Definition:
A characteristic of a speech or a prose composition that communicates effectively with its intended audience.
In general, the qualities of clearly written prose include a carefully defined purpose, logical organization, well-constructed sentences, and precise word choice. Verb: clarify. Contrast with gobbledygook.
See also:
- Kurt Vonnegut on Writing With Style
- Plain English
- Plain Style
- Practice in Cutting the Clutter
- Samuel Johnson on the Bugbear Style
- Skotison
- Ten Principles of Effective Writing
Etymology:
From the Latin, "clear"Observations
- "I see but one rule: to be clear. If I am not clear, all my world crumbles to nothing."
(Stendhal in a letter to Honore de Balzac) - "When asked what qualities they value most in writing, people who must read a great deal professionally put clarity at the top of their list. If they have to invest too much effort in figuring out the writer's meaning, they will give up in dismay or annoyance."
(Maxine C. Hairston, Successful Writing. Norton, 1992) - "It's good to write clearly, and anyone can. . . .
"Of course, writing fails for reasons more serious than unclear sentences. We bewilder our readers when we can't organize complex ideas coherently, and we cannot hope for their assent when we ignore their reasonable questions and objections. But once we've formulated our claims, organized their supporting reasons logically, and grounded those reasons on sound evidence, we still have to express it all in clear and coherent language, a difficult task for most writers, and a daunting one for many.
"It is a problem that has afflicted generations of writers who, instead of communicating their ideas in clear and direct language, hide them not only from their readers, but sometimes even from themselves. When we read that kind of writing in government regulations, we call it bureaucratese . . .. Written deliberately or carelessly, it is a language of exclusion that a diverse and democratic society cannot tolerate."
(Joseph M. Williams, Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. Addison Wesley Longman, 2003) - "All men are really attracted by the beauty of plain speech [but they] write in a florid style in imitation of this."
(Henry David Thoreau, quoted by J.M. Williams in Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 1981) - "The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear."
(E.B. White, The New York Times. Aug. 3, 1942) - "There are so many ways of being clear! So many different audiences to be clear to! When I tell you to 'Be clear!' I am simply telling you to 'Succeed,' 'Get the message across.' Again, good advice but not much real help. I have not solved your problem, I've simply restated it. 'Clarity,' in such a formulation, refers not to words on a page but to responses, yours or your reader's. And the writer has to write words on a page, not ideas in a mind. . . .
"The 'successful communication' that 'clarity' points to is finally our success in getting someone else to share our view of the world, a view we have composed by perceiving it. And if this is true of perception it must hold true for prose too. To write is to compose a world as well as view one."
(Richard Lanham, Analyzing Prose. Continuum, 2003)
