While preparing to write my SIP (Student Internship Program) report, I came across some quotations on English; most of these refer to the cutting down of utterly redundant and unnecessary words, like “utterly redundant and unnecessary”.
“Ingest, imbibe, and be full of cheer, because the next day you and I shall bite the dust.
(Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.)”— Peter Gordon, Verbiage for the Verbose
“Executives at every level are prisoners of the notion that a simple style reflects a simple mind. Actually, a simple style is the result of hard work and hard thinking.”
— William K. Zinsser, On Writing Well
“If we make a habit of saying ‘The true facts are these’, we shall come under suspicion when we profess to tell merely ‘the facts’. If a crisis is always acute, and an emergency always grave, what is left for these words to do by themselves? An unfilled vacancy may leave us wondering whether a mere vacancy is really vacant.”
— Sir Ernest Gowers, The Complete Plain Words
“In order to attract readers, every layout needs a focal point. Without one, viewers quickly move on.”
— Lori Siebert and Lisa Ballard, Making a Good Layout
“Readable: 1. Able to be read, legible. 2. Giving pleasure or interest when read; a greeable or attractive in style.”
— The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
I realised that the guidelines to the report I have to write for SIP had some verbose verbiage (read: unnecessary words) as well:
Self Appraisal Form to be duly completed by student
As opposed to what? Is there any other way to complete it, if not duly?
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