Effective writers work to make the reader s job easy, because a reader who is put off by the challenge of struggling through a piece of writing is less likely to receive the full benefit of the message the writer is striving to convey. The most common cause of dull writing, I find, is the use of bland, inexpressive verbs. Always strive to write with verbs that express action, color, emotion, feeling. Secondly, the impact of verbs often is diluted by placing adverbs between the root and auxiliary parts of the verb. Do not allow a heading to appear at the bottom of a page and the text following that heading to begin on the top of the following page.
Fewer words represent cleaner, clearer thinking and thus communicate thoughts more crisply.
Writing with a minimum of words is difficult. Most writers achieve the goal of a minimum of words through editing and rewriting several times. One reason that negative thoughts stated positively are stronger is because they need fewer words to accomplish their purpose. Attention to detail and preciseness are assets in writing. Sloppiness in your paper, therefore, measured by the distraction resulting from an excessive number of grammatical, typographical, and spelling errors, as well as by an untidy appearance, will be reflected in your grade.