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Lesson
Four: Style and Tone
Introduction
Over
the years, our editors have seen some amazing stories become dreadfully boring
and some ridiculously dry topics transform into an exciting read. The culprit
(or hero): writing style. Witness the advice of some admissions officers:
Use a conversational style
and easy-to-understand language to project a genuine, relaxed image. Make sure that your essay
is readable. Don’t make us work. Give your essay momentum-make sure that
the parts work together and move to a point, carrying the reader along. Don’t bore us. More
often it is the monotonous style, and not the subject matter, that makes
these essays dull. A large majority of the
corrections made by our editors fall into one of five categories: sentence
variety, word
choice, verb
tense, transitions and essay
cliches.
If you weren’t paying attention in English class, here’s a refresher:
Select One:
Copyright 1998 by Dan Kaufman. Reprinted by arrangement with Barron's Educational Series, Inc.
