Improve your prose style
November 14, 2006 9:45 AM
Improve your prose style
Robert Graves and Alan Hodge wrote a terrific book on English prose style, The Reader Over Your Shoulder. It included a history of English prose styles, the "principles of clear statement", and (most important) 54 passages of clouded prose in which they showed how violating the principles ruined the prose. But: if you simply read their critiques, nothing sinks in. You murmur, "Yes, yes, of course," and learn nothing. So I typed up the passages (downloadable as a PDF file) for you to mark up before you read their critiques---which will then sink in: "Oh, wow, I didn't see that." 54 passages---one a day for almost two months, and your readers will thank you. Also includes a link to secondhand copies of the text.
Robert Graves and Alan Hodge wrote a terrific book on English prose style, The Reader Over Your Shoulder. It included a history of English prose styles, the "principles of clear statement", and (most important) 54 passages of clouded prose in which they showed how violating the principles ruined the prose. But: if you simply read their critiques, nothing sinks in. You murmur, "Yes, yes, of course," and learn nothing. So I typed up the passages (downloadable as a PDF file) for you to mark up before you read their critiques---which will then sink in: "Oh, wow, I didn't see that." 54 passages---one a day for almost two months, and your readers will thank you. Also includes a link to secondhand copies of the text.
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