Summary Essay
Brett Virkelyst
Leanne Rowley
WR 095
4/9/2013
“William Zinsser Simplicity Summary”
William Zinsser begins with telling us that we clutter our sentences too often in American Writing. Essentially, we shouldn’t try to put so many extra words into our sentences; we need to get it down to its simplest form, so the reader can understand the sentence clearly and efficiently. Citizens today are spending too much time trying to emphasize their sentences, trying to sound smarter, or they think it will get their point across better. Readers may find the writing very difficult to read, and they usually won’t be able to portray the message that the writer is trying to convey. We ask, what is the real question and how can we solve this? Citizens would love to get rid of this problem, and Zinsser has a few solutions on how we can get rid of cluttered writing forever. Human beings do not want to challenge, nor do they want to go above and beyond of what we think that we are capable of writing wise. Nobody likes reading something and not knowing what they are talking about, it makes for a very unpleasant experience.
Zinsser says that all we have to do is “clear our heads of clutter. Clear thinking becomes clear writing: one can’t exist without the other.” Once you have strayed away the reader, there is no hope for them to finish that story, it is game over. Cluttering will more then likely make the reader lose their interest, after a paragraph or two. Articles can end up being so cluttered, that it doesn’t only end up being the dullness that turned the reader away, it may be that they simply couldn’t understand what it meant. Always ask yourself “what am I trying to say?” because some people are not naturally born to be clear headed writers. You have got to make sure to make the material clear and to the point. Make sure words aren’t being used that have the same meaning, also don’t use prior sentences and try to word them differently. Learn to ditch the bad parts of the
Leanne Rowley
WR 095
4/9/2013
“William Zinsser Simplicity Summary”
William Zinsser begins with telling us that we clutter our sentences too often in American Writing. Essentially, we shouldn’t try to put so many extra words into our sentences; we need to get it down to its simplest form, so the reader can understand the sentence clearly and efficiently. Citizens today are spending too much time trying to emphasize their sentences, trying to sound smarter, or they think it will get their point across better. Readers may find the writing very difficult to read, and they usually won’t be able to portray the message that the writer is trying to convey. We ask, what is the real question and how can we solve this? Citizens would love to get rid of this problem, and Zinsser has a few solutions on how we can get rid of cluttered writing forever. Human beings do not want to challenge, nor do they want to go above and beyond of what we think that we are capable of writing wise. Nobody likes reading something and not knowing what they are talking about, it makes for a very unpleasant experience.
Zinsser says that all we have to do is “clear our heads of clutter. Clear thinking becomes clear writing: one can’t exist without the other.” Once you have strayed away the reader, there is no hope for them to finish that story, it is game over. Cluttering will more then likely make the reader lose their interest, after a paragraph or two. Articles can end up being so cluttered, that it doesn’t only end up being the dullness that turned the reader away, it may be that they simply couldn’t understand what it meant. Always ask yourself “what am I trying to say?” because some people are not naturally born to be clear headed writers. You have got to make sure to make the material clear and to the point. Make sure words aren’t being used that have the same meaning, also don’t use prior sentences and try to word them differently. Learn to ditch the bad parts of the
Cited: Zinsser, William. “Simplicity.” Language Awareness: Essays for College Writers. Eds. P. Escholz & A. Rosa. New York: St. Martins, 1997. 50-55. Print.