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Writing Tips

Choosing the Right Words

+Avoiding Staleness

Calling things by different names can add variety and interest in your writing.

Ex. “My bicycle is one of my favorite possessions, this wonderful 2 wheeled machine takes me across town almost as quick as any car. It is especially convenient in times of traffic because I can easily slip between the cracks of other vehicles. In addition, my bike provides me a good form of steady exercise.

This is also true for transition words:

Ex. but, however, on the other hand, in contrast, unfortunately, on the contrary

+Word Connotation (意蕴 )

Many words also express different connotations: neutral, positive, and negative.

Ex. “Waste time”, “spend time”, “take time”, “dedicate time”, “invest time”

+Avoid Clichés

Cliché - a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought*

Ex. :“Can’t judge a book by its cover”

“What a pity”

“Happy as a clam”

“Cool as a cucumber”

“There are two sides to a coin…”

+Avoid Wordiness

Wordiness is using too many words and can often be frustrating and difficult to read as using too little

Ex.: “A parody in advertisements should mutually-manifest the easily accessible context, which then enables it to yield extra contextual effects.”

“The use of parody in advertisements should be presented in a way that is easily recognized and understood.”

+Avoid Repetition

Eliminate repetitious, redundant, or unnecessary words.

Ex.:“Although it is only my opinion, I believe that the movie ‘Gone with the Wind’ was the best movie ever produced”

“I have never though about that question ever.”

“It is very different from China very much”

+Varying Sentence Structure

Don’t always use the same word order or begin each sentence with the same words.

This makes your writing sounding boring and flat.

Ex.:“I went to the store. Then I went to my friends house. Then we went to the pool together because it was hot.”

“I went to the store before going to my friends house. Because it was hot we decided to go to the pool.”

+Avoid faulty reasoning

Don’t state things that are not true.

There are four types of faulty reasoning: false analogy over-generalization irrelevant argument begging the question

+False Analogy

False analogy is comparing two things that are not similar.

Ex.:“Some people like to gamble. They are just like thieves because they steal from other people.”

Of course this does not mean you can’t have strong opinions that are not widely held by others.

This type of rhetoric is often used in politics and business, but that doesn’t make it good practice, and only ruins your credibility.

+Overgeneralization

Over-generalization is stating that something is true for all things or in all cases, when in reality it is only true for some things or in some cases.

Ex.:“Americans always eat fast food and all Chinese love rice”.

Avoid words such as always and never when talking about frequency.

Instead use words like rarely, hardly ever, almost never, usually not, very few, hardly any, almost none, almost all, most of.

+Irrelevant Arguments

An irrelevant argument is one in which an example or a reason is given that does not relate to the opinion.

Ex.:“China is a powerful country because it has such a long history.”

+Begging the Question

When you give a reason for an opinion which only restates that opinion, you are begging the question

Ex.: “Stealing is wrong because it is immoral.” Stealing is immoral because it deprives others of their hard

earned possessions.

“Learning a language like English is useful for communicating.”

Learning a language like English allows you to share ideas with others that you would not have otherwise been able to.

+Parallelism

A list of items should all be in the same form.

Parallel: Alice enjoys cooking, sewing, and knitting. Not parallel: Alice likes cooking, sewing, and to cook.

Parallel: Mr. Thomas is educated, handsome, and smart. Not parallel: Mr. Thomas is an educated man, handsome, and is smart.

Parallel: The gymnast moves gracefully, powerfully, and effortlessly. Not parallel: The gymnast moves with grace, powerfully, and without effort.

Parallel: To be healthy, wealthy, and wise is a good thing to strive for.Not parallel: To be healthy, have wealth, and wisely are good things to strive for.