Learning by Doing: Editing Sentences

At some points in your writing, you may want to say things plainly. For example, if you are dealing with a complex technical subject, but writing for a general audience, you might want to break the complex subject matter into small parts that any reader could understand. At other times, you may want to add detail to make sentences more vivid for the reader.

Wired is a magazine about science and technology that is marketed to a general audience. This means that Wired’s readers shouldn’t need a strong science background to understand their articles. Read the introduction to the interview “Public or Private: The Fight Over the Future of Water,” which tackles complicated subjects, and then respond to the following prompts.

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