Difference between revisions of "Careful Writing Requires Work"
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This example shows how much work careful writing is. If on writing sentence (1), even if it is the best rendition, you did not consider alternatives (2), (3), and (4), you are not a careful writer. | This example shows how much work careful writing is. If on writing sentence (1), even if it is the best rendition, you did not consider alternatives (2), (3), and (4), you are not a careful writer. | ||
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| + | I have another example: | ||
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| + | (2.1) I was able to make a helpful chat comment at the start ("Have you posted the paper anywhere?") and when the questions dried up 10 minutes before the end, I was able to "raise my hand" and out loud make helpful substantive ("You can also look at this question with your data") and practical ("You should list your references after the appendix instead of before the appendix") comments.}} | ||
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| + | How can I improve that sentence? | ||
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Latest revision as of 08:49, 23 January 2021
How shall we deal with parenthetic qualifiers?
(1) You've inspired me to start a webpage collecting examples of poorly designed products, with this as the first product (and at the moment the only one).
is better than
(2) You've inspired me to start a webpage collecting examples of poorly designed products, with this as the first (and at the moment the only) product.
The second rendering is worse because the parenthesis interrupts the reader's train of thought and because it refers to something not yet read ("product"), after the closing bracket, not before. But how about this?
(3) You've inspired me to start a webpage collecting examples of poorly designed products, with this as the first product --- and at the moment the only one.
Or this?
(4) You've inspired me to start a webpage collecting examples of poorly designed products, with this as the first product, and at the moment the only one.
This example shows how much work careful writing is. If on writing sentence (1), even if it is the best rendition, you did not consider alternatives (2), (3), and (4), you are not a careful writer.
I have another example:
(2.1) I was able to make a helpful chat comment at the start ("Have you posted the paper anywhere?") and when the questions dried up 10 minutes before the end, I was able to "raise my hand" and out loud make helpful substantive ("You can also look at this question with your data") and practical ("You should list your references after the appendix instead of before the appendix") comments.
How can I improve that sentence?
