This week's assignment, we were assigned to read a chapter about writing improvement. There were a lot of good articles in this chapter that provided good information on how to improve your writing. I've learned a lot from each essay but I will share my favorite.
I want to confess something to all of you. And I bet I'm not the only one who does this “thing” that I am about to share. I will illustrate that; I guess I'm a
Just kidding. We're not cheaters. We just want to look for a better word to use. The word cheater is too strong so I wanted to tone it down a bit. The problem is, the synonym my program provides are no good either. If I choose one of those, I will sound like I'm trying to hard to sound "academic." And if I decide to say, "I guess I'm a wrongdoer," it just sounds so weird and unnatural.
This is what I want to share with all of you. According to writer Richard Lederer, "short words are as good as long ones" (122). When we are assigned to write reports, we try to sound "intelligent" as much as we can. And the best way to do that is either look up a thesaurus or do what I illustrated above. Because we stress this so much, we do not realize that "small words . . . can meet your needs with a strength, grace and charm that large words do not have" (122).
Every report I wrote I try to sound smart as I can. I type down a word we use everyday, then look up a synonym that sounds more “intelligent.” I thought the use of simple words were weak. And all I want is to impress the teachers. There are times when I constantly switch small words to bigger ones, and as a result I can't even understand my own paper. On top of that, it won't sound like me. It's not my real voice.
After reading Richard Lederer's essay The Case for Short Words, he made me understand how simple short words can actually be more powerful than using big words. He supported his argument by introducing William Shakespeare's work; “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good.” A lot of his work contains small words with only one syllable.
It's just now that I realized that by using one syllable words, you can actually create something that sounds creative and easy to read. You won't have to worry about twisted tongues trying to pronounce big words.
I would like to attempt to write a short paragraph by using only one syllable words. Hope it turns out okay (lol).
Tests are soon to come. So he works night and day. “Boy I sure do see stress in him,” I say. He scratched his head, he stretched his neck, he reads all texts and writes all day. I give make him food, I rub his back, I give him hugs and cheer all day. “I hope you feel great now,” I say. I wished him luck and prayed for the best that he will pass those tests. One week from now, he has the grades. All I can say is, “I am proud for the hard work you have done through all those days.”
I tired my best (lol). It's interesting how it came out like a poem. I like how it made me sound so sincere and caring. Just like Lederer's point, I don't think that by using long big words can achieve the sincerity I portrayed in that paragraph. It was actually kind of fun writing that paragraph. You should try it too. c[;
