On Writing Well

by William Zinsser
there is a personal transaction that is at the heart of all good nonfiction writing.

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it is not a question of gimmicks It is a question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest strength and the least clutter. Can such principles be taught? Maybe not. But most of them can be learned . (Zinsser 6)

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
Our national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important. The airline pilot who wakes us to announce that he is presently anticipating experiencing considerable weather wouldnt dream of saying that theres a storm ahead and it may get bumpy. The sentence is too simple-there must be something wrong with it. (Zinsser 7)

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
The secret to good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb which carries the same meaning that is already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing whatthese are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur, ironically, in proportion to education and rank. (Zinsser 7)

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
clear our heads of clutter. Clear thinking becomes clear writing: one cant exist without the other. It is impossible for a muddy thinker to write good English. He might get away with it for a paragraph or two, but soon the reader will be lost, and there is no sin so grave, for he will not be easily lured back. (Zinsser 9)

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
The writer must continually ask himself: What am I trying to say? Surprisingly often, he doesnt know. Then he must look at what he has written and ask: Have I said it? Is it clear to someone encountering the subject for the first time? If it is not, it is because some fuzz has worked its way into the machinery. The clear writer is a person clear-headed enough to see the stuff for what it is: fuzz. (Zinsser 12)

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or the third. Keep thinking and rewriting until you say what you want to say.
(Zinsser 13)

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
Pick the best line
These are the times that try mens souls. Times like these try mens souls. How trying it is to live in these times. These are trying times for mens souls. Soulwise, these are trying times. What if Thomas Paine had used one of the last four?

Diction is concerned with the words that you choose, and syntax is how you arrange the words in a sentence. As you work through your draft, please pay attention to diction and syntax. Is there a way to say things that is better than what you have in your draft?

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
Pick the best line
These are the times that try mens souls. Times like these try mens souls. How trying it is to live in these times. These are trying times for mens souls. Soulwise, these are trying times. What if Thomas Paine had used one of the last four?

Diction is concerned with the words that you choose, and syntax is how you arrange the words in a sentence. As you work through your draft, please pay attention to diction and syntax. Is there a way to say things that is better than what you have in your draft?

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 68

Verbs Use active verbs unless there is no comfortable way to get around using a passive verb. The difference between an active-verb style and a passive-verb style in clarity and vigor is the difference between life and death for a writer.

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 68

Verbs
Use active verbs unless there is no comfortable way to get around using a passive verb. The difference between an active-verb style and a passive-verb style in clarity and vigor is the difference between life and death for a writer.

Joe saw him is strong He was seen by Joe is weak. The first is short and precise; it leaves no doubt about who did what. The second is necessarily longer and it has an insipid quality: something was done by somebody to someone else. It is also ambiguous a style that consists of passive constructions will sap the readers energy. Nobody ever quite knows what is being perpetrated by whom and on whom.

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 68

Verbs
Use active verbs unless there is no comfortable way to get around using a passive verb. The difference between an active-verb style and a passive-verb style in clarity and vigor is the difference between life and death for a writer.

Joe saw him is strong He was seen by Joe is weak. Active verbs push hard; passive verbs tug fitfully. Be precise and active with verbs.

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 69

Adverbs
Most adverbs are unnecessary. You will clutter your sentence and annoy the reader if you choose a verb that has a specific meaning and then add an adverb that carries the same meaning.

Dont write that someone clenched his teeth tightly. There is no other way to clench teeth!

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 69

Adverbs
Most adverbs are unnecessary. You will clutter your sentence and annoy the reader if you choose a verb that has a specific meaning and then add an adverb that carries the same meaning.

Dont tell us that the radio blared loudly. Blare connotes loudness!

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 69

Adverbs
Most adverbs are unnecessary. You will clutter your sentence and annoy the reader if you choose a verb that has a specific meaning and then add an adverb that carries the same meaning.

Dont weaken a strong verb with a redundant adverb.

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 70

Adjectives
Most adjectives are also unnecessary.

Not every oak tree has to be gnarled. Make sure your adjectives do work that actually needs to be done. Usually the concept is in the noun itself.

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 72

Short Sentences
There is not much to be said about the period except that most writers do not reach it soon enough. Control the sentence from beginning to end, in syntax and punctuation, so that the reader knows where he is at every step of the way.

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 72

The Semicolon
should be used sparingly by modern writers Still, the semicolon brings the reader, if not to a halt, at least to a pause. Use it with discretion to add a related thought to the first half of a sentence.

On Writing Well
by William Zinsser
From Bits & Pieces page 84

Rewriting
Rewriting is the essence of writing well: its where the game is won or lost. That idea is hard to accept. We all have emotional equity in our first draft; we cant believe that it wasnt born perfect. But the odds are close to 100% that it wasnt. Most writers dont initially say what they want to say, or say it as well as they could. The newly hatched sentence almost always has something wrong with it. Its not clear. Its not logical. Its verbose. Its klunky. Its pretentious. Its boring. Its full of clutter. Its full of cliches. It lacks rhythm. It can be read in several different ways. It doesnt lead out of the previous sentence. It doesnt The point is that clear writing is the result of a lot of tinkering.