Making Meaning Clear by Donald Murray

 

Murray states that we discover meaning while we are clarifying it, while we rewrite we reinvent and rediscover what the text actually means.  Writing and thinking go hand in hand; in fact they are one and the same thing.   Since we are creating a piece of meaningful text, every act of editing must relate to meaning.  We must encourage ourselves to delve into the shift and change of meaning when we are editing.

Every mechanical error that we correct has to do with making the meaning of the text clearer.  One comma in the wrong place and we could be saying something totally different than what we think we are saying.  We start with correcting for meaning and then we solve the problems of order and finally of voice.  We don’t revise to be “correct” we revise to discover our meaning in the text. 

Murray believes that we need to revise a piece of writing based on its focus, form and voice.  He says that a good piece of writing really only says one thing.  This would mean that we need to discover what the point is of the work.  Murray wants us to ask: What do you mean by what you say?

     1.  Murray, Donald M.  Making Meaning Clear, The Logic of Revision. Journal of Basic Writing (1981): 88-95. Print.