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Elements of Style: Strunk and White

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Bartleby


Style Toward Clarity and Grace


 

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If you are serious about your writing and want to take it to the next level, the road is long and hard.  After you master the basics of Usage and Composition, continue with Style.  It all begins with Strunk & White but you already know that and you have read it.

Write in the style you like to read

 An Approach to Style

E. B. White added An Approach to Style to the Elements of Style.  The following is his List of Reminders:

  1. Place yourself in the background;

  2. Write in a way that comes naturally;

  3. Work from a suitable design;

  4. Write with nouns and verbs;

  5. Revise and rewrite;

  6. Do not overwrite;

  7. Do not overstate;

  8. Avoid the use of qualifiers;

  9. Do not affect a breezy manner;

  10. Use orthodox spelling;

  11. Do not explain too much;

  12. Do not construct awkward adverbs;

  13. Make sure the reader knows who is speaking;

  14. Avoid fancy words;

  15. Do not use dialect unless your ear is good;

  16. Be clear;

  17. Do not inject opinion;

  18. Use figures of speech sparingly;

  19. Do not take shortcuts at the cost of clarity;

  20. Avoid foreign languages;

  21. Prefer the standard to the offbeat.

Though not strictly part of the Canon, they are well worth heeding and remembering.

 Style: Toward Clarity and Grace

Joseph M. Williams classic textbook, Style: Towards Clarity and Grace, continues in the search for simplicity undertaken by Zinsser and Strunk & White but goes farther and deeper; Professor Williams examines every word, every sentence, every paragraph and their relationship to each other. Professor Williams is concerned with cohesion and coherence: not just content but context.  A must read for serious writers and would be authors.


   

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