Monday, February 25, 2013
Writer Needs an Ear for Words
Pondering writing the other day, I took down my Best of Sydney J. Harris to look through Harris's thoughtful ruminations on the arts.
Recalling Mark Twain's annoyed observation that "the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug," Harris goes on:
"Most persons--and this includes aspiring writers--simply fail to recognize that there are very few true synonyms in the language, no matter what the dictionary may insist....
"The right word is as important to the writer as the right note to the composer or the right line to the painter....A writer needs an "ear" as much as a musician does.
"And without this ear, he is lost and groping in a forest of words, where all the trees look much alike."
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auto spell seems to challenge writers, who often times, peck out an essay, run the thing through spell check, and then believe it to be perfectly okay to publish. then, all of a sudden, you re-read your essay a few days later only to stumble upon the "to" headed snake, slithered side "two" side, "too" escape the heat.
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