc.). Compare:

• Our more effective presentation of the study resulted in our success, despite an earlier start by others.

• Although others started earlier, we succeeded because we presented our study more effectively.

Here’s the point!

• Readers want characters as subjects and actions as verbs. We give the readers a problem when we do not name characters in subjects, or worse, delete them entirely. Ask yourself who runs, who fears, who reduces.

• We give the readers a problem when we nominalize verbs or adjectives into nouns.

A qualification: Useful nominalizations!

When a nominalization refers to a concept so clear that readers think of it as a character.

• The discovery of the structure of DNA is one of the major achievements of modern biology.

• Management decisions are crucial to the success of an organization.

When a nominalization names what would be the object of the verb.

• I accepted what she REQUESTED.

• I accepted her request.

When a nominalization is a short subject that refers to a previous sentence. A nominalization is not just acceptable, but desirable when we are trying to achieve “flow”.

• CV Raman worked on the scattering of light and discovered what came to be known as the Raman Effect. This achievement won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.

Here’s the point:

• Nominalizations can be useful (especially in technical fields), but use them after deliberating on their utility.

• If you decide to use them, avoid using more than one in a sentence.

Cohesion

A disease that progresses with few or no symptoms to indicate its gravity is an “insidious” disease, under this definition. Asbestosis, neoplasia, mesothelioma and bronchogenic carcenoma are all examples of insidious diseases . Asbestos insulation installers who have inhaled asbestos fibres over the years regularly contract these diseases.

PASSAGE (A)

Under this definition, a disease that progresses with few or no symptoms to indicate its gravity is an “insidious” disease. Examples of insidious diseases are asbestosis, neoplasia, mesothelioma and bronchogenic carcenoma. These diseases are regularly contracted by asbestos insulation installers who have inhaled asbesotos fibres over many years.

PASSAGE (B)

What does Passage (A) lack?

• The individual sentences read fine, but the passage seems disorganized and choppy. What it lacks is a sense of flow or a sense or cohesion.

How do we achieve cohesion?

• By providing a context to the reader in the Topic position.

Whose story is this

(Character)

How does this sentence link backward?

(Old/familiar information)

CONTEXT

PASSAGE (B)

(a) When a dead star collapses into a point no larger than a marble, it creates a black hole.

(b) A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point no larger than a marble.

Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. a/b [ ________ ]. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways.

Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. When a dead star collapses into a point no larger than a marble, it creates a black hole. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways.

Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point no larger than a marble. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways.

Principle of Clarity 3: Begin sentences with information familiar to your reader

Familiar information is obtained in two ways:

1) They remember words from the sentence they just read.

…questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying [black holes in space. A black hole] is created by the collapse of a dead star into [a point no larger than a marble. So much matter compressed into so little volume] changes the fabric of space…

Principle of Clarity 3: Begin sentences with information familiar to your reader

2) Readers bring to a sentence general knowledge of the content.

So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways. Astronomers have reported that…

NOTE: In every sequence of sentences, you have to balance principles that make individual sentences clear and the principles that make a sentences flow from one to another. If you have to make a trade-off, give priority to helping readers create a sense of cohesion/flow.

Principle of Clarity 4: Open your sentences with short, concrete subjects without many distractions before it.

• Avoid long introductory phrases and clauses.• Keep your subjects short and crisp

Stress

The reader is hungry for more. They want the dessert that you have in store for them. What is this dessert?

• New information • Complex information

A disease that progresses with few or no symptoms to indicate its gravity is an “insidious” disease, under this definition. Asbestosis, neoplasia, mesothelioma and bronchogenic carcenoma are all examples of insidious diseases . Asbestos insulation installers who have inhaled asbestos fibres over the years regularly contract these diseases.

PASSAGE (A)

PASSAGE (B)

Principle of Clarity 5: Push new, complex units of information to the end of the sentence

“If he would inform, he must advance regularly from things known to things unknown without confusion, and the lower he begins the better. It is a common fault in writers, to allow their readers too much knowledge”

-- Benjamin Franklin

• Familiar -------------------------------> New

• Simple -------------------------------> Complex

Why write long sentences

• Communicate a complex idea• To avoid a set of choppy sentences

• But often long sentences can be ungainly and sprawling

How to write long sentences without sprawl

Diagnose the sentence first:• Pick sentences that are longer than two lines

and read them aloud.• If in reading one of your long sentences, you

are about to run out of breath before you come to a place where you can pause to integrate all of its parts into a whole that communicates a single conceptual structure, you have found a sentence, like this one that your readers would likely want you to revise.

• Or if your sentence, because of one interruption after another, seems to stop and start, your readers are, if they are typical, likely to judge your sentence, as this one does, lurches from one part to the next.

Rules of thumb for revision:

1. Get to the subject of the main clause quickly!

• Since most undergraduate students change their major fields of study at least once during their college careers, first year students who are not certain about their programme of study they want to pursue should not load up their schedules to meet the requirements for a particular programme.

• First year students should not load up their schedules with requirements for a particular programme if they are not certain about the programme of study they want to pursue , because most change their major fields of studies at least once during their college careers.

2. Get to the verb and the object quickly!

• Keep subjects short• Samsung Inc.’s understanding of the drivers of

its profitability in the Asian market for small electronics helped it pursue opportunities in Africa.

• Samsung Inc. was able to pursue opportunities in Africa because it understood what drove profitability in the Asian market for small electronics.

• Avoid interrupting the subject-verb connection• Some scientists, because they write in a style that is

impersonal, objective and indirect, do not easily communicate with lay people.

• Some scientists do not easily communicate with lay people because they write in a style that is impersonal, objective and indirect.

• Avoid interrupting the verb-object connection• We must develop, if we are to become competitive with

other companies in our region, a core of knowledge regarding the state of the art in effective industrial organization.

• If we are to compete with other companies in our region, we must develop a core of knowledge about the state of the art in effective industrial organization.

• We must develop a core of knowledge about the state of the art in effective industrial organization if we are to compete with other companies in our region.

Sprawl can exist in spite of following our earlier suggestions

• No scientific advance is more exciting than genetic engineering, which is a new way of manipulating the elemental structural units, which are the genes and chromosomes that tell our cells how to reproduce to become parts that constitute our bodies.

3. Break the sentence down smaller ones.

Many areas of science are promising to our future, but few are more promising than genetic engineering. It is a new way of manipulating the elemental structural units of life itself, the genes and chromosomes that tell our cells how to reproduce to become parts that constitute our bodies.

4. Change clauses to Modifying Phrases

RESUMPTIVE MODIFIERS:• When he was in Calcutta at the Finance

Department, Raman continued to work on his research in his spare time which resulted in him publishing in numerous journals of repute like Nature and Physics Review.

• When he was in Calcutta at the Finance Department, Raman continued to work on his research in his spare time, research that resulted in him publishing in numerous journals of repute like Nature and Physics Review.

SUMMATIVE MODIFIERS:• Economic changes have reduced Russian

population growth to less than zero which will have serious social implications.

• Economic changes have reduced Russian population growth to less than zero, a demographic event that will have serious social implications.

FREE MODIFIERS:• Free modifiers resemble resumptive and summative

modifiers, letting you extend the length of a sentence while avoiding a train of ungainly clauses.

• Leonardo da Vinci was a man of powerful intellect, driven by an insatiable curiosity and haunted by a vision of artistic perfection.

• In 1939, India began to assist the British against Germany and Japan, aware that the Nazis were a bigger threat to world peace.

Principle of Clarity 6: Control sprawl!

Concision

On Brevity

• “Brevity is the soul of wit.” -- W Shakespeare

• “I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter.“-- B Pascal

• “It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.” -- F Nietzsche

• “The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.” -- G Burns

• “Writing is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent elimination.”-- L Brooks

• In my personal opinion, it is necessary that we should not ignore the opportunity to think over each and every suggestion offered.

• We should consider each suggestion.

1. Delete meaningless words

• Productivity actually depends on certain factors that basically involve psychology more than any other particular technology.

• Productivity depends on factors that involve psychology more than technology.

kind of actually particular reallycertain various virtually individualbasically generally given practically

2. Delete Doubled words

full and complete hope and trust any and all

true and accurate each and every basic and fundamental

hope and desire first and foremost various and sundry

3. Delete what readers can infer

• Do not try to predict those future events that will completely revolutionize societies, because past history shows that it is the final outcome of minor events that unexpectedly surprises us more.

• Do not try to predict revolutionary events, because history shows that the outcome of minor events surprises us more.

Redundant modifiersterrible tragedy various different free gift

basic fundamentals

future plans each individual

final outcome true facts consensus of opinion

Redundant nouns (or categories)large in size round in shape honest in character

unusual in nature of a strange type area of mathematics

of a bright colour at an early time in a confused state

4. Replace a phrase with a word

• As you carefully read what you have written to improve wording and catch errors of spelling and punctuation, the thing to do before anything else is to see whether you can use sequences of subjects and verbs instead of the same ideas expressed in nouns.

• As you edit, first replace nominalizations with clauses.

the reason for = why in the situation where = when

are in a position = can

despite the fact that = even though

concerning the matter of = about

it is possible that = may

in the event that = if

there is a need for = must

prior to the end of = before

5. Change negatives to affirmatives(unless you want to emphasize the negative)

not careful = careless not often = rarely not stop= continue

not many = few not allow = prevent not include = omit

not the same = different

not notice = overlook

not busy = free

• Except when you have failed to submit applications without documentation, benefits will not be denied.

• You will receive the benefits only when you submit the application.

6. Delete adjectives and adverbs!

• At the heart of the argument culture is our habit of seeing issues and ideas as absolute and irreconcilable principles continually at war. To move beyond this static and limiting view, we can remember the Chinese approach to yin and yang. They are two principles, yes, but they are conceived not as irreconcilable polar opposites, but as elements that coexist and should be brought into balance as much as possible. As sociolinguist Suzanne Wong Scollon notes, “Yin is always present in and changing into yang and vice versa.” How can we translate this abstract idea into daily practice?

Metadiscourse:

1) Writer’s intentions: to sum up, candidly, I believe

2) Directions to the reader: note that, consider, now, as you see

3) The structure of the text: second, finally, therefore, however

Another kind of redundancy: metadiscourse

• The last point I would like to make is that in regard to men-women relationships, it is important to keep in mind that the greatest changes have occurred in how they work together.

• The greatest change in men-women relationships is how they work together.

Six thumb rules to achieve concision

• Delete words that mean little or nothing.• Delete words that repeat the meaning of

other words.• Delete words that are implied by other words.• Replace a phrase with a word.• Change negatives to affirmatives.• Delete useless adjectives and adverbs.

Principle of Clarity 7: Be concise!

The Paragraph

The IT capital of India is Bangalore, Karnataka. Bangalore is known for its lovely lakes and gardens. There is a lovely lake near my house where my mother likes to take walks. My mother also likes to cook. She makes the most delicious raagi mudde. Raagi is a food crop growing in the slightly more arid parts of south India as it does not require much water, unlike the ubiquitous paddy. Growing paddy instead of raagi has added to the water woes of Karnataka. Karnataka was born on November 1, 1956. November 1 is also my best friend’s birthday.

Chocolate has been shown to improve cardiovascular

health. It is made from cocoa which contains

flavonoids. The main flavonoids present in cocoa have

been shown to relax blood vessels and lower blood

pressure (Stresing 2004). When blood pressure is

lowered, there is a reduced risk of health problems

such as stroke and coronary heart disease. A study into

the body’s response to the low consumption of cocoa

found that these health benefits are comparable to those

achieved through the use of conventional blood pressure

medicine (Taubert et al. 2007) . Therefore, research

indicates that small amounts of chocolate can indeed

improve the health of the heart.

Essay/Paper

The key to writing a paper is to organize your thoughts. And to do that, brainstorm!

Sentence

Paragraph

What is a paragraph?

A paragraph is a sentence or a group of

sentences about a topic. In other words, it is a

mini-essay.

What does a good paragraph possess?

• Transition• Topic sentence• Body • Concluding sentence• Cohesion• Coherence / Unity• Development

Transition

Topic sentence

found that these health benefits are comparable to

those achieved through the use of conventional blood

pressure medicine (Taubert et al. 2007) . Therefore,

Research indicates that small amounts of chocolate can

indeed improve the health of the heart.

Concluding sentence

Cohesion

offer improve the health of the heart.

Coherence/Unity

Development

found that these health benefits are comparable to

those achieved through the use of conventional blood

pressure medicine (Taubert et al. 2007) . Therefore,

Research indicates that small amounts of chocolate can

indeed improve the health of the heart.

Principle of Clarity 8: Order your thoughts into well-crafted paragraphs

The Craft of Writing: A Short Primer. Why is writing important? Communication is a basic social need...

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