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# Lee Daniel Crocker/Writing style

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Random notes on English usage inspired by Wiki.

## Linguistic fluff

### "Very"

I rarely use the word "very", because it takes up space and provides little information. For example, if that sentence had said "...very little information.", what would it express that wasn't already expressed as it is? It is also a way to sneak in personal bias and value judgment: to say that something is "very large", for example, is to say that it is larger, in the author's opinion, than what he would expect the reader to think of as merely "large".

### "Of course"

The Wikipedia policy page contains this paragraph:

> Never use the phrase 'of course' in an article. 'Of course' assumes the reader shares the author's context and perspetive and reaches the same obvious and intuitive conclusions. This is not always the case. Do not assume what the reader knows. Additionally, 'of course' is authoritarian and brooks no dissent, and is used when one wants to tell and assert rather than show and explain. This is not the attitude we should aim for in Wikipedia.

While I generally agree, I think one particular instance in which I used the phrase (on the computer character page) works well:

> For example, the Hebrew letter "Aleph" is often used by mathematicians to denote certain kinds of infinity?, and of course for ordinary Hebrew text.

In this case, just using "and" would imply that the two phrases thus joined are equal or parallel when they are not. The first is a special use by a limited set of people, and the last is the common everyday use. The "of course" emphasizes this and adds clarity I think. "Aleph has special use X, and use Y (which is the ordinary use I assume you already know about)". You might argue that the sentence could be reworded. First, I stand by the use of passive voice here because the real subject of the sentence is the letter--a thing being used by two users, not the users. Rewording to express the non-parallel nature of the joined clause and still be in passive voice is awkward and puts the letter in the middle: "In addition to its normal use in Hebrew text, the letter "Aleph" is used by mathematicians..." I think the way the sentence is written, "of course" and all, is best.

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Last edited March 27, 2001 7:31 pm (diff)
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