11^th secret to writing well: Avoid repetition with vocabulary

Whenever I am writing something more substantial in length and perhaps more professional in nature as well, I try not to use the same words throughout. When I am reading a newspaper article or novel, I find when a variety of vocabulary or synonyms are used, the piece I am reading is a bit more interesting. As I am writing, I will look back over what I have recently written to make sure I am not repeating the same word too many times. For example, if I keep using the word, greatest, I might try to mix in some synonyms such as superior, dominant or premium to make the language more various and appealing.

Review of “What You Don’t Know…”

After reading this portion of the chapter there were two important takeaways that impressed my mind as it pertains to my own writing. The first concept was from Mistake #1: Thinking You Don’t Have to Know Grammar to Write Well. After taking the Grammar Checkup I realized there are still quite a few grammar principles I need to master to say the least. While I consider myself to be fairly good at making my writing interesting, sometimes it is not the most technically sound.

I also am guilty sometimes of using too many commas or semicolons. From the textbook: “Some novice writers liberally sprinkle their sentences with commas as if this important punctuation mark were a decorative tweak.” (Kessler & McDonald 20) 

Editing Mistake

From an email circulated at work today: “Shortly we share with you a spreadsheet on Google for you to fill in the times you anticipate working extra hours, as well as a spot for you to fill in the extra hours you end up working.” “We are a great team.  But we are also not a very large team, and the Content team…”

First error: There should be a comma following the word shortly.

Second error: It should be “we will share” instead of “we share” following the word shortly.

Third error: There should be a comma in between “team” and “But” instead of a comma and “but” should be lowercase.