Different Styles of Writing

Different Styles of Writing

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve learned a lot about the styles of writing. I have read both Joseph M. Williams: Style Toward Clarity and Grace along with William Strunk and E.B. White’s The Elements of Style which have both expanded my mind on style in papers. Throughout this paper I’m going to explain the following things that I think are the most important in terms of style in a paper for school, work and everyday life.

I think the number one of the most important thing about style is Chapter 3 in Strunk and White’s book called A Few Matters of Form. I think it’s the most important because it teaches you so much about things that you may over use in a paper or that you may have no clue how to use. For myself the most useful thing from this chapter was the part on using numerals. According to Strunk and White they state “Do not spell out dates or other serial numbers. Write them in figures or in Roman notation, as appropriate. Example: August 9th or Rule 3. Exception: When they occur in dialogue, most dates and numbers are best spelled out. Example: I arrived home on August ninth.” (Page 35) I have always done this wrong and no grammar or college teacher has ever explained the same way of doing this. Which is why I think it’s one of the most important things about writing, you have to know the correct way to write something in order for it to sound good. I'm not saying that Strunk and White's rule is set in stone. I'm just simple stating that I can see how this rule could be correct.

Something else from that chapter that was extremely useful, that I found helpful was the use of exclamation marks. "Do not attempt to emphasize simple statements by using a mark of exclamation. Example: What a wonderful show! Correct way: What a wonderful show.” (Page 34) I think that sometimes I get exclamation point happy if you will, because I do exactly what they tell you not to do I put them in to make words sound more exciting.

Another chapter that I found to be extremely useful in the Strunk and White text was Chapter 4: Words and Expressions Commonly Misused.