Say It Out Loud

Using the Spoken Word to Write the Written Word

If you skip the entire article, know this: Write with your ear and then edit with your mouth.

As we begin, put on your best black frock coat. If you have one, and I hope you do, wear a stovepipe hat. Step up to a magnificent lectern, take off your hat and begin.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Abraham Lincoln said that November 19, 1863. It’s the opening to The Gettysburg Address.

Read that sentence out loud a couple of times. Give it a little drama as you do. Try to sound presidential.

Delicious, isn’t it? It’s a 30-word sentence, longer than most of the ones you’ll be writing. It has three commas. There’s a lot going on there. And it sounds wonderful.