Read carefully the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
To write or even
to speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable rules;
there is only the general principle that concrete words are better than
abstract ones, and that the shortest way of saying anything is always the best.
Mere correctness is no guarantee whatever of good writing. A sentence like ‘an
enjoyable time was had by all present’ is perfectly correct English and so is
the unintelligible mess of words on an income-tax return. Whoever writes English
is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence. He is
struggling against vagueness, against obscurity, against the lure of the
decorative adjective, against the encroachment of Latin and Greek, and above
all, against the worn out phrases and dead metaphors with which the language is
clattered up. In speaking, these dangers are more easily avoided, but spoken
English differs from written English more sharply than in the case in most
languages.
Questions:
1. Why is the
writing or speaking of English an art and not a science?
2. What is the
general principle to follow in writing or speaking English?
3. Does mere
correctness make good writing?
4. What does the
writer of English struggle for?
5. What is the
advantage of spoken English over written English?
6. What is the
best way of saying anything?
