Tag Archives: active voice

Good Writing from the New York Times

I just opened the New York Times for Saturday, April 9, and found an article about why the Russians weren’t able to take Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The writing is wonderful! Here’s an example:

But fighting for a major city like Kyiv is notoriously difficult, bloody and time-consuming. There are plenty of places to hide. Opposing forces can camp out in tall buildings. Rubble hides fighters as well as standing structures do.

There’s sophistication (the parallel construction in the first sentence) followed by short, punchy, active-voice sentences that let you see what happened in Kyiv. Opposing forces camp out. Rubble hides fighters.

You don’t need fancy words to impress readers. You do need interesting information and vivid examples! (Good writing helps too.)

Anti-war demonstration

                               Photo courtesy of GoToVan

 

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