Avoiding Pretentious Writing

Some students mistakenly think that difficult words will give their writing an air of importance. Avoid complicated, pretentious words. They merely make your writing difficult to understand. Instead, find a comfortable voice that is formal, yet direct and to the point. Note how the following pretentious sentence is revised.

At this threshold of maturity, I decided to confront life’s endeavor through exploration of several fields of concentration.

After a year of college, I decided to take psychology and sociology.

Which sentence is correct? A simulated benign expression cannot disguise your actual attitude of apprehension. A fake smile can’t hide your feelings of fear.