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Old 9 July, 2009, 11:35 AM   #7 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChillingBreeze View Post
.. it's not just about usage of some words or phrases but also the sentence structure. ... I must admit that many Indian writers don't have that flow. The sentences are complicated and compound as if they think in Hindi and translate the same to English.
Yes, exactly! I work with a lot of Indian writers who have not "converted" yet and the writing is very wordy and almost stilted. The ratio of "connector words" to "content words" is just so high as to drive me crazy trying to read.

The model American writer is Ernest Hemingway. He is a famous American novelist who started as a newspaper writer. His writing is famous for using short sentences made up of short words, yet his writing is intensely evocative and compelling. Indian writers tend to manufacture sentences which are, as you say, "complicated and compound." It's very hard to read. It feels like they are making things overly complex on purpose!

I don't want to say that one style of writing is better than the other, but longer sentences are harder to read. Almost every writer I've worked with could improve the readability of their works by using shorter sentences.
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