The Style of Writing

The Style of Writing

According to the Webster’s New World Dictionary, the definition of style is “a characteristic manner of expression”(612). Usually words such as personal, individual, and unique also come to mind when we think of writing style. I have always associated writing style with belonging uniquely to one individual, meaning that everyone had his or her own style. After reading, “Style Toward Clarity and Grace” by Joseph Williams and “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk and E.B. White, I realized that style is not as unique as I thought. In fact, as I stated in my blog space, “writing has certain rules and elements that must be incorporated in to our writing in order to make our points clear to those we want to read it. Since these elements and rules are common to all writing, then style and good writing bring forth new meanings.”

Strunk and White start their style guide off by reminding us of the rules of word order and punctuation. Rules that include: “Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas” and “The number of the subject determines the number of the verb”(2,9). These rules are not optional if you want others to understand what you are writing and your purpose for writing it.

Making sure your readers understand your writing is the basic principle behind Williams’ book. He takes the rules, offered by Strunk and White, and adds detailed explanations of when and how. He shows us how to incorporate this knowledge into clear and effective writing. Being clear and assuring that our readers understand the message we are trying to convey, needs to be our primary goal if we are to be considered good writers.

From reading both of these style-books, I have learned that good writing, excluding creative writing, uses a more purposeful approach than a personal one. Williams supplies us with clear and simple rules, which he calls suggestions, which explain that good writing must have a purpose. Good writing is only considered this if our intended readers understand the message that we are trying to convey in our writing. This has nothing to do with personal choice or personal expression because if you chose to leave out such rules then your audience will be unable to understand your writing.