tailieunhanh - Essential guide to writing part 16

Readers may be annoyed if you overestimate their knowl-edge. Tossing off unusual words may seem a put-down, away of saying, "I know more than you," On the other hand, la¬boring the obvious also implies a low opinion of readers: don't tell them what a wheel is; they know. | For more material and information please visit 4 VARIETY 23 5 How much recurrence how much variety depend on subject and purpose. For instance when you repeat the same point or develop a series of parallel ideas the similarity of subject justifies and is enhanced by similarity of sentence structure. Thus Adams repeats the same pattern in his second through seventh sentences because they have much the same content detailing the steps President Harding took to divert the scandal threatening his administration. Here the recurrent style evolves from the subject. In the other passage however the writer makes no such connection between style and subject and so the recurrence seems awkward and monotonous. The ideas expressed in the separate sentences are not of the same order of value. For example the fact that the theater is in Hartford is less important than that it shows foreign films. The sentence style in other words does not reinforce the writer s ideas it obscures them. Nor has the writer offered any relief from his short straightforward statements. Adams has. Moreover Adams uses variety effectively to structure his paragraph opening with a relatively long sentence which though grammatically simple is complicated by the correlative not. but construction. And he closes the paragraph by beginning a sentence for the first time with something other than the subject. Adams s brief sentences work because the subject justifies them and because they are sufficiently varied. Lacking similar justification or relief the four sentences of the first passage are ineffective. They could be improved easily The Art Cinema a movie theater in Hartford specializes in foreign films. It is noted for the high quality of its films in fact many people consider them good art. There is still recurrence in effect the passage consists of three similar short clauses plus an appositive. But now there is more variety. In the first sentence an appositive interrupts subject For