Everything you learned about writing English is wrong. But that’s OK.
Most of the people who attend my Clear Writing classes here in Brussels come from all across Europe. English is often their second, third or even fourth language. As you can imagine, this cultural diversity leads to some fascinating discussions about language. One of the most common is “what is good English?”
In my class, I teach the essential importance of clarity and brevity. I tell people to favour short, simple words and sentences over long, complicated ones. However, anyone who has learned English as a foreign language is taught the exact opposite. This can be very confusing, but the reasoning is clear.
To have a full command of a language you must be able to draw from a deep well of vocabulary, and master the most complex and sophisticated sentence structures. As a student of the English language, you spend years being rewarded for using long and unusual words with complex grammar. This is how you learn, this is how you become fluent.
The same is true for native English speakers of course. My wife is a primary school teacher. She encourages her children to come up with “wow words” that stretch and grow their vocabularies.
Then I come along and ruin everything. The fact is that while all of this is essential when learning English, when it comes to applying it in the world of work, this approach can hold you back. People have neither the time nor the desire to read long, complicated text. They want you to get on with it, get to the point, and then stop.
That is not for one moment to say that the way students are taught English is wrong. You need to learn the rules before you can choose to ignore them. You need to learn the long words before you can fully appreciate the power and beauty of the short ones. What is important is that you are able to recognise which style is appropriate and conciously choose whether or not to use it.
So I’m glad that primary school teachers and English teachers around the world will continue to teach the way they do. And I will continue to encourage people to ignore them.
