"But I want my sons to know that to challenge your country when it is wrong, to demand that it become more than it is, is as great an act of patriotism as the bravery of any soldier."
--from an essay "The Shoes of Dr. King" by Rosemary Bray McNatt
About author Rosemary Bray McNatt:
The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt is a Unitarian Universalist minister serving the Fourth Universalist Society in New York City. A former editor of "The New York Times Book Review," Rosemary is a widely anthologized writer whose work has appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, Ms., Glamour, Essence, Redbook, and The Village Voice. She is the author of several books, including the biography for children Martin Luther King, a memoir, Unafraid of the Dark, and the forthcoming Beloved One: Prayers for Black Children.
She is a contributing editor to UU World, the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and chair of the Board of Trustees of Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif., one of the continent’s two Unitarian Universalist seminaries. She and her husband Robert have two young sons.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Assume and Condescend
No one wants to assume or to condescend to readers. But those errors may actually arise from poor advice in business writing.
Probably you have heard the advice that "ASSUME makes an ASS of YOU and ME."
As a result, some writers believe that they should never use the phrase "I assume that...". Not true.
When I announce what I assume, I am no longer assuming it. Feel free to write out your assumptions and label them as such. That way, if the assumptions are false or incomplete, someone can correct them. The discussion can proceed intelligently.
Another example of poor advice comes from one of the CRISP workbooks for writers, called Better Business Writing. On its pages 24 and 40, it labels as condescending the phrases "of course," and "as you can see." Yet they are the opposite. These phrases acknowledge the writer's previous knowledge--a gesture that is not at all condescending. If you eliminate such phrases you actually do risk condescending.
Don't buy instruction that just repeats folklore.
Probably you have heard the advice that "ASSUME makes an ASS of YOU and ME."
As a result, some writers believe that they should never use the phrase "I assume that...". Not true.
When I announce what I assume, I am no longer assuming it. Feel free to write out your assumptions and label them as such. That way, if the assumptions are false or incomplete, someone can correct them. The discussion can proceed intelligently.
Another example of poor advice comes from one of the CRISP workbooks for writers, called Better Business Writing. On its pages 24 and 40, it labels as condescending the phrases "of course," and "as you can see." Yet they are the opposite. These phrases acknowledge the writer's previous knowledge--a gesture that is not at all condescending. If you eliminate such phrases you actually do risk condescending.
Don't buy instruction that just repeats folklore.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Shorter Sentences?
For years, I've taught that clear sentences can be long. They just need short subject-verb units.
I still believe those propositions are true.
But when I read from a computer screen, I want short sentences. I prefer they be in short
paragraphs.
Am I alone?
I was told in grad school that the average sentence is 21 words long. That statistic applied to English
sentences written for an adult. If this post had longer (average 21 words) sentences, would you read it as easily?
(In the post above, the average sentence length is 9.44 words.)
Flesch Reading Ease 79.1 (70 is ideal.)
Flesch Grade Level: 4.2
I still believe those propositions are true.
But when I read from a computer screen, I want short sentences. I prefer they be in short
paragraphs.
Am I alone?
I was told in grad school that the average sentence is 21 words long. That statistic applied to English
sentences written for an adult. If this post had longer (average 21 words) sentences, would you read it as easily?
(In the post above, the average sentence length is 9.44 words.)
Flesch Reading Ease 79.1 (70 is ideal.)
Flesch Grade Level: 4.2
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