Well written, though it’s important to remember that different juries judge different writing styles as “better.” Conciseness would be celebrated in business and tech. Vague, ornate writing might be appreciated by those who enjoy surreal books and art.
This is stupid. As everybody else, I prefer concise explanations of complex problems, but sometimes, you're better of writing fewer descriptive and long sentences, rather than writing a fuckload of paragraphs.
The college writing style is lazy. It's not about avoiding flowery language or cutting sentence length.
It's laziness. It tells me you don't have any opinions of your own.
Anyone can learn to write like that and it'll get the job done if you're writing an essay the night before.
I personally despise it because it's something out of nothing.
Used a lot when you're trying not to incriminate yourself or say anything of substance.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. — Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand and Stars
Strunk and white, elements of style has a chapter similar to this article
"Make things as simple as possible but no simpler."
I don't know what college for morons you're all attending, but I learned everything in this article almost verbatim from every single composition teacher I had since about ninth grade.
Less is more. One also needs good words. Read Hemingway for curtness and directness. It is a more satisfying read than something sophisticated and belabored. Capturing the right note in the simplest melody is more catchy and powerful than a complex fugue or sermon. To be concise, one needs to appreciate the flexibility and multiple facets of "simple" words.
> Write like you speak and more people will understand your message.
I don't know about this. I feel like this contributes to the overall diminishing of the general reading level.
I don't want to have to write like I'm ELI5-ing everything, all the time. It's exhausting, time consuming and takes away from information I'm trying to convey.
This article is basically "remove what isn't necessary" repeated over and over again, with a few extra questionable remarks.