Date: (07/30/2013)
As Enrique Jardiel Poncela notes that “When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing”, writers should put forth their best effort to make their text readable without effort. Clarity is one of the most important factors that a paper needs to provide to make it readable and to draw attention of readers. To write concisely, in parallel structure, and using active voice are the key points to achieve a clear and engaging paper. It is important to write concisely to keep the reader’s attention and to make sure that the writing is clear. Concise writing does not mean using the fewest words, however, it is to write with the most effective words. As the most effective words are chosen, the writing gets more concise and readable. In general, the more specific words the writers use, the more concise writing is. Prudent word choice helps writers keep the readers’ attention making them engaged and stay on topic. Therefore, using specific words makes writers communicate their thoughts more effectively. If words are heavy burden, they had better be changed with effective ones. On the other hand, some sentences can easily be combined with one another without conceding any of their value, thus giving the text clarity. It is also important to write in parallel structure which means parallelism to add both influence and clarity to the writing. Parallel structure or parallelism means omitting redundant words and joining similar sentences and thoughts. By constructing a parallel structure, writers should choose the words to be combined in the same grammatical form so that they are parallel, such as all nouns, all gerunds, and all infinitives. When writers use parallel structure, they increase the intelligibility of their writing by forming word orders readers can pursue easily. In short, Parallelism in writing gives the text clarity and flow.