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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
Announcing
Instead
Interesting
Tell
Writing
Make
More quotes by William Strunk, Jr.
Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.
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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.
William Strunk, Jr.
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.
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To acquire style, begin by affecting none.
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Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.
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Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.
William Strunk, Jr.
Vigorous writing is concise.
William Strunk, Jr.
Opinions scattered indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism.
William Strunk, Jr.
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.
William Strunk, Jr.
It is worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.
William Strunk, Jr.
If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!
William Strunk, Jr.
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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The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.
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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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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.
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To air one's views gratuitously, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk.
William Strunk, Jr.
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.
William Strunk, Jr.
A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
William Strunk, Jr.
The situation is perilous, but there is still one chance of escape.
William Strunk, Jr.
