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Every copywriter should study what Hemingway did NOT do, the things he avoided.

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For example, he avoided: 

Adverbs

Adverbs give The Reader more information:

  • "He carefully held the baby."

  • "She quickly ran from the scene."

  • "They cared for each other dearly."

But too many will weaken verbs and degrade otherwise strong, bold writing. 

Instead, replace adverbs with more descriptive, definitive verbs:

  • "He cradled the baby."

  • "She sprinted from the scene."

  • "They loved each other."

Ah. Better. Onward.

Passive voice:

This sentence is in the passive voice: "The car was driven by Jim."

You can tell because the subject (Jim) is at the end of the sentence, which shifts the focus of the sentence to its object (the car).

This sentence is in the active voice: "Jim drove the car."

You can tell because Jim, the subject, is doing the action.

Passive voice is, technically, grammatically correct. But it almost always makes your writing wordy and hard to read, awkward. Active voice sounds more confident.

Moving on. 

Fancy words:

“Fancy” words are usually big. 

And a big word will never impress The Reader as much as a big idea, clearly expressed. 

Good copy, first and foremost, is understood.

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Hey there, thanks for reading. :)
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Eddie Shleyner 
VeryGoodCopy, founder
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