1. Improving Clarity Katherine King ‪blog.gauffin.org
‪stancarey.wordpress.com
Katherine King

2. Why should we? We write to communicate
Sentence 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 phrases
Active 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 subjects
Abstractions and process often create unclear subjects
Old information  New information
Placement of subordinate clauses
Don’t interrupt the main clause
Parallel constructions ‪

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 Resources
conciseness.original.pdf