The Sense Of Style By Steven Pinker

In her article “I Stand Here Writing”, Nancy Sommers examines the writing process and formulating ideas for writing in a more empirical manner. She states that before she found her creative zeal/ niche her writing was often undisciplined, unmethodical, and sloppy. Sommers reveals that in college she was less known for her writing and more for her long hair and misapplication of phrases. She found her true inspiration while writing her Senior Thesis on Emerson’s “Eloquence.” Throughout the entire essay, Sommers provides the reader with advice about writing. A key point that she mentions is, “If I could teach my students about writing it would be to see themselves as sources, as places from which ideas originate, to see themselves as Emerson’s transparent eyeball, all that they have read and experienced-the-dictionaries of their lives circulating through them.”

It is essential to understand that classes taken in grade school do not give students a full understanding of each subject. With the topic of writing, there will always be a new lesson to learn, an aspect to improve, or a differing way to explain. Author Craig Vetter states in Bonehead Writing, “This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen.” Each story, essay, or response comes from a writer’s experiences. With each attempt at a new piece comes an underlying story of emotions the writer is facing. Each person’s writing is unique and the ideas people have are related to their past experiences and what they believe to be familiar with when deciding which writing style to use. As a high school student, I have learned many things about writing that helped me become the improved writer I am today, but the most essential advice I have received is practice makes perfect. Although there is no actual perfect way of writing, I have discovered that each essay I write, my writing improves. It is easier to spot mistakes, find areas to improve, and ponder elevated word choice to use.

William Strunk Jr., an English professor at Cornell University in 1919 required his students to have the textbook The Elements of Style, written by William Strunk Jr. himself. It was referred to as the “little” book and was a forty-three-page summary of the case for cleanliness, accuracy and brevity in the use of English (Strunk & White, 2000). These rules are in the form of sharp commands, shining light on Sergeant Strunk’s personality and approach to teaching. E.B. White, a former student of Strunk, revised the book he was given, years after his professor passed away. White does not soften the direct orders of the original book, but “preserves the flavor of his discontent while enlarging the scope of the discussion” (Strunk & White, 2000 xiv). The Elements of Style provides the readers with a convenient reference for grammar, while emphasizing the importance of omitting needless words, using concrete language and active voice all in a suitable design.

When students complete a first draft, they consider the job of writing done – and their teachers too often agree. When professional writers complete a first draft, they usually feel that they are at the start of the writing process. When a draft is completed, the job of writing can begin. That difference in attitude is the difference between amateur and professional, inexperience and experience, journeyman and craftsman. Peter F. Drucker, the prolific business writer, calls his first draft “the zero draft”–after that he can start counting. Most writers share the feeling that the first draft, and all of those which follow, are opportunities to discover what they have to say and how best they can say it. To produce a progression of drafts, each of which says more and says it more clearly, the writer has to develop a special kind of reading skill. In school we are taught to decode what appears on the page as finished writing. Writers, however, face a different

The standard impression most people have of writers is that they can sit down and just let a perfect composition flow from their heads onto paper. In her writing career, Lamott has observed how “writing is not rapturous. In

While attending writing class, I learned about the 4 steps in writing, bases for revising, organizing, and connecting specific information, and I also learned about the different types of essays such as descriptive, narrative, process, cause and effect and argumentative essay. I have been a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College for 1 semester, and over the course of my enrollment I have grown and learned more that I knew prior to attending this writing course. Participating in this writing class has taught me so much more than stuff about literature and language, it has taught me another way of expressing myself. I have learned here how to write and express myself, how to think for myself, and how to find the answers to the things that I don 't know. Most importantly I have learned how important technique, outlines and organization are. My goal in this paper is to inform writers about how my writing skills have improved.

Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”

In the text, Ray Bradbury has signified several key rules in which case are Faber’s three reasons why people read. These reasons include quality and the right to carry out actions. To begin with, Ray Bradbury states that quality has “fresh detail.” and that “the good writer touches on life.” (Bradbury 78). In other words, when quality writing is telling detail, it allows people to connect the text to their lives emotionally, mentally, and intellectually. When a book is high in quality, is is based on good information from unbiased sources that allow us to connect to the themes of the book in a meaningful way. When Bradbury says, that “this book can go under the microscope. You will find life under the glass.” (Bradbury 78), Bradbury is saying that the details that we can see inside a quality book are so deep that we begin to realize how much our lives could be changed for the better or the worst if we were put in similar situations. Thus, “the pores in the face of life” (Bradbury 78) are the details that the author is trying to incorporate in the text so that you are able to find similarities in your lives to what you are reading. The following example of quality can be demonstrated

There are many ways to strengthen one’s writing. The best way for writers to optimize their writing is through understanding their audience. In the essay “Determining Your Writing Style” (n.d.),

First, Read. I know that many of us would wish that we don’t have to read in order to write well. How often do we wish that it would come down as a gift? The bad news is, as Silvia stated, there was no such gift. Writing, he argues, is a habit that that needs to be done

Writing can be a difficult craft to understand and even begin to master, so it was refreshing to have this fact adressed within the first few pages of On Writing Well. Zinsser's reassuring voice telling me that when given the right tools and knowledge, anyone can write, instantly made me know I was going to like learning from him. I had never before heard an author, or writer of any nature for that matter, tell me such a thing. This sense of understanding would continue on as I read, for this would be only the first of many useful tips I would be given while reading this book.

I am similar to the novelist Anne Tyler because she once said “If I waited ‘til I felt like writing, I’d never write at all.” This is me all too well because if I also waited until I “felt” like writing I would not ever write either. Writing is not something I do for fun; it is like a chore. In this paper I will discuss what kind of student I am, how strong my formal English writing skills are, any special needs I have, my major, and dream job.

“The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White introduction to philosophy is that a writer should be brief and concise with their words. The most important rule of style in Strunk and White element of style is “omit needless words!” This means that a sentence should not contain anything extra. E. B. White describes him as someone that puts his heart and soul with rules of usage. He is very dedicated to writing and wrote down the commonly misused words in a book to help people learn the English language better.

From birth to death, as humans we learn, re-learn, and are taught again how to engage in specific, everyday life functions. Every individual has their own style, this goes for writing, drawing, singing, dancing, the list goes on and on. All throughout our lives, we as students have been taught how to write and what style of writing is ‘acceptable’. This essay will challenge what was taught about writing in high school. It may end up make writing more interesting. Who knows, a newly found passion for choreographed dancing may emerge after reading this essay. ______________

Writing and improving penmanship skills is the most difficult task to perform in English language classes. In order to advance, most are expected to perform better with what was originally known as more information is added to the process. It becomes even more challenging as one moves up and teachers have to start teaching their students through social interactions to grab a better concept of being realistic with most of their writing. Knowledge is used for cooperative or perspective assignments to broaden their view on their own writing. Students will later understand writing characteristics composed of their own hand and realize what one may write about. Conversing with others in unison to form construction within their own work will help undeveloped writers create and take criticism to improve their writings. The first step for the youthful is to gain knowledge about the genre, explore the works within the genre, discover writings connected to their own original