i'm a foreign student learning to write in English

Franklin Bacon, the famous British philosopher, scientist and writer, said, Writing ¡°Maketh¡± An Exact Man. According to definitions given by Encarta Dictionary, to be EXACT at least involves two meanings: first, to be accurate and correct in all important details, and second, to be precise and not allowing for any variation. And the process of writing is like a tunnel with too many junctions, and a writer is the man who travels through this tunnel, with the aim of reaching a destination, avoiding going astray on the labyrinth-like journey. When one writes, he conjures up images, applies linguistic knowledge already acquired, and exercises great restraint to resist the temptation to go into those branches, i.e., to stray from his theme.
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¡¡¡¡Once a man starts to put his pen to paper, he is starting a process of making meaning, of discovering how we think and feel about the world as we try to shape our thoughts in language, which, in our case, turns out to be a foreign one and consequently poses more demanding challenges.
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¡¡¡¡To keep on the track of his theme, a writer has to have a clear understanding of what the very topic involves, what materials are available and make a choice to determine what stuff is to be accepted and what irrelevant stuff is to be discarded, all this for the purpose of rendering his writing more concise, since too much stuff only serves to produce a piece of writing that may appear poorly-structured, disorganized and lacking in a highlighted subject.
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¡¡¡¡A language is a tool for communication and reflection upon the world we live in. A man is a man only in the sense that he possesses the ability to utter words that distinguish him from others, identify himself as an independent being and are used to describe what happens in his life course, and the more proficiency he enjoys in applying a certain language, the better he becomes in understanding this world, which contains abundant nuances that are often neglected by those whose language competency fails to make a distinction, interesting and vital distinction. Take a Japanese painter for instance. His profession makes it important for him to be acquainted with various kinds of colors, which, fortunately in many cases, can find their counterparts in the color-copious Japanese language, i.e., there are often words ready to describe these colors. Therefore the painter can apply the linguistic tool in naming the different colors he employs in work, giving himself better perception and making his job easier and perhaps more productive. On the contrary, with a language that is not equipped with this abundant database of color words, the speaker often fails to perceive the different shades of meaning and thus cannot distinguish those hues simply by visualization.
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¡¡¡¡With the above presumption, a writer is faced with a load of work before and in the process of writing. Firstly, he has to collect as much information as possible regarding the topic he is supposed to address, and all this information will be of great help to his becoming more familiar with the very topic. The more familiar, the more confident he will become in steering his writing pen, with the at-ease feeling that he will be able to produce a satisfactory piece of work. Secondly, a sound mastery of language-related knowledge is a prerequisite, indispensable and crucial to a writer¡¯s work. A writer does not need to be a master linguist, but he is supposed to be extremely familiar with grammatical rules, fully alert to the nuances of different shades of meaning, and aware of the contexts where a particular word can appear in a safe and proper way. To this end, a dictionary, a thesaurus and a grammar book serve as invaluable assistants. Take me myself as an example. When I write, I have to turn to a thesaurus constantly for a glimpse to see whether there are other¡ªideally better¡ªalternatives to a word or expression that comes across my mind at first thought, and to be honest, in more cases than not, there are! Take the ¡°be alert to¡± phrase above in this paragraph. I had initially contemplated using ¡°be aware of¡± or ¡°be conscious of¡±, but to avoid too many (three) ¡°OFs¡± in one sentence, I consulted a thesaurus and dug up¡ªin my opinion¡ªa satisfactory ¡°alert¡±.
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¡¡¡¡Last but not least, he has to develop a superb power for logical thinking, achieving coherency and consistency, presenting his writing in an intelligible and lucid fashion. A passage addressing AIDS epidemic contagion in Asia and begun with discussion about countermeasures taken by various governments should, supposedly, not end with an overview of Renaissance arts, while a topic concerning music fans may ideally be supported and followed by materials apropos college students in Shanghai scrambling to come by a ticket to Qiyu¡¯s singing performance.
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¡¡¡¡If a writer does want to produce a satisfactory piece of his work, he necessarily spends enough time doing research, making all important details ¡°accurate and correct¡±, and presents his meaning in as unambiguous a way as possible, thus allowing no room ¡°for any variation¡±. For this reason, he IS made more exact.

 

If you want to be a great writer, read. You'll absorb all you need to know. Also, throw out the thesaurus. It's a hugely overrated tool. Good luck!

 

Kidder: thank you! I totally identify with you.