7/28/2019 Elements of Style-william Strunk, Jr. Iii_ Elementary Principles of Composition

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Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, aparagraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing shouldhave no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires notthat the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail andtreat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Many expressions in common use violate this principle:

In especial the expression the fact that should be revised out of every sentencein which it occurs.

Who is, which was, and the like are often superfluous.

As positive statement is more concise than negative, and the active voice moreconcise than the passive, many of the examples given under Rules 11 and 12illustrate this rule as well.

A common violation of conciseness is the presentation of a single complex idea,step by step, in a series of sentences which might to advantage be combined intoone.

# Avoid a succession of loose sentences.

This rule refers especially to loose sentences of a particular type, thoseconsisting of two co-ordinate clauses, the second introduced by a conjunction orrelative. Although single sentences of this type may be unexceptionable (seeunder Rule 4), a series soon becomes monotonous and tedious.

An unskilful writer will sometimes construct a whole paragraph of sentences ofthis kind, using as connectives and, but, and less frequently, who, which, when,where, and while, these last in non-restrictive senses (see under Rule 3).

The third concert of the subscription series was given last evening, and a largeaudience was in attendance. Mr. Edward Appleton was the soloist, and the BostonSymphony Orchestra furnished the instrumental music. The former showed himselfto be an artist of the first rank, while the latter proved itself fullydeserving of its high reputation. The interest aroused by the series has beenvery gratifying to the Committee, and it is planned to give a similar seriesannually hereafter. The fourth concert will be given on Tuesday, May 10, when anequally attractive programme will be presented.

Apart from its triteness and emptiness, the paragraph above is bad because of

the structure of its sentences, with their mechanical symmetry and sing-song.Contrast with them the sentences in the paragraphs quoted under Rule 10, or inany piece of good English prose, as the preface (Before the Curtain) to VanityFair.

If the writer finds that he has written a series of sentences of the typedescribed, he should recast enough of them to remove the monotony, replacingthem by simple sentences, by sentences of two clauses joined by a semicolon, byperiodic sentences of two clauses, by sentences, loose or periodic, of threeclauseswhichever best represent the real relations of the thought.

7/28/2019 Elements of Style-william Strunk, Jr. Iii_ Elementary Principles of Composition

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