Thread. Note especially the maxim: ‘The adverb is almost always a sign that you chose the wrong verb.’ He says this, with a straight face, using the adverbs ‘almost’ and ‘always’.
The fault is not the tweeter’s but Zinsser’s. It’s a dreadful book full of bad advice. Bin it.
William Zinsser taught writing at Yale, then wrote the book that has fixed more bad writing than every English class combined.
Here are 10 cuts from "On Writing Well" that instantly make your writing twice as strong.
1) Delete every word doing no work