On Writing Well
Writing
Keep your writing organized.

Keep your writing organized.

from On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser

How to Apply This

  1. Use more active verbs than passive verbs when writing.
    Active verbs enable readers to visualize an activity or scene. For example, “Joe saw him coming” is stronger than “he was seen coming by Joe”.

  2. Punctuate well.
    Use punctuations appropriately. These include the following: the period (.), exclamation point (!), semicolon (;), colon (:), question mark (?), and the dash (-). Learn how to punctuate properly by reading books and articles about grammar.

  3. Alert your readers as soon as possible about changes in mood from the previous sentence.
    Use connecting words like “but”, “yet”, “however”, “nevertheless”, “meanwhile”, “therefore”, “thus”, and “instead”. These words make it easy for your readers to understand and process the message you are conveying.

  4. Use contractions that fit comfortably into what you are writing.
    For example, using contractions like “I’ll”, “won’t” “don’t” and “can’t” will make your writing style warmer and truer to your personality.

  5. Keep your paragraphs short.
    This will help you avoid clutter and write only what is relevant to your subject.

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