Economical Writing McCloskey Summaries 21-31

Elias Garcia
Econ 210
Economical Writing Summaries: Chapters 11-20
Chapter 21:
Within chapter 21, McCloskey transitions almost entirely to focusing on word choice and
sentence flow. The next step to writing better consists of constantly tightening writing,
typically by examining word choice and sentence form. On top of her examples of gerunds and
infinitives, capitalization, and modifiers, I suggest watching for parallel form, especially with
transitions. While parallel form marks a good writer, an overreliance on the same transitions
does not. The problem becomes worse in proportion to the length of a paper, so always make
sure to check for your redundancy and overreliance on transition words and phrases.
Chapter 22:
Chapter 22 is McCloskeys (successful) attempt at writing a concentrated, yet
informative, chapter on punctuation. It comes as no surprise that to be a good writer you must
also use proper punctuation. McCloskey covers citation, periods, both types of colons, and the
notorious overuse of commas. A good example on colons and commas, punctuation marks I
believe to be under-and-improperly used, includes as follows: when listing complex lists, you use
semicolons to break them apart as a super comma as McCloskey writes; it is important,
however to use them correctly, because otherwise your redundancy is pointless and confusing;
indeed, if using semicolons, make sure to have an actual list of things, otherwise your use of
them is wrong, just like this list.
Chapter 23:
Chapter 23 consists of the importance of sentence rearrangement. The English language
contains a paradoxically fluid and rigid structure for sentence format that allows for significant
variation. Consequentially, McCloskey emphasizes that you constantly rearrange your sentences
until it properly communicates the idea desired. McCloskey also introduces the idea that the end
of a sentence contains the most emphasis. The importance of sentence rearrangement is
amplified by this. Alternatively, Sentence rearrangement is amplified in importance because of
emphasis. This amplifies the importance of sentence rearrangement as an editing tool. Thats
better.
Chapter 24:
Despite McCloskey having mentioned this countless times prior, she argues once more
the need to read your writing aloud. Much of style and the rules of English derive from how
something sounds when vocally read. If you would be embarrassed to read your paper in front of
your English teacher, then you need to edit further. If Professor Gillette would consider your
paper awkwardly worded, you definitely need to edit further. When in doubt, read your paper to
check for necessary edits.
Chapter 25:
Chapter 25 covers active voice, possibly one of McCloskeys greatest lessons.
McCloskey argues that good writing consists of noun and active verbs, and limits the use of
adverbs and adjectives. An especially good piece of advice from McCloskey includes find the
action in a sentence and make it into a verb. She compares the use of passive voice to the
writing of politicians and bureaucrats, who attempt to mitigate accusations and blame by hiding
the ownership of action. Similarly would be a poorly written letter of apology or admission of
guilt. Rather than take direct ownership of the events, an overly prideful individual will try to
hide behind their writing.
Chapter 26:
A very quick lesson in Chapter 26, McCloskey advices against word choice associated, at
minimum, with bad writers. Modern style may exclude perfectly good words, but you must
avoid them if you others to take you seriously. On top of this, you should avoid the overly
pedantic and redundant writing found in most scholarly journals. Simply because you know all
the key terminology of quantum physics, such as Quarks, string theory, Higgs-Boson particle,
Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle, and etcetera does not mean you actually know quantum
physics. It is better to avoid this and instead focus on writing as clearly as possible to
communicate with your audience effectively.
Chapter 27:
McCloskey addresses the problem of abstract writing in chapter 27. Contrary to popular
belief, writing about complicated terms in abstract does not help lay audiences understand.
Concrete writing, as McCloskey argues, gives a clear picture for readers, who can then abstract
the intended message to other applications. Another profession that suffers greatly from abstract
writing would be academic philosophy. When your field of study constantly uses words such as
ontology, epistemology, deontology, teleology, phenomenology, and beyond, using
extremely abstract and poorly applied explanations can become rampant. Rather than actually
communicating anything, the writing ends up losing the reader in the incessant use of abstract
terminology.
Chapter 28:
Extending her focus on word choice, McCloskey emphasizes the common sense of plain
writing. Rather than focus on glamorous words, which only serve to highlight your insecurities,
using plain and normal language serves you better in communicating your ideas. McCloskey
also gives the helpful advice of untying complex sentences you discover in your writing, which
will allow you to simplify them into more precise and plain form. Extending my previous
example, philosophers hold the title for the field with the greatest use of five-dollar words.
When faced with a field that is hard to innovate in, the common approach by many humanities is
to obfuscate writing as a faade for originality and intelligence. Terms like nomadic
deterritorialization and rhizomatic fluid identities get thrown around in poorly written prose
engender awe in the audience, who too confused to understand, believe the writer to be a genius.
Chapter 29:
Almost all professional fields use, to some extent or another, acronyms in their academic
writing. McCloskey addresses the use of such typographical tricks, given that many writers use
them to compensate poor writing and editing. Rather than needing to use italics to emphasize
your main ideas, you would be better suited to rearrange your writing so that your main idea is
obvious. A common example amongst college students would be over paraphrasing and quoting.
Even if the quotes explain the desired idea beautifully, a reliance on quotation infers that you
lack the ability of communicating an idea yourself.
Chapter 30:
Two common themes McCloskey has consistently taught throughout her book are the
importance of preserving both the flow of your writing and the focus of the reader. In chapter
30, McCloskey points out that this-ism, the overuse of the words this, these, that, and
those, constantly forces the reader to look back over previously read text. McCloskey does not
provide much of an example outside of the lesson itself, but within philosophy, this-ism is
endemic. While the terminology may be a mouthful, it would be clearer if philosophers
repeatedly use the concept/term discussed rather than focusing readers to scan previous text
repeatedly for clarification. Given the weight of such texts, readers of philosophy would benefit
immensely from any edits that reduce the number of items they must break their focus.
Chapter 31:
In the final chapter of McCloskeys book, she moves beyond stylistic word choice to the
very nature of words themselves. Beyond style, the only thing left to a writer is the meaning
behind their words. Thus, to communicate clearly, concrete, and plainly as possible, choosing
words with literal meanings as close to what you need. The reasoning behind this is clear: it
leaves little room for error. To communicate the function of supply curves, use the words best
suited to it. Exchange rates are a complicated subject, so succinct language serves best to
explain. Rather than being figurative, get right to the point. Such writing emphasizes the overall
message of McCloskeys book; good writing is writing that the reader understands without effort.

Economical Writing McCloskey Summaries 21-31

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What are some common writing issues McCloskey addresses?

What is the importance of sentence rearrangment according to McCloskey?

Elias Garcia

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