We’re kicking off the New Year with simple tricks and heuristics that are guaranteed to improve your writing and help you develop a sharper sense of style. But, unlike the confusing and sometimes counterintuitive rules of traditional style guides, this series offers a refreshing and relevant take on writing readable texts of all kinds.
A solid understanding of syntax and grammar will improve your writing.
If someone were to tell you that “Eating Jerry is sandwich a,” you would likely have no idea what they were talking about. That’s because the syntax — the order of the words in the sentence — is jumbled. “Jerry is eating a sandwich,” on the other hand, is much easier to understand.
Unfortunately, syntactical errors are usually not as obvious as the one committed above, which makes them more difficult to spot. But a deeper understanding of syntax can help you spot your mistakes, which, in turn, will make your writing much clearer.
English syntax is the code that tells us who did what to whom. By understanding how a sentence is structured — and how the words that make up a sentence should agree with one another — writers can more easily identify when that code is being broken.
Take, for example, the sentence: The impact of the budget cuts have not been felt yet.
The word “have” implies that the subject is plural. “The impact,” however, is clearly singular, so “have” should be replaced with “has.”
A proper understanding of syntax can also help you avoid confusing or convoluted sentences. In fact, many style guides will advise you to cut the fat from your writing by removing unnecessary words — which is much easier to do if you have a solid understanding of syntax and a good sense for which words are superfluous, redundant, or confusing. However, don’t take this advice as an instruction to simply axe all unnecessary words. It’s fine to write page-long sentences — but only if your syntax is solid.
Sometimes a sentence is confusing simply because it’s poorly punctuated. For example, if you have a basic understanding of syntax, you would avoid writing a headline like:
Joe Schmoe Finds Inspiration in Cooking His Family and His Dog
Put a comma after “cooking,” however, so that it reads: Joe Schmoe Finds Inspiration in Cooking, His Family and His Dog — and Mr. Schmoe is no longer a psychopath.
Until tomorrow…
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