The Principles of Poor Writing

Author(s): Paul W. Merrill

Source: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Jan., 1947), pp. 72-74
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/19262 .
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 THE PRINCIPLES OF POOR WRITING
By PAU, W. MERRILL
MountWilsonObservatory,
Pasadena

GOKS and articleson good writing reader,youhave wonthefirstround. Sim-

are numerous,but wherecan you milarly,all thewaythrough youmustwrite
find sound, practical advice on foryourself, not forthereader. Practicea
how to writepoorly? Poor writingis so dead-pan technique,keeping your facts
commonthateveryeducatedpersonought and ideas all on thesamne levelofemphasis
to knowsomething about it. Many scien- withno telltalehintsofrelativeimportance
tists actually do write poorly,but they or logical sequence. Use long sentences
probablyperform by ear withoutperceiving containingmany ideas loosely strungto-
clearlyhow theirresultsare achieved. An gether. And is the connectivemost fre-
article on the principlesof poor writing quentlyemployedin poor writingbecause
mighthelp. The authorconsidershimself it does not indicatecause and effect,nor
well qualifiedto preparesuch an article; does it distinguish majorideas fromsubor-
he can writepoorlywithouthalf trying. dinate ones. Because seldomaappears in
The averagestudentfindsit surprisinglypoor writing,nor does the semicolon-
easy to acquire the usual tricksof poor bothare replacedby and.
writing. To do a consistentlypoor job, Camouflage transitions in thought.
however,one must graspa few essential Avoid such connectivesas zoreover, never-
principles: theless,on the otherhanzd. If unable to re-
I. Ignorethereader. sistthetemptation to givesomesignalfora
IT. Be verbose,vague, and pompous. change in thought,use however.A poor
III. Do not revise. sentence may well begin with however
because to the reader,withno idea what
IGNORE THE READER
comesnext,hiowever is too vague to be use-
The world is divided into two great ful. A good sentence begins with the
camps: yourselfand others. A little ob- subject or with a phrase that needs em-
scurityor indirectionin writingwill keep phasis.
the othersat a safe distance;if theyget The "hidden antecedent"is a common
close,theymay see too much. trickof poor writing. Use a pronounto
Writeas iffora diary. Keep yourmind referto a nouna longway back, or to one
on a directcoursebetweenyourself and the decidedlysubordinate in thoughtor syntax;
subject; don't think of the reader-he or thepronounmay referto something not
makesa bad triangle. This is fundamental. directlyexpressed. If you wish to play
Constant and alert considerationof the a littlegamewiththereader,offer himthe
probablereactionof the readeris a serious wrong antecedentas bait; you may be
menace to poor writing; moreover,it astonishedhow easy it is to catch thepoor
requiresmentaleffort.A logicalargrumentfish.
is that if you writepoorlyenough,your In ignoringthe reader avoid parallel
readerswill be too few to meritany at- constructions whichgivethethoughtaway
tentionwhatever. too easily. I need not elaborate,foryou
Ignore the reader whereverpossible. probablyemployinversionfrequently.It
If the proposedtitle,forexample,means must have been a naive soul who said,
something to you,stoprightthere;thinkno "When the thought is parallel, let the
further. If thetitlebafflesor misleadsthe phrasesbe parallel."
72
 THE PRINCIPLES OF POOR WRITING 73

In every technicalpaper omit a few whichcan be shownto have had their

itemsthatmostreadersneedtoknow. You originalsource in any portionof the
had to discoveir thesethingsthehardway; domainof the latter.
why make it easy forthe reader? Avoid
definingsymbols;never specifythe units Shakespeare:I am no oratoras Brutusis.
in whichdata are presented. Of courseit Poor: The speakeris not what mightbe
will be beneathyour dignityto give nu- terme(lan adept in the professionof
merical values of constantsin formulae. public speaking,as mightbe properly
Withtheseomnissions, somepapersmay be statedofMr. Brutus. (Examplefrom
too short; lengthenthem by explaining P. W. Swain. Amer. J. Physics,
things that do not need explaining. In 13, 318, 1945.)
describingtables,give special attentionto
self-explanatory headings; let the reader Concise:The dates of severalobservations
huntforthemeaningofPlr0. are in doubt.
Poor: It should be mentionedthat in the
BE VERBOSE, VAGUE, AND POMPOUS
case of several observationsthere is
The cardinalsin of poor writingis to be roomforconsiderable doubtconcerning
conciseand simple. Avoid beingspecific; the correctness of the dates on which
it tiesyou down. Use plentyofdeadwood: theyweremade.
include many superfluouswords and
phrases. Wishfulthinkingsuggeststo a Reasonable: Exceptionallyrapid changes
writerthat verbositysomehowservesas a occur in the spectrum.
cloak or evenas a mystichalo by whichan Poor: Thereoccurin the spectrumchanges
idea may be glorified.A cloud of words whichare quite exceptionalin respect
may conceal defects in observationor to therapidityoftheiradvent.
analysis,eitherby opacityor by divertin-g
the reader'sattention. Introduceabstract Reasonable: Formidable difficulties, both
nounsat the drop of a hat--evenin those mathematical and observational,stand
cases where the magnitudeof the motion in the way.
in a downwarddirection is inconsiderable. Poor: There are formidabledifficulties of
Make frequentuse of the words case, both a mathematicaland an observa-
character, condition,
former and latter,
nature, tionalnaturethatstandin theway.
suck,very.
Poor writing,like good football, is CASE

strong on razzle-dazzle,weak on infor- Reasonable:Two sunspotschangedrapidly.

mation. Adjectivesare frequently usedto Poor: There are two cases wheresunspots
bewilderthe reader. It isn'tmuchtrouble changed with considerablerapidity.
to makethemi gaudyor hyperbolic;at least
theycan be flowery and inexact. Reasonable:Threestarsare red.
Poor: In threecases the stars are red in
DEAI)WOOD
color.
Bible:Renderto Caesar thethingsthatare
Caesar's. RAZZLE-DAZZLE

Poor: In thecase ofCaesar it mightwellbe Immaculateprecisionof observationand

consideredappropriatefroma moralor extremelydelicate calculations....
ethicalpointof view to renderto that It would prove at once a worldimpon-
potentateall of those goods and ma- derable,etherealized. Our actions would
terialsofwhatevercharacterorquality growgrandific.
74 THE SCIENTTFIC MONTHLY

Wellforus thatthepulsingenergyofthe suggestiolns.Be strong and infallible;

greatlife-giving dyniamoin the sky never
ceases. Well, too, that we are at a safe
distance fromthe flame-lickedwhirlpools
into which our earth might drop like a
pellet of waste fluffshaken into the live
coals of a gratefire.
DO NOT REVISE
don't let anyone break down your per-
sonality. The critic may be tryingto
helpyou orhe mayhave an ulteriormotive,
but thechanceofhis causingimprovement
in yourwritingis so greatthatyoumustbe
on guard.
FINAL SUGGESTION FOR POOR WRITING

Writehurriedly, preferablywhen tired. Do not read:

Have no plan; writedown items as they
occur to you. The article will thus be
spontaneous and poor. Hand in your
manuscriptthe moment it is finished.
Rereadinga few days later mightlead to
revision--whichseldom,if ever,makesthe
writingworse. If you submityourmanu-
scriptto colleagues(a bad practice),pay
no attentionto their criticismsor com-
ments. Later resist firmlyany editorial
ALLBUTT, CLrIFFORD. Notes on tke Compositionof
ScientificPapers. Macmillan, 1923.
FLESCH,RuDOLF. The ArtofPlain Talk. Harper,
1946.
GRAVES AND HODGE. The Reader Over Your
Shoulder. Macmillan, 1943.
QUILLER-CO-UCEa, ARTIIUR. On theArt of Writing.
[VI. Putnam, 1928.
Suggestionsto Authiorsof Papers Submittedfor
Publication by the United States Geological
Survey. U. S. Gov. Ptg. Off., 1935.

HEART OR HEAD
Tell mnehowis beautyread
To bestadvantage? By theheart
Whichaks and sighsanidwillnotpart
Or bytheanalytichead?

seeksessentials
Heart,possessive,
Feelsreciprocaldependence,
sartorialresplendence,
WVaives
Givesbutcannotbeimpartial.

Head, aware,through symbollogic

Unifiesits worldofobjects,
Starsand atomsin its projects,
Guideselectro-masspanurgic.

Heartwhenheadlesspantsforbreath
conjuresdeath.
Head whenheartless

G. SiNcrAnx
JoimN