I’ve suspended posts on this blog for a brief while for a couple of reasons. One is that I’m currently responding to Laura Kipnis’s latest essay, “My Title IX Inquisition” (28 May), through a letter to the editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education. You can read the letter responding to that essay on-line as of 22 June and in the 26 June print version. Another reason I’m suspending posts for the time being is that I’m working steadily on the ongoing case at Northwestern University. I’ll resume posting here as soon as possible. I’m still seeking interviewees for this project, as described in the first post on this blog and in the body of this web site. CL
Revising Prose: Some Practical Advice
At the conclusion of the last post on this blog, I said I’d follow up with some practical pointers that may be useful to others. I’ve met some people who compose and revise very closely to what I’ll describe here, though I’m aware of others for whom some of my tactics would seem anathema. General rule of thumb: do what works for you, but be open to others’ suggestions. [Read more…]
Revising Prose
Revising Prose is the name of the best book I know of on the subject. In it, author Richard Lanham outlines the “paramedic method,” as he calls it, for eliminating wordiness, achieving clarity, and polishing style. The method is brilliantly direct, practical, and applciable, although later editions of the book have tended to clutter the approach and needlessly—indeed, counter-productively—improve upon the elegant original. I use the book when I teach advanced nonfiction writing to undergraduates and have even concocted my own exercise booklet on which students can practice the principles Lanham outlines. [Read more…]
What a Difference a Letter Makes–or–Folks, It’s Not John Hopkins
Among its many intricacies and oddities, the English language yields several examples of word pairs that differ only by one letter between them and yet differ widely in meaning. One of the most common such pairings is complement and compliment. As close as they appear and, thus, as easy as they are to confuse, they have two entirely different definitions. To use one where you mean the other can be more embarrassing than you might imagine. One area where they’re easily mixed up is in descriptions of food and wine. To say, for example, that a certain burgundy complements the short ribs you’re serving for dinner is to mean that the flavor of one rounds out and brings out the flavor of the other; each completes the other. To substitute compliments for complements in such a situation isn’t entirely without justification. Still, a more apt use of compliment might be what you pay the host upon tasting the deliciously complementary flavors of the burgundy and short ribs. Typically, wines don’t dole out compliments. [Read more…]
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