I guess the basic problem is that no one has the time to write carefully enough so as to be thoroughly understood. Then too, who has the time to read carefully enough to understand everything? For certain I know that in academic or scientific writing it sometimes seems impossible to write a sentence. Did you want to say that John was a great composer? Well "great" is not much of an adjective: overused, trite, general. It doesn't have much of a feel in the mouth even, when you say it. But if you wanted to say that, who cares? It's an opinion and why is your opinion more important than the next person on the street. Who left you in charge of Who's Who? You'll need footnotes to say "great." You'll need to find people older than you who already said John was great. I don't know why they could just say it except that someone has acclaimed them an expert on John, so they don't need footnotes anymore. If they say it, it is true.

I have searched for more than a day trying to find a footnote to back up an adjective I want to use. Fiction would be a bit easier. If you want John to be great, just call him great.

People don't like the SAT test much. It makes them feel small I think. I mean, if your score comes up 500/500 then that's it. You are average. It puts you in the position of having to say you just don't test well, you know? I think Mozart would have made 1600 on the SAT, but I don't know. Could he have been challenged somehow by algebra or by reading literature about some scientific field and trying to interpret it? But from what we know about him he was to music as Einstein was to physics, wasn't he?

The people who are in charge of things generally didn't score that well on the SAT. The smart people are doing something creative. Being in charge would be a waste of their ability to do.

Mozart was a great composer. I think I'll go do something.