ENGLISH GRAMMAR: Second-hand Words and Ideas

frieda (60)in #steemiteducaion • 6 years ago

Bad writing not only pretends, it is unoriginal. The original writer is always finding out what he himself knows. The unoriginal does no finding out, he simp;y takes ideas and phrases from the common stock - and - most of his readers like it, they feel comfortable with the old familiar faces around them once again.

Bad Writing

When they hear the words "dreams," they think: "Ah, noble, idealistic poetic," when they hear the word "mother-love", they think: "beautiful", and they feel they ought to be moved; they feel the same when they hear a phrase like "the lovelight in his eyes", or "the sacredness of death". They don't ask "Is mother-love always beautiful?", "Are dreams really noble?",

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Dull readers dislike having their ideas disturbed. But the spirited reader prefers originality. Don't be dismayed if you make mistakes in judgement. You can't expect to have much judgement until you have read a great deal.
Most good modern books demand more subtlety and experience in the reader than matriculants and first-year students have and there is always something of a gulf between one century and the next. Still, it is not unbridgeable. If you read many "classics", that is, books approved by generations of the best judges, and if you enjoy them, your mind will probably grow vigorous enough to reject rubbish. And you will anyway have enjoyed them.