Preview

Clear and Concise Prose

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
258 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Clear and Concise Prose
Why is it important to Write Clear and Concise Prose?
The purpose of writing is to inform and entertain. To do this, clear and concise prose is needed to deliver essential points with impact and meaning, whilst still sustaining the reader’s attention. To get the point across, the text needs to keep to the topic and remain relevant, avoiding anything that is unnecessary. An incorrect use of technique such as rambling or jargon can obscure the purpose of the text. A concise style of writing uses a direct, simple manner without embellishments, to keep the reader involved and motivated. A reader seeking information will become bored and confused if sentences become to long and wordy. If the writing becomes vague and repetitive, then it becomes ineffective as the meaning gets lost. The diction of grammar and punctuation is also vital to communicate the right meaning.
Clear and concise prose means using as few words as possible in order to deliver the essential information or compressing the facts in order to be brief. Words should be chosen with care to fit the context, therefore avoiding doubt and maintaining clarity. The meaning should be clear enough that the reader does not need to decipher the text to understand it. The main points should be particularly prominent so they can be picked up when the text is skim read. The concision in the text is achieved by carefully controlling the ambiguity. The architecture of the prose should flow with ease, from one point to another leading to an eventual

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    An adept writer usually depends on an existing way of writing which they learnt from others. The basic procedures of academic writing can be found in the templates which would help students to be familiar with conventional writing patterns and to make more sounded arguments. The most essential template in the book is the “they say, I say” template that teaches students to react to the arguments made by other people. The authors believed that a well-argued academic writing should include the opinion of others so that readers will know why there is a need to make an argument. The arguments that writers respond to do not have to be an eminent writer or the audience. From the template, we can learn that we do not need to be restricted to agreement and disagreement. We can agree and disagree at the same time. In addition, templates can help students to make more complicated moves…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Even though using long words, complex sentences, or metaphors could make the writing better for some audience. However, a large number of audience would prefer a simple or graphical writing which would help them to understand complex ideas in shorter time.…

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Williams instructs that during the revision process for the writer to “cut to the bone” of the sentence (140). He clarifies that by following this process the writer will make the document extra clear and concise to the reader (140). Williams warns against creating the document to concise (140). He explains that by doing this the reader will scrutinize the writers as terse or abrupt (140). Williams finishes the lesson that writers need more than concision to write gracefully and to use it to “clear away deadwood” in the writing for clarity…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book by Joseph M. Williams in style: Ten lessons in clarity and Grace he generally tackles on writing as a verb. He clearly expounds on the most effectual and competent styles vis-à-vis writing as a verb. ‘Concision’ is the title of lesson seven where William explains how important it is to shorten a sentence so that a reader can clearly understand it. He explains one should not only know how to control the flow of ideas but they should be able to be brief. The causes of wordiness have also been explained in the book. This wordiness in a sentence or redundancy is tackled by the five principles of concision that make a sentence to be precise and attractive to the reader.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Writing is not just through expository wherein a teacher has to tell you what to write and rate your paper but rather, it is the pleasure of communicating with others about how you feel. Conversing through text allows you to touch the mind and heart of your reader, urging them to imagine unseen things and enter…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Joseph Williams’s book, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, he explains the most effective and efficient styles regarding writing as a verb. In Williams’s seventh lesson, “Concision”, Williams discusses how to make a sentence much clearer to a reader by effectively shortening it. Williams explains that there are five principles of concision to make a sentence more appealing to the audience.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many benefits to taking English Composition 1. For example, it has been many years since I have been in school and I am a bit rusty around the edges. This course helps me to improve my writing skills and structure sentences properly. It gets me back in the swing of rigorous writing, which is what will be demanded of me throughout my college courses. It provides me with all of the tools and skills necessary to be successful with writing a good paper and for this it is of great value to me.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Poorly Written Essay

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages

    miscommunication, which in ways could cause loss of work time, due to doing the wrong job.…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Paul Roberts essay “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words” he gives us nine tips that we can use to be a more productive writer. The first is to “Avoid the obvious” in which we should make a list of the things that immediately come to mind and not use them in your writing. Second he says that you should “Take the less usual side” which most people will avoid. He also mentions that trying to predict what the teacher wants is not a good way to choose a topic. Third is to “Slip out of abstraction” by not using vague topics but to go into detail instead. Number four says to “Get rid of the obvious padding” by beginning with more real content so you don’t have to add fluff. The fifth is “Call a fool a fool” meaning that you…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I was thrown from my truck as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by a flock of wild turkeys.…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Prose Commentary

    • 1661 Words
    • 7 Pages

    This extract from Lanark ,written by Alasdair Gray, is a highly evocative piece of narrative prose. Set within a church in Lenzies, Glasgow, the excerpt illustrates the loss of love and theloss of self-belief which are inextricably intertwined for the character Duncan Thaw. Writtenin a post-modern style, it is also representative of the subjectivity of perception and its abilityto change with the passage of time. Duncan is forced to reflect upon his experiences as he isvisited by haunting representations of his past, in the form of two characters: Marjory and theunnamed man.The extract begins by immediately evoking a sense of atmosphere: µThe afternoon darkenedearly¶. The setting of the piece at dusk, which marks the beginning of darkness in theevening, creates a sense of ominous foreshadowing in its transition from optimistic brightnessto sinister lack of light, representative of the eerily gloomy images of grief and sorrow. Themovement of the man µworking peeringly¶ is humble and unobtrusive, reflected in the slowrhythm of the sentence. His quiet concentration, though, is abruptly shattered; the harshonomatopoeia of µcough¶ creates a sudden break in the deliberate rhythm of the sentence justas the cough itself creates a sudden break in the tranquillity of the scene.He turns around to µa man and a woman [standing] in the aisle¶. Taking place in a church, itis an image symbolic of a marriage. This in turn signifies the apparent relationship betweenthe two people. In the µbetter light¶ he realises that the woman is not just any woman: thesyntactical arrangement of the sentence causes the emphasis to fall on the name µMarjory¶,illustrating her clear significance to the man. The importance of Marjory to Duncan, on a personal level, is placed in contrast to the namelessness of the man standing by her side, whois referred to using distancing language; he is simply µthe man¶. He is merely a…

    • 1661 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Simplicity

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages

    is too simple causing us to add unnecessary information only to confuse our readers. Zinsser shows us examples of this in everyday life such as a simple letter, or a brochure by an insurance company, where the corporation uses a statement that overuses vocabulary to express something so simple. Zinsser observes that, “Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without another”,(Zinsser 175) His opinion on the key towards becoming an excellent writer is to take every sentence and to shorten it so that each word has its set function. As a writer, he believes the more clearheaded one is while constructing a piece of work, the better result they will receive. Writing is not as easy as it may seem. It can take several trials of perfecting one’s work and more importantly revisions of one’s thoughts like Zinsser’s writing. The more conscious you become to your writing allows the writer to easily express their words and in society, good writing seems to be what lacks the most.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sentence Coherence

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Coherence means the quality of sticking together. a sentence has coherence when the sentence elements are so arranged as to show their relationship. Clarity in the sentence depends largely on proper word order…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In their pursuit of clear, concise writing, journalism students sometimes develop the habit of writing everything in short, choppy paragraphs that are unrelated to one another. Reviewing any good high school writing handbook will remind you that considerable thought has been given to how longer paragraphs can be developed into well focused presentations of single units of thought.…

    • 2604 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Coherence is elusive but it has a lot to do with the way that the propositional content of texts is organised. If the content of a (written) text is organised in such a way that it fulfils the reader's expectations, it is more likely to achieve its communicative effect. This means that learners can be helped to write coherent texts through the analysis of the generic features of particular text types. This has long been the approach to teaching business, technical, and academic writing. More important still, is second-guessing the intended reader's questions, and then answering them. This means that it is important that, when doing writing tasks, students have a clear idea both of the purpose of the text, and of the intended readership. Good writers are able to "keep their reader in mind". Keeping your reader in mind does not guarantee coherence, but it would seem to be a…

    • 1523 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics