文章最忌“假大空”：假，言不由衷，講出連自己聽了都不好意思的話。大，氣壯山河，大有“天將降大任於斯人”來解放全世界3/4水深火熱老百姓的豪言壯語。空：缺乏具體細節描寫的能力。
我捋了捋頭發，輕輕仰頭一甩，瀟灑地對學生說，“先把解放全人類的事情放一放。把我剛才捋頭發甩頭發的動作準確地描寫出來再說。”
“…………”
我說，“等你能夠寫出‘He re-feathers his hair with his fingers and flicks his bangs back using only his neck muscles.’之類的句子後，才考慮解放全人類吧！”
具體細節的描寫，要求筆者用詞如狙擊手般精準彈無虛發，僅著一字，盡得風流。
文采，是我教學的核心。如何讓任何題材的寫作活色生香？我要學生們學會熟練自如地運用各種修辭手段：比喻，誇張，諷刺，對比，擬人，委婉，自相矛盾，意外結局，一語雙關等等。
我選擇一些例句，讓學生辨認屬於哪種修辭手段：
It gets so cold in Alaska, some of the people go to Siberia for the winter. （誇張）
The barber asked me if I had ketchup on my shirt. I said no. And he dialed 911. （委婉語）
America is the only country where a housewife hires a woman to do her cleaning so she can do voluntary work at the day-care centre where the cleaning lady leaves her children. （諷刺）
Even your wisdom teeth are retarded. （自相矛盾）
In a backward country you can’t drink the water, and in an advanced country you can’t breathe the air. （對比）
Bill Clinton was only a microscopic polyp in the colon of national politics. （比喻）
She got her good look from her father. He is a plastic surgeon. （意外結局）
As soon as you find key to success, somebody always changes the lock. （一語雙關）
我希望我的學生寫的文章都是輕舞飛揚，幽默俏皮，而不是一臉舊社會苦大仇深的沉重，或是毫無想象力的刻板。我奉為圭皋的寫作最佳境界是：
莊諧雅謔皆妙句，嬉笑怒罵盡文章。
