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Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.
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
Hard
Sometimes
Ornate
Nauseating
Unwholesome
Digest
Prose
Generally
Rich
More quotes by William Strunk, Jr.
To acquire style, begin by affecting none.
William Strunk, Jr.
...when a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.
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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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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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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.
Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.
William Strunk, Jr.
If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!
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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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It is worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.
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None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.
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Vigorous writing is concise.
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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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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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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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To air one's views gratuitously, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk.
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Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.
William Strunk, Jr.
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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Opinions scattered indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism.
William Strunk, Jr.
Rewrite and revise. Do not be afraid to seize what you have and cut it to ribbons ... Good writing means good revising.
William Strunk, Jr.
Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.
William Strunk, Jr.
