How to Write Right

Grant Bierling

Ms. Isaac

Rhetoric & Style H

30 September 2015

How to Write Right

Often times, people assume that good writing is dependent on the complexity of the writing. However, it is only a minor factor of what makes someone write well. Writing well is not easy, and takes a lot of effort and adjusting. Good writing can be accomplished through the sentence variation, clarity, and imagery.

One necessity of good writing is the variation of sentence complexity. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee uses a numerous amount of syntax patterns with long, medium, and short sentences. In the beginning paragraph, five sentences are used, each containing a different amount of words with a varying syntax complexity. The sentences have fifty-four, eleven, twenty-one, thirty-one, and eleven words. The combination of “short, medium, and long sentences,” creates “a sound that pleases the reader’s ear” –Excerpts on Style. Then in the third paragraph, it has a lot of short sentences along with other three sentences are longer. It begins with many independent clauses, but then it ends with sentences containing more phrases, clauses, and modifiers. This is important because sentences that are unchanging in syntax complexity lack interest for the reader and make it difficult for the reader to want to continue. The mixture of sentence length creates a rhythm that makes it easier and more appealing for the reader, therefore improving the overall quality of the writing.

Clarity is another vital part of good writing. Lee writes succinctly and straight to the point, rather than adding unnecessary information. Atticus says to the jury that “The State has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place” and that “The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is.” In the first sentence Atticus clearly states that there is no evidence proving Tom’s guilt, and in the second sentence Atticus clearly proclaims Tom’s innocence. These two sentences are simplified and free of clutter so that the reader can only interpret them in one way. This is important because sometimes a sentence can be “so shoddily constructed that the reader could read it in several ways” –Simplicity. When authors write with too much unnecessary information in attempt to create complex writing, the clarity of the sentence can be lost and the reader could understand the concept in a way different from the author’s intention.  Writing creates confusion when there are unnecessary parts in the sentences, which can harm the ability to get a message across. However, writing that is free of clutter is good because it allows clarity between the writer and the reader.