Essay: Traditions and Word Choice

It is often helpful to pause and remember that words are the most basic building blocks of language. Just as the choice of brick helps determine whether a building will appear rustic or flashy, word choice helps lend preciseness to every text. Paragraph and sentence structure are crucial to the clarity of a text, but attention to shades of meaning contained in the words that you use will help give your paper particular focus. Certain conventions of writing should be followed and broken only in very particular cases.

In the third edition of the Bedford Handbook for Writers, Diana Hacker provides several valuable tips regarding word choice. First, she recommends scanning sentences for redundancies. If a sentence contains any repetition, eliminate it. For instance, she proposes the following changes:

• Mr. Barker still hasn't paid last month's rent yet. >> Mr. Barker still hasn't paid last month's rent.
• Our fifth patient, in room six, is a mentally ill patient. >> Our fifth patient, in room six, is mentally ill.

Hacker also proposes removing phrases that are empty of meaning or "inflated". If there is a simpler phrase that can be substituted for the one you used, use it. Instead of the phrase "in the final analysis", use "finally". Instead of the phrase "because of the fact that", use "because". Instead of "at this point in time", use "now". The concise version of these phrases is preferable because the longer version adds nothing to the tone of the paper or to the point you want to get across, instead making your sentences unnecessarily tangled.

Finally, Hacker recommends simplifying sentence structure. Succinct sentences will help your readers remain focused and not have to struggle to elucidate the meaning behind your claims. She proposes the following alterations:

• The secretary is responsible for monitoring and balancing the budgets for travel, contract services, and personnel. >>> The secretary monitors and balances the budgets for travel, contract services, and personnel.
• It is important that hikers remain inside the park boundaries. >>> Hikers must remain inside the park boundaries.

However, the saying is true: there is an exception to every rule. When can you stray from these recommendations, and use complex sentence structures and repetition? Pablo Picasso painted in the realistic style before his foray into cubism. He established his mastery as a painter in the traditional style before breaking away from the conventions of his day. In much the same way, when writing, it must be clear to the reader that your stylistic choices are intentional. If you choose to be complex, the complexity must serve a purpose. The ideas you present, as well as your vocabulary, must support the unconventional style of your argument. Confuse only to dazzle and perplex to daze. In other words: to stray from traditional, you must make it worth your reader's while.

Write better.