A lot of students hesitate to delete needless words from their essays.
Why? Some say they don't know why.
Others stare at me with furrowed brow or wrinkled nose.
What we do not realize is that when it comes to prose, less is often more, and a frantic student lifestyle is no excuse for handing in a first draft that is almost always laden with excessive words and phrases.
As tutors, one piece of advice we give students is to put the writing aside for a while and let it "cool.
" When we look at the writing again in a day or so, we often spot needless words and phrases that eluded our scrutiny the first time.
To illustrate, I begin by picking a little word that we all use, the little word up.
It's a useful word, a good word-when it is needed.
But often it is not.
To find out, I spent an afternoon looking for ups that were pointless or at least questionable, an exercise that showed me the need to find and delete other words that are just taking (up?) space.
It didn't take me long to find: "listen up, write up, type up, read up, button up, eat up, burn up, sign up, wrap up, fix up, open up, close up, use up, light up, partner up, hustle up, hurry up, fill up, lock up, buy up, brighten up, save up, pay up, call up, summon up, up and running, and start up (whenI turn on my computer, Windows™ tells me it is starting up),and from those cop androbber shows, 'He's lawyered up.
'" In another example, in the shoot-'em-up film, "Training Day," Denzel Washington keeps telling his frightened trainee, Ethan Hawke, to "Man up.
" Are we to understand that he wants Ethan's character to stop whining and toughen up? Like man up, offbeat ups get a free pass when a writer chooses slang intentionally and not carelessly.
But surely there must be a better way to tell someone to get tough.
I can't see a woman allowing Oprah or Dr.
Phil to gently pat her on the arm and say, "C'mon now, woman up.
" Maybe He Doesn't Like Cowgirls These and other examples like them may be acceptable when we're writing dialogue or slang, but I still find myself casting a suspicious eye-especially when I come across a debatable candidate like hook up.
Webster says it should mean physically hooking something up, like a trailer or a power cord.
In another definition, he calls it "an alliance or agreement between two governments.
" Today, we have two slang variants of hooking up: one says hooking up means people getting together for just about any reason; the other says it means men and women getting together to get it on together.
No matter, as the hanky panky version will probably fade.
And given my druthers, I would reserve the hook and its up for the trailer and the power cord.
Recently, while having lunch at an upscale bistro, I noticed the menu item Cowboy Up.
It is a burger bathed in barbecue sauce and other condiments.
I did not order it, nor do I have the slightest idea what the name refers to.
I imagine the bistro's intent was to serve a burger that would make men feel like the Marlboro Man, even without a horse.
In case you are wondering, there was no Cowgirl Up.
Maybe the bistro owner doesn't like cowgirls.
In his book, "The Writer's Art," James J.
Kilpatrick sees the little word as "...
one of those idiomatic barnacles that cling to the keel of a sentence.
To be sure, up serves a useful purpose in throw up, but ought to be pruned from...
saddle up the horse...
and finish up the task.
When you look down on an up in your copy, see if the up can't be lifted.
" Standing Up for a Few Up's Among the long list of useful ups in the dictionary, and in our spoken vocabularies, there are special cases that deserve mention.
One that will endure, I am sure, is floppy ear's carrot-munching greeting, "Ehh...
What's up, doc?" Another phrase that has been around a while is knocked up, brought to prominence with the 2007 hit comedy, Knocked Up.
My Webster includes knocked down, but no knocked up.
Most British dictionaries include it, but over there it has less to do with loving it up and more to do with waking up.
For the Brits, knocked up means to interfere with one's sleep by knocking on the door.
I should also mention words with up prefixes, words such as upbeat, upgrade, update, and upkeep.
I can't argue with those examples-and there are many.
There is also a need, I suppose, for the ups in idioms such as give up the ghost, it's up to you, and live it up.
Kindergarten teachers and parents with small children say they also have a need for the up that goes with sit.
As long as we are handing out free passes, we ought to give one to stick up.
After all, what literate bank robber would hand a teller a note that says, "This is a stick!" And if we waive stick up, we might as well waive the criticism voiced by Harrison Ford to Anne Heche in the film "Six Days, Seven Nights" ("You're stuck up!").
As writers, our job is to train our critical eye and stick with ups that help fulfill our purpose.
Another unanimous keeper is Winston Churchill's memorable response to a junior officer who read one of Winston's memos.
In this example the issue is grammar, but who can forget Winston's witty use of an up.
After reading the memo, the junior officer thought it necessary to tell the Prime Minister that he had ended a sentence with a preposition.
"This," piped Sir Winston, "is exactly the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put.
" Finally, it was not my intent to stir up trouble for lovers of up.
Like any word my classmates choose, it needs to be needed.
But then, I am never going to round up all the needless ups, anyway, so instead of getting all riled up, I might as well lighten up, look up the nearest pub, and belly up to the bar-assuming the joint hasn't gone belly up.
Sounds like a good idea, as the editor is telling me it's time to shut up.
Lee B.
Woods ____________________________________________________________________ Reprinted with permission: Penn State University, The Dangling Modifier Vol.
14, Fall 2010 Edition 17 No.
1
Why? Some say they don't know why.
Others stare at me with furrowed brow or wrinkled nose.
What we do not realize is that when it comes to prose, less is often more, and a frantic student lifestyle is no excuse for handing in a first draft that is almost always laden with excessive words and phrases.
As tutors, one piece of advice we give students is to put the writing aside for a while and let it "cool.
" When we look at the writing again in a day or so, we often spot needless words and phrases that eluded our scrutiny the first time.
To illustrate, I begin by picking a little word that we all use, the little word up.
It's a useful word, a good word-when it is needed.
But often it is not.
To find out, I spent an afternoon looking for ups that were pointless or at least questionable, an exercise that showed me the need to find and delete other words that are just taking (up?) space.
It didn't take me long to find: "listen up, write up, type up, read up, button up, eat up, burn up, sign up, wrap up, fix up, open up, close up, use up, light up, partner up, hustle up, hurry up, fill up, lock up, buy up, brighten up, save up, pay up, call up, summon up, up and running, and start up (whenI turn on my computer, Windows™ tells me it is starting up),and from those cop androbber shows, 'He's lawyered up.
'" In another example, in the shoot-'em-up film, "Training Day," Denzel Washington keeps telling his frightened trainee, Ethan Hawke, to "Man up.
" Are we to understand that he wants Ethan's character to stop whining and toughen up? Like man up, offbeat ups get a free pass when a writer chooses slang intentionally and not carelessly.
But surely there must be a better way to tell someone to get tough.
I can't see a woman allowing Oprah or Dr.
Phil to gently pat her on the arm and say, "C'mon now, woman up.
" Maybe He Doesn't Like Cowgirls These and other examples like them may be acceptable when we're writing dialogue or slang, but I still find myself casting a suspicious eye-especially when I come across a debatable candidate like hook up.
Webster says it should mean physically hooking something up, like a trailer or a power cord.
In another definition, he calls it "an alliance or agreement between two governments.
" Today, we have two slang variants of hooking up: one says hooking up means people getting together for just about any reason; the other says it means men and women getting together to get it on together.
No matter, as the hanky panky version will probably fade.
And given my druthers, I would reserve the hook and its up for the trailer and the power cord.
Recently, while having lunch at an upscale bistro, I noticed the menu item Cowboy Up.
It is a burger bathed in barbecue sauce and other condiments.
I did not order it, nor do I have the slightest idea what the name refers to.
I imagine the bistro's intent was to serve a burger that would make men feel like the Marlboro Man, even without a horse.
In case you are wondering, there was no Cowgirl Up.
Maybe the bistro owner doesn't like cowgirls.
In his book, "The Writer's Art," James J.
Kilpatrick sees the little word as "...
one of those idiomatic barnacles that cling to the keel of a sentence.
To be sure, up serves a useful purpose in throw up, but ought to be pruned from...
saddle up the horse...
and finish up the task.
When you look down on an up in your copy, see if the up can't be lifted.
" Standing Up for a Few Up's Among the long list of useful ups in the dictionary, and in our spoken vocabularies, there are special cases that deserve mention.
One that will endure, I am sure, is floppy ear's carrot-munching greeting, "Ehh...
What's up, doc?" Another phrase that has been around a while is knocked up, brought to prominence with the 2007 hit comedy, Knocked Up.
My Webster includes knocked down, but no knocked up.
Most British dictionaries include it, but over there it has less to do with loving it up and more to do with waking up.
For the Brits, knocked up means to interfere with one's sleep by knocking on the door.
I should also mention words with up prefixes, words such as upbeat, upgrade, update, and upkeep.
I can't argue with those examples-and there are many.
There is also a need, I suppose, for the ups in idioms such as give up the ghost, it's up to you, and live it up.
Kindergarten teachers and parents with small children say they also have a need for the up that goes with sit.
As long as we are handing out free passes, we ought to give one to stick up.
After all, what literate bank robber would hand a teller a note that says, "This is a stick!" And if we waive stick up, we might as well waive the criticism voiced by Harrison Ford to Anne Heche in the film "Six Days, Seven Nights" ("You're stuck up!").
As writers, our job is to train our critical eye and stick with ups that help fulfill our purpose.
Another unanimous keeper is Winston Churchill's memorable response to a junior officer who read one of Winston's memos.
In this example the issue is grammar, but who can forget Winston's witty use of an up.
After reading the memo, the junior officer thought it necessary to tell the Prime Minister that he had ended a sentence with a preposition.
"This," piped Sir Winston, "is exactly the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put.
" Finally, it was not my intent to stir up trouble for lovers of up.
Like any word my classmates choose, it needs to be needed.
But then, I am never going to round up all the needless ups, anyway, so instead of getting all riled up, I might as well lighten up, look up the nearest pub, and belly up to the bar-assuming the joint hasn't gone belly up.
Sounds like a good idea, as the editor is telling me it's time to shut up.
Lee B.
Woods ____________________________________________________________________ Reprinted with permission: Penn State University, The Dangling Modifier Vol.
14, Fall 2010 Edition 17 No.
1