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I write to inform and share my knowledge with others. Yet it would seem people interpret what I wrote, which confuses me greatly. If I know and understand what I wrote, why does the reader interpret what they thought I wrote? I also write to give knowledge and receive knowledge back. That's how I learn. Confused? Paul
You've posted several messages along the same lines and each time someone has told you the same thing - readers always interpret what they read. It's nothing to do with your writing. It's what readers do.
If you write an incredibly simple sentence such as "My car is red", there will be little interpretation other than "The writer has a car. That car is red". The longer and more convoluted the sentence, the more interpretation will happen, whether you like it or not. If you're writing a scientific manual full of nothing but scientifically stated facts, then great - you will impart knowledge and the reader will get that knowledge. If you write prose, then accept interpretation. There is nothing you can do about it. I have no idea what you're confused about.
So it is better to write short sentences than long sentences? If one puts a comma after a word could that be like defining a question? I use Grammarly as my editor, will that help understand the piece better? Thank you for your patience? Paul
When I write I put much emphasis on thinking the other person might misunderstand what I meant. I'm learning to keep the sentences short and simple. But I see people putting brackets in the middle of the sentence, as an after thought, doing the sentence, which I use to do. I also edit the piece for a better understanding. Should the writer write about what he knows without being interpreted by the reader? Why should any reader morph a word that has an ambiguous meaning, when there are synonyms? With Grammarly you have a built in dictionary spell checker thesaurus. Know your audience comes to mind. Thank you for your patience. Paul
I'll be honest - my patience is being tested to its limits here. I have marked six words in red above. We keep coming back to this point - readers interpret. Regardless of what you write, readers interpret. Regardless of how you write, readers interpret.Quote:
Originally Posted by pljames
Regardless of who is writing, readers interpret. If you don't like that fact, I suggest you stop writing.
Your post sounds like barely-disguised advert for Grammarly - I don't know what it is and I don't use it.
The question "Why should any reader morph a word that has an ambiguous meaning, when there are synonyms?" doesn't actually make any sense. The whole point of an ambiguous word is that it has more than one meaning - it is up to the reader to work out (interpret), from the context, which meaning is required.