Comments on: My mastery of the English language is mediocre at best http://www.jeremydavid.com/old/2007/04/08/my-mastery-of-the-english-language-is-mediocre-at-best/ Jeremy David's Variety Blog Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:53:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: James A. Ritchie http://www.jeremydavid.com/old/2007/04/08/my-mastery-of-the-english-language-is-mediocre-at-best/comment-page-1/#comment-172 James A. Ritchie Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:39:15 +0000 http://www.jeremydavid.com/?p=207#comment-172 Okay, a small criticism. Never look for a different word when the one you already have does the job perfectly well. "Better" was the right choice here. One of the marks of a new writer is to look for fancy words when ordinary ones do the job. As Mark Twain said, “I notice that you use plain simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the best way to write English - it is the modern way, and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them - then the rest will be valuable.” Mark Twain Okay, a small criticism. Never look for a different word when the one you already have does the job perfectly well. “Better” was the right choice here.

One of the marks of a new writer is to look for fancy words when ordinary ones do the job. As Mark Twain said, “I notice that you use plain simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the best way to write English – it is the modern way, and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them – then the rest will be valuable.”

Mark Twain

]]>