Clarity, Part 2

For this post, I read four more "clarity" sections from Rules for Writers, and used them to further edit my QRG draft.

1. Active verbs

I've always been taught never to use passive voice, so it's interesting that this book acknowledges that there are instances where using a passive verb could be helpful. However, active verbs tend to be stronger and less wishy-washy.

2. Adding needed words

While this seems fairly obvious, when I'm in the groove of writing, I sometimes forget to add in a word. And in editing, I will delete part of the sentence, and forget to add words that are necessary to make the new sentence complete and correct.

3. Shifts

I usually don't change point of view in the middle of my sentences or papers, but sometimes I will accidentally change verb tense. This happens more frequently when I'm writing a narrative or creative piece rather than persuasive or informative ones.

4. Choose appropriate language

This was probably the most difficult part of writing my QRG. Even though the genre is fairly casual, it's difficult to tell what is too formal. While my topic is on a sensitive topic, I didn't refrain from using the words "rape" and "sexual assault", which are usually rephrased in other forms of writing. In that case, I think it's up to the writer to decide what would be too strong for the intended audience.

Image by Scott, Richard. "Decisions". Uploaded 1/9/08 via Flickr.
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Reflection:

The purpose of editing for all of these mistakes is to avoid confusing readers. After reviewing these four topics, I went back to my draft to edit for what is probably the 5,000th time.

Both of the mistakes in my paper were pointed out by my peer-editors, so thank you!


"At Oberlin College, the administration attempted to create specific guidelines to help professors decide when to include a trigger warning, but really they just ended up creating ridiculously specific rules that would be impossible both to follow and to enforce."

• Alyssa commented that she thought my use of "ridiculously" was too informal, even for a QRG. Dylan said that it's also too opinionated for a piece that is supposed to be unbiased and informative.

"That’s not to minimize that people should not be forced to relive their horrors, but saying that they all need to be protected is an unnecessary blanket statement."

• Alyssa also pointed out that I forgot the word "be" in this sentence. This most likely happened in editing when I was reforming this sentence, but I also could have been trying to get my thoughts down too quickly.

Overall, my draft doesn't contain many of the "clarity" mistakes, but my editing is obviously not entirely foolproof.