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Key Elements of Style
William Strunk and E.B. White's handbook The Elements of Style, and Joseph Williams's book Style Toward Clarity and Grace, are both full of good tips on how to improve writing style. The Elements of Style has some good information on how to make writing more vigorous and forceful, but it also contains a lot of opinions on word choice that seem frivolous. Although the advice may not be helpful, Strunk and White's strongly worded opinions are part of what makes their book enjoyable to read. Of the two, Williams's book is better at describing how to actually form better sentences and paragraphs. Before reading these books, I was of the opinion that everyone had their own writing style. Strunk, White, and Williams make
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Most of these rules however, are no more than the authors' opinions. Some of the rules are good, some of the rules are funny, and some of the rules the authors break themselves. One rule I liked was to avoid using modifiers such as rather, very, little, and pretty. Strunk and White say that modifiers "are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words (73)." This is good advice, I often find myself adding too many "very's" in my writing. Since reading The Elements of Style, I've made an effort to rid my writing of these "leeches." Strunk and White's dislike of the word prestigious is amusing. About the word they write, "Often an adjective of last resort. It's in the dictionary, but that doesn't mean you have to use it (57)." What is so bad about the word prestigious? Nothing in my opinion. Advice like this I try to take with a grain of salt, and just laugh at. Another opinion in The Elements of Style I found amusing, and helpful, has to do with using the suffix "-wise." Strunk and White say, "there is not a noun in the language to which -wise cannot be added if the spirit moves one to add it. The sober writer will abstain from the use of this wild additive (64)." That is true, making up words is a bad idea, especially when writing formal papers, but to imply that people who do are under the influence, that is a little harsh (it is pretty funny though). There is one …show more content…
It focuses more on how to arrange words and sentences so that the reader will have a clear understanding of what is being discussed. Williams begins by explaining how to put together good sentences. His two rules of a good sentence are, first, "put at the beginning of a sentence those ideas that you have already mentioned . . .(48)," and second, "put at the end of your sentence the newest, the most surprising, the most significant information . . .(48)." So Williams wants old information placed at the beginning of a sentence and new ideas, or ideas that should be stressed, placed at the end of a sentence. He offers similar advice on how to arrange paragraphs. Every paragraph should have an "issue" in the beginning that gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph will be about. Near the end of this "issue," should be a "POINT," that is the main focus or idea of the paragraph (82)." The final element of Williams's book that is helpful is his assertion that sometimes, it is okay to break the rules. "We must reject as folklore any rule that is regularly ignored by otherwise careful, educated, and intelligent writers of first-rate prose (179)." This sentence came as a relief to me. I read The Elements of Style first and after I had finished, I thought I was doing almost everything wrong. My sentences were too long, my word choices were bad, it is a miracle anyone has
When speaking about Welfare we try to avoid it, turning welfare into an unacceptable word. In the Article “One Nation On Welfare. Living Your Life On The Dole” by Michael Grunwald, his point is to not just only show but prove to the readers that the word Welfare is not unacceptable or to avoid it but embrace it and take advantage of it. After reading this essay Americans will see the true way of effectively understanding the word welfare, by absorbing his personal experiences, Facts and Statistics, and the repetition Grunwald conveys.
Another key point, is to break the writing into sections, so it is easier to understand and grasp what the author is arguing about. It is for you to describe the text and be able to put it in your own words or summarize
O?Beirne, Kate. ?The State of Welfare: An old and tricky question resurfaces.? National Review 54.2 (February 11, 2002): 1--2. Online. Information Access Expanded
J. A. Reinking & R. von der Osten, R. (2007). Strategies for successful writing: A rhetoric, research guide, reader, and handbook (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentiss Hall. ISBN: 0-13-189195-2.
Some suggestions that Zinnser makes are quite simple. You should keep your sentences uncluttered with not too many words. You should also pay close attention to your tenses as not to confuse your reader. You should be very careful about knowing what you want to write about and think it through so that it will make sense. Zinnser states that “the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.
I found that learning by example helped my writing greatly. One of the books we read, “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert, influenced my writing. The book is well written in an academic style that engages the reader. Her writing also flows nicely throughout every passage. I tried to
Ronald Reagan once said, “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.” Welfare began as a relief program in the 1930’s to assist those suffering from The Great Depression. In modern times, this system’s abuse rises every year. Social welfare spending causes people to abuse their free money; our government needs to revise the length of time for the benefits and who can receive this money.
The myth of “Welfare Queens” is quickly debunked watching Odessa trying to support her four grandchildren on $400 a month and Cheri trying to raise a child and organize a welfare rights group while being unpaid. Odessa Williams, once on welfare in the 60’s, was only allotted $25 more a week for having to feed four other children. That little amount of money is clearly not enough to maintain a household and Odessa results to trash picking as a way to cut down on a shopping budget. On page 64, Zucchino depicts what the typical person receiving welfare benefits looks like—it certainly is not the image Ronald Reagan and the media feeds to the American people. In the state of Pennsylvania, only 32% of recipients were black while 57% were white. The passage describes those using the program AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent
A single divorcee’ mother of two is working a minimum waged job that doesn’t pay life’s cost of survival. Not only does this mother have to take care of herself, she has children that need shelter, nourishment, and stability. In order for that to be possible, help is needed. Most people, majority is fathers, have too much pride to ask for help because of the image. Being on social welfare promotes the ego dropping image that one cannot provide for themselves or their family. But is image more important than the life itself? Children are dying of hunger or dehydration because their parents cannot afford decent meals or purified water. Children are dying from sickness because their parents cannot afford a home that protects them from the cold. Some of these parents are working forty hours a week or more for minimum wage and still cannot afford the necessities to live healthy. Some parents cannot find a job due to lack of qualification. The government has provided resources for people who are disadvantaged; however, there are still problems that need to be addressed. Social welfare isn’t a discouragement, it is a helping hand. There is no reason why lives should be shortened because of the inability to access governmental assistance. Social welfare benefits America as a whole because it serves as a crutch for the financially handicapped and provides motivation to work harder for a better lifestyle.
...ican welfare system has many flaws and I have identified major problems and possible solutions/policy recommendations. We can’t completely dismiss government assistance because we are a land of the equality of all and should be proud to have services that help the less fortunate. However, we must identify people who misuse and people who become too comfortable. We can’t continue to fall deeper into debt by supporting people who are not making an effort to support themselves. Nonetheless, we should help and assist those who are constantly trying to become educated, skilled, and experienced enough to become self-sufficient. I will close with a quote from the article about welfare helping a lady survive while she was studying. Currently she has a degree and a job as a manager. “I had clear goals,” “I wasn’t raised to sit at home expecting a check to come in the mail.”
Tanner, Micheal B. "Welfare Reform." Cato Institute Cato Institute, 9 Mar. 1995. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
"Social Welfare Policymaking Chapter Summary." Government in America People, Politics, and Policy. Pearson Longman, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. .
Issitt, Micah L., and Flynn, Dr. “Welfare: An Overview.” Points of View Reference Center. Great Neck Publishing, 2013. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. .
Possible solutions to welfare stereotypes is to stop treating recipients as criminals. There is a metal detector, bags are checked, and fingers are scanned in a welfare office. People who visit these locations are more than overwhelmed by the official’s assumptions that they are dangerous people. Just because they may need more financial assistance than others does not mean they are criminals or should be treated as such. There is no need to check a person’s bag at an office just like there is no need to check someones bag at a grocery store. . “social welfare is the institution in society that manages dependency through the provision of opportunity”
For a writer to better understand style, multitudes of books and helpful guides have been published. Many are written as lists of rules about word choice, constructions to avoid, common stylistic traps, and other such things. One of these is The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Another type are the books that go into more detail that further explain why some things work in writing and some things don’t. Style Toward Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams would fall into this category. Although written in a different manner they share the same goal; to present some of the most important rules in writing and style.