Roy Peter Clark > Quotes

“Everyone should read, we say, but we act as if only those with special talent should write.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“All of us possess a reading vocabulary as big as a lake but draw from a writing vocabulary as small as a pond. The good news is that the acts of searching and gathering always expand the number of usable words.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“The bridge between the words glamour and grammar is magic. According to the OED, glamour evolved through an ancient association between learning and enchantment.”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English

“In his essay “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell describes the relationship between language abuse and political abuse, how corrupt leaders use the passive voice to obscure unspeakable truths and shroud responsibility for their actions. They say, “It must be admitted, now that the report has been reviewed, that mistakes were made,” rather than, “I read the report, and I admit I made a mistake.” Here’s a life tool: always apologize in the active voice.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“The next time you struggle with a sentence, rewrite it by placing subject and verb at the beginning. 5.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“If a period is a stop sign, then what kind of traffic flow is created by other marks? The comma is a speed bump; the semicolon is what a driver education teacher calls a “rolling stop”; the parenthetical expression is a detour; the colon is a flashing yellow light that announces something important up ahead; the dash is a tree branch in the road.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“A teacher of mine once said there are no true synonyms.”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English

“I once learned that only three behaviors set literate people apart. The first two are obvious: reading and writing; but the third surprised me: talking about how reading and writing work.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“For dramatic variation, write a sentence with subject and verb near the end.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“To understand the difference between a good adverb and a bad adverb, consider these two sentences: “She smiled happily” and “She smiled sadly.” Which one works best? The first seems weak because “smiled” contains the meaning of “happily.” On the other hand, “sadly” changes the meaning.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“If the writer wants to create suspense, or build tension, or make the reader wait and wonder, or join a journey of discovery, or hold on for dear life, he can save subject and verb of the main clause until later. As I just did.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“From productive conversations with professional writers and editors. I once learned that only three behaviors set literate people apart. The first two are obvious: reading and writing; but the third surprised me: talking about how reading and writing work. Many of the tools came from great talk about the construction of stories and the distillation of meaning.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“But doesn't add something to what has come before; but takes something away. At its most daring, it can feel like a Bat Turn, a 180-degree spin int the Batmobile. Make that a But Turn.”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English

“WORKSHOP 1. Read your writing aloud to a friend. Ask, “Does this sound like me?” Discuss the response. 2. After rereading your work, make a list of adjectives that define your voice, such as heavy or aggressive, ludicrous or tentative. Now try to identify the evidence in your writing that led you to these conclusions. 3. Read a draft of a story aloud. Can you hear problems in the story that you could not see? 4. Save the work of writers whose voices appeal to you. Consider why you admire the voice of a particular writer. How is it like your voice? How is it different? In a piece of freewriting, imitate that voice.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“Whether the vessel is a legal document or a rap song, language is often chosen ot exclude. To use a scholarly phrase, "discourse communities" are often gated,so it's the good writer's job to offer readers a set of keys.”
― Roy Peter Clark

“I promise you a case of writing paralysis if you think about too many of these tools when you sit down to write. Let your writing flow early. You can reach for a tool later. •”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“work. When I moved from New York to Alabama in 1974, I was struck by the generalized American speech patterns of local broadcast journalists. They did not sound like southerners. In fact, they had been trained to level their regional accents in the interest of comprehensibility. This strategy struck me as more than odd; it seemed like a prejudice against southern speech, an illness, a form of self-loathing. As I wrote on the topic, I reached a point where I needed to name this language syndrome. I remember sitting on a metal chair at a desk I had constructed out of an old wooden door. What name? What name? It was almost like praying. I thought of the word disease, and then remembered the nickname of a college teacher. We called him “The Disease” because his real name was Dr. Jurgalitis. I began to riff: Jurgalitis. Appendicitis. Bronchitis. I almost fell off my chair: Cronkitis!”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“As you listen to political speech, notice those occasions when politicians and other leaders use the passive voice to avoid responsibility for problems and mistakes.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“I may have grown up in the Age of Aquarius, but I'm growing old in the Age of the Acronym.”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English

“Poorly written reports, memos, announcements, and messages cost us time and money. They are blood clots in the body politic. The flow of information is blocked. Crucial problems go unsolved. Opportunities for reform and efficiency are buried. The”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“Punctuation comes from the Latin root punctus, or “point.” Those funny dots, lines, and squiggles help writers point the way. To help readers, we punctuate for two reasons: 1. To set the pace of reading. 2. To divide words, phrases, and ideas into convenient groupings.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“Imagination without skill makes a lively chaos. Skill without imagination a deadly order.”
― Roy Peter Clark , Murder Your Darlings: And Other Gentle Writing Advice from Aristotle to Zinsser

“Books have a way of finding you when you need them.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Murder Your Darlings: And Other Gentle Writing Advice from Aristotle to Zinsser

“myopic,”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English

“soliloquy”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“In”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English

“view.”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Art of X-Ray Reading: How the Secrets of 25 Great Works of Literature Will Improve Your Writing

“Open this book to a random page. With a pencil, mark any word or phrase that you think does not contribute to the meaning of a passage or chapter. 2. Pick another page. As an exercise, imagine that you have been assigned to cut 10 percent. Mark the candidates for deletion.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Murder Your Darlings: And Other Gentle Writing Advice from Aristotle to Zinsser

“Mephitic!”
― Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English

“The most important thing I have to say is that you should not take too literally what is said in this book. Every child is different, every parent is different, every illness or behavior problem is somewhat different from every other. All I can do is describe the most common developments and problems in the most general terms. Remember that you are more familiar with your child’s temperament and patterns than I could ever be.”
― Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer