Shannon Moore

Shannon Moore is a freelance writer and editor teaching writing as part of Washington University’s adjunct faculty. She also teaches with the Brookings Institution’s Executive Education program, affiliated with Olin Business School, as a writing coach. Her publishing credits range from business topics to children’s literature.

Posts by Shannon Moore

Reading & Writing

Language By Law

Does the United States need laws to enforce clear writing? Apparently so, because on October 13, 2010, President Barak Obama signed the Plain Writing Act of 2010, which seeks “to improve the effectiveness and accountability of Federal agencies … by promoting clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.” The Plain Writing Act […]

The Language Of Lincoln

One hundred and fifty years have passed since Lincoln’s assassination and the end of the Civil War. May 4, 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral, an event which will be commemorated by thousands of Civil War re-enactors, visitors and dignitaries participating in the 2015 Lincoln Funeral Re-enactment. The Battle of Gettysburg, the […]

Mind The Gap

Lexical gap:   “A perceived gap in the lexicon or vocabulary of a language”; ideas or “relationships that are ‘lexicalised’ or represented in the vocabulary of one language may not be in another.” —A Dictionary of Sociolinguistics   The Roman orator Quintilian said that when communicating “one should aim not at being possible to understand, but […]

Reading & Writing

Winston’s Rules

General Dwight D. Eisenhower once asked Winston Churchill to review a draft of one of Eisenhower’s speeches. Churchill’s critique? “Too many passives and too many zeds.” When asked to explain, Churchill replied, “Too many Latinate polysyllabics like ‘systematize,’ ‘prioritize,’ and ‘finalize.’” Then, to emphasize the power of simple, straightforward verbs, Churchill lambasted the General’s use […]