(11:12 AM) | Adam Kotsko:

Writing: Idiosyncrasies

1. Imprecise use of relative pronouns -- I frequently begin sentences with a vague "this." It may refer to the concept evoked by the previous sentence as a whole or by an unspecified number of previous sentences, or it may refer (in a more standard manner) to the last-mentioned substantive in the previous sentence. I have often received papers with the word "this" periodically circled and question marks in the margins, as if to say, "This what?!"
   
2. Semi-random use of conjunctive adverbs and other connective particles -- If I used the time-honored (but in my mind deeply wrongheaded) technique of writing a proper first draft "just to get something down on paper," said draft would doubtless be littered with thens. My highly self-conscious writing style prevents this (see?), but it results in more or less random variations on connective words other than "then," which themselves sometimes become repetitive. For example, in a recent seminar paper, I used "in turn" three times within two sentences. (If I had my way, the only necessary connective word would be "this," but some people say my use of it is unclear.)
   
3. Overuse of em-dashes -- Again, if I wrote a proper rough draft, the em-dash would be the predominant punctuation mark. The intervention of my undergraduate advisor made me very self-conscious about this (again), and now I have limited myself to at most one em-dash per paragraph in "official" writing. In blog posts and especially e-mails, I will often have an em-dash in nearly every sentence.
   
4. Non-standard use of colons -- My "one em-dash per paragraph" rule often leads me to use an "old-timey" colon. Nowadays, the noble colon is restricted to introducing lists and quotations, but I use it much more liberally: indeed, I use it where most people would use an em-dash, saving the dash for those occasions when its full disjunctive-connective force is required. Obviously this is an idiosyncrasy that I am proud of. (I'm also proud to have eliminated the semi-colon from my writing almost entirely, and particularly the clumsy "semi-colon immediately followed by conjunctive adverb" construction.)
   
5. Overuse of "Indeed"
   
6. Overuse of adverbs more generally -- particularly such adverbial phrases as "more generally," "more importantly," etc. (Perhaps I should rehabilitate "What's more.") Also "in particular," "specifically."
   
7. Overuse of contrastive statements -- "Thinker X does not say this [strawman "common sense" understanding], but rather...." I find myself having to police my use of "rather." In particular, I am often tempted to use "rather" at the beginning of a sentence, a temptation that for unspecified reasons I feel duty-bound to resist with all my might.
   
8. Overuse of the passive voice -- Bitch PhD has pointed this out before. I couldn't deny it -- my only response was to attempt a defense of the much-maligned passive voice. Why allow ourselves to be dominated by the dictatorship of Strunk and White? By what irrational vendetta were they drawn to their one-sided polemic against the passive voice? These are questions that must be answered! Sometimes I do sincerely think that circumlocution is more effective and helps us get around the English language's near-absolute inflexibility with word order, but I definitely went through a phase when I found myself coming up with an extremely long and complicated sentence and had to cut through the fog with a straightforward version of the same thing. That discipline has allowed me to use circumlocution in a more controlled way.
   
   My overuse of the passive voice seems to me to stem from a commonly taught rule of writing: never use "I" in academic writing. The motivation behind this rule seems to be to break students of the annoying habit of prefacing everything with "I think," etc. Once one has come out the other side, however, the selective use of "I" can enliven or at least clarify academic prose.

| permalink | Main Page