Is your writing flabby or fit? This book will help you get your sentences into shape! First, take the Wasteline Test to diagnose your verbal fitness levels in each of five common 'problem areas'. Next, follow the no-nonsense advice in each chapter to strengthen and tone your verbal muscles. Writers at every level, from students to professionals, will benefit from The Writer's Diet workout and enjoy the experience. Before long, you will find yourself producing stylish, energetic prose every time you put pen to paper.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Preface The Writer's Diet; Introduction The Wasteline Test; Chapter 1 Verbal verve; Chapter 2 Noun density; Chapter 3 Prepositional podge; Chapter 4 Ad-dictions; Chapter 5 Waste words; Afterword Healthy writing; Appendix; References; Index

About the Author

Helen Sword earned her PhD in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and taught in the English Department at Indiana University before moving to New Zealand, where she now works as a senior lecturer in the Centre for Academic Development at the University of Auckland. Her publications include two books on modernist literature, Engendering Inspiration (1995) and Ghostwriting Modernism (2002). The Writer's Diet draws on her extensive experience as a writer, editor and teacher of academic writing.