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A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
William Strunk, Jr.
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William Strunk, Jr.
Age: 77 †
Born: 1869
Born: July 1
Died: 1946
Died: September 26
Professor
Writer
Cincinnati
Ohio
Drawing
Brevity
Machines
Paragraph
Parts
Vigorous
Lines
Contain
Words
Unnecessary
Reason
Sentence
Writing
Machine
Sentences
Concise
More quotes by William Strunk, Jr.
The situation is perilous, but there is still one chance of escape.
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To acquire style, begin by affecting none.
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Every writer, by the way he uses the language, reveals something of his spirit, his habits, his capacities, his bias....Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able.
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Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.
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If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!
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Vigorous writing is concise.
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Rewrite and revise. Do not be afraid to seize what you have and cut it to ribbons ... Good writing means good revising.
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The surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definitive, and concrete. The greatest writers - Homer, Dante, Shakespeare - are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.
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...when a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.
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Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.
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None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.
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In exposition and in argument, the writer must likewise never lose his hold upon the concrete and even when he is dealing with general principles, he must furnish particular instances of their application.
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If you use a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase, simply use it do not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks. To do so is to put on airs, as though you were inviting the reader to join you in a select society of those who know better.
William Strunk, Jr.
A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
William Strunk, Jr.
Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.
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To air one's views gratuitously, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk.
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The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place.
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It is worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.
William Strunk, Jr.
Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.
William Strunk, Jr.
A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.
William Strunk, Jr.
