Style :: Writing Styles Style Paper

StyleAfter reading Strunk and Whites, The Elements of Style, Williams, Style Toward Clarity and Grace, and my peers reviews of these two books, I switch come up with an all encompassing answer to the question what is style, and what elements are most important to all generators? The answer is there is no clear put down definition of style. It is ever changing and is based on societys views of what makes good writing, not necessarily the writers own thoughts on the matter. Therefore, the writer is better off following the set rules of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, determined by society then adding her own voice. The actual elements that make up style are a little less vague, but again, it is up to the individual writer to decide which elements to include in her writingand which to leave out. Strunk and White have listed vii rules of usage, eleven principles of composition, a few matters of form, and a list of words and expressions commonly misused. (Strunk and Whi te) Strunk and White present their list of rules to would-be writers in hopes that they may one mean solar day attain what society deems to be style. Strunk and Whites rule number six Do not break sentences in twoin early(a) words, do not use periods for commas, (Strunk and White) was interesting because I break it often. Before reading Strunk and White, I was under the impression that when you want a sentence to be emphatic, you can clip it, and force the reader to think notice simply by creating a sentence structure that looks unusual to them. This forces the reader to stop and take another look. Strunk and White warn us that this is not proper, and should be attempted by no means, Less a clipped sentence seem but a blunder in syntax or punctuation. Strunk and White also claim, As a rule, single sentences should not be written or printed as paragraphs. Unfortunately, writing single sentence paragraphs once defined my writing. In grade school, I was told the only way to write w ell was to write exactly as you speak. I just happen to be the type of person that speaks fast, changes subjects often, emphasizes certain groups of words I want my listeners to grab on to, and then (and this is what often saves me from becoming a complete muddle), summarizes what I was saying.