Comments on: Say What You Mean

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:12:00 +0000

You’re right, except what I wrote was a completely different sort of unclear gobbledegook. It was colloquial gobbledegook, not official gobbledegook. Flesch might have been sympathetic with my attempt.

But I’m not sure that your version is quite clear enough either. How about, “Flesch saw no good reason why friendly sentences should appear so rarely in business and government writing.”

By: Stephen Thorn

Stephen Thorn — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:33:09 +0000

Michael, I’m smiling at the irony in your article. You wrote “Sentences like those appear all too rarely in business and government writing, and Flesch said there is no good reason why they shouldn’t.” This is a sentence that strikes me as unclear gobbledegook, itself! Would it not be better to say “Sentences like those appear all too rarely in business and government writing, and Flesch said there is no good reason for that.” After all, didn’t your sentence state, in effect, that ‘these things are rare and they should be rare’?

Just stirring up the hornets, folks. (grin)

By: Racheblue

Racheblue — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:05:59 +0000

This is very useful – thank you!

By: Write About What You Know

Write About What You Know — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:42:23 +0000

[...] writing is less interesting than informed writing. The details which make writing vivid and readable are missing, like a price tag in a store, or somehow “off,” like a carton of old [...]

By: Nawal

Nawal — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:14:44 +0000

I am a teacher of English.
what is the best way to teach writing articles to my students????????????????????????????????????????????