Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question

[George K]

I was watching The Shield on HULU, and before each episode comes the disclaimer:

"The following is intended only for mature audiences."

Wouldn't it be better to say "The following is intended for mature audiences only?"

Or even "The following is intended for mature audiences."

[Aqua Letifer]

@George-K said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

Or even "The following is intended for mature audiences."

"Only" is not only unnecessary, it's also disingenuous. Only implies "and no one/nothing else." But what they really mean is, "your kids might ask you uncomfortable questions if you let them watch this, so if that happens, that's on you." They don't actually mean "being 18 or older is an absolute requirement of watching this."

[George K]

@Aqua-Letifer thank you.

Using fewer words is always better to convey an idea. Simple is good.

Sort of like, never use a big word when a diminutive one will do...

[Aqua Letifer]

@George-K said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

@Aqua-Letifer thank you.

Using fewer words is always better to convey an idea. Simple is good.

Sort of like, never use a big word when a diminutive one will do...

Being verbose is a form of lying. What people do when they lie is get nervous, because they're not being truthful, they know it, and they're on some level scared of being found out. So they really wanna convince ya. Hence the talking too much.

Deliberately being wordy works the same: I perceive myself as inadequate, and I don't want you to think that, so here, let me throw what I think is some smart stuff at you to make the problem go away. See? I'm smart.

[Copper]

OK

[89th]

@George-K said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

Using fewer words is always better to convey an idea. Simple is good.

Agreed, I concur, you're right.

[Aqua Letifer]

@89th said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

@George-K said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

Using fewer words is always better to convey an idea. Simple is good.

Agreed, I concur, you're right.

I also agree as well too in addition plus.

[George K]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

in addition plus.

Now, see what you did there?

You got me thinking about starting a sentence with "plus." It's always struck me as being awkward.

I was taught that starting a sentence with "and" was bad, but this transcends it is worse.

[Aqua Letifer]

@George-K said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

@Aqua-Letifer said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

in addition plus.

Now, see what you did there?

You got me thinking about starting a sentence with "plus." It's always struck me as being awkward.

I was taught that starting a sentence with "and" was bad

Yeah, it depends. I'd say you're right as a rough guideline.

It's awkward, you're right about that. It absolutely breaks up the flow of your writing, but sometimes that's what you want. Starting a sentence with a conjunction is sometimes considered a kind of polysyndeton: using a grammatically unnecessary conjunction to achieve some kind of emphasis.

Faulkner was a master of this:

It kept on making it and I couldn't tell if I was crying or not, and T. P. fell down on top of me, laughing, and it kept on making the sound and Quentin kicked T. P. and Caddy put her arms around me, and her shining veil, and I couldn't smell trees anymore and I began to cry.

Anyway, it's like guitar riffs: rests breathe life into them. With writing, especially longer stuff, it's important to break up your rhythm, but in deliberate ways that add emphasis where you want to do so. Starting with a conjunction is a potential tool in the toolbox, but like all tools, you gotta know when to use it and when not to.

[89th]

@George-K said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

And I was taught that starting a sentence with "and" was bad, but this transcends it is worse.

FIFY

[George K]

@89th said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

And I was taught that starting a sentence with "and" was bad, but this transcends it is worse.

FIFY

[Klaus]

@George-K said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

You got me thinking about starting a sentence with "plus." It's always struck me as being awkward.

It's completely fine to start a sentence with "plus". In fact, it's even preferable to having it in the middle, where it can cause ambiguities.

[George K]

@Klaus said in Hey, Aqua! Another writing style question:

It's completely fine to start a sentence with "plus". In fact, it's even preferable to having it in the middle, where it can cause ambiguities.

Yeah, but it's Polish. So there's that.