Ask HN: How to learn to clearly express your thoughts

Re:Ask HN: How to learn to clearly express your thoughts by thescribbblr on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @02:11PM (#21390304)

I had similar problem, I had to leave two jobs due to this problem as i was not able to express my thoughts clearly. One of my friend, who was doing MBA from a well-known University in India, suggested me to write Blog posts. And also suggested to share them in the friend circle. So i did the same. Soon, my friends started to comment on the posts, this helped me to learn about how to convey my thoughts in simpler way to anybody. Also i learnt that, a simple sentence works best rather than complicating it with selecting a range of words to say a simple thing to someone.

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Re:Ask HN: How to learn to clearly express your thoughts by eurvin on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @06:07PM (#21392626)

I can add to this that some languages have an active and passive voice to express oneself. Clear thoughts are expressed and experienced by the listener/reader by using an active voice.

Example: I have written a comment on HN and I have been feeling good ever since. (passive) vs. I wrote a comment on HN and I feel good ever since. (active.)

The active sentence is both clean and concise.

Any English native speakers please chime in with better examples. (:

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Re:Ask HN: How to learn to clearly express your thoughts by dougb5 on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @11:40PM (#21394490)

You're right that the second sentence is simpler, but both of the sentences are in the active voice. (The difference between the two is in verb tense: the first sentence is in "present perfect" tense and the second sentence is in "simple present" tense. The first sentence places more emphasis on the writing as a completed action than the second sentence.)

A better example of the passive voice here is "A comment on HN was written by me".

Here's a guide to the difference between passive and active voice: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/passive-voice/

...and a guide to verb tenses: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/introduction-to-verb-t...

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Re:Ask HN: How to learn to clearly express your thoughts by eurvin on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @03:46AM (#21395396)

Thanks! I learned a lot from those links. (:

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