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By JAMES J. KILPATRICK
Uahtnai Prr—
A sound theory of the writing art is to this effect: With minimal effort, good writers can become better writers. Let me pass along a few tricks of our trade.
Here is one device: Use the active voice and not the passive voice. Consider this sentence from The Wall Street Journal: “At Brown University this spring, a male sophomore was accused of stealing food from a campus eatery by a female student.”
Now, there is nothing grossly wrong with that sentence. It adequately conveys the intended throught. But notice how tight editing can improve it: “At Brown University this spring, a female student accused a male sophomore of stealing food from a campus eatery.” With a shift to the active voice, the sentence comes alive. The sentence no longer just lies there. It moves.
Another example, this one from a photo caption in the Charleston (S.C.) Poet and Courier. “The links at Wild Dunes is ranked among the top 100 golf courses in the world by Golf Magazine." Suppose we shift gears: “Golf Magazine ranks the links at Wild Dunes among the top 100 gold courses in the world." The revision eliminates the rough collision of “link is” (links are?) and it
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