“Clarity is not the prize in writing, nor is it always the principal mark of a good style. There are occasions when obscurity serves a literary yearning, if not a literary purpose, and there are writers whose mien is more overcast than clear. But since writing is communication, clarity can only be a virtue. And […]
Entries Tagged as 'Strunk & White'
If it’s the best you can do
April 21st, 2015 · No Comments
Tags: Lit & Crit · Strunk & White
Thing
April 20th, 2015 · No Comments
“Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there’s a ten-center handy, ready and able.” – William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print
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Highly likely perennially timely
April 19th, 2015 · No Comments
“Adverbs are easy to build. Take an adjective or a participle, add -ly, and behold! you have an adverb. But you’d probably be better off without it.” – William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print
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Stout and swarthy and brittle of bone
April 18th, 2015 · No Comments
“The adjective hasn’t been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place.” – William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print
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Lifting heavy letters, kicking out the jambs
April 17th, 2015 · 2 Comments
“Writing is, for most, laborious and slow. The mind travels faster than the pen; consequently, writing becomes a question of learning to make occasional wing shots, bringing down the bird of thought as it flashes by.” – William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email […]
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The sprig of clever metaphor enlivens not the bland repast
April 16th, 2015 · No Comments
“Young writers often suppose that style is a garnish for the meat of prose, a sauce by which a dull dish is made palatable. Style has no such separate entity; it is nondetachable, unfilterable.” – William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print
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Good luck, everyone
April 15th, 2015 · No Comments
“Who can confidently say what ignites a certain combination of words, causing them to explode in the mind? Who knows why certain notes in music are capable of stirring the listener deeply, though the same notes slightly rearranged are impotent? These are high mysteries . . . . There is no satisfactory explanation of style, […]
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How shall the will triumph?
April 13th, 2015 · No Comments
“In formal writing, the future tense requires shall for the first person, will for the second and third. The formula to express the speaker’s belief regarding his future action or state is I shall; I will expresses his determination or his consent. A swimmer in distress cries, “I shall drown; no one will save me!” […]
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Each of which is worth a thousand words on the open market
March 9th, 2015 · No Comments
“The greatest writers—Homer, Dante, Shakespeare—are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.” – William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White, The Elements of Style Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print
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