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Accentuate the Positive
By Elizabeth Vaughan | August 31, 2008
There’s nothing like a political campaign to provide vivid examples of what works and doesn’t work in writing. Although some of the best speeches sound casual and conversational, you can bet that someone — whether it’s the candidate, a bevy of speechwriters, or a combination of these — perspired over each and every word to make sure it would achieve maximum effect on the audience. Whether we agree with the candidates’ positions or not, we can learn a lot by examining their speeches.
One subtle technique that’s easy to implement in your writing is the use of positive and negative phrases. As William Safire notes in his book How Not to Write:
“Whenever a speaker wants to cozy up to an audience, he urges them warmly to remember; when he wants to waggle his finger and annoy his audience, as some hellfire preachers and losing politicians do, he warns them sternly not to forget. The positive style persuades; the negative style turns off.”
While this is a simple concept, it’s amazing how many writers weaken their own prose by using negative phrases where they don’t belong. Negative verbs come across as nagging and whiny, whereas positive ones inspire action. Compare the persuasive effect of a sign that says “Don’t Litter” to that of one that says “Keep America Beautiful.” Nancy Reagan wisely encouraged kids to “just say no” rather than scolding them with “don’t take drugs.” The mind naturally responds better to “yes” than to “no.” Of course, if the goal really is to weaken verbs, by all means, use negative constructions. Politicians know that “I don’t recall” has a softer ring to it than “I forgot.”
Similarly, making adjectives negative robs them of their power and imparts a weary tone. We worry more about a phenomenon that is “prevalent” than one that’s “not uncommon.” There’s a reason why that movie poster describes the film as “Action-packed!” rather than “Not dull!” People don’t rush out to see a not-dull film, and they’re unlikely to be inspired by negative constructions in other types of writing, either.
Take a look at your writing and see where negative constructions might be making it flabby. Is your writing lively and impactful…or just not uninteresting?
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