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Strunk & White& #39;s "The Elements of Style" is the best-known instruction book on writing in English.
I organized and distilled chapter five, "An Approach to Style (With a List of Reminders)," from 6,500 words to 1,300.
The summary includes ten observations and 21 reminders:
I organized and distilled chapter five, "An Approach to Style (With a List of Reminders)," from 6,500 words to 1,300.
The summary includes ten observations and 21 reminders:
There’s no key that unlocks the door...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">No infallible guide to good writing
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">No satisfactory explanation of style
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">No inflexible rule by which writers may shape their course
These reminders state what most of us know and at times forget...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Style is an expression of self
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">To approach it, turn away from mannerisms, tricks, and adornments
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Move toward plainness, simplicity, orderliness, and sincerity
A careful and honest writer does not need to worry about style...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">The writer is the style, and the style is the writer
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Who you are, not what you know, will determine your style
No writer long remains incognito...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">A style reveals a writer’s identity, as surely as fingerprints
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Writers reveal their spirits, their habits, their capacities, and their biases
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Writing is communication, and creative writing is the Self escaping into the open
1. To achieve style, begin by affecting none...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">That is, place yourself in the background
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Draw the reader& #39;s attention to the sense and substance of the writing
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Solid writing reveals the temper of the writer, and not at the expense of the work
2. Write in a way that comes naturally...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">The use of language begins with imitation
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Never imitate consciously, but don& #39;t worry about being an imitator
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Take pains to admire what is good
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Use words and phrases that come readily to hand
3. Work from a suitable design...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Great writing will be found to have a secret plan
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Design informs even the simplest structure
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Anticipate what you are getting into and build a scheme
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Lest you miss the forest for the trees and there be no end to your labors
4. Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Nouns and verbs, not their assistants, give good writing its toughness and color
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">No adjective can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">This is not to disparage adjectives and adverbs
5. Revise and rewrite...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Few writers produce what they’re after on the first try
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Therefore, revising is part of writing
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don’t be afraid to experiment with what you’ve written
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">It’s no sign of weakness that your work needs major surgery
6. Do not overwrite...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Guard against wordiness
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Ruthlessly delete excess
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest
7. Do not overstate...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Everything before and after an overstatement is suspect
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">A single overstatement diminishes the whole
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">A single carefree superlative has the power to destroy
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Readers must have confidence in your judgment and poise
8. Avoid the use of qualifiers (like rather, very, little, and pretty)...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">These are leeches that infest the pond of prose
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Do a *little* better, be *very* watchful, for it’s *rather* important, and we are *pretty* sure to violate it
9. Do not affect a breezy manner...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don’t cut rhetorical capers
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Be compact, informative, unpretentious
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Present items in a straightforward manner
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Keep a tight rein on the material and stay out of the act
10. Use orthodox spelling...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Unorthodox spellings defeat their own purpose
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Unaccepted and oversimplified spellings exhaust patience
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Readers mentally supply missing letters of an abbreviation at the cost of a fraction of attention
11. Do not explain too much...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Be sparing
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Do not overwork adverbs
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">It is seldom advisable to tell all
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Let the conversation itself disclose the speaker& #39;s manner or condition
12. Do not construct awkward adverbs...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Do not dress words up by adding -ly to them
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Such adverbs are easy to build
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">But you& #39;re probably be better off without them
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Words not used orally are seldom the ones to put on paper
13. Make sure the reader knows who is speaking...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Indicate who the speaker is
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">In dialogue, obscurity is an imposition
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Make sure attributives don’t awkwardly interrupt a spoken sentence
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Place them where the break would come naturally in speech
14. Avoid fancy words...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Use Anglo-Saxon words
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Cock your ear and let it be your guide
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy
15. Do not use dialect unless your ear is good...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Be economical of your talents
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">If you use dialect, be consistent
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Spare your readers as you convince them
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Use the minimum, not the maximum, of deviation from the norm
16. Think of the tragedies that are rooted in ambiguity, and be clear!
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Clarity is not always the principal mark of a good style
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">But since writing is communication, clarity can only be a virtue
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">And although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest
17. Do not inject opinion...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Try to keep things straight
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">The demand for your opinion is not brisk
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Inject opinion only if there is a good reason for its being there
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Opinions scattered indiscriminately leave a mark of egotism
18. Use figures of speech sparingly...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Rapid fire similes are more distracting than illuminating
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Give readers time to catch their breath
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Readers can& #39;t be expected to compare everything with something else, with no relief in sight
19. Don& #39;t take shortcuts at the cost of clarity...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Write things out
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">The longest way round is usually the shortest way home
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">The one reliable shortcut is choosing surefooted words to carry readers on their way
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Many shortcuts waste the reader& #39;s time instead of conserving it
20. Avoid foreign languages...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">It’s occasionally necessary to borrow from other languages
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Some writers, though, sprinkle their work with foreign expressions
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">It’s a bad habit and shows no regard for the reader’s comfort
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">So, write in English
21. Prefer the standard to the offbeat...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Young writers are drawn toward eccentricities in language
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">They hear the beat of new vocabularies and exciting rhythms
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">The challenge for beginners is to listen, learn the words, feel the vibrations, and don’t be carried away
Break through barriers that separate you from other minds and other hearts...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">That’s the purpose of writing – and its principal reward
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">As you get better, your style will emerge, because you yourself will emerge
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">And you’ll find it easy to reach other minds and other hearts
Feel free to experiment with language...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">It’s not the intent of these cautionary remarks to suggest otherwise
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">You may ask, “What if it comes natural to me to experiment? What if I am a pioneer, or even a genius?"
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Answer: then be one
But remember, what may seem like pioneering may be merely evasion, or laziness...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Writing good standard English is no cinch
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Before you’ve managed it, you will have encountered enough rough country to satisfy even the most adventurous spirit
Beginners should err on the side of conservatism...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">No idiom is taboo and no accent is forbidden
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">But there& #39;s a better chance of doing well if you hold a steady course
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Show concern for readers & sympathize with their plight
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Don’t paralyze their senses, engage them
In your writing, four unpardonable sins show you haven’t done your work...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Adopting a patronizing air
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Being humorless, dull, and empty
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Saying something when you have nothing to say
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">Directing the attention of the reader to yourself
You are ready for exposure...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">When you’re full of belief
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">When you’re armed with the rules of grammar
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔷" title="Große blaue Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Große blaue Raute">When you’re sustained and elevated by the power of purpose
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