People ask me all the time, “Matt, how can I write longer sentences,” or “Matt, I want to use bigger words.”
Then I ask them, “Why?”
You don’t write to impress other people with big sentences, or big words.
You write to express yourself. You write to communicate.
Big words, and big sentences, get in the way. They interfere. They hide your idea in a thick layer of junk.
These are three rules for good writing:
- Short words are good
- Short sentences are good
- Active verbs are good
Do you want to sound like a professor, with a bunch of big words, and complicated sentences?
Or do you want people to understand you?
