martinlomibao

I've read Paula's book several times now. There is not much to it, just 12 guidelines to writing well and lots of examples. I love some of Paula's legal or political examples of bad writing. I really wish we could hire about 10,000 Paula LoRocque's to start going through our ridiculously wordy, incomprehensibly obtuse legal system and translating our laws into clear, understandable English. The Constitution and its amendments meet that standard, but I've seen precious few other examples. LaRocque's genius is that each chapter is small and easy, so that she can explain one rule fully and show a lot of "before and after" examples. A few of her rules: avoid jargon, keep sentences short, and cut wordiness. Once again, see our legal system for a primer on how to do the opposite. This was a key book for me in college and when I began my professional writing career. Once you've read this book, a simple review of the table of contents is enough to refresh the ideas in your memory. Paula also adds 10 principles of telling stories and three chapters on English mechanics. I did not find these quite as helpful, but they are still well-written and may be helpful for some readers.

2022-10-21 05:43