The author of "Simplicity," William Zinsser has discovered that writing frequently deals with clutter. He makes it obvious in his essay that writing "fuzz" and clutter can annoy and weary a reader. Zinsser emphasizes that clutter in writing not only frustrates readers but also obscures the intended message. He argues that simplicity is key to effective communication, as it allows ideas to shine through and resonate with the audience. Zinsser provides examples of how "clutter" or “fuzz” is harmful to both the writer and his audience, as well as a resource for messy writing. Zinsser advises writers to strip their writing down to the "purest parts" so as not to confuse or lose readers' attention. To help students and writers learn to soften
This grants more creative freedom for the writer, while also instilling the different template methods through practice. In spite of the logical advantages that the templates give the writer, some people are still skeptical of this type of method. Many believe that these templates are a juvenile form that inhabits creativity. One student even proclaims, “I’m in college now, this is third-grade-level stuff.” (10) Regardless of these students claims that templates are too simplistic and less imaginative, Graff and Birkensteins’ idea that one must learn through template forms in order to enhance their skills in the future should be endorsed.
The writing style is a clear representation of the importance of complexity. Written in third-person, the non-intrusive omniscient narrator recounts the convoluted
His idea is simple and easy to understand, ". . . the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its clearest components." (234). This idea is exemplified throughout his essay, he keeps every sentence as clean as possible, ensuring the reader can understand his intent. Zinsser asks two important questions when writing, ". . .
Based on Walter’s scenario, my decision, which is mostly driven by the first two themes presented in the article, would be to compose a referral to place him on the waitlist of a particular facility. Basically, the first theme explains the separation of competent from incompetent and determining whether a client is competent or not. Although Walter is oriented and able to communicate, I have deemed him incompetent due to various reasons. For instance, he is incapable of performing proper hygiene since he does not appear well-groomed and he is also incapable of maintaining a suitable environment since his house is filled with clothing, newspapers, spoiled products, unwashed dishes, as well as the unpleasant scents of cat deposits. Secondly,
In “A Modest Proposal,” writer, Jonathan Swift, expounds on the situation of poor children in Ireland and proposes an ironic solution to integrate these children into the CommonWealth. Swift’s purpose is to recommend a elucidation to help the poor children out of poverty and malnourishment and feeding them to the rich to resolve population issues. He adopts a dramatic tone in order to modestly convey his solution to the people of England. Swift begins to demonstrate his patriotism through “A Modest Proposal” by acknowledging the poverty stricken streets and alluding toward a cure. He describes poor mothers who cannot work for a “honest livelihood” and are instead subjected to “importuning passengers” and “forced to employ all their time
In 1729, Ireland faced many complications. “A Modest Proposal” was published in 1729 in response to the worsening conditions in Ireland. Ireland was controlled by England and had no say in affairs. They faced famine, fuel shortages, emigration, and being heavily taxed. (sparknotes)
E. B. White was very passionate about writing and more specifically the style of it. So when White found William Strunk's book full of writing rules and tips, he knew he could not let his old professor's book disappear with the times. So he took the time to publish a book to share Strunk’s wisdom with the world. E. B. White cherished this book written by William Strunk. White refers to this little book and its content as a “rich deposit of gold.”
Zeitoun Essay Based on a true story, Zeitoun focuses on one family’s response in the midst of hurricane Katrina and the terror of war that follows. Dave Eggers portrays Abdulrahman Zeitoun as the man of his household and community, a hero- when Katrina hits New Orleans. Through the employment of rhetorical strategies, Eggers is able to achieve his purpose in presenting the good in his protagonist. The author appeals to pathos, and frequently incorporates anecdotes and flashbacks through the images he provides.
As I was reading Melissa Duffy’s “Inspiration, and Craig Vetter’s “Bonehead Writing,” I found myself connecting with Vetter’s paper more than Duffy’s. I found that the presentation in “Bonehead Writing” to capture my attention, and that Vetter’s feelings about writing was similar to my opinion on writing. Through his wording and humor, I think Craig Vetter wrote the best essay. I find that the wording and presentation of an article or essay influences my opinion of the writer, and it affects how I receive the idea they are trying to present to me. Craig Vetter uses a blunt approach to convey his idea that writing is nearly impossible to teach, and describes writing as “A blood sport, a walk in the garden of agony every time out.”
If there was a way for the Mills student body to write significantly better while learning about rhetorical strategies, would you turn it down? The answer is clear, and your answer is Dave Egger's 2009 best-selling book Zeitoun. The book Zeitoun depicts Abdulrahman, the main character, as a man who lives as an average American citizen with a successful life but then struggles during Hurricane Katrina when he becomes wrongly accused of being a terrorist and lives through social injustices brought to him by the government’s enforcement. As a former reader of this book, the successful imagery and credibility that shows Zeitoun’s experience made me connect to Zeitoun on a emotional and serious level. Zeitoun is truly being portrayed as a hero in Egger's Zeitoun.
There are so many ways to take everything and there are multiple responses to them as well. Responses, while they may be normal, can also challenge the status quo of the time period. In the essay “A Modest Proposal” Jonathan Swift challenges the status quo of the time and place in which it was written by coming up with outrageous ideas, using sarcasm and satire, and coming up with actual ideas that would change life forever. During Jonathan’s time, no one would ever think about children being the economic problem or even eating the children. He threw out these ideas that were completely different but could solve the problem.
This chapter can help young writers in English class with their papers in many different ways. For instance, Trimble gives examples on what a veteran writer does in order to make their writing interesting. He also gives out techniques on how you can get a reader’s attention or how you can fix your writing to make it readable instead of having nonsense. What makes this difficult for me as a writer is that I write what ever comes to my mind and it will not make sense. Another thing that makes it difficult for me as a writer is that I am not good at getting the readers attention and having him hooked on to my work.
In the article, “College Pressures,” William Zinsser discusses the many struggles college students face while trying to focus on their studying. He convinces the reader of his point by using different types of rhetorical strategies. Zinsser’s usage of the rhetorical strategies such as getting straight to the point, quoting, paragraphing, the use of word pictures, and choosing a title was effectively done in his article to persuade his reader of the struggles faced by college students. The author did not waste anytime getting to the main point in his article, which is effective because it makes me interested in what he had to say.
Swift, Jonathan. A MODEST PROPOSAL For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public. 1729. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1080/pg1080-images.html. In this passage from A Modest Proposal, Swift explores the idea of cannibalism and why this proposal was created.
I continued to type; I added in unnecessary symbolism and metaphors to give the illusion of a well-written paper. I was making good time, I had almost a page and a half done already, but suddenly I stopped writing. “ What next?” I had a case of writer's block, and it was bad.