The Elements of Style and Style Toward Clarity and Grace

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Strunk and White's Elements of Style and Joseph Williams' Style Toward Clarity and Grace

When I initially thought about writing style I believed that there would be some nice neat definition, and maybe a few rules that would govern writing with “style”. It turns out that I grossly underestimated this topic and while I knew that writing style would be a topic of considerable depth, I did not fully understand the degree that I would be pondering the issue of writing with “style”.

The first book I encountered, The Elements of Style written by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White was a collection of numerous rules, that presumably if you followed would lead you to writing with “style”. This book is a handy reference book and one that I am sure I will continue to turn to. My favorite quality of this book is that it is short, sweet and to the point.

The Elements of Style, was written is such a way that it was easy to understand which helped me paint a picture of what writing with “style” is like. This book is a collection of numerous tips and ideas that help the reader to know what it is that they need to do in order to write with “style”. The information that I found to be most useful came in the chapter entitled An Approach to Style. In this chapter the authors lay out some practical guidelines to writing with style. Some headings from this chapter are “Place yourself in the background, Write in a way that comes naturally, Work from a suitable design” (76). After I read this chapter I felt that I had a better knowledge of what writing with “style” really was. I began to understand the more abstract concept of style, it became more than following a series of set rules.

Joseph Williams book Style Toward Clarity and Grace expanded the seed that was planted by the Strunk and Williams book and took my thoughts on style to a higher level. With his sometimes exhaustive examples and in depth discussions Williams paints a much more vivid picture of what writing with “style” is.

Perhaps what made Williams book clearer was the way he laid out his book. Williams book is not laid out like a reference book like the Strunk and White text.

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