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Precision in Writing – Is That Word Necessary?
Posted by ldaley on February 11, 2008
Writing with precision means more than using the right words and avoiding the nearly right words in a sentence. Sometimes it means taking out redundant words or phrases.
In his book, The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, Evan Marshall drives home that point in a section called “How to Be Your Own Editor.” The book was intended for fiction writers, it’s true, but the principles he advocates hold true also for those of us who write nonfiction. For readers to understand our message, we have to use the exact words needed — with no extraneous words getting in the way.
He illustrates that point in one short section on “Simplicity and Economy” by focusing on several common phrases where we might cut out redundancies like these: (comments following the phrases are mine)
Past history (remember all history is in the past)
The sky above. (Where else would it be?)
Continued on. (Continued means to go on.)
The ceiling/roof overhead. (Where else?)
Join together. (We cannot join apart.)
A little baby. (Most babies are little.)
A brief glance. (Every glance is brief.)
Tall skyscrapers. (That’s why they’re called skyscrapers.)
The end result. (Results are usually found at the end.)
In editing our own work, Marshall said we must scrutinize our writing to find and eliminate redundancies like these, but it’s better to choose our words so carefully that we don’t use them in the first place.
He also cautioned:
“Watch for introductory participles that don’t modify the subject of the sentence — an error that slips past many editors. ‘Leaving the village, the mountains glowed red in the sun’ ‘Opening the closet door, the cat sprang from the shadows.’ These statements give the mountains and the cat undue credit.”
Whatever our writing emphasis, when editing our own work it would profit us to follow Marshall’s advice: “Cast as cold an eye as possible on what you’ve created, recognize its strengths and weaknesses, and revise and edit to bring the manuscript to it full potential.”
Excellent advice for all of us.
Please leave a comment.
©2008 by Laverne Daley
TAGS:
writing,
editing,
redundant words,
fiction
nonfiction,
novel writing,
editing your own work
Laura said
My favorite (or most cursed) is 12 noon. I’m not sure how many noons there are, but I’m only aware of one.
another favorite is “most unique.”
It’s hard to edit yourself, but it’s even harder when a client edits you and insists you use a redundant term!
Laverne Daley said
Good ones, Laura. I want to hit the TV every time I hear a supposedly educated news anchor say “most unique.” Don’t know why I should, though. These are the same people who seem not to know about future tense. They say “We are back in 2 minutes.” How hard must it be for them to say correctly “We’ll be back in 2 minutes.”
Good comment from you, Laura. Thanks much.
A. Victoria Mixon, Editor » Grammar, humor, and dangling your participles said
[...] notion of grammar and humor first struck me when I was writing an earlier post on my site (Precision in Writing – Is That Word Necessary?) in which I mentioned dangling [...]