Reaction of good English writing

The differences between William Zinsser' s advice and the rules created by our group turned my thought upside down. We agreed that using long words and nouns made the writing more academic and advanced. We would rather use 'currently' other than 'now', 'assistance' instead of 'help', which is just opposite of Zinsser's English writing principle of 'Brevity'.

I had been told our way through one and one English course and never doubted it. Even though I know that verbs play an important role in my mother tongue-- Chinese and I also mentioned it to my group. However, I did not notice that these two languages have the common--feeling life in the words. It is certainly the secret to attract readers.

Knowing what is good English writing and how is to be learned by imitation, I am confident to fellow Zinsser's idea to be myself, working in the vein of being a better writer.
--154 words

First Reaction to the story "Ghosts" by Edwidge Danticat

A detailed character description in Edwidge Danticat’s story,“Ghosts”

delights me. Pascal’s mother had a “stern face”with a disdain between her furrowed eyebrows while his father batted his eyes quickly and twitched his mouth involuntary; Pascal’s brother Jules had a “Breadfruit Head” and Tiye flashed his “bright-red gums as though he had been eating raw meat.” Danticat’s varied descriptions certainly were helpful to built vivid images--all these characters just come alive.

Even though Tiye and his crew angered me, the police officers angered me most. “They could all have switched places, and no one would notice.” How the police officers behaved made things even worse as they were in uniform. Actually, not only the policemen but also the lawyers, even the Supreme Court Judges, had their own dirty laundry for which we could see the whole political society was a disaster. .

I could not imagine any place worse than Bel Air; however, Bel Air was only a mid-level slum. People like Pascal had no choice to be a free man away from the Ghosts.

------179 words