8 golden rules to clean you’re writing to make it pleasantly readable

Who does not want to write pretty interesting and immaculately flawless articles and stories? All the writers, both seasoned and budding, do not leave any stone unturned to write such a masterpiece which proves to be model writing measured from all the parameters of accuracy and grammar of a particular language. Readers love to read such sort of pieces repeatedly because after each reading they feel more infatuated and enlightened than ever.

Manav, a 13-year-old-IX-class boy, once wrote an article for his school magazine on how to curb the fast increasing menace of cyber crime. Unfortunately, the article was not accepted by the editorial board, headed by his English teacher. This rejection considerably disappointed the boy. He went to his English teacher inconsolably and requested him to let him know what had gone wrong with his much-aspired article.

“My son, first you must understand that writing is not a separate entity. It is a holistic art which essentially calls for command on a slew of matters which make the foundation of immaculately perfect writing. Your article suffers from a number of fatal grammatical blunders. Do never forget that what is written and printed in the newspapers and magazines becomes immortal and serves as the record for the generations to come. Any mistake of facts, figures or configuration hurts the emotion of the reader. These mistakes also prove to be a big affront to the pride of the writer. Next time whenever you write something you must clean your writing by sweeping up the blunders”, very frankly told the teacher to Manav.

In fact, for a perfectly flawless writing we need to very painstakingly edit it and repeatedly check for any mistake which might have inadvertently crept in.

Below are given some of the basic points which a budding writer must take notice -
1. Do your best to avoid the use of clichés. Replace the oft-repeated expressions, words and phrases with the fresh and new ones. Play with words and use something special ones which may give beauty to what you want to say.
2. Verbosity in the expression is like a vice. One must keep guard of wordy phrases, like those of ‘in order to’, ‘for the sake of, ‘as a matter of fact’, ‘there is no denying the fact that’, etc., to make the expression pithy and precise.
3. A writer must also avoid repetition. Saying the same things time and time again wastes the time of the readers. So it is vital to avoid redundancies.
4. A writer must also bring variety in the usage of sentence structures. Keep on changing the length of sentences, size of paragraphs, structures of sentences and sorts of phrases, clauses and words.
5. Keep on brushing up on the basic rules of English writing. Always remember that knowledge of grammar is key to perfect writing. And an aspiring writer must also not ever forget that a writer is always a student and learning is never perfect.
6. Develop the skill of thinking by even crossing the limit beyond where the common masses do not take pain to advance. Be creative in your thinking. Imagine the things what they would be if it were not so.
7. Proof reading is most essential part of a good writing. Edit your text repeatedly and check spellings, grammar, punctuations lest any blunder should creep in. Any writing with the flaws of these sorts embarrasses the writer and belittles his value.
8. They say that reading is learning and which further spurs writing. So reading is concomitant of writing. You cannot write anything unless you read voraciously. You must squeeze into time for quality reading which may enrich your knowledge and enlighten your thinking.

WORDS MATTER MOST IDIOMS

On the horns of a dilemma – in the situation when it is necessary to choose between two undesirable courses of actions (His parents’ desire has left him on the horns of a dilemma as he is not able to decide whether to opt for science or commerce.) Dirt cheap- very cheap (My neighbour purchased her brand new car dirt cheap yesterday.)

PHRASAL VERBS

To hack something about-
to cut or change something very carelessly and roughly (The history book was hacked about by galaxy of authors before it was approved by the state board.)

To gun for somebody-
to cause trouble for someone (The local people have been gunning for their leaders who had promised a lot for during the election last year.)

To gun for something -
to try hard to get something (The aspiring cricket players have been gunning for their slots in the national team over past two years.)

MIND MEDIA WORDS

Hoi polloi- common and ordinary people (The ever widening gap between the life style of hoi polloi and celebrities is a matter of great concern for a democratic country like ours.)
Maze- a complicated situation which is difficult to understand (The economic policies of the country are caught in a maze of rules and regulations.)

BY Shreeprakash Sharma