Chapter 16 summary

Calvin Gurtler

5/5/14

English 102

In chapter 16 of the Bedford Researcher we discuss how to write with style. The fist thing to think about when trying to write with style is to write concisely as people don't want to work any harder than necessary to understand the information in front of them.Writing clearly by keeping your words to a minimum helps you get your point across quickly. One of the easiest ways to cut down on unnecessary words is to cut out unnecessary modifiers. These are words that provide little or no additional information, examples of modifiers are fine, many, somewhat, great, sort of, and very. Remove unnecessary introductory phrases such as there are, there is, these have, these are, here are, it has been reported that, and so on. You should also work to eliminate stock phrases. 

It also helps to use active and passive voice effectively. A sentence written in active voice specifies a person or thing that carries out the action. A sentence written in passive voice indicates that something was done, but does not specify who or what did it. Passive voice can be helpful when active voice would require the inclusion of unnecessary information. 

Next you should adopt a consistent point of view whether it is first person, second person, or third person you should stick with it through out.