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» 10-04-2008 | C S Lewis on "5 Tips For Clear Writing"...and talking!
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» 06-03-2008 | The Reason For God - Book Review by Tim Challies
» 03-03-2008 | The Reason For God "Doubting Your Doubts"
» 18-02-2008 | Tim Keller and The Reason For God
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28 Grace Applied
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31 Bible Reading for 2009
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26 Feeling Sorry For Yourself
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27 ESV Study Bible
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September, 2008
30 The Discipline of Treasuring Christ
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27 A Miracle of Grace
26 Keep Yourself Satisfied in God
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15 Your identity is not in your suffering
04 The Gospel Produces Hope
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14 Why is there fighting in Georgia?
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20 The Happiest Man In The World
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April, 2008
30 T4G Session 2
30 Singing at T4G
25 The Absolute Importance Of Doctrine
24 A Small Mind's Struggle For Retention
23 "Come and See" or "Go and Tell"?
22 Go On Being Filled With The Spirit!
18 America Trip (Final Part???)
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10 C S Lewis on "5 Tips For Clear Writing"...and talking!
March, 2008
26 The Work of The Spirit in Seattle
25 Taking the Plunge of Grace
23 Jesus Is Alive
22 From A Desert To A Glorious Kingdom
19 Tim Keller @ Google
12 Great Worship Resources Going Cheap!
08 Motivation to Worship
06 The Reason For God - Book Review by Tim Challies
06 7 Characteristics of an Ingrown Church
03 The Reason For God "Doubting Your Doubts"
February, 2008
18 Tim Keller and The Reason For God
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07 New Year's Resolutions?
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24 Favourite Christmas Films - the Result!!
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27 The Truth of Fantasy
23 Free Jonathan Edwards Classic
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22 A Nation in Mourning ... Why?
20 The Good Shepherd
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12 We’re Loving Merthyr!
08 Religion verses The Gospel
08 What Is a Gospel-Centered/Missional Church...
07 No Rest For The Wicked!
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29 Advertisers sure know how to grab our attention
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C S Lewis on "5 Tips For Clear Writing"...and talking!
10-04-2008 | SGCM Blog | Culture | Books »
For all you budding authors and teachers, I found this helpful...
C. S. Lewis’ advice to children on writing is good advice to pastors on preaching, or anybody on talking.
1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn't mean anything else.
2. Always prefer the clean direct word to the long, vague one. Don't implement promises, but keep them.
3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean "More people died" don't say "Mortality rose."
4. In writing, don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is "terrible," describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was "delightful"; make us say "delightful" when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers "Please, will you do my job for me."
5. Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
(Originally published in Letters to Children, letter from June 26, 1956. Quoted in Wayne Martindale and Jerry Root in The Quotable Lewis, p. 623.)
Gareth Lloyd






