How to polish your writing

Writing clearly and persuasively is perceived as a factor in business and social success. But writing well-structured English is not equivalent to communicating; nor is command of a large vocabulary. The key writing talent is constructing paragraphs and organizing them into a rational and persuasive whole. Thinking through what you want to say and to whom you want to say it can make the writing task easier. Make an outline first; then the parts can be written in any order. To structure a paragraph: Make a point, give a reason, given an example, repeat the point. An insert tells how to calculate the “fog index” of your writing, i.e., the reading grade-level needed to understand it.