After looking at other classmates’ reactions to Style Toward Clarity and Grace and Elements of Style I found a pretty common theme in that mostly everyone found Williams’ take on style to be more helpful in the long run than that of Strunk and White’s. I enjoyed reading Elizabeth’s blog specifically because we had similar thoughts about the two texts. I am a bit of a grammar nerd, so I enjoyed the grammar tips and misused word section of Strunk and White’s text and was really glad to see that Elizabeth appreciated those areas of the book as well.
Yet, she mentioned a couple of things in her blog that I had thought about during the readings but failed to comment on in my own blog. She states: “in reading Elements of Style I felt like my own personal writing style was being attacked while “standard”, clear and concise writing was preferred. While I felt attacked and defensive, I didn’t understand why my writing style was considered so inferior. I think that individual writing style distinguishes one reader from the next and I didn’t like being told to follow the standard.” I think she makes a good point about feeling attacked by Strunk and White for having a writing style that strays from their rules and guidelines. As I’ve said in my blogs, I am a “wordy” and lengthy writer by nature, so I also felt as though Strunk and White were pointing a disciplinary finger at me as well, especially in the “Principles of Composition” chapter. But for some reason, maybe because I’m so used to being a student and being “taught,” I felt as though Strunk and White knew what they were talking about and that I should value their opinions on elements of style. But after reading Elizabeth’s blog, my initial defensive feelings came back to me and were validated in a way, so now I’m starting to wonder if I was a bit too easy on Strunk and White. After all, I think I’m a good writer and that being wordy isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as readers are not distracted or frustrated by it.
Overall, I think the strong point of Williams’ text is how thorough it is in describing all of the elements of style. Elizabeth points this out as well, discussing Chapters 6 and 7 specifically as I did in my blog. I think that I benefited from Chapter 6 the most because sometimes getting to the point quickly and clearly is a challenge for me. So, I appreciated the fact that Williams took the time to discuss making points in introductory paragraphs, main paragraphs and conclusions because he was very specific. Elizabeth seemed to have many similar ideas as I did in comparing Williams with Strunk and White, so it was enjoyable to read her blog. She pointed out some interesting things that I had thought about, but since she was the one who actually gave those thoughts a voice I especially appreciated her comments.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Comparing Strunk and White with Williams
As I reflected back on my reaction to Strunk and White I was reminded of some tips they gave about style that I felt I could benefit from. One in particular was rule #6 Do not overwrite, which relates directly to what Williams discusses in Chapter 6 and 7 when he emphasizes getting to the point right away in your writing and paying attention to the clarity of the writing as well. The authors are all saying the same thing that simplicity is key in guaranteeing that the audience understands your message. After reading Williams, I'm able to see that clarity in writing is so important because at times I thought Strunk and White were easier to read, at other times I felt as though I could follow Williams more easily. Nonetheless, clarity and simplicity are definitely two qualities in writing that both books stressed as being most important!
I think one of the main reasons I’m now siding a bit more with Williams is because I felt relaxed while reading his book and the number of examples he gives are helpful in that you can actually apply the knowledge he is giving you in these writing samples. While some of his ideas were on the complex side and required me to look over a second time, I felt as though I was learning more than I did with Strunk and White because so many of their ideas were ones that I was already familiar with. Also, and this is an obvious point, I think that Williams’ book is more modern and applicable to today’s writing styles whereas some of Strunk and White’s “rules” are obsolete today. I thought that Williams was more effective, too, in that he was more thorough about elements of style. Each of his chapters pertains to a specific and significant element of style, and he really takes the time to discuss them thoroughly. Strunk and White’s book is about half the size of Williams’ and obviously does not dig as deep into the various elements, which is a weakness of the text.
On the other hand, Strunk and White still make great comments about commonly misused words and grammar rules that I found helpful, especially for writers who struggle with grammatical aspects of writing. Basically, I found that Strunk and White offered a great deal of information about the basics of style, some of which is timeless and that writers will always be able to benefit from. In addition, the book was easy to read and took no time at all to go through, which is something that many readers will appreciate.
One criticism I have of Williams is his use of brackets in Chapter 9 about Elegance. He uses them so often and they are simply distracting. Perhaps to readers who are more visual learners than I am, this style could be helpful, but to me it was a bit irritating and unnecessary. I prefer Strunk and White’s columns that they use to compare correct and incorrect examples of usage because they are more clear to me.
I think one of the main reasons I’m now siding a bit more with Williams is because I felt relaxed while reading his book and the number of examples he gives are helpful in that you can actually apply the knowledge he is giving you in these writing samples. While some of his ideas were on the complex side and required me to look over a second time, I felt as though I was learning more than I did with Strunk and White because so many of their ideas were ones that I was already familiar with. Also, and this is an obvious point, I think that Williams’ book is more modern and applicable to today’s writing styles whereas some of Strunk and White’s “rules” are obsolete today. I thought that Williams was more effective, too, in that he was more thorough about elements of style. Each of his chapters pertains to a specific and significant element of style, and he really takes the time to discuss them thoroughly. Strunk and White’s book is about half the size of Williams’ and obviously does not dig as deep into the various elements, which is a weakness of the text.
On the other hand, Strunk and White still make great comments about commonly misused words and grammar rules that I found helpful, especially for writers who struggle with grammatical aspects of writing. Basically, I found that Strunk and White offered a great deal of information about the basics of style, some of which is timeless and that writers will always be able to benefit from. In addition, the book was easy to read and took no time at all to go through, which is something that many readers will appreciate.
One criticism I have of Williams is his use of brackets in Chapter 9 about Elegance. He uses them so often and they are simply distracting. Perhaps to readers who are more visual learners than I am, this style could be helpful, but to me it was a bit irritating and unnecessary. I prefer Strunk and White’s columns that they use to compare correct and incorrect examples of usage because they are more clear to me.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Revising with Williams
Original Paragraph:
Fusion, EMU’s New Student Orientation, is a high energy, information
filled four-day program that occurs directly before the fall semester. Transfer
students may attend an abbreviated, one-day student orientation during fall
Fusion. A one-day version of Fusion is also offered just prior to the start of
winter semester. This program is mandatory for all new first-year students.
The First-Year Mentor Program at Eastern Michigan University complements the Orientation
program by creating enduring connections between first-year students and
upper-class peer mentors.
Revised Paragraph:
EMU’s New Student Orientation program, Fusion, is a four-day event held before the fall semester. A one-day Fusion program is offered in the fall and winter for transfer students. All first-year students must attend the program. The First-Year Mentor Program creates connections between new students and upper-class peer mentors.
This exercise was quite challenging but fun, too, because I am usually a wordy writer and it made me see just how unnecessary extra words really are! Williams points out a lot of great tips on how to write more clearly and I think that making the writing simple is what is most important. So for my revision I tried to cut down on the adjectives and the extras of "EMU" or "Eastern Michigan University" since anyone reading the catalog knows what school it's about anyway, right? :) For the first sentence, I omitted "high energy, information filled four-day program" because I simply thought all of those extra adjectives weren't necessary and actually sounded a bit awkward..."information filled four-day program"...I just didn't like it. I condensed it quite a bit and made it simple and straight-forward since Chapter 3 of Williams focused on Cohesion and how important it is to manage the flow of information. Next, instead of leaving the second and third sentences separate, I combined them since they were both directed to the same subject (transfer students). My reason for this, again, was because I think the combination of the sentences allowed the writing to flow a bit better than it did to split the two separate, similar thoughts, which Williams emphasizes in Chapter 3. The next sentence was quite short already, but I felt that the subject could be switched from Fusion, since the reader is already aware that it's the topic of the paragraph, to the fact that all students must attend. I did this because the fact that the participation of ALL students is the key idea here, it should be stated first to show emphasis, one of Williams' main points in Chapter 4 when he discusses managing endings. The most important information should be listed first, not as the ending. Lastly, I mainly omitted words that were just taking up extra space, like Eastern Michigan University and the Orientation program, since they weren't needed. Also, I simplified the wording and structure of the sentence to make it more clear, using Williams' advice: "Express actions and conditions in specific verbs." I feel that the way I wrote it made it more specific in that it got to the point of the sentence rather than using fillers to add length and wordiness as the writer did in the original paragraph. In the end, I really enjoyed this exercise and reading Williams' advice. I think the book is an excellent writing resource and will definitely come in handy for me in the future.
Fusion, EMU’s New Student Orientation, is a high energy, information
filled four-day program that occurs directly before the fall semester. Transfer
students may attend an abbreviated, one-day student orientation during fall
Fusion. A one-day version of Fusion is also offered just prior to the start of
winter semester. This program is mandatory for all new first-year students.
The First-Year Mentor Program at Eastern Michigan University complements the Orientation
program by creating enduring connections between first-year students and
upper-class peer mentors.
Revised Paragraph:
EMU’s New Student Orientation program, Fusion, is a four-day event held before the fall semester. A one-day Fusion program is offered in the fall and winter for transfer students. All first-year students must attend the program. The First-Year Mentor Program creates connections between new students and upper-class peer mentors.
This exercise was quite challenging but fun, too, because I am usually a wordy writer and it made me see just how unnecessary extra words really are! Williams points out a lot of great tips on how to write more clearly and I think that making the writing simple is what is most important. So for my revision I tried to cut down on the adjectives and the extras of "EMU" or "Eastern Michigan University" since anyone reading the catalog knows what school it's about anyway, right? :) For the first sentence, I omitted "high energy, information filled four-day program" because I simply thought all of those extra adjectives weren't necessary and actually sounded a bit awkward..."information filled four-day program"...I just didn't like it. I condensed it quite a bit and made it simple and straight-forward since Chapter 3 of Williams focused on Cohesion and how important it is to manage the flow of information. Next, instead of leaving the second and third sentences separate, I combined them since they were both directed to the same subject (transfer students). My reason for this, again, was because I think the combination of the sentences allowed the writing to flow a bit better than it did to split the two separate, similar thoughts, which Williams emphasizes in Chapter 3. The next sentence was quite short already, but I felt that the subject could be switched from Fusion, since the reader is already aware that it's the topic of the paragraph, to the fact that all students must attend. I did this because the fact that the participation of ALL students is the key idea here, it should be stated first to show emphasis, one of Williams' main points in Chapter 4 when he discusses managing endings. The most important information should be listed first, not as the ending. Lastly, I mainly omitted words that were just taking up extra space, like Eastern Michigan University and the Orientation program, since they weren't needed. Also, I simplified the wording and structure of the sentence to make it more clear, using Williams' advice: "Express actions and conditions in specific verbs." I feel that the way I wrote it made it more specific in that it got to the point of the sentence rather than using fillers to add length and wordiness as the writer did in the original paragraph. In the end, I really enjoyed this exercise and reading Williams' advice. I think the book is an excellent writing resource and will definitely come in handy for me in the future.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Strunk and White, First Impressions
As I read Strunk and White’s Elements of Style I found myself thinking everyone knows that on more than one occasion. However, there were other points in the book that made me raise an eyebrow and think a bit more about my own process of writing. I found the “Words and Expressions Commonly Misused” chapter to be helpful in that there were many words in the section that I’ve heard of but never used because I wasn’t quite sure of the definition. I think that this book is one that I would hold on to because much of the information is basic and fundamental, but extremely useful. Also, I thought the most helpful chapter was the last, in which Strunk and White list 21 tips for approaching style. While I think I follow most of the approaches listed already in my writing, there were some that I fail to use as often as I should. The tips I found most problematic in terms of my own writing were: #2 Write in a way that comes naturally, #6 Do not overwrite, and #9 Do not affect a breezy manner. Sometimes I find that if I am required to write a certain kind of genre for a class, I lose my own style of writing because I’m trying so hard to follow other examples of the genre instead of doing what comes naturally for me. In addition, I often overwrite because I don’t feel that I’m successfully getting my point across to my readers, so instead of thinking long and hard about how to make my message clear and to the point, I end up writing more and more. Lastly, I tend to be long-winded in much of my writing. At times, I just get carried away and often think that by making my sentences long and drawn-out I am making them more dramatic and making more of an impact on the reader. I appreciate Strunk and White’s approaches to style because while I may have been aware of my problem areas in writing, it was definitely helpful to see them spelled out on a page in front of me along with suggestions on how to avoid making the mistakes again.
I didn’t agree with Strunk and White’s advice about writing with nouns and verbs. I felt as though they were disregarding the power of the adjective and adverb, both of which I use most often. While they briefly acknowledge the two, I think they place much more emphasis on the use of nouns and verbs, which are important, but don’t always offer as much interest and style as descriptive adjectives and adverbs.
On another note, I just wanted to share Strunk and White’s thought on style and the author’s identity because I found it to be not only eloquent, but absolutely true: “With some writers, style not only reveals the spirit of the man but reveals his identity, as surely as would his fingerprints” (68). Well said!
I didn’t agree with Strunk and White’s advice about writing with nouns and verbs. I felt as though they were disregarding the power of the adjective and adverb, both of which I use most often. While they briefly acknowledge the two, I think they place much more emphasis on the use of nouns and verbs, which are important, but don’t always offer as much interest and style as descriptive adjectives and adverbs.
On another note, I just wanted to share Strunk and White’s thought on style and the author’s identity because I found it to be not only eloquent, but absolutely true: “With some writers, style not only reveals the spirit of the man but reveals his identity, as surely as would his fingerprints” (68). Well said!
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