Analysis of David Sedaris' "Me Talk Pretty One Day"

In his essay, “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” David Sedaris effectively uses many of the ideas set forth in Michael Harvey’s book, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, to keep his writing clear, concise, and fluent. When necessary, he uses passive voice and linking verbs to achieve clarity and concision. He avoids using the unnecessarily long and redundant language that typifies what Harvey calls the “pompous style” (3).

Throughout his essay, Sedaris follows all of Harvey’s rules to write clearly and concisely. For clarity, he writes without using nominalized verbs, which are known as “actions expressed as noun(s) rather than verb(s)” (Harvey 29). For example, instead of writing something like “the teacher asked them for a presentation on themselves,” Sedaris writes “the teacher instructed them to present themselves” (12). In this example, Sedaris uses the verb “present” rather than its nominalized form “presentation.” Though small, this difference in word choice helps present the message more clearly and directly. Also, Sedaris uses short, powerful verbs like in “I scrambled to think of an answer” (14) to write concisely. If instead, he used a longer verb phrase like in “I tried as hard as I could to think of an answer,” not only would he lose concision, but he’d also lose the sharper description from his original verb.

However, Sedaris also utilizes passive voice and linking verbs to achieve the same clarity and concision that active voice and active verbs often do. For example, he writes a passive voice with “After paying my tuition, I was issued a student ID” (11). As Harvey explains, writers should use a passive voice when trying “to emphasize an action or recipient and (not) the agent” (17). In Sedaris’ case, there’s no need to mention the agent of the action. Also, Sedaris uses a linking verb when he writes “Her temperament was not based on a series of good and bad days” (13). Harvey explains “It’s natural to use linking verbs when… describing things” (32). In Sedaris’ case, a linking verb was the most natural and clear option.

Sedaris makes his writing flow very well using consistent characters and frequent pronouns to make the subject of each sentence clear to the reader. In the following example, he utilizes both techniques.

The first Anna hailed from an industrial town outside of Warsaw and had front teeth the size of tombstones. She worked as a seamstress, enjoyed quiet times with friends, and hated the mosquito.

“Oh, really,” the teacher said. “How very interesting. I thought that everyone loved the mosquito, but here, in front of all the world, you claim to detest him. How is it that we’ve been blessed with someone as unique and original as you? Tell us, please.”

The seamstress did not understand what was being said but knew that this was an occasion for shame. Her rabbit mouth huffed for breath, and she stared down at her lap as though the appropriate comeback were stitched somewhere alongside the zipper of her slacks. (12)

Sedaris makes it clear Anna is the subject of the sentences in the first and third paragraphs, while the teacher is the speaker in the second paragraph. First, he begins each sentence with the subject to tell the reader who the subject is. If Sedaris didn’t do this, the reader would have to look through each sentence a second time to find the subject. In addition, Sedaris also uses pronouns frequently to make it clear that the “rabbit mouth” and “slacks” belong to Anna the seamstress, not the teacher.

In “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” Sedaris constructs a well-written essay using many of Harvey’s techniques for clear, concise, and fluent writing. Though there are instances where Sedaris uses passive voice and linking verbs, which Harvey cite as sources of unclear writing, Sedaris uses them appropriately.