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From: byrne@yale-com.UUCP (Crenshaw Studebaker)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Tips on writing goodly.
Message-ID: <1832@yale-com.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 2-Aug-83 01:29:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: yale-com.1832
Posted: Tue Aug  2 01:29:48 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Aug-83 10:44:00 EDT
Lines: 144

"The Elements of Style"
    by Strunk and White

I.   Elementary Rules of Usage
      1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding "'s"
      2. In a series of three or more terms with a single
	 conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last
      3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas
      4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an
	 independent clause
      5. Do not join independent clauses by a comma
      6. Do not break sentences in two
      7. Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a
	 list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or
	 an illustrative quotation
      8. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption
	 and to announce a long appositive or summary
      9. The number of the subject determines the number of the
	 verb
     10. Use the proper case of pronoun
     11. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence
	 must refer to the grammatical subject
       
II.  Elementary Principles of Composition
     12. Choose a suitable design and hold to it
     13. Make the paragraph the unti of composition
     14. Use the active voice
     15. Put statements in positive form
     16. Use definite, specific, concrete language
     17. Omit needless words
     18. Avoid a succession of loose sentences
     19. Express coordinate ideas in similar form
     20. Keep related words together
     21. In summaries, keep to one tense
     22. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end

III. An Approach to Style
      1. Place yourself in the background
      2. Write in a way that comes naturally
      3. Work from a suitable design
      4. Write with nouns and verbs
      5. Revise and rewrite
      6. Do not overwrite
      7. Do not overstate
      8. Avoid the use of qualifiers
      9. Do not affect a breezy manner
     10. Use orthodox spelling
     11. Do not explain too much
     12. Do not construct awkward adverbs
     13. Make sure the reader knows who is speaking
     14. Avoid fancy words
     15. Do not use dialect unless your ear is good
     16. Be clear
     17. Do not inject opinion
     18. Use figures of speech sparingly
     19. Do not take shortcuts at the cost of clarity
     20. Avoid foreign languages
     21. Prefer the standard to the offbeat



"The Reader Over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose"
    by Graves and Hodge

The Principles of Clear Statement
      1. It should always be made clear who is addressing whom,
	 and on the subject of whom.
      2. It should always be made clear which of two or more
	 things already mentioned is being discussed.
      3. Every unfamiliar subject or concept should be clearly
	 defined; and neither discussed as if the reader knew all
	 about it already nor stylistically disguised.
      4. There should never be any doubt left as to where something
	 happened or is expected to happen.
      5. There should never be any doubt left as to when.
      6. There should never be any doubt left as to how much or
	 how long.
      7. There should never be any doubt left as to how many.
      8. Every word or phrase should be appropriate to its context.
      9. No word or phrase should be ambiguous.
     10. Every word or phrase should be in its right place in the
	 sentence.
     11. No unintentional contrast between two ideas should be
	 allowed to suggest itself.
     12. Unless for rhetorical emphasis, or necessary
	 recapitulation, no idea should be presented more than once
	 in the same prose passage.
     13. No statement should be self-evident.
     14. No important detail should be omitted from any phrase,
	 sentence, or paragraph.
     15. No phrase should be allowed to raise expectations that are
	 not fulfilled.
     16. No theme should be suddenly abandoned.
     17. Sentences and paragraphs should be linked together
	 logically and intelligibly.
     18. Punctuation should be consistent and should denote quality
	 of connexion, rather than length of pause, between
	 sentences or parts of sentences.
     19. The order of ideas in a sentence or paragraph should be such
	 that the reader need not rearrange them in his mind.
     20. No unnecessary idea, phrase, or word should be included in
	 a sentence.
     21. All antitheses should be true ones.
     22. Over-emphasis of the illogical sort tolerated in
	 conversation should be avoided in prose.
     23. Ideas should not contradict one another, or otherwise
	 violate logic.
     24. The writer should not, without clear warning, change his
	 standpoint in the course of a sentence or paragraph.
     25. In each list of people or things all the words used should
	 belong to the same category of ideas.

The Graces of Prose
      A. Metaphors should not be mated in such a way as to confuse
	 or distract the reader.
      B. Metaphors should not be piled on top of one another.
      C. Metaphors should not be in such close association with
	 unmetaphorical language as to produce absurdity or
	 confusion.
      D. Characteristically poetical expressions should not be
	 used in prose.
      E. Except where the writer is being deliberately facetious,
	 all phrases in a sentence, or sentences in a paragraph,
	 should belong to the same vocabulary or level of language.
      F. No reference should be unnecessarily obscure.
      G. All ideas should be expressed concisely but without
	 discourteous abruptness.
      H. The descriptive title of a person or thing should not
	 be varied merely for the sake of elegance.
      I. Sentences should not be so long that the reader loses his
	 way in them.
      J. No unnecessary strain should be put on the reader's memory.
      K. The same word should not be so often used in the same
	 sentence or paragraph that it becomes tedious.
      L. Words which rhyme or form a jingle should not be allowed
	 to come too close together.
      M. Alliteration should be sparingly used.
      N. The same word should not be used in different senses in the
	 same passage, unless attention is called to the difference.
      O. The rhetorical device of pretending to hesitate in a choice
	 between two words or phrases is inappropriate to modern
	 prose.
      P. Even when the natural order of its words is modified for
	 the sake of emphasis, a sentence must not read unnaturally.