Zinsser's essay on Simplicity as an example of good writing

Essay by Anonymous UserUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, February 1997

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An Example Of Good Writing

Zinsser's essay on Simplicity is an example of good writing for

many reasons. The main topic in his essay is clutter. Throughout the

essay he not only tells us why this is a problem, but he shows us through

many detailed examples. The essay was written so that anyone who reads

it could understand it. He does not use complex words that often tend to

loose a reader. Zinsser asks questions throughout the essay that cause the

reader to think and feel as though he is a part of the essay. The whole

essay gives the reader a positive outlook on writing.

Clutter is all the unnecessary words that are added to a sentence.

When a sentence becomes cluttered it tends to bore and confuse the

reader. Zinsser points out that the secret of good writing is to strip the

sentence of all unnecessary words.

When Zinsser is proving this point in

his essay he uses the example of the president of a major university

writing a very unclear letter to state a problem

the school was experiencing. Zinsser translates the letter to read the

actual message that everyone can understand.

The way Zinsser writes the essay it is easy to understand. He uses

everyday words not dictionary words. No one wants to read an essay that

every other word they have to stop and go look it up because they do not

know the meaning. This causes the reader to become frustrated and they

also tend to loose interest. There are too many other options presented to

people today that already stray them away from reading.

By asking questions in the essay it keeps the readers attention. In

the essay Zinsser asks, 'Who is this elusive creature, the reader?' That

question causes the...