Friday 7 January 2011

The Aim is to Inform

When you write an article - or when you edit an article someone else has written - it's good to keep in mind that the reader may possibly not know everything that you know. For instance, I would bet that very few of the readers of the Sydney Morning Herald have a clue what 'the wash from a stocking of berley' means:
Ideally, you might want to insert a parenthetical explanation at that point. Failing that, at the moment a little further on when the stuffing of stockings comes up again, you might want to consider referring back to that earlier sentence and pointing out that this is the 'berley' you mentioned then:

(Incidentally, given that the subject under discussion in the article is 'worms', where do the wriggling little feet fit in exactly:



As I understand it, it is in the nature of worms to be legless (so to speak). The question is: without legs, can there be feet?)

2 comments:

  1. Th slow worm (Anguis fragilis) is a legless lizard. Does that help? No.

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  2. No. Unless it has feet, of course.

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