{"id":153,"date":"2007-06-20T17:12:49","date_gmt":"2007-06-20T12:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/miscellaneous\/how-to-become-a-better-writer-in-2-minutes"},"modified":"2007-06-20T17:12:49","modified_gmt":"2007-06-20T12:12:49","slug":"how-to-become-a-better-writer-in-2-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/miscellaneous\/how-to-become-a-better-writer-in-2-minutes","title":{"rendered":"How to become a better writer in 2 minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lifted this entire post<\/a> from the Dilbert blog:<\/p>\n

I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in \u201cbusiness writing.\u201d I couldn\u2019t believe how simple it was. I\u2019ll tell you the main tricks here so you don\u2019t have to waste a day in class.<\/p>\n

Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don\u2019t fight it.<\/p>\n

Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don\u2019t write, \u201cHe was very happy\u201d when you can write \u201cHe was happy.\u201d You think the word \u201cvery\u201d adds something. It doesn\u2019t. Prune your sentences.<\/p>\n

Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don\u2019t say \u201cdrink\u201d when you can say \u201cswill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That\u2019s the key.<\/p>\n

Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren\u2019t as smart as you\u2019d think.<\/p>\n

Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend \u201cthe boy hit the ball\u201d quicker than \u201cthe ball was hit by the boy.\u201d Both sentences mean the same, but it\u2019s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn\u2019t say, \u201cThat is the way all brains work\u201d?)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You\u2019re welcome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lifted this entire post from the Dilbert blog: I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in \u201cbusiness writing.\u201d I couldn\u2019t believe how simple it was. I\u2019ll tell you the main tricks here so you don\u2019t have to waste a day in class. Business writing is about … Continue reading How to become a better writer in 2 minutes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smritiweb.com\/navin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}