Is This Clear to You?
Here’s a sentence for you:
"Fesperman is the closest thing America has to Le Carré, a writer of great elegance and sophistication...."
Maybe the sentence is clear to you—but it sure wasn’t to us. We couldn’t tell which person (Fesperman or le Carré) was described as the “writer of great elegance…”
Of course it was clear to the person who wrote it (and apparently to whoever edited or proofed it). But that can be part of the problem—it’s so clear to them that they fail to see the possible ambiguity.
Why are we showing you the sentence? Not to invite you to share a snigger about someone else’s poor writing. The fact is that the writer was a professional, an author of successful novels, and we found the sentence in a respected national magazine. The message here is that if it can happen to someone like that (and to the editors and proofers who let it slip through), it can surely happen to any of us.
So eternal vigilance is the price we pay for clear writing. And no matter how diligent we are, we will--all of us--slip up occasionally. Let's do our best to avoid slips, but forgive each other when they do happen.
"Fesperman is the closest thing America has to Le Carré, a writer of great elegance and sophistication...."
Maybe the sentence is clear to you—but it sure wasn’t to us. We couldn’t tell which person (Fesperman or le Carré) was described as the “writer of great elegance…”
Of course it was clear to the person who wrote it (and apparently to whoever edited or proofed it). But that can be part of the problem—it’s so clear to them that they fail to see the possible ambiguity.
Why are we showing you the sentence? Not to invite you to share a snigger about someone else’s poor writing. The fact is that the writer was a professional, an author of successful novels, and we found the sentence in a respected national magazine. The message here is that if it can happen to someone like that (and to the editors and proofers who let it slip through), it can surely happen to any of us.
So eternal vigilance is the price we pay for clear writing. And no matter how diligent we are, we will--all of us--slip up occasionally. Let's do our best to avoid slips, but forgive each other when they do happen.
I only be came confused after reading your concern. Had there been a comma after is, thus rendering "the closest thing... has to LeCarre', I would have read it as referring to Fesperman as a writer of great eloquence, etc. Without the comma I felt it referred to LeCarre'. However if you are aware that Lecarre' is a European writer the meaning is also clarified. But I do see where confusion might reign.
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Dennis--Good point. Most sentences are clear enough, some few are clumsy and confusing, and then there's the gray area in between, wherein live those sentences that seem perfectly clear to the writer, but may not be to the reader. This is the zone of greatest danger. We have to remember that old maxim "It isn't enough to write so you'll be understood--you must write so you can not be misunderstood."
Thanks for the comment.
Dave
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