Amanda's First Blog

2003-06-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

Style: In Its Final Edition
Amanda Thomason

As we reach the end of this class, we are now able to come to terms
with what style really is. With the readings that we have done in
class, Strunk & White?s The Elements of Style and Joseph Williams?
Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, we have learned much in terms of rules
and formats when it comes to writing in the more professional world.
But if asked to state an overall definition of what style is, it may be
hard to just pinpoint one answer.
How useful is it to use both Strunk & White and Williams to dictate
what style is when the authors themselves have different styles when
determining what ?style? is. We see Strunk & White deliver their
message in a ?do this,? reference format while Williams elaborates more
in a how-to, narrative format. While both of these books may be
effective in expressing the point(s) of style, the fact remains that
they both use different types of styles to dictate that point. So the
question remains now, is there a set style to follow when writing?
For me, if style had to be defined, I would base my definition more in
the direction of what Williams calls Clarity, (of the sentences)
Cohesion, (connecting the sentences with each other) and Emphasis (how
you sentences work towards your main goal). Although I would not
consider this the final definition, I must agree that these components
are important when taking into account your reader?s ability to hear
what you are saying.
With clarity, we learn to avoid ?distancing yourself from your claim?
by making careful choices in how you word your sentence. In the
beginning of this chapter, Williams quotes William Shakespeare in
saying, ?suit the action to the word, the word to the action.? Using
the right words will only help your reader to fully understand your
claim. This is, after all, our purpose for writing and our ability to
make the reader understand our purpose goes hand in hand with the style
that you write in.
Cohesion of your sentences allows your sentences to connect with each
other by connecting your topics together. This is done in efforts not
to lose the reader. It is here that Williams stresses revision.
Revision is ultimately what brings the reader closer to the
understanding of what you are trying to say.
With emphasis, we learn that by extracting and isolating certain parts
of your writing, you can add more emphasis on those topics that you as
the writer wish to emphasize, and take away from those topics that you
wish not to emphasize. With this being done, you establish an
authentic voice versus a false voice. This is necessary in what
Williams would suggest it to be important to answer the question of
?What is the true self??
While these three components of Williams? book are not the only
important factors in helping a writer develop his or her style, I
believe that they associate more directly to how the writer can change
his or her writing techniques to better able the reader to understand
the purpose of writing and as a result, grasping that writers? style.
It must also be clear that my examples given do not rule out the
information presented to us in Strunk & White as being invaluable.
This is not the case. Strunk & White are more along the lines of
grammatical errors and reference-type writing. This book, I feel, does
not help the writer develop his or her own style, rather it tries to
form a certain type of style on the person who reads this book.
After all that we have learned, my final decision when it comes to what
style is becomes subjective, open to interpretation. At no point in
time will there ever be a set style, however, different interpretations
of what style is works for different people. As the end chapter in
Strunk & White says, style is an ?increment of writing, a mystery.?
Through all the rules and suggestions, style is an increment of writing
and a mystery puts a lot of doubt in my mind as to whether or not this,
or any other style book is the only way to go. Williams states in his
book that while he believes this book to be helpful in explaining what
he believes to be common errors in professional writing as well as ways
to improve the errors we all make, it is not the rules that you follow
which dictates the style you own.

2003-06-02T18:13:00.000-07:00

My Review of Classmates Blogs

Reviewing the Blogs that some of my other classmates did was very beneficial in a number of ways. First, I was interested in seeing what some of my other classmates have done with their new websites and found that each is original and personalized. Secondly, it was good to see other interpretations on the readings that we have done on style with Strunk & White and Williams. I found that I had quite a bit in common with the others in the class.
Kimberly’s blog on the comparison between Strunk & White and Williams had a very good opinion on the different audience types that these books were aiming for. She noted that “Where Strunk and White wanted to build the basics of writing into students, Williams’ wants to show professionals and higher-level students how to write effectively.” She does this well by explaining that Strunk and White is a book that teaches you, among other things, specific punctuation and grammar issues. She states that the book starts with elementary rules and does not assume that you already know everything there is to know about punctuation. When you pick up Williams’ book you are immediately set on a path to edit your work. “There is no build up to “Style” in Williams’ book; it is an entire book dedicated to putting “Style” into your writing.”
Another section of Kimberly’s blog that I felt was well-said was her truthful statement on where her writing compared to the writing that Williams’ book is striving for. “At this point I do not feel confident enough to produce the quality of work that Williams will eventually help to produce.” With Kimberly willing to admit this, she is able to not only level with the readers of her blog, but also to better emphasize the fact that a great writer does not come out of reading this book only once. I stated something similar to this effect in my one blog, stating that it takes time and practice to become what this book is striving for.
This next student’s blog speaks for itself as she speaks for herself. Hava has a really interesting website which clues you into what kind of person she is. What a great start to an amazing website, not to mention a very informative blogspot. In Hava’s fourth prompt regarding what she believes the differences between Strunk & White vs. Williams’ are, she brings up a quality point about content. When it comes to Strunk & Whte, “The Elements of Style omits many needed words. For example, when White instructs us to "avoid the use of qualifiers," he fails to address the occasional real need for "hedges and emphatics" to which Williams luckily devotes four paragraphs.” Hava describing that Williams devotes four paragraphs on the subject at hand, there is no exaggeration, but at the same time, his four paragraphs are full of examples that White unfortunately left out.
As I mentioned earlier with Kimberly’s blog, adding personal reflections on the readings adds much to what is being read by others. Hava, not to mention other student’s such as Stu, Jeff, and even myself, have all added personal testimonies to Strunk, White, and Williams. Hava, however, seems to speak directly to the point of my career choice. She states that during High School, “I had long since learned how to cruise-control my way to A's, but I had never really learned how to get off that bypass and learn. […] Unfortunately, I wrote just well enough to escape my teachers' attention, and no one taught me to write.” Of course Hava was taught how to write, but what she was not taught well enough, perhaps, was a form and style to which writing is based off of. A form that has fewer errors and conforms easier in an advanced type of writing field (meaning not to be confused with creative writing or poetry). Her personal reflection not only justifies a good career choice, but also justifies the knowledge obtained in the books by Strunk & White and Williams.

2003-05-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Strunk and White vs. Williams-
In Strunk and White book, I mentioned that the chapter that I felt was the most interesting and undoubtedly the most helpful was the chapter on the most common misused words and expressions. As I pointed out earlier, this chapter provides countless words that may have two, or even multiple, meanings and can very easily be misused. I was impressed with Strunk and White’s ability to give such sound advice on words and phrases that people in normal writing conditions never really think about. But when compared to Joseph Williams’ Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, I think that maybe Strunk and White did not necessarily have it all there for the reader.
In chapter seven of William’s book, he shows us why his style manual is not only easier to understand but full of even more information than Strunk and White. Consider the section on common misused words and phrases that I mentioned above. Williams labels this section “A smattering of big words and their simpler near-synonyms” (119). He offers suggestions such as dependent on for contingent upon, think for deem, after for subsequent to, etc.
I mentioned in my previous essay that you may find yourself wondering why you don’t know all of this jargon already. I think that it is safe to say that it comes with experience and experience comes with time. A good example personally is the chapter on the elementary rules of usage where Strunk and White insist to omit needless words. We already know their famous saying by heart: “Omit needless words!!!” Williams goes beyond this statement to elaborate a few things about needless words. He provides the sources, stating that when it comes to doubling words, we acquired it shortly after we began to borrow words from Latin and French languages. He then goes on to give us examples to explain which pairs are redundant and more importantly, why they are redundant. This is something that Williams does far better than Strunk and White. Williams is able to better equip us to help change our writing rather than to tell us only what is wrong.
Williams’ book on style is undoubtedly more thorough and lists many more extensive examples compared to Strunk and White, but there are parts of Strunk and White that I prefer over the text by Williams. The fact that Strunk and White’s text is more of a manual and less of a text implies that for instances of quick reference, the manual form of the two will prove better because you do not need to hunt around long examples to find the rule you are looking for. Strunk and White have a style manual with a table of contents that is specifically catered for a reference type of book while I find that Williams’ content headings are more broad and less specific.
With both works, there are a number of these rules that I find myself already knowing or just finding familiar, on the contrary, there are also terms and rules listed in both works that I did not really consider – otherwise put, I had no clue that these rules even existed. I think that it really depends on the type of audience that you are going for to be able to appoint a book to either a quick reference or a text book. In either of these situations, both books do the job that is intended.

2003-05-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Undergraduate Catalog vs. Joseph Williams
(Prompt 3)

In chapter 8 of Joseph Williams’ Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, the topic of length comes to view. In this chapter, Williams is talking of the ability to write clear, crisp sentences and some of the problems that arise out of trying to do so while not being very effective at it. Although he mentions that some writers are able to have several long clauses making up a sentence work for them, other times you face a problem with “lost connections.”
Consider the following sentence taken out of the Eastern Michigan University Undergraduate Catalog. The sentence reads: “Each student is personally responsible for the satisfactory completion of the course work prescribed by his/her instructors. This means specifically that he/she is expected to attend classes regularly, and that he/she is responsible for the work assigned in class, the material covered in class, and for participation in class activities (including discussion and listening) designed by the instructor as part of the learning experience. However, mere physical attendance should not be the only criterion for evaluation of the student's performance.”
Williams warns that “what will bother readers more than mildly faulty parallelism is a coordination so long that they will either lose track of its internal connections, or worse, mislead them. While I don’t think that the organization of this approximately 50 word sentence will mislead the reader, I do feel that while reading the sentence, the reader is forced to go back into it after reading through it completely.
Here is a suggestion as to how the sentence might work better using some advice from Williams and his book.
“Each student is personally responsible for the satisfactory completion of the course work prescribed by his/her instructors. Although mere physical attendance should not be the only criterion for evaluation of the student's performance, he/she is expected to attend classes regularly. As part of the learning experience, he/she is also responsible for the work assigned in class, the material covered in class, and for participation in class activities (including discussion and listening) designed by the instructor.” The sentence has been broken up into two sections that give a clearer picture to the reader.

2003-05-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

[ Mon May 26, 08:41:07 PM | Amanda Thomason | edit ]
If you have time to spare and are looking for a good read, I suggest picking up The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. It is a really interesting style guides ranging from advice (or rules) on composition to different approaches to style. In this book, the chapter that I felt was the most interesting and undoubtedly the most helpful was the chapter on the most common misused words and expressions. This chapter provides countless words that may have two, or even multiple, meanings and can very easily be misused. For example,

“Irregardless: Should be regardless. The error results from failure to see the negative in –less and from a desire to get it in as a prefix, suggested by such words as irregular, irresponsible, and perhaps especially, irrespective.”

Another example, showing the author’s ability to add sarcasm in a sort-of rule book:
“Thanking you in advance: This sounds as if the writer meant, “It will not be worth my while to write to you again.” In making your request, write, “will you please,” or “I shall be obliged.” Then, later, if you feel moved to do so, or if the circumstances call for it, write a letter of acknowledgment.”

This chapter is filled with sound advice on words and phrases that people in normal writing conditions never really think about. It is not implied, however, that after reading this chapter, you will be error-free in the rest of your writing days. Instead, it is a good tool to read sporadically in hopes to pick things up as you go along.

As you read, you may find wonder why you don’t know all of this jargon already. I think that it is safe to say that it comes with experience and experience comes with time. A good example personally is the chapter on the elementary rules of usage. While there are a number of these rules that I find myself already knowing or just finding familiar, on the contrary there are also terms and rules that I did not really consider – otherwise put, I had no clue that this such rule even existed. But rest assure, I do not critique every part of my writing wondering if I have broken a “Strunk and White Rule.” I just go on my merry way of writing and feel confident in the fact that with time and experience, my writing mistakes will decrease.

I do find in this book some questionable advice, particularly in the last chapter which is believed to be written solely by Mr. White and not a revised edition from Mr. Strunk. It is first said that style is an “increment of writing, a mystery” and then later said being “…not only revealing the spirit of the man but reveals his identity – like a fingerprint.” From here, it is hard to really pinpoint if style is something that can be easily defined, if defined at all, or if style has an exact definition which exactly defines the “spirit” of the writer as easily as revealing a fingerprint. This may be a flaw in the book, or it could be a purposeful way of making the reader really think about style and all that comes with it.

[ Wed May 21, 07:18:38 PM | Amanda Thomason | edit ]
Tuesday, May 06, 2003

This is Amanda Thomason and I would like to introduce you to some of the interesting things aout myself. I am entering my third year here at Eastern and this is my first time taking Spring classes. I have to say that so far it is quite intimidating! I feel as if I am in a bit of a rush, but I am sure that I've been through worse. I am actually really excited to be introduced to the new things this class is going to bring my way in hopes that I can bring these tools to my future students.
I live in Taylor and hope to teach there when I am finished here. My birthday is December 24th of '82. There's nothing really interesting about myself if you ask me, however, this homework requirement asks me to bore you with some tedius details. My hobbies include relaxing with my puppy (he's a 4 month old German Rot named Maximus Brutus), watching the Detroit Pistons (they play the Sixers today and be sure that I will let you know how they do), eating, sleeping, you know...the basic necessities. I am very interested in the sports world and used to run track at my high school. Don't think I do now because that would be out of my ability at the moment. College life hasn't really helped me stay in shape. But I love to think that one day I will return to my athletic self and pick up close to where I left off. Besides working two jobs and dealing with a messy boyfriend, this is it. This assignment was fun and I hope it has clued you in on a little bit about myself.
posted by Amanda at 11:41 AM

Hope this blogger thing is going to really be a fun and interesting thing.
posted by Amanda at 11:22 AM
[ Wed May 21, 07:15:38 PM | Amanda Thomason | edit ]
The interesting thing about the Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with examples (http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/rhetoric.html) is how these terms were at one time highly preferred and used. This glossary contains many words of which I have never heard of in my lifetime, and yet many lifetimes ago, this was the so-called status-quo. Listed in this glossary specifically are terms that indicate correctness in any form of writing. Examples can be as easy as irony, simile and metaphor, but can also include anacoluthon (lack of grammatical sequence; a change in the grammatical construction within the same sentence), synecdoche (understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part), and Zeugma (two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them.) Sounds like English class just didn’t cover enough, did it?
While you could keep beating yourself up about not knowing what these terms mean, it is important to understand that this type of guide (in its entirety anyway) was mainly used as a style guide for much earlier writings. Although it may still be used today, I am sure that you won’t find most of these on anything you have written lately.
In an exercise intended to be fun, we were prompted to look over a magazine ad from more recent times and see if we could find any of these rhetorical terms in the ad. The advertisement that I used was a BOSE® Wave® Radio/CD. You may have seen this item before but incase you have not, it is simply a radio/CD player taken to a newer, better-sounding level.
Some of rhetorical terms that I found were easy to spot. Take the simile for example. In describing the radio, the ad states “…[the radio] sound[s] as rich and lifelike as many full-sized systems, despite their small size.” A simile, as we know, is an explicit comparison between two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’. In my first example, the sound is being compared to being rich and lifelike like many full-sized systems. Another example of a simile in the advertisement came in a quote describing how the radio sounded. “Just as a flute strengthens a breath of air to fill an entire concert hall, the waveguide produces room-filling sound from the Wave® Radio’s small enclosure.” This quote is comparing the Wave® Radio’s sound to the sound of the flute strengthening a breath of air to fill an entire concert hall.
Another term that was easy to see was the metaphor. This came in large text as a statement to sum up the radio in one sentence, a catch-phrase. “Not all radios are created equal.” A metaphor is an implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but on in analogous to it. This statement is saying that just as the fact remains that not all humans are created equal, the same can be said for radios in that this particular radio is a step above the rest (as it is implied). Personification, the attribution of personality to an impersonal thing, was found when the ad stated that the sound “…resonates with incredible, lifelike bass.” We know that, although bass can be incredible at some times, it cannot be lifelike.
A couple of terms that were less noticeable were also found. Tautology is the repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence. (Example: “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”) This was found throughout the advertisement’s description of the “breakthrough, improved sound” three times. Another term I found in this ad is anaphora which means: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines. Three times throughout this ad, a sentence began with “The Wave®…”
This was all of what I found in the advertisement and my reasoning as to why there were so few terms hidden is that first, I was looking in an advertisement and not a work of literature. Secondly, I don’t believe that most of these terms are easy to spot without a conscious knowledge of their meaning and usage. To end, I would just like to admit that I am thankful for the days we live in now in that this rhetorical term glossary is no longer a necessity.

2003-05-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

This is Amanda Thomason and I would like to introduce you to some of the interesting things aout myself. I am entering my third year here at Eastern and this is my first time taking Spring classes. I have to say that so far it is quite intimidating! I feel as if I am in a bit of a rush, but I am sure that I've been through worse. I am actually really excited to be introduced to the new things this class is going to bring my way in hopes that I can bring these tools to my future students.
I live in Taylor and hope to teach there when I am finished here. My birthday is December 24th of '82. There's nothing really interesting about myself if you ask me, however, this homework requirement asks me to bore you with some tedius details. My hobbies include relaxing with my puppy (he's a 4 month old German Rot named Maximus Brutus), watching the Detroit Pistons (they play the Sixers today and be sure that I will let you know how they do), eating, sleeping, you know...the basic necessities. I am very interested in the sports world and used to run track at my high school. Don't think I do now because that would be out of my ability at the moment. College life hasn't really helped me stay in shape. But I love to think that one day I will return to my athletic self and pick up close to where I left off. Besides working two jobs and dealing with a messy boyfriend who can't clean the house to save his life, this is it of my life. This assignment was fun and I hope it has clued you in on a little bit about myself.

2003-05-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hope this blogger thing is going to really be a fun and interesting thing.