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Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.
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
Writing
Make
Announcing
Instead
Interesting
Tell
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None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.
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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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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 approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.
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To acquire style, begin by affecting none.
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Vigorous writing is concise.
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Remember, it is no sign of weakness or defeat that your manuscript ends up in need of major surgery. This is a common occurrence in all writing, and among the best writers.
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Avoid fancy words....If you admire fancy words, if every sky is beauteous, every blonde curvaceous, every intelligent child prodigious, if you are tickled by discombobulate, you will have bad time Reminder 14.
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Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.
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A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
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A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.
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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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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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The situation is perilous, but there is still one chance of escape.
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It is worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.
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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 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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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!
William Strunk, Jr.
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.
