Most complexity in written materials is the fault of the writer. It is not the fault of the reader. And certainly not the fault of the subject. If you want to write so that you can easily be understood, prefer the simple to the complex. Prefer the simple word to the complicated word. Prefer the simple sentence to the complex sentence. Prefer the simple paragraph to the involved one.
The skeptic may say: “That is all right when you are dealing with simple subject. But you do not mean for this principle to apply when you are writing about complicated subjects?”
Emphatically yes! That is when you need the principle more than ever. A reader has only a limited amount of mental power. If he has to use all this power in figuring out your words and their relationships, he has none left to grasp the complicated thoughts you are trying to express.
The skeptic may say: “That is all right when you are dealing with simple subject. But you do not mean for this principle to apply when you are writing about complicated subjects?”
Emphatically yes! That is when you need the principle more than ever. A reader has only a limited amount of mental power. If he has to use all this power in figuring out your words and their relationships, he has none left to grasp the complicated thoughts you are trying to express.
40 comments:
Simple is better because you will need less effort but it will still be better than complex which requires a lot of effort and energy.
I myself find reading cxomplex sentences hard and confusing. Your readers will understand what you are telling if you don't use complex sentences. Simple sentences are better since they are direct to the point.
It is really important to prefer the simple to the complex because through this, our sentences and paragraphs would be more understandable. It means we have to use simple sentences, simple words, and simple paragraphs. But let us always remember that we have to use this rule properly for our work to be not monotonous.
This is the rule I was referring to in my comment on Rule No. 7. And, I also like Darryl's answer to this. Haven't you heard the saying "simple yet beautiful"? Well, if you prefer it to be that way, people will be more interested to tour work rather than think of it as a waste of time, reading something for a long period of time only to make your head hurt.
How can you pass on to your readers your ideas and opinions if they cannot understand what you are trying to convey to them? So, in order to do that, prefer the simple to the complex. Do not always think that the most complex of words, sentences or paragraphs are the best. Sometimes, they are the worst because you just make your readers confused.
I think this is the same with, prefer an easy one than a hard one, is that right? Readers will be more attracted if at first reading of your article it’s something they could easily understand than having one that would still have to give them a hard time on analyzing this.
Simplicity is always beauty. Some writers show off by using complex sentences that will bore thier readers. An effective writer can compress the full substance of a topic in a simple paragraph. Even in choosing words, we must prefer the simple. Even in sentence structure, we must prefer the simple. But, don't use simple sentences straight on. Make some sentences compound or complex to add color to the article. Again, simplicity is beauty.
Simple is always better than the complex. In sentences, if you are using complex sentences, make sure to write them correctly to avoid confusion. Simple sentences would be more advisable since they are easier to understand but that doesn't mean that we should always use it. It only means, if we could use it instead of the complex, then why not?
I do not know what writers who write so complex are thinking of. The human mind has limitations. Complexity is just confusion with a different way of spelling. Why make something hard when its just so obviously easy.
When we paragraphs with only simple sentences, it seems like a grade school pupil was the one who made it. Not all the readers of our work are smart enough to know the relation of each sentences. We should use complex sentences sometimes. It is to avoid monotonous paragraphs and for our writing not to be mistaken as a work of a grade school pupil.
Though the world is getting more and more complex, people tend to look for simpler ways and things. That is an irony but it is true. Readers do not want to think anymore, and you don't want them to think in order for the my to understand because that may shy them away from your article.
What Darryl said is true. Complexity also makes way for long and incomprehensive paragraphs. And long and incomprehensive paragraphs make readers bored, that they opt not to read tour article at all. Just by seeing the big mass of letters that consist your article, they would think that it is better not to read at all.
Maria Patricia Caluag De Mesa
There's nothing more simpler than simple.
It's common sense that using complex sentences makes your readers tired of understanding what sentences you use. So think first, make your readers understand all of your sentences in your paragraph/s.
I agree with darryl. Complexity makes readers confused. And confusion brings misunderstandings.
If you’re a real journalist, you will know that your responsibility is to inform. And by preferring the simple to the complex, you will make them understand what you wrote clearly than to confuse them.
Don't use complex sentences or words, it would lead to confusion. Sometimes, even the writer get confused when he uses complex sentences. So don't use one!
I agree with Daryl. Simplicity makes everything simpler. In journalistic writing we should always remember that our objective is to inform our readers not to confuse them...
Creating complexity in an article is not a sin to the Father. But if there was a god of journalism, it would be a sin to him. We writers want to be understood, and that’s what must drive us to use simplicity rather than complexity. We must use simple words, sentences, and paragraphs rather than their complex counterparts. When successful, rest assured that your readers will be able to take hold of the ideas you want them to get.
Simple – understandable. Complex – confusing. That’s how easy it is. The simpler it is, the more that your readers would be interested in your work. Who would want to read an article that is so complex, you cannot understand it anymore? No one does. So we better use the simple for better understanding.
I agree with what they said above. Because if we prefer things that are simple than the complex ones, everyone could easily understand your writing. But do not overuse simple sentences for will make your writing dull.
Often times, I easily got bored reading articles with complex sentences and words. I really cant understand it so, I do not read it at all. Same as the other readers, they do not like very complex words and sentences which they do not really understand.
A common misconception about writers is that they think that using complex words are better than using simple words. But the truth is that simple words are better because they are easier to understand. Journalistic writing is all about telling news to your readers, and how can you tell news to your readers if you can’t even understand each other because you tend to use complex words? Simple articles are also easier to write and this could save you a lot of energy. Always remember that in journalistic writing simple is better.
Simple sentences are easy to write, and easier to understand. Complex sentences, on the other hand, are longer, and one is more likely to make an error while writing. Yet simplicity and complexity do not apply only to sentence structure. Simple articles are read by more people, but complex articles tend to bore most people.
An articles with pure simple sentences is very boring as well as those with complex sentences. In order to attract readers, we must make our article be composed of different structures of sentences.
Complexity in a sentence just makes your work complicated. Stating things in a simpler way will be much appreciated by the readers. Unlike some novels that state simple actions into an exaggerated manner.
This is like the previous rule stating that you use simple words for better understanding. Indeed, this is true. If we use complex and unfamiliar words, readers may tend to stop reading. They will not understand what you wrote, which makes it useless. If we want to inform, we could help them by using simple words; however, if we use hard words, we'll only keep them confused and dumbfounded.
The world is already so complicated. Do you really need to make your writing complicated as well? The correct answer is: no, you definitely, definitely, definitely, do not. Again remember that your audience consists of intellectuals and NON-intellectuals alike. Yes, I know that you can’t serve two masters at the same time but in this job, you probably should.
Leo Amadeus Gerella Ruiz
Do prefer the simple to the complex. Prefer the easier to the harder. And prefer the better to the worse. Get it?
Less is more. Sometimes, the best ideas are expressed in the simplest ways. Not needing to think it through again and again because of its complexity makes an article reader-friendly. Rather than making their ears ooze with blood, make it simple yet concise.
"Simplicity is beauty", as told by the old quote. Writing using complex and highfalutin words just to flaunt your vocabulary without considering your readers is ridiculous. What's the sole purpose of writing if no one can understand it? We must therefore prefer the simple to the complex.
Simple sentences are easier to undestand than to the complex sentences. Complex sentences are somehow complicated because it contains a lot of clauses in it. We must use simple sentences but not all of the time because simple sentences are easier to be understand than complex ones. In comlex sentences, we might make use of dangling modifiers that will make our readers have a hard time reading and understanding our writings.
Ma Inna Paulina Egamino Palana
IV - Enrico Fermi
Fe-15
To get straight to the point, you have to make your sentences simple. Most simple sentences are catchy and quotable. Do not place long introduction or twist and turns because it only makes it more uninteresting to read. Just like in movies or speeches, they always include short simple sentences and then emphasize it, making the audience or listeners to remember and understand it quickly.
Sometimes, having long and complex sentences, is hard to figure out. I agree that readers will not use all their mental powers just to figure out one sentence. This is why simple sentences are more preferable. But do not limit yourself from using diverse sentence structure. Just make sure that though you use complex it is understandable for the reader's part.
Complexities in our writings will just make confusion among our readers. Complexities will also increase the chance of our readers being mislead. So, we should better us the simple ones. Simple is easier to understand and will avoid vagueness. It will also take us less effort and time.
Why make things complicated when it could be very simple? Readers can easily grasp what we write by using simple words. It is unnecessary to use highfalutin words especially when it is only the author who could understand what he has written.
Disagreeing to what Mark Ungson just said, I believe that he was mistaken when he said that "it is unnecessary to use highfalutin words...." We're not talking about the words alone in the sentence in this particular rule. It just proves in this rule that we should be thinking of every aspect that we want to present to our readers as "simple." Whatever social norm dictates as "simple", that's what we should follow and that alone will make everyone understand your point.
"Don't do unto others what you don't want them to do to you."
If you are writing in a complex manner, you are making other people's lives harder. You won't want them to return the favor right? So please, keep it simple. Just remember this, just because your sentence is simple it does not mean it cannot do its purpose of conveying a message.
It is not only people with high-thinking skills read the newspaper. We should always consider that we write for a vast variety of people. And these people don't have the same mental capacity. We should always deliver facts the simplest way possible to make sure that every reader would understand what you are blabbing about in your article.
As a writer, we must use simple words, and sentences to make sure that the readers will understand us because not all are readers have high vocabulary knowledge.
This is like the previous rule stating that you use simple words for better understanding. This one is really true. If we use complex and unfamiliar words, readers may stop reading because they do not fully understand the article. They will not understand what you wrote, which makes it useless. if we use difficult words, we'll only keep them confused and dumbfounded.
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