If you’ve been on Twitter lately, you might have noticed a bit of a word battle happening. Last week, Paul Graham tweeted something that sparked a debate. He rejected an email because it used the word “delve.” He focused on over the use of words like delve, tapestry, etc. AI chatbots, like Chat GPT, often use these words. Some people argue that they use the word delve in their day-to-day conversations.
Paul’s point, as I understood it, was about keeping things simple when you write. He suggested that we should avoid unnecessary fancy words. Focus on clear, straightforward language. His tweets encourage to use simpler words to get your message across people. We should avoid using specific adjectives or adverbs if they are not required.
For non-native English speakers like me, this was a relief. We often fear using advanced words when writing for a broad audience. We look up synonyms and try to sound better. But guess what? Simple English is perfectly fine!
Recently, I came across an old blog by Scott Adams from 2007 about becoming a better writer. Here are some key tips he shared.
- Keep it simple. Clear writing is key.
- Prune the words. Extra words slow you down. Delete them!
- Write like a human. People connect with personal writing.
- Grab their attention. Start strong with a catchy first line.
- Short sentences are your friend. Not everyone is a pro reader.
- Organize your thoughts. Flowing ideas keep readers engaged.
- Avoid passive voice. It makes your writing more engaging.
These tips show us that even successful writers use simple words. Even the writers that you follow might use a fancy word here or there, but most of the time, it’s simple.
That’s a relief for us, right? We don’t need to use fancy vocabulary to be good writers. So there you have it! Keep it simple, and your writing will be all the better for it.
Cheers!
Happy Writing !
Thank you for reading ♡!
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