Tow #2 "How to Say Nothing in 500 words"

Paul Roberts, author of multiple helpful writing textbooks including Understanding English writes, How To Say Nothing In 500 Words, an excerpt from the previously mentioned textbook. In this passage he writes with the purpose to help students break away from the obvious ways of writing an essay, and to make their writings more intriguing to a teacher “who is up to his ears reading the same tedious tales”(59).  He is directing his purpose to students in college but the article can be helpful to any high school student taking an English class as well. Roberts explains the many ways a student can avoid poor writing techniques such as, padded words and beating around the bush. Roberts writes, “He is, he realizes, young and inexperienced, and he half suspects that he is dopey and fuzzy-minded beyond the average. Probably only too true. But it doesn’t help to announce your incompetence six times in every paragraph” (62-63). The author’s use of the third person omniscient point of view helps to achieve his purpose. By writing as if he knows what his subject is thinking about, it allows himself to connect more with his audience. For me, Roberts was able to pick apart why I write the way I do sometimes, all I needed was someone to tell me. This provided Roberts with ethos, making him seem trustworthy as a source. Roberts also uses metaphors to help persuade the reader. “The writer builds with words, and no builder uses a raw material more slippery and elusive and treacherous” (64). Comparing a writer’s words to a builder and his tools provides a vivid image for the reader. When I read this sentence I picture a builder and how his job is to take separate supplies and use all of them to create one cohesive object. This comparison allows the reader to understand that a writer must pull from all different tools of writing to make their work interesting and different and not “obvious”. I believe Roberts proves his purpose effectively. His use of examples and rhetorical strategies allowed me to learn a lot about my writing, and how I can make it better.