the
university writing center
"because
writers need readers"
| The Known-New Contract | |
| Try to keep the stress on the new information in the sentence. In practice, this usually means that known information should fall at the beginning, new information at the end, of sentences. Adhering to the "known-new contract" will help increase linear coherence in your writing.
In the examples below the "new" information is displayed in a different color and font. |
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| This memo is written to invite you to a conference on management systems.
The conference will be held at the Sumpton Ranch, on July 28, from 9 to 5. You will be introduced to how these systems can be used to store and organize client data. |
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| Working a typewriter by touch, like riding a bicycle or strolling on a path, is best done by not giving it a glancing thought. Once you do, your fingers fumble and hit the wrong keys. To do things involving practiced skills, you need to turn loose the systems of muscles and nerves responsible for each maneuver, place them on their own and stay out of it. There is not real loss of authority in this, since you get to decide whether to do the thing or not, and you can intervene and embellish the technique any time you like; if you want to ride a bicycle backward or walk with an eccentric loping gait giving a little skip every fourth step, whistling at the same time, you can do that. But if you concentrate on the details, keeping in touch with each muscle, thrusting yourself into a free fall with each step and catching yourself at the last moment by sticking out the other foot in time to break the fall, you will end up immobilized, vibrating with fatigue. | |