Gibberish Gobble-de-Gook Writing
Over the years, I have noticed a continuous deterioration in writing skills, not just among high school graduates but also those in the media. We've all noted grammatical blunders in newspapers and magazines, and we’ve seen it first hand on television news updates. (When the ‘Breaking News’ text moves across the bottom of your screen).
I recall working at a private college a few years ago. I was employed as a teacher's assistant and on this particular day, the educator asked for help to support a male student. The task - to write his English essay on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. After discussing the movie, he drafted his report.
When I read the prose, I was aghast to discover, he had written it in text message format. Complete with U and LOL.
However, we have seen some of the worst writing ever to emerge in the BLOGOSPHERE.
As a frequent blogger, I take immense interest in other blogs, especially those that suggest topics that appeal to me. It seems, though, that many of the blogs are not as strongly written as they once were.
Some of the published subject matter is alright if it isn't disguised by shoddy penmanship and opaque grammar. Another nasty habit is to end a sentence without explaining the statement. It’s not good enough to express an idea and assume that the reader understands the jargon you used. Inform your reader by helping them perceive what you are expressing.
Failure to copy-edit before hitting the publish button when a deadline is before you is a big four-letter-word. It doesn’t take a lot of time to read the content over and search for obvious flaws. Copy editing also identifies sentences that are 'mind dumps' from the author. They make perfect sense to the writer but require several read-throughs before someone else can understand what they are trying to say.
Time and patience is needed to create an exceptional blog. There's a lot more to it than simply writing your post. Building a successful blog is hard work.
The purpose of this article is not to stop you writing blogs, on the contrary, it is to better your prose. You’ll benefit by writing clearly and concisely and your readers will enjoy your work. It’s wonderful to share your experiences and insight with others so please don’t stop writing blogs. Just stop writing crap.