A major virtue of good writing is the way it moves smoothly from one sentence to the next, using appropriate reference words to guide readers along the way and keep them from getting lost, and summarizing major points every now and then to make the readers better understand what’s being said.
We have already taken up three strategies for achieving this:
the use of reference words to avoid overuse of the same words, and
the use of repeated action and sequence words. This time we will add two more to our arsenal of good writing strategies:
the use of broader meaning words or phrases for particular words used earlier in the composition, and
the use of summary words to clarify or emphasize the nature or context of various subjects that have just been discussed.
Using broader meaning words. This is an excellent technique for avoiding the overuse of the pronouns “he” “she,” and “one” in place of singular words designating people; the overuse of “it” in place of singular words designating objects and idea; and the overuse of “they,” “them,” and “these” in place of plural words. As we all know, these pronouns are handy substitutes for their antecedent nouns, but they are rhetorical dead-ends, offering no new dimension, attribute, or insight about their antecedent nouns. It’s therefore not surprising that overuse of these pronouns invariably makes prose tedious and boring.
We can greatly perk up our prose by replacing these no-content pronouns with content-laden words that represent a broader set of their antecedent nouns. Take, for instance, the following passage that’s chockfull of the no-content pronoun “they”:
“
Eagles are large predatory birds that belong to the family
Accipitridae.
They are noted for their strength and keenness of vision.
They have solitary habits and are widely known to mate for life.
They have remarkable powers of flight.
They have wide wingspans that could reach up to 7½ feet, and beaks that grow nearly as long as their heads.
These have made eagles the fighting symbol of the ancient Romans as well as the symbol of royal power through the centuries.”
Now see how that passage gets much livelier and interesting when the pronouns “they” are replaced with broader meaning words or phrases:
"
Eagles are large birds that belong to the family
Accipitridae.
These majestic birds of prey are noted for their strength and keenness of vision, have surprisingly solitary habits, and are widely known to mate for life. Fearsome in their beauty,
these stately flying machines have wingspans that reach up to 7½ feet and beaks that grow as long as their heads.
All of these attributes of power have made the eagle the fighting symbol of the ancient Romans as well as the symbol of royal power through the centuries.
We can see from the above example that we can greatly improve the texture and tonality of our prose by replacing particular nouns with more general noun forms or phrases when subsequently referring to them, taking every opportunity to qualify those antecedent nouns and give more information about them.
Again, just to make sure the technique is properly understood, the pattern is to go from the particular noun as the lowest subset to increasingly broader, more detailed noun forms. Take this train of broader-meaning phrase changes from a particular noun, say “Gov. Filoteo C.”: "highly popular politician,” “an overly ambitious candidate,” and “this shameless political turncoat.”
“Gov. Filoteo C. impressed me with his intelligence and apparent integrity. The highly popular politician has cultivated the image of a principled individual over the years, always taking the honorable even if unpopular position. But as
an overly ambitious candidate of a new political party that's covertly funded by a notorious drug smuggler, he has finally shown his true colors.
This shameless political turncoat no longer takes my fancy as someone deserving of anybody’s vote."
Using summary words. Another way to clarify and emphasize the context or nature of various subjects previously taken up in a composition is to use appropriate summary words for them. These summary words are generally single-word concept nouns that capture the essence of what has been earlier presented or taken up, such as a “situation,” “predicament,” “process,” “procedure,” “measures,” “solution,” “characteristics,” and “developments.” These words serve to sum up for the reader what has been discussed and put a sense of completeness and closure to the discussion.
Consider the following passage as an example:
"The village council finances were in disarray. Bills for streetlights and garbage collection had remained unpaid for months. The village streets were horribly potholed. Vacant lots were strewn with mounds of trash and overgrown with tall grasses. And the council members themselves were at war with one another. This was the
situation when the new chairman took over the leadership of the village council."
Note how the word “situation” at the tail end of the passage succinctly summarizes and puts closure to the highly varied ideas presented by the five sentences before it. We can use such summary words to advantage every time we need to wrap up particular points in our own compositions.
This essay, which first appeared in my weekly column “English Plain and Simple” in The Manila Times
, subsequently became Chapter 57 of my book Giving Your English the Winning Edge
, ©2009 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.Read this essay and listen to its voice recording in The Manila Times
:Using broader meaning and summary wordsNext week:
Using demonstrative reference words (October 31, 2024)
Visit Jose Carillo’s English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com. You can follow me on Facebook and X (Twitter) and e-mail me at j8carillo@yahoo.com.
