1 Improving Clarity Katherine King ‪blog.gauffin.org‪stancarey.wordpress.com Katherine King

2 Why should we? We write to communicateSentence clarity improves overall writing style, which implies more effective communication. Especially relevant in academic writing Students sometimes put a greater emphasis on sounding intelligent Instead, students should focus on effectively conveying intelligent points Sentence clarity forces the writer to have a better understanding of the argument

3 Check List Avoid nominalizations Watch out for prepositional phrasesActive voice > passive voice Use active verbs instead of “to be” verbs Beware of sentences that begin with expletives (It is/there are…etc.) Be careful with pronoun references

4 Structural Concerns Choose clear subjectsAbstractions and process often create unclear subjects Old information  New information Placement of subordinate clauses Don’t interrupt the main clause Parallel constructions ‪www.talentsynchronicity.com‪www.talentsynchronicity.com

5 Practice The cause of our schools’ failure at teaching basic skills is not understanding the influence of cultural background on learning. Use the checklist: What do you notice? Strings of prepositional phrases Unclear subject nominalizations

6 Revised Our schools have failed to teach basic skills because educators do not understand how cultural backgrounds influence learning. Subjects: The cause of our school’s failure at teach basic skills  Our schools…educators…cultural backgrounds No more prepositional phrases! Nominalizations: Failure  failed; the influence of  influence

7 Writing Studio Resourcesconciseness.original.pdf https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/600/01/