William Zinsser Simplicity

Simplicity is a way of understanding things with an easy approach. “Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon” (Zinsser 129). William Zinsser illustrates the importance of simplicity that one should keep in mind while writing an essay. He states that “clutter” is the main motive and the number one difficulty why American writers struggle while writing. Writers usually think when there is a usage of “big” words that it will help their essay but they are wrong. When using “big” words it doesn’t mean that your essay will better than someone who has simplicity throughout their essay as well. He also states that the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. I found that I was curious when Zinsser was supporting the readers of their pieces of writing. He stated that it wasn’t the reader’s fault for not knowing what is going on while reading the piece the first time around but it’s the writer’s fault for not making certain things clear. I liked reading this writing because I liked that Zinsser combined other authors within his text. For example, he took examples from Orwell’s piece which relate to his such as “Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other” (Zinsser 130). Orwell’s piece relates much with Zinsser’s because both articles are related to both …show more content…
He wants them to write in a style that is; clear, and clean. He states that cluttered writing is both a symptom and a cause can bring many problems in the current American society.
Zinsser summaries and says often we sometimes add unnecessary prepositions to verbs, and other such phrases, in which the verb alone is sufficient and more effective. He notes that we also often add unnecessary adjectives to our writing, in which the noun alone is sufficient and more