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The Writer’s Diet��

Helen Sword

�Professor of Humanities

The University of Auckland

www.helensword.com

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  1. Make it active�

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Key messages for students about impactful writing

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  1. Make it active�- Favour concrete, dynamic verbs.�- Limit your use of static “to be” verbs.

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Key messages for students about impactful writing

www.helensword.com

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  1. Make it active�- Favour concrete, dynamic verbs.�- Limit your use of static “to be” verbs.
  2. Make it real�

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Key messages for students about impactful writing

www.helensword.com

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  1. Make it active�- Favour concrete, dynamic verbs.�- Limit your use of static “to be” verbs.
  2. Make it real�- Employ concrete language that appeals to the senses.�- Avoid long-winded sentences filled with abstract nouns.�- Illustrate abstract concepts with real-world examples.

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Key messages for students about impactful writing

www.helensword.com

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  1. Make it active�- Favour concrete, dynamic verbs.�- Limit your use of static “to be” verbs.
  2. Make it real�- Employ concrete language that appeals to the senses.�- Avoid long-winded sentences filled with abstract nouns.�- Illustrate abstract concepts with real-world examples.
  3. Make it human�

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Key messages for students about impactful writing

www.helensword.com

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  1. Make it active�- Favour concrete, dynamic verbs.�- Limit your use of static “to be” verbs.
  2. Make it real�- Employ concrete language that appeals to the senses.�- Avoid long-winded sentences filled with abstract nouns.�- Illustrate abstract concepts with real-world examples.
  3. Make it human�- Don’t be afraid of the personal pronoun “I.”�- Remember that writing = communicating.

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Key messages for students about impactful writing

www.helensword.com

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Writing with Pleasure

with illustrations by

Selina Tusitala Marsh

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Helen Sword

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  1. Writing impactful sentences
  2. Writing and editing with the Writer’s Diet
  3. Writing with pleasure

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Today’s agenda

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Why sentence structure matters

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Why sentence structure matters

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  • Bees disperse pollen.

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(From G. Gopen and J. Swan, 1990, “The science of scientific writing,” in American Scientist)

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subject

(From G. Gopen and J. Swan, 1990, “The science of scientific writing,” in American Scientist)

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verb

object

Why sentence structure matters

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  • Bees disperse pollen.

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subject

Why sentence structure matters

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  • Bees disperse pollen.

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  • Pollen is dispersed by bees.

(From G. Gopen and J. Swan, 1990, “The science of scientific writing,” in American Scientist)

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verb

object

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subject

Why sentence structure matters

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  • Bees disperse pollen.

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  • Pollen is dispersed by bees.

(From G. Gopen and J. Swan, 1990, “The science of scientific writing,” in American Scientist)

www.helensword.com

verb

object

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subject

Who’s kicking whom?

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  • Bees disperse pollen.

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  • Pollen is dispersed.

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(From Richard Lanham, Revising Prose)

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verb

object

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subject

Right-branching or left-branching?

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  • Bees disperse pollen. (Right-branching sentence)

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  • Pollen is dispersed by bees. (Left-branching sentence)

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(From G. Gopen and J. Swan, 1990, “The science of scientific writing,” in American Scientist)

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verb

object

On right- and left-branching sentences see Inger Mewburn’s blog post: https://thesiswhisperer.com/2021/02/03/how-to-write-a-more-compelling-sentence/

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Two examples from an evolutionary biology journal

(From two articles in the same issue of Systematic Biology)

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  • Insects suck, chew, parasitize, bore, store, and even cultivate their foods to a highly sophisticated degree of specialization.

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  • Determining the extent of shared evolutionary history between two members of an association requires the determination of the phylogenies of both groups of organisms with sufficient confidence to make robust inferences.

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Two examples from evolutionary biology

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  • Insects suck, chew, parasitize, bore, store, and even cultivate their

foods to a highly sophisticated degree of specialization.

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  • Determining the extent of shared evolutionary history between two members of an association requires the determination of the phylogenies of both groups of organisms with sufficient confidence to make robust inferences.

(From two articles in the same issue of Systematic Biology)

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subject

verb

object

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Two examples from evolutionary biology

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  • Insects suck, chew, parasitize, bore, store, and even cultivate their

foods to a highly sophisticated degree of specialization.

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  • Determining the extent of shared evolutionary history between two members of an association requires the determination of the phylogenies of both groups of organisms with sufficient confidence to make robust inferences.

(From two articles in the same issue of Systematic Biology)

www.helensword.com

subject

verb

object

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Two examples from evolutionary biology

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  • Insects suck, chew, parasitize, bore, store, and even cultivate their

foods to a highly sophisticated degree of specialization.

​

  • Determining the extent of shared evolutionary history between two members of an association requires the determination of the phylogenies of both groups of organisms with sufficient confidence to make robust inferences.

(From two articles in the same issue of Systematic Biology)

www.helensword.com

subject

verb

object

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Two examples from evolutionary biology

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  • Insects suck, chew, parasitize, bore, store, and even cultivate their

foods to a highly sophisticated degree of specialization.

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  • Determining the extent of shared evolutionary history between two members of an association requires the determination of the phylogenies of both groups of organisms with sufficient confidence to make robust inferences.

(From two articles in the same issue of Systematic Biology)

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subject

verb

object

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For further ideas and inspiration, please visit my website at www.helensword.com and sign up for my free newsletter.

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Useful resources:

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Writing with Pleasure