Plain English Pt. 3: The Secret Behind Every Sentence You've Never Forgotten

Welcome to the finale of our 3-part series on Plain English, and here’s a quick recap of what we’ve covered so far:

In week 1, we covered the basics of how to construct a compelling sentence.

In week 2, we taught you how to write paragraphs that communicate with style & clarity.

And this week, we’ll add some spice to your writing so that they stick with your readers for weeks. This is where we’ll move from communication to rhetoric.

0: What is rhetoric?

Think about a writer you admire.

There’s a good chance that you fell in love with their voice. For example, right now I’m obsessed with a book titled: The Life of Samuel Johnson.

For context, Johnson was one witty talker, and some critics have said that the only writer who could rival Johnson’s turns of phrase was Oscar Wilde. And yes, he is the one behind memorable lines like:

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”

and

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

These lines are impressive because they do two things at once: they sound effortless and succinct. Whereas when we sit down to write, the succinct sentences are not effortless, and the effortless sentences are not succinct.

And after banging our heads against the wall again and again, perhaps we’ll finally accept that writing that sounds effortless actually takes serious work.

Louis Menand writes in a book review in The New Yorker:

‘Writers are not mere copyists of language; they are polishers, embellishers, perfecters. They spend hours getting the timing right—so that what they write sounds completely unrehearsed.’

This is the essence of rhetoric: engineering perfect turns of phrase so that they sound completely natural on the page. And after reading today’s post, you’ll soon see that all the memorable sentences are not products of fits of genius, but results of following some predictable patterns of rhetoric. Let’s begin with:

1: The Rule of 3