{"id":8133,"date":"2018-10-09T21:12:03","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T21:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/?p=8133"},"modified":"2018-10-09T21:12:36","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T21:12:36","slug":"8133-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/8133-2\/","title":{"rendered":"ZINSSER, William K."},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453315804311{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531588223-e020d87d-f7dd094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cClutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William K. Zinsser<\/strong>, American author & editor<\/p>\n

On Writing Well<\/em>\u00a0(1976) HarperPerennial, 1994 edition, p. 7<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531588755-96303790-852e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [From Zinsser’s popular guide to writing nonfiction]:<\/p>\n

\u201cClutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who can understand the clotted language of everyday American commerce: the memo, the corporation report, the business letter, the notice from the bank explaining its latest \u201csimplified\u201d statement? What member of an insurance or medical plan can decipher the brochure explaining his costs and benefits?\u201d (p. 7)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531589797-29580b31-8c50094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 On Writing Well<\/em> (1976|1994 HarperPerennial edition, International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-06-273303-6<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cDecide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William K. Zinsser<\/strong>, American author & editor<\/p>\n

On Writing Well<\/em>\u00a0(1976) HarperPerennial, 1994 edition, p. 273<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [From Zinsser’s popular guide to writing nonfiction. Final line in the chapter \u2018A Writer\u2019s Decisions.\u2019]:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a nonfiction writer you must get on the plane. If a subject interests you, go after it, even if it\u2019s in the next country or the next state or the next county. It\u2019s not going to come looking for you.<\/p>\n

Decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.<\/span>\u201d (p. 273)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/strong><\/em><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 On Writing Well<\/em> (1976|1994 HarperPerennial edition, International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-06-273303-6<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cI have four principles of writing good English. They are Clarity, Simplicity, Brevity, and Humanity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William K. Zinsser<\/strong>, American author & editor<\/p>\n

\u201cWriting English as a Second Language: (11 August 2009) \u2018A talk to incoming international students,\u2019 Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, New York, NY; in The American Scholar<\/em>, Winter 2010, 1 December 2009; online via The American Scholar, www.theamericanscholar.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Re-quote” tab_id=”1453315828190-b4d7b461-d58d5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Re-quote note<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n

Zinsser used variations of this idea in different publications. One earlier example can be found in his his best-selling book On Writing Well<\/em>: \u201cAfter I had read various good examples, the principals began to hear the difference between their true selves and their educator selves. The problem was how to close the gap. I recited by articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, economy, humanity<\/strong><\/span>.\u201d (On Writing Well<\/em>, 1976|1994 HarperPerennial edition, p. 153)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Presentation to new international students at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, one of the top journalism schools in the United States.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have four principles of writing good English. They are Clarity, Simplicity, Brevity, and Humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>First, Clarity. If it\u2019s not clear you might as well not write it. You might as well stay in bed.<\/p>\n

Two: Simplicity Simple is good. Most students from other countries don\u2019t know that. When I read them a sentence that I admire, a simple sentence with short words, they think I\u2019m joking. \u201cOh, Mr. Zinsser, you\u2019re so funny,\u201d a bright young woman from Nigeria told me. \u201cIf I wrote sentences like that, people would think I\u2019m stupid.\u201d Stupid like Thoreau, I want to say. Or stupid like E.B. White. Or like the King James Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Featured source]<\/span>: \u201cWriting English as a Second Language\u201d (1 December 2009) The American Scholar: https:\/\/theamericanscholar.org\/writing-english-as-a-second-language\/#.V_XVR5MrKAY<\/p>\n

Source\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>[Zinsser re-quote]:\u00a0<\/span>Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 On Writing Well<\/em> (1976|1994 HarperPerennial edition, International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-06-273303-<\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cGood writers are visible just behind their words.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William K. Zinsser<\/strong>, American author & editor<\/p>\n

American author & editor, On Writing Well<\/em>\u00a0(1976) HarperPerennial, 1994 edition, p. 23<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [From Zinsser’s popular guide to writing nonfiction]:<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when \u201cI\u201d isn\u2019t permitted, it\u2019s still possible to convey a sense of I-ness. The political columnist James Reston didn\u2019t use \u201cI\u201d in his columns; yet I had a good idea of what kind of person he was, and I could say the same of many other essayists and reporters. Good writers are visible just behind their words<\/span>.\u201d (p. 23)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 On Writing Well<\/em> (1976|1994 HarperPerennial edition, International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-06-273303-6<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not much to be said about the period except that most writers don\u2019t reach it soon enough.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~William K. Zinsser<\/strong>, American author & editor<\/p>\n

On Writing Well<\/em>\u00a0(1976) HarperPerennial, 1994 edition, p. 114<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [From Zinsser’s popular guide to writing nonfiction]: \u201cThe Period.<\/em> There\u2019s not much to be said about the period except that most writers don\u2019t reach it soon enough.<\/span> If you find yourself hopelessly mired in a long sentence, it\u2019s probably because you\u2019re trying to make the sentence do more than it can reasonably do.\u201d (p. 114)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 On Writing Well<\/em> (1976|1994 HarperPerennial edition, International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-06-273303-6<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Resources<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”Wrapper-Author-Resources”]Learn more about William Zinsser\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>| Here are a few good places to start –<\/p>\n