Sharpening, in Ken Marcrorie's words means to give life to your writing. He states most beginning writers and some veteran writers use in excess the verb is(and all other forms of to be). Is by itself is meaningless, linking too many adjectives and nouns together deflating the life from the sentence. For example, Ken Marcrorie quotes Shakespeare's 'Macbeth':
"This tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest."
If Shakespeare incorporated excessive forms of to be, the line would read:
"This tyrant whose sole name is a blister on our tongues,
Was once thought to be honest."
He uses Is-ness and It-ache as explanation of a writer's inability to free themselves to use powerful words.
It & there take the place of an otherwise powerful noun leaving adjectives and adverbs without meaning or effect. Which type of sentence intrigues readers, passive or aggressive?
Passive sentences inhabit the is-ness and the it-ache. For example, Ken Marcrorie mentions this sentence:
"The object that was stepped on by me was a ladybug with lavender spots."
An aggressive (sharpened) sentence would read:
"I stepped on a ladybug with lavender spots."
Ken Marcrorie also stresses the use of verbs with more meaning than just the basic verb get or make, etc. Enlighten the reader, invite them in. Don't leave them yawning.
He also touches base on weasleries. He states, "There is a time to be cautious and a time to be bold." Don't apologize for your words. In his example, "She was unusually hideous." He claims the writer lessens the power of hideous with the weak word unusually.
His statements aren't intended to massacre the use of it & is, only raising attention to excessive use, enticing writers to give more meaning to their words. His moral is not to do away with all uses of the cited words, but to learn where to look for possible weak spots in your sentences.
When reviewing your writing ask yourself, "If the adjectives and adverbs are pulling their weight? Do the words around them render unnecessary?".
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This article reminded me a lot about the article we read for the first asssigment about "engfish". As students, we add so much junk to our writing, and even though we intend for it to impress our professors, it is counter-productive. Because of word counts and academia, we often try to add a bunch of wasted words to our sentences. While it helps us achieve a word count, it unfortunately weakens the quality of our writing. I must admit that I see this in my writing as well, so it is good to see this problem exposed. Actually, even in this blog post I notice that I am committing this same fault.
ReplyDeleteThe article by Macrorie was great. I thought he made many correct and different points when it came to writing a sentence with life. There are many people that are still stuck when it comes to writing papers or sentences, because they continuously re-use the words "as" or "it." The way Macrorie describes the way a sentence should be written is not only correct, but it makes the sentence worth reading.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I am guilty of using "it" excessively. I always feel the need to explain in detail my work and what I mean by the sentences so that the reader can connect to me instead of allowing their mind to run free with my words. I agree with this article 100 percent a lot of writers feel scared to show their true feelings through words so they explain their feelings so they will not be judged. This has made me want to just write freely with no remorse!
ReplyDeleteI like everyones comments on this blog. it does seem like we add a lot of junk to our writing. i can think back to my early semesters as a freshman in english 101 and 102 and would here all the students telling me how amazing they are are bull ** a paper they are.i sometimes fall vicitim to this by using boring sentences that dont have any really uniqueness to them. theyre just typical.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was very interesting. I learned that you don't have to use a bunch of words in your sentence to get your point across. When it comes to my writing I tend to use a lot of unecassary and it confuses the reader. By reading this I learned how to make sentences without making the sentence so long and confusing.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was very interesting because it made me evaluate my writing and learn how I can better it. I think the author made a lot of great points such as "His statements aren't intended to massacre the use of it & is, only raising attention to excessive use, enticing writers to give more meaning to their words." I believe a piece of writing would be much more interesting and enjoyable to read if there were an excessive amount of "it" or "is". I will remember his comments in this article when I write my next paper.
ReplyDeleteThis article reminded me a lot of the first article we read (Engfish). Personally, I never understood the concept of rewording the sentence to avoid using is or it. Reading Sharpening made me realize the simple mistakes that I have made in past papers, even as recent as last semester. Looking back on last semesters papers, I have realized that my simple mistakes, pointed out by Sharpening, have only weakened my paper and caused only confusion amongst people who have to read my papers.
ReplyDeleteThis article was a true eye opener. The way he expresses the way we use words to avoid using it and is is very true. I am a victim of using excessive words just so I can avoid using it and is. So far this article reminds me of "engfish" because it explains how writer takes the life out of their writings. Its ok to us it or is, because it is coming from your thought, and ideas. As long as you use it in their proper form I do not believe that is it any problem.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that this article reminds me alot of the first one we read.As i said before, as rookie writers we overthink alot of ideas which translate over into out sentences. I catch myself over thinking my sentences everytime i write, and i think it does have alot to do with wanting to impress our professors or maybe even ourselves. As Macrorie said some words hold their own weight and pairing them with even heavy words makes for one complicated sentence. I am learning from mistakes and keep in mind that when writing apers sometimes simplicity is complex enough without all of the extras.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very true. In it he gives examples on how we try to cover up the usage of it and is. We try to expand our vocabulary in order to impress the next person with intelligence however the words it and is doesn't need to be dropped out of our everyday language.
ReplyDeleteThis article rings true in that our writings are weakened by looking for words to throw in as filler. We are taught to use these words younger as a way to express our ideas but only to grow up to realize that although our ideas are seen clearer we now lack the flare that would make people want to read it in the first place
ReplyDeleteThis article makes obvious sense to everyday lingo. I have a serious problem with using, "it". What the article points out; or should I say is trying to convey,is that with the abusive use of "it" and "is" is mainly that it takes away the "flare" of a story, or memo. Any form of writing should be written within moderate usage of "it" and "is".
ReplyDeleteTypically when I use "it" and "is", I am taking away from the story. I start to ramble on and fill in the remaining space with "it", "like", "is". Which I am doing right now, so I will conclude with this, use "it" and "is" moderately.
I really like this article because it made me aware of how i write and the reason i write that way. i can honestly admit that i do use it and is alot in my writing because it seem so easy to just use a short cut instead of finding out the correct word or words to use. I think it takes a person time to understand there writing before they can use the correct vocabulary thats why is and it is use so much because alot of the writing is not understood.
ReplyDeleteI found the article quite interesting. As a student who has written countless papers for many classes, I find myself often, padding my work (for length requirements), with excessive word usage, instead of simply stating what I truly mean. Everyones blog is quite interesting because it kind of tells me, that I am not the only one that is guilty of the excessive use of "is" and other words in my vocabulary, that is not essentially needed to compose great works of writing. I found this article, and will definitly keep this article in mind as I continue to "sharpen" my writing skills in the future.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very good article. I find myself being too safe in my writing all the time. I have found that one of the aspects of writing that I admire the most is clarity. Using strong verbs as well as refraining from weakening their impact with "weasleries" can help develop the clarity in my own writing that I enjoy in my favorite authors.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very true. As writers we do tend to be very repetitive with the word is and it. I believe this article has shined the light on common mistakes and I will now be aware of what not to do the next time I write a paper.
ReplyDeleteThis article was interesting. It made me learn how I could be a better writer. Us writers do tend to repetite words that aren't truly neccessary. I notice that I use words such as, "it" a lot more than I probably should.
ReplyDeleteThis was somewhat interesting to me. It hleped since it gave some good examples on how to become a better writer and thats someting that I need to work on. It helped with finding the common mistakes that we make as writers.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting as well as helpful. I agree that the word "is" becomes meaningless and often redundant in writing. I also agree that by using less is more when it comes to the forms of "be". I liked how Marcrorie used many example and used Shakespear's work as an exple to make his point much more clear. I feel that this article will help me in my writing in the future.
ReplyDelete