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3.5 

How to Not Write Bad

By Ben Yagoda
How to Not Write Bad by Ben Yagoda digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Ben Yagoda's How to Not Write Bad illustrates how we can all write better, more clearly, and for a wider readership.

He offers advice on what he calls "not-writing-badly," which consists of the ability, first, to craft sentences that are correct in terms of spelling, diction (word choice), punctuation, and grammar, and that also display clarity, precision, and grace. Then he focuses on crafting whole paragraphs—with attention to cadence, consistency of tone, sentence transitions, and paragraph length.

In a fun, comprehensive guide, Yagoda lays out the simple steps we can all take to make our writing more effective, more interesting—and just plain better.

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14 Reviews

3.5
“Bod Dab Bd Bab Ba Ad 8ad B&d Baol That's all the ways I can think of. What’s that? You want an actual review? Fine. This is a terrific guide to writing not just better, but "not-bad," which is more important for most people. If you write in any capacity, even just the occasional email, this book will help you write less lousy. Lousily. Whatever. Even a professional writer, which I clearly am not, could use a touch-up every so often. The author primarily teaches writing in the context of journalism, but the lessons apply equally well to any writing, fiction or non-. The best thing about the book is its brevity. Like the sentences Yagoda praises, it says what it needs to say and no more. It’s a smart little book that sits well in the hand and will prove invaluable for a lifetime. The most basic advice on offer is to read a lot, and when writing, cut out distractions and be mindful. A guide to the most frequent errors seen in Yagoda’s twenty years of teaching comes next, and this demonstrates the book’s usefulness: it addresses only the most common errors and leaves the more obscure problems for weightier guides. It ends with a short section on writing well (W-E-L-L), but the main focus on writing “not-bad” will take most people 90% of the way to their destination. Now we shall see how well I apply the book’s lessons in future reviews.”
“very useful as a reference book, assuming you’re writing in american english (and especially if you’re writing university assignments), but deeply obnoxious in tone.”

About Ben Yagoda

Ben Yagoda is a journalism professor at the University of Delaware. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of ten books, including Memoir: A History, Will Rogers: A Biography, and When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It, and has written for Slate, The New York Times Magazine, and publications that start with every letter of the alphabet except J, K, Q, X, and Z. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife.

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