A person once explained to a friend that he was sony that
he had written him. a long letter. This was because he had not had time to write a short
one. The point is that it may require considerable eff0l1 and concentration to write ina
clear and simple manner. It also involves the writer being prepared to state what he
really means instead of concealing his real thoughts, or lack of real thoughts, behind a
smokescreen of words. Unfortunately people can easily be taken in by verbose or
complex explanations, believing that their failure to understand is because of their own
limitations rather than those of the writer. It may often be a more appropriate and
accurate assumption that, if a person hasn’t explained something clearly, the fault is with
their thinking rather than with the reader’s comprehension.
Sometimes matters have to be expressed in a precise technical way. and the use of a
particular language is unavoidable. This can be the case with legal documents where the
only way of achieving the necessary clarity is to use precise legal expressions. However,
even when technical language is used, there are differences between good and bad
expression. Whether technical language is used or not, there would seem to be no virtue
in explaining matters in a more complicated way than is necessary.
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