38 pages • 1 hour read
Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing
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Chapters 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Fundamentals”
Chapters 7-8 Summary and Analysis: “Diction” and “Tips for Increasing Your Readability”
After analyzing an essay’s opener, middle, and closer, Trimble homes in on sentences and individual words choices, or what he calls diction. When it comes to words, Trimble’s main argument is this: Use them thriftily. If something can be said clearly in five words versus 10, say it in five. He provides these examples:
Too Lengthy Thriftier Option
In the event that If
In order to To
For the reason that Since
One in the same The same
He speaks with great bitterness He speaks bitterly (60).
Pair down your words—longer is never better. “A good writer,” he explains, “will perform this kind of operation on every sentence, going back over them again and again, laboriously, even obsessively, until he is satisfied that he cannot make his phrases any more succinct without sacrificing clarity” (61). Likewise, being thrifty with your words is respectful to the reader’s time and energy—a key theme in Writing with Style.
Another marker of good diction is an author’s use of active verbs, or what Trimble calls vigorous verbs. By definition, “A verb is considered ‘active’ when its subject is the actor doing whatever action the verb is describing.” When sentences have active verbs, the author is displaying active Plus, gain access to 8,500+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
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