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"Edit with your ears as well as your eyes," I tell my students. "Sometimes you'll hear problems that you don't see."
About 80 years ago, British author A. P. Herbert offered similar advice, though far more eloquently. In one of his humorous letters to young Bobby (originally published in the magazine Punch), Herbert included this "note on elegance":
I maintain--don't fidget, Bobby!--that words are made to be spoken; and therefore the perfect word must have music as well as meaning. It is not always possible, I know, to secure both qualities; but that should be our aim and criterion. A word which cannot be spoken does not deserve to exist; indeed, it does not truly exist. So, of two words which convey the same thought the one which is easier to say must be preferred; and a word (however clearly understood) which it is difficult or impossible to read aloud without stuttering, coughing, and spitting should be rejected, if there is any speakable alternative.* Sometimes, I know, as in the "scientific" and industrial worlds, there is no speakable alternative; but, as a rule, with a little thought we can find one. At all events, we should make the attempt.
Therefore, Bobby, cultivate an ear for words; listen to your words and sentences as you write them, and test them "for sound" as well as for sense. Many Englishmen--and very many Americans--seem to have no ear for words at all: for they cover vast areas with unpronounceable words and unreadable sentences. We may understand them--as we may understand an algebraic equation; but words should be something better than an algebraic equation, a gardener's label, a doctor's prescription or a drawing on the wall.
* Consider, for example, "nonchalantly,' "interdenominational," "vernacularization," "poignant," "valetudinarianizing," "debureaucratization," "quotaing," and the odd new verb "to ensemble."
(A.P. Herbert, What a Word! Methuen, 1935)
We may question one or two of Herbert's examples and marvel at the abundance of semicolons, but Bobby, I think his basic precept still rings true: "Listen to your words and sentences as you write them, and test them for sound as well as for sense."
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