Unity in Writing

Continue reading “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser. It’s great to learn about unity in writing.

William talks about 1. unity of pronoun – if you write in first person, then stick to it, do not switch to third person arbitrarily; 2. unity of tense, make sure the you write in a certain tense consistently throughout the essay; 3. unity of mood or tones, go with a casual voice or serious tone? Don’t mix them.

William gives a great example: if you write about an awesome trip you had with a friend, think about: what pronoun and tense you are going to use, what style it’s going to be, what attitude you are going to take toward the material, how much you want to cover and what one point you want to make.