Making Connections #3
English has been a class I have always struggled in until last semester. I had a good English teacher that taught me A LOT about writing essays. The reason I struggled with English in the first place was having to write essays. I always felt that a good essay was one that sounded intellectual and had big words. Little did I know until I read “The Case for Short Words” by Richard Lederer. I do not know why I thought using big complex words helped make an essay much better. After reading the essay by Richard Lederer I was immediately convinced.
I never liked reading essays or books that had large, complex, hard to understand words in it. So why would I try to do that in my own essay? Why would I try to confuse and make things a lot harder on the reader of my writings? Now that I understand that “small words can meet your needs with strength, grace, and charm that large words do not have”, I will keep that in mind as I write further essays. As Lederer states, “our tongue is rich in crisp, brisk, swift, short words.” This is exactly true because when people communicate they do not use such big words. When I talk to my friends or family I do not say words like pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism or antidisestablishmentarianism (actually I would never use these words under any circumstance because I am not even sure how to pronounce them) or any words that would be too complex for me to say and for them to understand. I usually speak in one syllable words like, as the book lists, I, you, the, a, to, it, that, of, and, in, what, he, this, have, do , she, not, on, and they. Short words do express what you have to say clearly and efficiently without completely losing interest of the listener or reader. Shakespeare is known for his exceptional writings and he mostly used one syllable words to create his masterpieces.
Riachard Lederer wrote his first four paragraphs in one syllable words. At first I thought that must be extremely hard and frustrating to do but he made it look so easy. His writing made him sound intelligent and credible with only using one syllable words. He even pointed out that most writings out of the bible are written in only one syllable word sentences. After thinking about that, I realized that his outlook was truly brilliant and astounding.
Ultimately, what I learned from Richard Lederer was that using large words are fine but when necessary. Smaller words can do the same job as large words and are more familiar. Being able to put together smaller words correctly will make your statement powerful and will be beneficial to you and the reader. Also, it will help you sound intelligent without having to use big words. Just by using small, old words where you can, can help make a paper great and understandable to the reader.
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Great post! I’m glad you were able to find the joy in writing essays! I understand what you're saying when you talk about people using big words. Yes, big words have their place. In a way they are something to show status in my opinion. One should not be afraid to show a large vocabulary when speaking. You should never have to "dumb-down" you writing to meet people’s lower expectations, write to your own level! But, as I said, I do understand that smaller words are able to make an impact as well. I don't know if I would make it a point to never use words that are more than two syllables long. I think using larger, more complex words isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are many places I would say the opposite. If you are applying for a job in a field that requires you to have a degree of some kind, I would recommend showing off your vernacular, that was on purpose. =) I think there are times and places for both types of words. Obviously speaking in a locker room may not be the best place to put your vocabulary on display, but I implore you to not write off the use of larger words! Great post, always enjoy reading what you have to say! Look forward to reading more in the future!
ReplyDeleteAshlin I could not agree with you more! For some reason, whether it’s past teachers, parents, or classmates, I have also had it stuck in my head that a good essay was a complicated essay that sounded intellectual. I think you made a great connection that if you don’t enjoy reading a confusing piece of writing, why would you produce one yourself. When you said that it was an “A-HA!” moment for me, so thank you! The same goes for comparing your writing to how you speak. I think it’s very important that an author allows their personal voice to come out in their writing so the reader can get a since of who the writer truly is and what they feel. Also, I was not aware that Shakespeare commonly used one syllable words; it’s amazing a man whose writing has incomparable staying power never found it necessary to fill his plays with words to impress the audience. I hope that many others took from Lederer’s essay what I got out of it and what it seems you got out of it. I think it’s very stressful to students who worry their writing sounds elementary simply because it lacks six syllable words. As Lederer and yourself made clear, small words can be just as powerful and intelligent as large words, and often much easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteThat was very impressive, I couldn’t have expressed this topic better myself. I agree that big words are so unnecessary to use when writing. They just get things all tangled up, and the reader may not even know what your talking about anymore. For me, when I’m reading something and the author is using too many big words I just lose interest, it gets sort of annoying after awhile. It’s like okay we get it now; we know you’re very intelligent. Like you, I thought good essays were written well with only large vocabulary, but man were we completely wrong, like you said there are plenty of good masterpieces written with short words. I would never use a word I couldn’t pronounce either, I think when people actually do that in their writing it just makes them sound stupid. I would rather read something with short words that made sense, then a bunch of big words that just sound ridiculous. When I’m writing something, I never want to exclude my readers or anybody from my work, but when you use big words some people may not understand that’s exactly what you’re doing. So, the end the one that is losing is the author because his/her work isn’t reaching a worldwide audience.
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t have put it any better myself!! When I read this same essay it made it easier for me to understand how big words are unnecessary. When you stated that " I never liked reading essays or books that had large, complex, hard to understand words in it. So why would I try to do that in my own essay? Why would I try to confuse and make things a lot harder on the reader of my writings"....I never thought about it that way until I read your blog. I agree that I don’t like reading anything with words that I do not understand so why would we as writers want to do that to our readers.
ReplyDeleteI think it just has to do simply with how you USE the words. William Shakespeare was very skillful at this and he only used one-syllable words. But I always thought I would get a better grade if my teacher read my essay and it sounded intelligent if I used big words. (Silly of me I know)
As long as your getting your point across, then there should be no need for difficult words. I think a lot of people would agree with you when reading this and also Lederer’s essay.