It is perhaps appropriate to continue my logs with a few words about useless ones. Style in writing refers to how we say what we say. A style that communicates without repetition is effective. Many times, we find dependent writers ending sentences with prepositions, or using preposition when other words will work:
“She hit the ball with passion” is infinitely weaker than “She hit the ball passionately.” Passion is meant to describe how she hit the ball, thus the writer should use the adverbial form. Using a prepositional phrase to describe a verb should be avoided!
“Where did he go to?” This sentence has a totally useless preposition dangling at the end. Do not end the sentence with a preposition!
“I met with my boss for a briefing” is infinitely weaker than “I met my boss for a briefing.” In this case, boss is the object of met. With is entirely unnecessary. When there is an object of the verb, do not convolute manners by adding a preposition. Furthermore, do not compound the error by adding prepositional phrase to prepositional phrase.
This is an interesting and challenging exercise I have used. I have asked my students to look through their papers and to rid their papers of as many prepositional phrases as is possible. (An example using the previous sentence: “I have asked my students to survey their papers and to excise all the prepositional phrases.”)
This somewhat overlooked aspect of writing writing skill enables the writer’s becoming of a more precise, a more independent writer. In the beginning First, this might prove a challenge to the writer this might challenge the writer. As time passes, Eventually, the writer will craft his or her writing with force forcefully.
Tags: teaching and learning, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing strategies
