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Using Descriptive Nouns
Choosing Action Verbs
Analogy, Simile, and Metaphor as Descriptions
Establishing Your Objective

Establishing Your Objective by Pamela Rice Hahn

All the fancy writing tricks in the world won't help if you don't have an established objective for your writing. To establish your objective, try to determine what the main point is that you're hoping to get across. If you're writing nonfiction, this should be relatively obvious. Even if you're writing fiction, you still need to have an objective. Even if that objective is merely to entertain, every word in your passage should contribute to that goal.

Many beginning writers get caught up in trying to “sound good.” Try to avoid this pitfall. The following list contains many clichéd and hackneyed phrases that tend to get used by beginners:

<tgroup cols="2"> <colspec align="left" colname="col1" colnum="1" colsep="0" colwidth="50%"/> <colspec align="left" colname="co2" colnum="2" colsep="0" colwidth="50%"/> <thead> <tr> <td><p>Bad Choices</p></td> <td><p>Good Choices</p></td> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td><p>because of the fact that</p></td> <td><p>since / because</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>for the period of</p></td> <td><p>for</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>in many cases</p></td> <td><p>often</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>in many instances</p></td> <td><p>sometimes</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>in the nature of</p></td> <td><p>like</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>the fact that he had not succeeded</p></td> <td><p>his failure</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table>  <div id="pagination"><ul><li class="prev"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/improve-your-writing/how-to-write-what-you-mean/analogy-simile-and-metaphor-as-descriptions.htm" title="Analogy, Simile, and Metaphor as Descriptions">Analogy, Simile, and Metaphor as 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Impression</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/improve-your-writing/how-to-write-what-you-mean/beyond-using-a-spellchecker.htm">Beyond Using a Spellchecker</a></li> </ul><ul class="col2"><li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/improve-your-writing/how-to-write-what-you-mean/using-descriptive-nouns.htm">Using Descriptive Nouns</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/improve-your-writing/how-to-write-what-you-mean/choosing-action-verbs.htm">Choosing Action Verbs</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/improve-your-writing/how-to-write-what-you-mean/analogy-simile-and-metaphor-as-descriptions.htm">Analogy, Simile, and Metaphor as Descriptions</a></li> <li class="btO">Establishing Your Objective</li> </ul></ul></div> </div> <script>if(zSbL<1)zSbL=3;zSB(2);zSbL=0</script> </div> <div id="widgets"><script type="text/javascript">if(z336>0){w('<div id="adB">'+ap[0]+at[4]+as[0]);adunit('','','about.com',ch,gs,336,280,'1','bb',3);w('</div>')}if(z155>0){w('<div 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