Chapter 10(2)

Summary

When dealing with sexist language like“he- she”pronoun, Zinsser suggests that writers can use plural forms sparingly or alter other elements of the sentence. For example, they can replace “ wives and children ” with “ families”. As for rewriting, the essence of writing well, writers must cherish every chance to reread and fiddle the raw material with carpentry to make the article well-organized, concise and warm. A computer is helpful in this process. Writers’responsibility is to put the truth to readers. Therefore, they must trust their materials and present facts which can leave some room for readers to figure out. The last advice is to“go with your interest”, because every aspect of life deserves writers with enthusiasm to write about.

Words & Phrases

A style that converts every “he” into a “they” will quickly turn to mush.

turn/go to mush

if your brains, heart etc turn to mush, you cannot think clearly or sensibly

       If you watch too much TV, your brains will turn to mush.

To turn every “he” into a “he or she,” and every “his” into a “his or her,” would clog the language.

clog

to slowly form a block in (something, such as a pipe or street) so that things cannot move through quickly or easily, often used figuratively

      There are too many legal cases clogging up the court system.

I don’t like baseball movies that go into slow motion when the batter hits a home run, to notify me that it’s a pregnant moment.

pregnant

filled with meaning or importance which has not yet been expressed or understood

      There followed a pregnant pause in which both knew what the other was thinking but neither knew what to say.