Quotes from Constance Hale

The words must conjure the character of a place for readers who may never see it. This may seem like magic, or incomparable talent, but the inspiration starts with acute observation.

If all of this seems paradoxical, get used to it. Language is paradox.

Entrepreneurs are, by definition, active types, so how is it that so much business writing sags with the passive voice? ...If you are using the passive voice to evade responsibility, start owning up. If you are using it out of habit or laziness, or because you just didn't think about it, start thinking about it.

Phrases can build grace into sentences. Taut declarations lend clarity, but too many of them can start to sound like a Dick-and-Jane story. A strategically placed phrase can turn a staccato burst into a more lyrical sentence. This is what we mean by "turning a phrase"—using our command of language and our mastery of the rhythms of a sentence to affect style as well as substance

Why do so many of us, when we sit down to write, sound like word processors rather than wordsmiths? Why do we spew the slogans of the consumer culture we work for, rather than sounding like the bards we want to be?

True prose stylists carry on an impassioned lifelong love affair with words, banishing mediocre ones like so many uninteresting suitors, burnishing the good ones till they shimmer. Be infatuated, be seduced, be obsessed.

The technically incorrect It's me and That's me have been part of our DNA since as long as English has been recorded. There's something nice and low-key about them. Maybe we just crave a simple English equivalent of the French C'est moi .

Let's never forget that we need to speak and write like human beings with hearts, and not like the tin woodsman in The Wizard of Oz or Hal in the movie 2001 .

The art of sentence making comes down to experimentation, skill, and variety. Just because you can do the three-and-a-half-somersault tuck off the high board doesn't mean you must ditch the gorgeous swan dive. Good sentences can be short and muscular, and they can be long and graceful.

Be bold. Be fast. Get to the point right away. The best email communication is simple and clear.