Style Lessons in Clarity and Grace Rental 13th Edition by Joseph WilliamsJoseph Bizup 9780137536603 0137536607

What’s New in the Thirteenth Edition

What’s The Same

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Supplements

In Memoriam

Introduction

The Causes of Unclear Writing

How to Use This Book

Part One Style as Choice

Lesson 1 Correctness and Style

The Authority of Standard English

Three Kinds of Rules

Real Rules

Social Rules

Invented Rules

Invented Rules: Folklore

“Don’t begin sentences with and or but.”

“Use the relative pronoun that—not which—for restrictive clauses.”

“Use fewer with nouns you count, less with nouns you cannot.”

“Use since and while to refer only to time, not to mean because or although.”

Elegant Options

“Don’t split infinitives.”

“Don’t end a sentence with a preposition.”

“Use whom as the object of a verb or preposition.”

“Use the singular with none and any.”

Hobgoblins

“Never use like for as or as if.”

“Don’t use hopefully to mean ‘I hope.’ ”

“Don’t use finalize to mean ‘finish’ or ‘complete.’”

“Don’t use impact as a verb but only as a noun.”

“Don’t modify absolute words such as perfect, unique, final, or complete with very, more, quite, and so on.”

“Never ever use irregardless for regardless or irrespective.”

Some Words that Attract Special Attention

Gender and Style

Gender-Specific Nouns

Pronouns and Gender: The Problem of Agreement

Pronouns and Gender: Inclusive Options

Non-Binary Pronouns

The Future

Summing Up

Part Two Clarity

Lesson 2 Actions

Telling Stories: Characters and Actions

Principle of Clarity 1: Make Main Characters Subjects

Principle of Clarity 2: Make Important Actions Verbs

Fairy Tales and “Serious” Writing

A Simple Test for Clarity

Finding Actions in a Sentence

How to Revise: Characters and Actions

The Problem of Familiarity

A Procedure for Revising Sentences

How to Revise: Nominalizations

Some Benefits of Making Actions Verbs

A Qualification: Useful Nominalizations

Summing Up

Lesson 3 Characters

How to Revise: Characters and Actions (Again)

Reconstructing Absent Characters

Abstractions as Characters

Characters and Passive Verbs

Choosing Between Active and Passive

The “Objective” Passive vs. I/We

Metadiscourse

Noun + Noun + Noun

Short Subjects

Clarity and the Professional Voice

Summing Up

Lesson 4 Cohesion and Coherence

Cohesion

The Sense of Flow

Managing Information: Old Before New

Coherence

A Sense of the Whole

Subjects and Topics

Topics and Coherence

How to Revise: Cohesion and Coherence

Beginning Sentences Well

Two Qualifications

Alleged Monotony

Faked Coherence

Summing Up

Lesson 5 Emphasis

Managing Complexity: Simple Before Complex

Complex Grammar

Complex Meaning

Emphasis and Stress

How To Revise: Stress

Three Tactical Revisions

Six Syntactic Devices to Emphasize the Right Words

Topics, Stress, Themes, and Coherence

A Model for Sentences

Summing Up

Part Three Clarity of Form

Lesson 6 Framing Documents

Framing Introductions to Help Readers

Establishing a Shared Context

Stating the Problem

The Two Parts of a Problem

Two Kinds of Problems: Practical and Conceptual

Practical Problems

Conceptual Problems

Stating the Solution

Another Part: Prelude

How to Revise: Introductions

Framing Conclusions

Summing Up

Practical Problems

Conceptual Problems

Lesson 7 Framing Sections

Forecasting Themes to Create Coherence

Relevance and Organization

On Paragraphs

A General Principle of Clarity and Coherence

The Costs and Benefits of Templated Writing

Summing Up

Part Four Grace

Lesson 8 Concision

How to Revise: Concision

Redundant Metadiscourse

Hedges and Intensifiers

Hedges

Intensifiers

Concise, Not Terse

Summing Up

Lesson 9 Shape

Starting with Your Point

How to Revise: Long Openings

Rule of Thumb 1: Get to the Subject Quickly

Rule of Thumb 2: Get to the Verb and Object Quickly

Avoid long, abstract subjects

Avoid interrupting the subject-verb connection

Avoid interrupting the verb-object connection

How to Revise: Sprawling Endings

Cut

Turn Dependent Clauses into Independent Sentences

Change Clauses to Modifying Phrases

Resumptive Modifiers

Summative Modifiers

Free Modifiers

Coordinate

Short before Long

Troubleshooting Long Sentences

Faulty Grammatical Coordination

Faulty Rhetorical Coordination

Unclear Connections

Ambiguous Modifiers

Dangling Modifiers

Summing Up

Lesson 10 Elegance

Balance

Climactic Emphasis

1. Weighty Words

2. Of + Weighty Word

3. Echoing Salience

4. Chiasmus

5. Suspension

Extravagant Elegance

Nuances of Length and Rhythm

Elegance and Clarity

Summing Up

Part Five Ethics

Lesson 11 The Ethics of Clarity

The Responsibilities of Writers and Readers

Clarity and Other Values

Clarity and Competing Interests

Unintended Obscurity

Intended Misdirection

Who Erred?

Who Pays?

Who Dies?

Rationalizing Opacity

Necessary Complexity

Salutary Complexity/Subversive Clarity

Summing Up

Lesson 12 Beyond Clarity

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

Summing Up

Appendix I Punctuation

Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences

Punctuated and Grammatical Sentences

Punctuating the Ends of Sentences

Three Common Forms of End Punctuation

Four Less Common Forms of End Punctuation

Three Special Cases: Colon, Dash, Parentheses

Intended Sentence Fragments

Punctuating Beginnings

Five Reliable Rules

Two Reliable Principles

Punctuating Middles

Subject—Verb, Verb—Object

Interruptions

Loose Commentary

Punctuating Coordinate Elements

Punctuating Two Coordinate Elements

Four Exceptions

Punctuating Three or More Coordinate Elements

Apostrophes

Contractions

Plurals

Possessives

Summing Up

Appendix II Using Sources

Using Sources Properly

Avoiding Plagiarism

Taking Good Notes

Punctuating Quotations

Citing Sources Appropriately

Using Sources Effectively

How Much of a Source to Include?

How to Include a Source: Summary, Paraphrase, or Quotation?

Summarize

Paraphrase

Use a block quotation

Drop in a quotation

Weave in a quotation

Use just a few words from a source

How to Attribute a Source: Explicitly or Not?