Please post a comment where you explain the most important thing you learned about writing from
The Elements of Style. Explain not only the concept, but why you feel this is so crucial to becoming a better writer. Comment on what others have to say as a part of your answer.
17 comments:
I think that the most crucial point in Elements of Style was how it explained commonly misused words. I've seen misused words in a lot of writing, including my own. If proper grammar isn't used, then the reader won't take you seriously.
I think that a strong point in the Elements of Style was the emphasis on omitting useless, and fancy words. i think that sometimes in our writing we try to use unnecessary and fancy words to make our writing seem more intelligent or detailed, but really all we're doing is hurting the quality of our writing.
In the elements of style there where a lot of points that even a basic writer should know. but there were also some points that were new to me. The elements of style was an interesting book, I enjoyed the part on misused words. While I was reading I noticed how often I had actually done this in my writing. I agree with Jami in that if you dont use proper grammer in your writing than your reader is not going to fully understand what you are trying to say.
I think that the most important part in the book is when it said to "use definite, specific, concrete language. I think this is a good part because sometimes in writing, we are very vague. If we took more time to read our work and check for this, then we would have better writings. I also agree with Douglas that we should try to not make our writings full of fancy words, but we still should not be vague
The entire book was all important, but I think the most important thing i learned in Elements of Style was In Chapter 5 Words and Expressions Commonly Misused. It made me think of all the words that i use incorrectly when i talk to people. Whenever you write poetry and you use these words people will think how ridiculous you sound if you use these words improperly.
The Elements of Style was packed with so much information that it is hard to choose just one stong point. I was able to learn alot about writing from reading this book. I especially liked the example's this book used on commonly missused words. I realized I had also done this while writing. I agree with Jami and Sierra that when writing you must use the right grammar and punctuation.
The Elements of Style was handy book, if it were in a miniature form then I would keep it in my pocket... maybe. I found the most important concepts in the first part of the book: Elementary Rules of Usage. I just wanted to include one thing I didn't like about the book; you had to have a lot of background knowledge. I understood most of it, but participial and parenthetic were new to me, and the book didn't offer much explanation besides the glossary. Anyway, Elementary Rules of Usage was most important to me because I've always had trouble with knowing exactly where I should put semi-colon or a comma. That's why I think I took most out of the lesson of semi-colons,etc. I think this skill is crucial to becoming a better writer because every writer needs an audience, and when you have correct and pleasing punctuation, the audience understands your writing better than if it didn't have the correct punctuation. Looking at what Harry said, our writing can be sometimes vague, and using punctuation helps the writing get more rhythm and balance.
~ Anna, Period 4
I feel that The Elements of Style is a book that anyone who wants to better understand the English language should read. It is informative, dense, and gets straight to the point with little narration. The most important thing I learned in this book was—well—everything! Chapter 1 taught me about basic English, and when to use apostrophes, commas, colons, and dashes. Chapter 2 taught me how to improve my writing by “choosing a suitable design and holding to it,” and “placing the empathic words of a sentence at the end. “ Chapter 3 taught me about margins, headings, and where to place punctuation marks in relation to parentheses. Chapter 4 taught me about words and expressions commonly misused, just like the book says. Chapter 5 summed it all up and talked about what a writer can do to better improve his or her work.
I enjoyed Chapter 5 because I feel like it is going to help improve my writing the most. “Since the book is a rule book, the cautionary remarks, these subtly dangerous hints, are presented in the form of rules, but they are, in essence, more gentle reminders: they state what most of us know and at times forget.” (pg 66) I like this quote because it puts the book in perspective—that it is not a book of rules that one has to follow, but more like reminders to make one’s writing better. I agree with Sean that using the right language is important because people won't take you seriously, and you will look like you never read The Elements of Style.
I think the most important thing about the Elements of Style is how to write good sentences and how to use the words properly. It also gives useful examples about how to use punctuations correctly. It is a helpful book for writing.
I think the most valuable lesson in The Elements of Style was the most commonly used words. I know that I used a bunch of them both in writing and in everyday language. I now know which words to use in place of others.
I think the most important point in the Elements of Style was the chapter on misused words. Many writers, including me, do not know how to use these words or phrases appropriately. This misunderstanding degrades our paper, but we do not know any other way to express what we want. I think knowing these rules enhances any person’s paper and makes the piece more pleasing and clear to read.
The most useful thing I learned from the Elements of Style was to not write more than necessary. Any word or sentence that doesn't make the piece any better should be omitted, because it is probably making it worse.
I completely agree with all of these comments! What I took away from this book was the major importance of grammar and correct punctuation. I also found it very helpful with the list of commonly misused words, and kind of embarrassing at the fact that I have made so many of those mistakes! I also really liked where it taught us to choose a suitable disign and hold to it, as Rachael said. One of the strongest points I found has also been mentioned, and that is that we dont need to fill our writings with fluff and pretty, fancy words; but at the same time, we cannot be too vague. I found this book to be very helpful.
What I thought was the most important thing in this book was that we should not try to use fancy or too detailed words. Like Douglas said in his blog we are trying to hard to make our writtings more intelligent, but all we are really doing is hurting the sentence. I also learned how to improve my skills in using commas in the elementary rules of usage.
I agree with Rachel when she said that chapter 5 was really important. It showed me how to make my writing more interesting and to the point. The rest of the book was really helpful and informative also. The commonly misused words were very interesting and like Nikolah, I have used many of them in the wrong way. This book will be very useful in my future writing.
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