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Matress Posted 20 years ago
Linguistics Studies

Write style

The subject is write style.

If you are writing an essay or a thesis and you use this sentence, "completely surrounded on all sides". I think it is a really log-winded phrase, isn't it. You think that add instant sophistication to your writing. They don't. It just make your writing pretentious and gassy.

What do you think about it?
  

Top answer

I agree. the sentence you have mentioned is, indeed long-winded. It would be much better to replace it with a simple, but elegant "hemmed in".

— Tearsofjoy

  • I agree.
  • the sentence you have mentioned is, indeed long-winded.
  • It would be much better to replace it with a simple, but elegant "hemmed in".
  • I think that writing clearly, wittily and concisely is much more important than using huge, clumsy phrases.
  • According to rumours, someone once assumed he was insulting Hemingway when he remarked, "He has never used a word that would send someone to the dictionary".
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5 Answers
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I agree. the sentence you have mentioned is, indeed long-winded. It would be much better to replace it with a simple, but elegant "hemmed in".

I think that writing clearly, wittily and concisely is much more important than using huge, clumsy phrases. According to rumours, someone once assumed he was insulting Hemingway when he remarked, "He has never used a word that would send someone to
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Tearsofjoy
I agree. the sentence you have mentioned is, indeed long-winded. It would be much better to replace it with a simple, but elegant "hemmed in".

I think that writing clearly, wittily and concisely is much more important than using huge, clumsy phrases. According to rumours, someone once assumed he was insulting Hemingway when he remarked, "He has nev
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Matress, it is true that "hemmed in" does not mean exactly the same as "surrounded". "hemmed in" implies a sense of constriction or suffocation, that does not exactly come under the definition of "surrounded".

However, "completely surrounded" or "surrounded on all sides" would certainly be better than "completely surrounded on all sides", which seems very clumsy to me.
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TearsofjoyMatress, it is true that "hemmed in" does not mean exactly the same as "surrounded". "hemmed in" implies a sense of constriction or suffocation, that does not exactly come under the definition of "surrounded".

However, "completely surrounded" or "surrounded on all sides" would certainly be better than "completely surrounded on all sides", which seems ve
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If you want to add emphasis, then one of the two phrases I wrote is permissible.
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