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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Reading Between the "Lions" | John 11:35 | Hank | 83916 | ||
Brad, thanks so much for your apt follow-up thoughts to my original treatise lobbying for the exercise of renewed efforts to bring clearer and more legible prose to the pages of this forum. While it is a fact clearly evident that not every user of the forum is a scholar of the King's English nor is everyone gifted with the art of turning a phrase with the consummate skill of a Jane Austen, a Charles Dickens, a Milton or a Shakespeare, I submit without reservation that almost every participant could, with determination and hard work, do better than he has done, with the happy result that our common interests would be better served when, as a direct result of clearer communication, we should see a decrease in the confusion, misunderstanding and verbal combativeness that so often issues from potentially good ideas clothed in extremely faulty diction. Spell-checkers and other electronic aids may be of some assistance, but these devices are by no means a cure-all. There is no royal road to learning how to express oneself by the use of the written word, and it is my firm conviction that anyone who aspires to do so should make every effort to improve his language skills. There is no earthly reason not to. --Hank | ||||||
2 | Reading Between the "Lions" | John 11:35 | Radioman2 | 83923 | ||
Basic guidelines toward readable writing. [Hank: I agree with you completely. I have provided some very basic guidelines to help us improve our writing.] In standard English: 1. Every sentence has a subject (noun) and a predicate (the part of a sentence or clause that expresses what is said of the subject and that usually consists of a verb with or without objects, complements, or adverbial modifiers). 2. Every sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Sentences are separated from one another by the use of punctuation (a period, etc.) at the end of each sentence. 2a. Learn to use commas when and where they are needed. Basically, if you list a series of things (nouns or verbs) within a sentence, separate them from one another by the use of commas. 3. If you are new to the art of readable writing, you may wish to focus on one-subject-to-a-sentence sentences and then end the sentence and start a new one. Avoid complex or compound sentences. 3a. Avoid run-on sentences. 4. Page-long paragraphs are not recommended. After a few sentences, when you begin a new thought, then begin a new paragraph. 5. Make sure that every preposition has an object. 6. If you are unsure of the meaning or spelling of a word, look it up in the dictionary. (At least use a spell checker, if you have one.) 7. Carefully re-read what you have written before you submit it. 8. Reading your writing aloud will help you to detect awkwardly worded or unclear sentences. 9. Check your writing for spelling, punctuation, and complete sentences and revise where needed. 10. Avoid sentence fragments or incomplete sentences. 11. Don't use a pronoun (he, she, it, etc.) without a clear antecedent nearby (and usually preceding) the pronoun. 12. When the meaning of a pronoun may be ambiguous or unclear, don't use it. Instead use the noun itself. 13. To avoid confusion, when you quote someone else and then comment on what they have said or written, use quotation marks. This helps the reader to know where the quotation ends and your own writing begins. 14. When you post a question, make sure it is complete in itself. Don't use a pronoun in a question unless its antecedent is clear. Don't ask questions about a passage of Scripture without telling us the book, chapter and verse where that Scripture is to be found in the Bible. (If you don't know where it's found, then say so.) If you ask a question regarding a particular person, place or thing, you must name that person, place or thing in the question. Specific questions are more likely to receive specific answers. This is by no means a complete list of tips to make your writing more readable, but adherence to these guidelines will be a good place to start. This list is not intended to make of you a professional writer, but to help you write so that your readers will have a better chance of understanding your meaning. |
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