Summary
The first part of the book shows the fundamental principles that Zinsser tries to lay down for all writers, both novice and experienced, who struggle to express themselves freely and clearly in their work.
It offers answers to some most essential questions:
1. what is writing?
2. what are the most common mistakes one can make in writing?
3. How can we acquire a style?
4. Who are we writing for?
5. Why are some good words good and bad ones bad?
He tells us that writing is more a craft than an art. It’s hard and it takes practice. Writing is also a personal transaction, a way to make others feel what you feel and think what you think.
Simplicity is the basic rule for written words. We should avoid unnecessary word, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon. The beauty of a piece usually lies in the humanity and strength of its language. Every word and sentence should mean something. We should also remember that revision is very effective and necessary.
Style does not come with the deliberate attempt to garnish our words. Instead, such actions strip us of our uniqueness, and readers will notice right away. Surprisingly, the use of I in writing is not a taboo. A touch of subjectivity actually helps in revealing who we are. As for the audience, it’s true that we should attend to their reading experience and polish our craft, but the attitude of writing should be more relaxed. We are writing first to please ourselves rather than anyone else. Only in this way can our style thrive naturally.
Lastly, it’s his attitude towards lexical and syntactic intruders. New words will be coined inevitably with the development of society and technology, but they are no better choice than the old and simple ones unless they convey more information? or emotion. New words come and go. We should be wise enough to tell which ones are here to stay. On the other hand, grammar rules are relatively more stable. What’s wrong will never be right.
The second part moves on to how to compose. Think small and decide on how much we’d like to cover and what one point we’d like to make. Based on such decisions, we choose a unity of pronoun, tense, and mood. Unity is the anchor of good writing and a demonstration of good control. It’s so important that we can even work backwardly to achieve it when we are led else where by the materials in the latter part of writing.
The leading and the ending are the crucial parts of writing. Try to collect as many materials as possible and write in a personal and relevant way. We must capture the reader with a good leading and develop connections while building up. A good ending should come promptly when all the information has been covered. It should give readers a lift and linger when the article is over.
Reflections
在總結(jié)中，我有意識地嘗試運(yùn)用一些老爺子的理念和建議?？酥苅t should be pointed out that這種論文官腔，減少銜接詞套路的使用和hedging的使用，放飛自己的句內(nèi)主語不一致。不過也用了幾個老爺子譴責(zé)的jargon，都是因?yàn)?b>我樂意。這是一種嘗試，基于寫作首先應(yīng)該是為了表達(dá)自我、語言首先應(yīng)該讓自己舒服的原則。的確，寫得挺開心，不過不知效果如何。有一點(diǎn)感受很深刻，當(dāng)減少了字面上的銜接詞和固定的結(jié)構(gòu)套路，文字內(nèi)在也就是意識的連貫就更顯得重要，決定了文章是否緊湊、讀者是否能跟上。（關(guān)于jargon的使用，我的看法與作者不同。）
對于讀書會的參與體驗(yàn)，我是感恩的又是困惑的。有了群里的兄弟姐妹們的鞭策和陪伴，堅(jiān)持每天讀書、寫讀書筆記，即使不擅長詞匯學(xué)習(xí)也慢慢開始查詞。這是一種全新的體驗(yàn)，看著自己的足跡，心里充滿成就感。困惑的是，讀書會活動好像給我的生活帶來了一些困擾。過去的一周里，我推掉了所有的應(yīng)酬和娛樂，每天下班除了做飯吃飯散步，就是窩在沙發(fā)讀書寫讀書筆記。密友甚至討厭起Eric，說他搶走了我。可能是工作剛好比較忙，每天趕十二點(diǎn)前交筆記也有一定的壓力，所以對別人的陪伴缺少了一些耐心。
我仍然認(rèn)為讀書會很有意義，這次這本書也很值得一看，只是不知道還能堅(jiān)持多久。不過我會盡力而為，畢竟一鼓作氣，再而衰，三而竭。如果中間斷開了很可能就懈怠下來，不僅辜負(fù)了之前的努力，也錯過了一本好書。
Words review
emulate
the reigning champ of the arena
strangling in
muddy the waters
at the helm
wet behind the ears
In proportion to
Nose about
Pound into
Make of
