nprfreshair: Random House Copy Chief: Stand Tall, Wordsmiths! (But Choose Your Battles)Random House
nprfreshair: Random House Copy Chief: Stand Tall, Wordsmiths! (But Choose Your Battles)Random House copy chief Benjamin Dreyer is not a fan of the word “very.”“It’s not a dreadful word,” he allows, but “it’s one of my little pet words to do without if you can possibly do without it.”“Very” and its cousins “rather” and “really” are “wan intensifiers,” Dreyer explains. In their place, he advises that writers look for a strong adjective that “just sits very nicely by itself” on the page. For example, “very smart” people can be “brilliant” and “very hungry” people can be “ravenous.”Dreyer gets the final say over questions related to grammar, style and clarity at Random House. Now he’s sharing his writing advice in the new book Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.“Words are my business, and the meaning of words is my business,” he says. “To watch language twisted and distorted — that gets under my skin and makes me unhappy.” -- source link