Have you ever read and story, paper, or article that you seem to have read many times

over? The article “How to Say

nothing in 500 words” is an essay by Professor Paul Roberts (1917-1967) that explains how to be a better writer and
hook readers into what the writer is saying.

To begin the author writes an essay for a class in the form of how the many people write; with obvious content
and writing what people want to hear. The author, Paul Roberts, begins with writing how most students begin a paper,
wanting to put it off and dreading a 500 words minimum. The paper is then treaded along writing what everyone else
has written, with no excellent detail and counting every word. Then goes on to give major suggestions to make writing
and reading what has been written more interesting.

Avoiding obvious content is the first and major point. This means don’t write about what everyone has heard
before because the rest of the writers have already though of that idea also. Each writer should have the own distinctive
reason why they have a particular feeling towards that subject. To steam off of avoiding obvious content it is also
suggested to take the unusual side of the argument. Hearing the other perspective is also writing something most
readers haven not read, keeping the reader interested in what is being said.

Roberts writes to avoid use of obvious padding. Avoid filler content to try to add to the word count. When
sentences can be written in a few words it shouldn’t be turned into a paragraph to make a word minimum, it is more
than likely repetitive and becomes less exciting to read. That just because a sentence can be said in forty-five words
instead of seven does not mean that is the route that should be taken. Roberts says that more real content should be
found and written about to make that minimum, really get to know the subject that is being written.

The writer continues to say “call a fool a fool” leave out this “in my opinions” and “I believes”. Say beliefs with
certainty it gets the points across better and makes one a stronger writer. Roberts also says to use euphemism to make
writing and reading more exciting. A reader would reader would rather read a cliché such as “Kicked the bucket” over
the man died. It causes the reading more colorful and enjoyable to read.

Avoiding pat expressions is also told by Roberts while they will happen in writing it is recommended to use them
as few and far between as possible. Roberts included examples of pat expressions such as; “took the easy way out”,
“parted the best of friends”, “from where I sit”, and “to the ends of the earth”. Though these expressions at one point
were meaningful and better described a situation, now the words are more clue-like and have lost their intensity. The
other downside to pat expressions due to lack of clarity is they become more padding, without real meaning behind the
phrases they become “padding” which is Roberts also advises against.

To make the reading more intriguing Roberts recommends using “colorful words”. These are words to grab the
reader’s attention and keep them wanting to read more. Colorful words are words with a preexisting association with
them. The author chose the example “mother” the majority of people find a pleasant connection with the word mother.
Therefore, when trying to describe a close relationship saying “she was like a mother to me” shows a close, nurturing,
and caring relationship for most. While some colored words can have a very positive effect within the writing, there are
also negative colored words that can do the same in when describing less then pleasant situations. Roberts uses the
word “mother-in-law” as a model to negate what is being written. There are also intellectual colorful words which have
a very literal meaning but have their own meaning to each reader. Examples of intellectually colorful words given by
Roberts include; communist, schoolteacher, liberal, socialist, radical, and salesman. Color words are a way to greatly
enhance what the writer is writing.

The author also suggests avoiding use of colorless words. These words are quite literally words that have no color
they are very broad and generalized. Roberts uses the words such as; attitudes, cases, nice and circumstances that
should be avoided in writing.

“How to say nothing in 500 words” is an article that gives great suggestions on how to become a better writer.
There are not only ways to cut out unnecessary information but ways to enhance what is already written. Many
students, speakers, and writers would benefit from reading this.
9 definitive tips for effective writing:

1. Avoid the obvious content.“Say the assignment is college football. Say that you’ve decided to be
against it. Begin by putting down the arguments that come to your mind. Now when you write your
paper, make sure that you don’ t use any of the material on this list. If these are the points that leap
to your mind, they will leap to everyone else’s too. Be against college football for some reason or
reasons of your own. If they are keen and perceptive ones, that’s splendid. But even if they are
trivial or foolish or indefensible, you are still ahead so long as they are not everybody else’s reasons
too.”
2. Take the less usual side. “One rather simple way of getting into your paper is to take the side of the
argument that most of the citizens will want to avoid. They are intellectual exercises, and it is
legitimate to argue now one way and now another, as debaters do in similar circumstances. Always
take the side that looks to you hardest, least defensible. It will almost always turn out to be easier to
write interestingly on that side.”
3. Slip out of abstraction. “Look at the work of any professional writer and notice how constantly he
is moving from the generality, the abstract statement, to the concrete example, the facts and figures,
the illustrations. For most the soundest advice is to be seeking always for the picture, to be always
turning general remarks into seeable examples. Don’t say, “Sororities teach girls the social graces.”
Say, “Sorority life teaches a girl how to carry on a conversation while pouring tea, without sloshing
the tea into the saucer.”
4. Get rid of obvious padding. “Instead of stuffing your sentences with straw, you must try steadily to
get rid of the padding, to make your sentences lean and tough… You dig up more real content.
Instead of taking a couple of obvious points off the surface of the topic and then circling warily
around them for six paragraphs, you work in and explore, figure out the details. You illustrate.”
5. Call a fool a fool. “If he was a fool, call him a fool. Hedging the thing about with “in-my-
opinion’s” and “it-seems-to-me’s” and “as-I-see-it’s” and “at-least-from-my-point-of-view’s” gains
you nothing. Delete these phrases whenever they creep into your paper. Decide what you want to
say and say it as vigorously as possible, without apology and in plain words. Writing in the modern
world, you cannot altogether avoid modern jargon. But you can do much if you will mount guard
against those roundabout phrases, those echoing polysyllables that tend to slip into your writing to
rob it of its crispness and force.”
6. Beware of Pat Expressions. “Other things being equal, avoid phrases like “other things being
equal.” Those sentences that come to you whole, or in two or three doughy lumps, are sure to be bad
sentences. They are no creation of yours but pieces of common thought floating in the community
soup… No writer avoids them altogether, but good writers avoid them more often than poor
writers.”
7. Colorful Words. “Some words are what we call “colorful.” By this we mean that they are
calculated to produce a picture or induce an emotion. They are dressy instead of plain, specific
instead of general, loud instead of soft. Thus, in place of “Her heart beat,” we may write, “her heart
pounded, throbbed, fluttered, danced.” Instead of “He sat in his chair,” we may say, “helounged,
sprawled, coiled.”
8. Colored Words.. “When we hear a word, we hear with it an echo of all the situations in which we
have heard it before. The word mother, for example, has, for most people, agreeable associations.
When you hear mother you probably think of home, safety, love, food, and various other pleasant
things..The question of whether to use loaded words or not depends on what is being written.”
9. Colorless Words. “A pet example is nice, a word we would find it hard to dispense with in casual
conversation but which is no longer capable of adding much to a description. Colorless words are
those of such general meaning that in a particular sentence they mean nothing…Slang adjectives
like cool (”That’s real cool”) tend to explode all over the language. They are applied to everything,
lose their original force, and quickly die.”
Avoid The Obvious Content
don't think about the arguments that automatically come to mind
make reason unique
can be keen, perceptive, foolish, indefensible
As long as no one has same ideas
Sometimes it is good to sum up and dispose of all the common idea
might indicate to the reader that you will have new, unique ideas

Take The Less Usual Side

Take the side of the argument that people might want to avoid
Forces yourself to be less one-sided
Always take topic that is harder and most indefensible because it might be more intersting

Slip out of Abstraction

Show don't tell
Be specific about topic, don't be general
seek for a picture
turn general statements into seeable images

Get rid of obvious padding

instead of stuffing sentences with straw (useless phrases and words), try to get rid of the padding and make
sentences lean and tough
Do not say in 12 words what you can say in 5 words
Avoid repitition
Don't just take a couple of obvious points off the surface and then write 6 paragraphs
work in and explore--figure out details

Call a fool a fool

Get rid of phrases like: "in my opinion", "it seems to me", " at least from my point of view" etc.
Be direct with what you want to say w/o apology and in plain words

Euphamism
operate in topics that are touchy or taboo

DON'T SUGAR COAT

Euphemism
the tendancy to call a spade "a certain garden implement" or women's underwear "unmentionables"

Beware of Pat expressions

Sentences that come to you whole or in 2 or 3 limps, are usually bad sentences
they are hard, often impossible to avoid, come too easily to be noticed, good writers avoid them more
often then poor writers
only use them when you possibly cannot think of anything else

Colorful, colored, and colorless words

Colorful: they are calculated to produce a picture or induce emotion
Colored: loaded w/ associations, good or bad
Colorless: those of such general meaning that in a particular sentence they mean nothing

Weak Diction
weak: lacking....?

Cliche Diction
Cliche: a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.