Style

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Style

• The Lively Art of Writing
• By Lucile Vaughan Payne
• Chapter 5

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What is Style?

• The ability to do something difficult as though
  it were easy.
• You are drawn to watch a basketball player,
  singer, dancer, who performs effortlessly - the
  same with a writer.
• These performers werent born with these talents,
  they LEARNED them through self-discipline and
  practice.
• Style is something you learn

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Style is a Technique

• Style is the how of writing as opposed to the
  what.
• No matter what you have to say, you can learn to
  say it well - and that is style.
• Learn not only what to do but what NOT to do.

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The Two Commandments

• 1. Do not use first person
• 2. Do not use the word there - ever

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The First Commandment

• Most student writers make liberal use of the
  personal pronoun (I think, I believe, I feel
  that, It is my opinion)
• An opinion is almost always more forceful and
  convincing if it is presented with out the
  personal pronoun.

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Examples

• A. I believe that God exists.
• B. God exists.
• A. It is my opinion that smoking causes cancer.
• B. Smoking causes cancer.
• A. I think drag racing trains automotive
  engineers.
• B. Drag racing trains automotive engineers.

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More examples

• A. I think a good way to handle this matter is
  by student-body vote. I dont see how anybody
  could object to that.
• B. A good way to handle this matter is by
  student-body vote. Nobody could object to that.
• A. To me, Mark Twains writing is very funny,
  but I think it is also very bitter.
• B. Mark Twains writing is very funny and very
  bitter.
• A. I never know what to think when people behave
  like that.
• B. Such behavior is always puzzling.

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Avoid Concealing the Phrase

• Dont write The writer thinks or In the
  opinion of the writer - this is merely an even
  more annoying substitution for first person.
• A. In the opinion of the writer, something
  should be done about the problem immediately.
• A. The writer believes that girls spend too much
  time on their hair.
• B. Something should be done about the problem
  immediately.
• B. Girls spend too much time on their hair.

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Avoid the Impersonal - Use Third Person

• Not One never knows what might happen
  (Impersonal)
• But Anything might happen. (Third person)
• Not You cant help liking this book. (Second
  person)
• But This book is irresistible. (Third person)
• Not A person should always have a good study
  plan. (Substitute second person)
• But A good study plan is essential.

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The Second Commandment

• Dont use the word there.
• It is one of the most insidious enemies a
  beginning writer faces in his search for style.
• It seldom adds anything but clutter to a sentence.

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Examples

• A. There was something wrong.
• Take out there
• B. Something was wrong.
• The second sample shows a stronger urgency - a
  direct straight-to-the-heart-of-the-matter
  statement.
• A. There was a fight.
• Sometimes you can just take out the there and
  juggle the sentence, other times it wont always
  work
• B. A fight was.
• This doesnt make sense. The most important word
  in the sentence is fight so select a more
  ACTIVE verb

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Examples Continued

• A fight broke out.
• A fight developed.
• A fight erupted.
• (or began, started, ensued, threatened - although
  erupted is probably best because it is most
  graphic)

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Sentence Structure

• Often sentences with this construction end in a
  prepositional phrase
• Somewhere there was a creaking sound of a door.
• Take out the there was and move the object of
  the preposition so it becomes the subject
• Somewhere a door creaked.

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Characteristic of Good Style

• Good style is the ability to pack as much meaning
  as possible, without the loss of clarity, into as
  few words as possible.
• Then there was a speech by Henry.
• Then Henry spoke.
• Suddenly there was the sound of a motor.
• Suddenly a motor roared into life.
• At midnight there was a break in the dam.
• At midnight the dam burst.

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The Power of an Active Verb

• Pure verbs are weak (is, was, are, were, have
  been, had been, etc.) especially when attached to
  the word there. They are verbs of being - they
  indicate existence and nothing else.
• Active verbs are verbs of doing - they turn
  sentences into motion pictures with sound and
  color.

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Summary

• The Two Commandments
• Get rid of there.
• Get rid of first person
• This will help you on your road to style.