Good Writing from the New York Times

Instant Quiz

Can you correct the error in the sentence below? Scroll to the bottom of today’s post for the answer.  

I asked for volunteers to decorate the meeting room, but noone was interested.

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I just opened the New York Times for Saturday, April 9, and found an article about why the Russians weren’t able to take Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The writing is wonderful! Here’s an example:

But fighting for a major city like Kyiv is notoriously difficult, bloody and time-consuming. There are plenty of places to hide. Opposing forces can camp out in tall buildings. Rubble hides fighters as well as standing structures do.

There’s sophistication (the parallel construction in the first sentence) followed by short, punchy, active-voice sentences that let you see what happened in Kyiv. Opposing forces camp out. Rubble hides fighters.

You don’t need fancy words to impress readers. You do need interesting information and vivid examples! (Good writing helps too.)

                               Photo courtesy of GoToVan

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Instant Quiz ANSWER

The correct spelling is no one.

I asked for volunteers to decorate the meeting room, but no one was interested.

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