University of Arizona - Fort Lewis College
Clarity
Beyond creating a sound argument with effective support, clarity is an important part of good writing. You can write clearly by showing the relationships between different ideas.
Subordination
Stress only the major ideas in your sentence by subordinating less important ideas.
For example, the following sentence buries the less important information in a dependent clause and then stresses the important information in the independent clause: “Even though I didn’t do the reading, I really like this class.”
Simple subjects[1]
Try to use simple subjects—subjects that need only a few words. This helps your readers understand your main points.
• Simplify subjects by placing a person in the subject position (see active voice example below).
• Identify the point of the paragraph and create a subject that represents it.
Strong Verbs
Try to use the most accurate verbs in your writing. This usually means avoiding repeating simple “be” verbs (be, being, been, is, was, were, am, and, are).
For example, the sentence “A discovery was made by Captain Hook.” uses the weak verb “was made.” A more effective sentence would be “Captain Hook discovered a treasure.”
Action Verbs
One way to use active verbs is to avoid nominalizations, or verbs turned into nouns. Nominalizations often end in –tion or –ness.
For example, “Suggestions made by the tutor…” You could improve this sentence by turning “suggestions” into a verb: “The tutor suggested…”
Active Voice
Passive voice takes away from sentence clarity. To avoid passive voice, find the actor and the action of the sentence
For example,
Passive voice: The ball was hit by Chipper Jones out of the park.
Active voice: Chipper Jones hit the ball out of the park.
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[1] Ideas from Simple Subjects, action verbs and nominalizations come from Joseph Williams’ Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace.
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