Towards the end of my last semester, I had to write and submit several project reports in record time, thanks to my procrastination. Unintentionally, I'd slipped into the informal language that I would use, for example, in this blog, rather than the formal and correct usage that is expected in such reports. That earned me a mild rebuke from my advisor, who was subjected to two of those reports, and knew that he would have to read several more by the time I finished my Ph.D. So he asked me to read the book, The Elements of Style, by William Strunck Jr. and E.B. White.
It turned out to be a rather interesting guide to correct writing, albeit in an annoyingly didactic, almost supercilious tone. It is an old book, and any authors who are still alive must be squirming on seeing what the english language has degenerated to. Consider, for example:
... Omit needless words. "The fact that" is an especially debilitating expression. It should be revised out of every sentence it occurs.
... Do not attempt to emphasize simple statements by a mark of exclamation. The exclamation mark is reserved for true exclamations and commands, such as "What a wonderful show!" and "Halt!"
... "as to whether". "Whether" is sufficient.
... "regarded as being...". Not appropriate. Simply say, "regarded as.."
... "Certainly". Used indiscriminately by some speakers, much as others use very, in a attempt to intensify any and every statement. A mannerism of this kind, bad in speech, is worse in writing.
... "character". Often simply redundant, used from a mere habit of wordiness. "hostile act" is equivalent to "an act of hostile character"
and so on and so forth. The acerbic manner of meting out this wisdom nearly led to my abandoning the book half-way through, and I would have if not for two things: the advice was sensible, and it was punctuated by a dry wit that reminded me of a close IIT friend who is now in IIMA. For instance,
... The hyphen can play tricks on the unwary, as it did in Chattanooga when two newspapers merged - the News and the Free Press. Someone introduced a hyphen into the merger, and the paper became The Chattanooga News-Free Press.
... The word people is best not used with words of number, in place of persons. If of "six people" five went away, how many people would be left? One people?
So, after a day of getting discombobulated about the placement of commas and hyphens, the use of colons and semi-colons, the consistency of voice and tense, the identification of unnecessary and pretentious words and phrases, and a million other things, I'm living in fear of the acidic tongue - or pen - of William Strunck Jr. If it improves my writing skills, I guess it is a fair trade!
Cheers,
Prashanth.
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6 comments:
My adviser recommends the more upto date "Chicago Style Manual". I have been procrastinating reading it because of the same reason you nearly stopped reading The Elements of Style.
hey thnx for the info on the book. i think i mite end up reading for exactly the same reasons youve mentioned above :D
I thought your engish was always unimpeachable, given your experience as editor of "The Fourth Estate". If someone could find fault with your written english, the rest of us need to work much harder
B-a-l and Kierthi,
Well, looks like all us grad students need such books :)
Su,
Thanks for the vote of confidence, but the sad truth is, my English is FAR from "unimpeachable" :(
I second Sundeep on that. In any case, it's true that language is something that no one is perfect at. (Ok I'll get one tight slap from Mrs. Aga for that sentence construction). Normally when we speak we tend to use a lot of filler words that are redundant and often out of place, simply to get our thoughts in order. When we write, we want to fill up pages with words that are nothing but gas! I admit to doing that a lot of times.
discombobulated!!!??? Man, and he prophesies that others resort to simple vocabulary!!
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