TOW# 2 - How To Say Nothing in 500 Words

How To Say Nothing in 500 Words by Paul Roberts is a humorous commentary on getting to the point but not being bland.  Roberts gives the hypothetical scenario of a college student being asked to write a 500 word essay and how this student may struggle in doing so because when a quantitative value is put on a piece of writing it seems endless. Roberts goes on to show how plain and simple this college student may write the piece and it would simply earn this student a poor grade. From here he goes on to explain how to avoid doing the obvious and thus getting the bad grades. Paul Roberts is just the person to be instructing on such a topic due to the fact that he has a career in writing books on English. Someone teaching someone else about words clearly knows a lot about them themselves. The author presents such information in a way that is directed at students who are given concise writing assignments. He exploits the several different ways one may g about writing these pieces and how the way in which you write it may land you in a place you don't want to be. He explains that these word constraining assignments tend to be bland topics but it is up to the writer to be able to develop a unique spin on such a common subject. By putting this information in the context of college writing it makes the audience clear and the message evident. Besides this level of commonality, Roberts also uses humor as an effective rhetorical device. He includes humorous examples and makes a joke out of these common mistakes so that one can easily point out their mistakes. He also uses hypothetical situations so that a reader can imagine themselves in the context and then learn from it. The purpose of this piece is to make students, or anyone who finds this applicable, more aware of what they are writing and how they are doing so. He mentions the types of words one should use but that they should be aware of connotations these words may have. He also explains that going for the long, wordy explanation isn't always best. Roberts wants to make writers aware of the way they go about writing and how in reality it may be ineffective. Personally I believe that the author effectively went about making his point. He hooked the audience with the previously mentioned rhetorical devices and then displayed his information in a direct manor. He is one who can be said to practice what he preaches because he got to the point of his essay but didn't over analyze it or spice it up too much.