"Your writing is pretty good"

[outofdejavu]

Dear All:

I am curious about the semantics of the following sentence.

Your writing is pretty good.

I have merely one sentence. (Someone asked this sentence on another forum.)
Without the surrounding sentences, would this sentence be ambiguous?
I think that writing might refer to two things: first, the skill of writing; second, a piece of writing, namely, an essay or a composition.

Do I hit the nail on the head? Or am I totally wrong?

I would like to have native English speakers' comments.


Best Regards

[bhaisahab]

Dear All:

I am curious about the semantics of the following sentence.

Your writing is pretty good.

I have merely one sentence. (Someone asked this sentence on another forum.)
Without the surrounding sentences, would this sentence be ambiguous?
I think that writing might refer to two things: first, the skill of writing; second, a piece of writing, namely, an essay or a composition.

Do I hit the nail on the head? Or am I totally wrong?

I would like to have native English speakers' comments.


Best Regards

It really depends on context, but 'Your writing is pretty good' could refer to your style of writing, whereas 'what you have written here is pretty good' refers to a specific piece of writing.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Dear All:

I am curious about the semantics of the following sentence.

Your writing is pretty good.

I have merely one sentence. (Someone asked this sentence on another forum.)
Without the surrounding sentences, would this sentence be ambiguous?

No. There's nothing ambiguous about it. It's a clear statement. It can only mean one thing.

I think that writing might refer to two things: first, the skill of writing; second, a piece of writing, namely, an essay or a composition.

Do I hit the nail on the head? Or am I totally wrong?

You're totally wrong.

I would like to have native English speakers' comments.

"Your writing is pretty good" refers to the skill of the writer. "Your essay is pretty good" refers to the quality of the essay.

Best Regards

[I edit copy and have tutored college writing. My writing is pretty bad.]

[Speedwell]

The only exception I can think of is if the person really means, "Your handwriting is pretty good". But in that case they should actually use "handwriting."