Clarity: Part 2

You remember those commercials that would start out all fuzzy and then someone would say "That's why I use Claritin Clear" and the screen would be clear?  Well, hopefully, that's what these tips will do for your paper.  This is Clarity: Part Two.

Perry, Zack. "Majiscup" 03/31/2014 via Flickr.
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Using Active Verbs

Writing in an active voice makes the actor of the verb the subject of the sentence.  Often times, forms of the verb “to be” are weak and can be turned into stronger, more active sentences.  However, sometimes it is necessary to use passive voice when the attention of the sentence is not on the one doing the action but the noun receiving the action.

Repairing Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Phrases and clauses that modify a noun must be immediately followed by the noun they are modifying, or there may be confusion.  Other modifiers must be adjacent to their noun or verb, or else they be be modifying the wrong word.  It is also awkward to have modifiers that break up the flow of a sentence or break up an infinitive.

Emphasizing Key Ideas

The way sentences are arranged can lead to lessening the importance of the main idea in a sentence.  This is fixed by putting ideas in parallel of in coordination so that two ideas have equal importance, or by putting an idea in subordination so that it does not distract from the main idea.  Coordination and subordination can also improve choppy sentences and run-on sentences.

Choosing Appropriate Language

It is important to know your audience so that you can use the appropriate language.  In writing any sort of formal paper, using Standard English is the most appropriate.  This means avoiding slang, euphemisms, and pretentious language.

Reflection

The topics discussed in “Clarity” seem fairly basic, but I realized how easily one can make those mistakes.  While dissecting my paper, I found multiple sentences that technically and grammatically made sense, but were unclear enough to impede the reader’s understanding.  Many of these were quick fixes that only involved changing the position of a word, but once modified, sounded a lot clearer when read aloud.

In this phrase “…a gene possibly responsible for a deadly disorder in the blood,” the original sentence read “a possible gene responsible…”  The modifier said that it was possibly a gene instead of possibly responsible.  In addition, the sentence “The National Institute of Health (NIH) is taking a major stand against the testing,” the sentence was inverted so that The National Institute of Health was the subject of the sentence, making the sentence active voice.