Jazmin Velasquez February 29, 2020 History and Theories of Rhetoric Paper One - Final Draft
Clarity in Language: Why Professional Writers Should Know about Transparency from Traditional Rhetorical Theory Before a writer can begin their writing process, they must consider the following elements: the topic, the time, the audience, and the medium. A professional writer is expected to consider each element when writing a clear, coherent message to communicate with their audience. The language a professional writer uses should exemplify clarity to help introduce, inform, or instruct readers with information. From traditional rhetorical theory, a professional writer can learn the significance transparent language, otherwise known as clarity, has to offer to the field of professional writing. The importance of writing “clearly” is traced back to the age of the seventeenth century. Christine Mason Sutherland, a professor emerita in the Department of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary, wrote about rhetoricians from the 1700s and how they objected the use of grand style in writing. Grand style appeals to evoke emotion in rhetoric through use of figurative language and its ability to influence an audience. In 1991, Sutherland had her journal article, “Reforms of Style: St. Augustine and the Seventeenth Century” published by the Rhetoric Society Quarterly. In “Reforms of Style” Sutherland explored rhetoricians Thomas Sprat, St. Augustine, and others’ ideas objecting the use of grand style in writing. The rhetoricians from the seventeenth century preferred using less ornamented language in rhetoric,
an idea that professional writers exercise in their writing today. Like Sprat and St. Augustine, readers would not expect professional writing such as memorandums, business reports, or press releases to be “copious, and therefore to become tedious,” (Sutherland 29) by having an excessive use of figures of speech. When writing involves grand style, it means there is an excess use of ornamentation – making the text more elaborate with figures of speech, diction, and emotional tones. Professional writers are expected to write copy that acts to either direct or inform. It is not expected for writers in the field to use copia – “expansive richness and amplification as a stylistic goal” (Nordquist) – that will give ambiguity to the words. Instead, professional writing will show clarity by using language characterized by Sprat as having “a close, naked, natural way of speaking; positive expressions; clear senses; a native easiness” (Sutherland 28). The theorists and rhetoricians included in Sutherland’s “Reforms of Style” strongly felt the need to use simple and clear language over language that is copious and ornamented. Their arguments against excessive ornamentation help outline why any professional writer would not write using grand style. Sprat thought ornaments in writing served as a “open defiance against Reason.” (Sutherland 29). Sprat’s reasoning was supported by fellow theorists of his time because they each felt as if grand style disguised what truth came from words. Sprat and St. Augustine believed that “ugliness of style can block communication of content,” and if a style was disrupting the message, the writing could not fulfill being “essential for the promotion of truth” (Sutherland 36). Grand style “traditionally appealed to the passions” (Sutherland 29) which is not seen in professional writing. Use of a plain or subdued style, like that used in professional writing, is “the one most appropriate for teaching” said St. Augustine (Sutherland 30). Plain or subdued style can be characterized as speech that is straightforward, simple, or even
“scientific” as mentioned by Sprat. Plain style is suggested for the field of professional writing since it is written in a way that does not rely on figurative language and aims to be as direct as possible. Aside from information based in the seventeenth century, there are additional sources that explain the importance clarity serves in every piece of writing, including professional. In “Style: Lessons in Grace and Clarity” (SLGC) written by Joseph M. Williams and Joseph Bizup, the two authors speak of clarity being a fundamental principle of writing. Whether writing professionally in government, law, medicine, or science, the documents a professional writer is responsible for should clearly and properly inform or instruct the readers. Part two of SLGC focuses on clarity in writing. A professional writer can achieve clarity in their writing by creating subjects and actions in sentences, understanding concision, and editing their work. There are many times when writers will edit their work and see how clear their writing will be once they include a subject doing an action, remove doubled or meaningless words, or remove hedges and intensifies. Some may argue that clarity in language serves as “a device wielded by those in power to mislead us about who really controls our lives” (Williams and Bizup 183). Clarity has been thought of as writing in “deceptively simple ways” that subject us to be “unable to understand the full complexity” (Williams and Bizup 183). However, clarity is still “a value that is created by society and that society must work hard to maintain” (Williams and Bizup 183). Professional writing and its way of writing information clearly is not intended to mislead readers. To purposely use clarity and simple language to mislead an audience from understanding the truth is an unethical use of both (Williams and Bizup 183). Readers can expect professional writing to omit any use of metaphors, hyperboles, or allusions and can expect for it to be concise, direct, and unambiguous. From Sprat and St.
Augustine in the seventeenth century to Williams and Bizup in the twenty-first, clarity has been considered a fundamental idea in writing. The content professional writers are responsible for does not require strong appeals of emotion or aim to heavily persuade. Professional writers can except to edit their work to suit the interest of the content and make it provide either a solution, instructions, or both, as well as allow for there to be no misunderstanding with the readers.
Works Cited Nordquist, Richard. “Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 10 Apr. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/what-is-copia-rhetoric-and-style-1689932. Sutherland, Christine Mason. “Reforms of Style: St. Augustine and the Seventeenth Century.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1, 1991, pp. 26–37., doi:10.1080/02773949109390906. Williams, Joseph M., and Joseph Bizup. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Pearson, 2016.