11.2-On Writing Well

7 Usage     8 Unity

Expressions

They assembled a "Usage Panel" to help them appraise the new words and dubious constructions that had come knocking at the door.

appraise    (formal)  to judge how successful, effective etc someone or something is, especially by comparing their good and bad points

例句 He coolly appraised the situation , deciding which person would be most likely to succeed.他冷静地审时度势，判断哪个人最可能获得胜利。

appraise与apprise     appraise是“估价”、“评价”，apprise则是“告知”

On the other hand, only 66 percent of our panel rejected the verb "to contact," once regarded as tacky, and only half opposed the split infinitive and the verbs "to fault" and "to bus."

tacky 1.(informal) cheap, badly made or lacking in taste 低劣的；蹩脚的；俗气的；乏味的:

2. (of paint, glue, etc. 油漆、胶水等) not dry and therefore slightly sticky 未干透的；发黏的

摘自Vocabulary.com Dictionary---Things that are tacky are cheap, flashy, garish, gaudy, loud, tawdry, or trashy. Tacky clothes are a fashion nightmare, and tacky comments are embarrassing for everyone involved.

Unity is the anchor of good writing.

anchor  这里是名词 支柱；给以安全感的人(或物)；顶梁柱:a person or thing that gives sb a feeling of safety

例句»the anchor of the family全家的顶梁柱

anchor用作动词的基本意思是“抛锚”,进而引申为“(把…)系住,(使)固定”。anchor还可作“担任(电视节目等的)主持人”解。

Thoughts

What is good usage? One helpful approach is to try to separate usage from jargon.

Good usage, to me, consists of using good words if they already exist—as they almost always do—to express myself clearly and simply to someone else.You might say it's how I verbalize the interpersonal.

好的用法包括用现已存在的好词语来清楚、简洁地向别人表达自我，而这些好词语几乎总是存在的。这就是作者用言辞表达人际关系的方式。

All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.

Unity is the anchor of good writing.

1.写作最终都是在解决问题。所以最好保持统一性，并且围绕一个中心，不然读者看得混乱，有时甚至自己都会觉得混杂。其实写作，就是在纸上思考。一个统一清晰的表达才是好的表达。

2.作者提到的统一性：人称的统一   时态的统一   语气的统一

3.写作前问自己几个基本问题。

例如 :“ 我要以什么身份而对读者 ?”‘我要用什么人称和时态 ?”“我要用什么文体格式 ?”“ 我对材料采取什么语气态度 ?”“ 我要写多少 ?”“我要强调的唯一中心要点是什么 ?”

4.围绕一个中心从小处写。当什么都想写，想什么都写全面，结果往往是写得很乱很浅。然而从小处写，也许反而能折射一个大的内容。巴尔扎克曾经说过，“成功的作品就是用最小的面积惊人地集中了最大量的思想”。这里所说的“小”是指小人物、小事件、小细节、小角度；“大”的意思是指作品中体现大的情感、大的道理、大的主题、大的背景。“

作者最后把写作比作搭建大厦，无论你组合得好坏 ,每一个部件都必须统一，不然整座大厦就会坍塌。我想写作最好先有骨架结构再填充内容，尤其是写以分析论理风格为主的长文，可以将自己的思路呈现于纸上，也能有效训练自己思维和写作，而碎片式写作较难达到这个目的。最好多思考，多练习长文的表达能力。