English 328/Tahlia

2003-10-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

The Style Blog Writing Ass. #5

Reading and writing are undoubtedly a part of most of our daily lives, if we aren't reading a news paper or a book then we are probably writing something, whether it is formal or informal.

What Strunk and White and Williams, (in successful attempts) were trying to do was to help, in my opinion not an everyday writer but a more formal writer, write in a stylish, understandable, and correct manner. Although a bit strict, Strunk and White bring to light many rules of writing that I'd known existed but never really paid attention too and never really knew could affect the style and flow of ones writing. Williams also asserts many elementary rules of writing that one should follow to create an effective piece of writing.

Strunk and White and Williams all agree that there are rules to follow when writing a stylish paper and that most or all need to be followed in order for your paper to any good. I do believe that Williams was a bit more lenient with the rules though. While Strunk and White seemed to be saying these are the rules follow them or else, Williams seem to be saying, these are the rules follow them but not so much so as to loose your own style.

Both books are excellent references when writing but I would encourage one not to get too carried away with the rules as Williams seems to imply, because then whose paper does the one your writing really become.

2003-10-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Style Blog Writing Ass. #3

There are may writing manuals and books that coach writers on writing. My favorite book that one would use when writing is the MLA handbook. When first assigned to read Strunk and White's "Elements of Style" and Joseph M. Williams' Style Toward Clarity and Grace" I thought these two books would basically be different versions of the MLA handbook, and boy was I wrong. Strunk and White and Williams' both go into much more detail and technicalities than does the MLA handbook. Both Strunk and White and Williams' in my opinion make very valid and helpful points in their books, but I do believe that Williams' book is a more bit reader friendly. Although I did like Williams' book better than I did Strunk and White's I do not believe that the information contained in Williams' book was any better or any more helpful than that in "Elements of Style". Both books pretty much outline the steps they deem necessary for creating a successful piece of writing. Strunk and White seem to define style as a specific thing achieved by following the rules they have listed, where as Williams' seems to define style as more of an individual thing, tailored around the set of rules that he gives, but not so much so as to loose your own individuality.

I had never before reading these books thought about writing with style, I'd imagined that writing with style would pertain to me and whatever my style was, but these two books make it clear that there is much more to writing a good reader friendly paper than most may think. All of the information packed into these books make it a bit difficult in my opinion to concentrate on what it is that your writing about without somewhat compromising your own "STYLE".

As I stated before both books were very helpful in it's own way and I found that the information in both books can be applied to writing if required. I definitely believe that the information contained in these books should be taught, but not always needed for a clear statement to be made.

2003-10-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

The Style Blog Writing Ass. #2

Original text from EMU Undergraduate catalog:

Advantageous to all students are not only the cultural activities of the metropolitan areas, both within a 45-minute drive from the campus, but also the resources of it's sister city, Ann Arbor, home of The University of Michigan.

Revised text:

There are many advantages to being an EMU student, some of which include cultural activities of the metropolitan areas, both within a 45 min. drive from the campus, and the resources of it's sister city, Ann Arbor, home of The University of Michigan.

In Williams' book he gives some reasons for bad writing and this sentence sort of fell under what he termed as " using pretentious language to make ideas that we think are too simple seem more impressive". Advantageous, what is that? Using big words didn't make this sentence any better for me nor did using the name of another University to make this look good. Williams describes what he calls clear writing and I couldn't really find a simple way of explaining what he meant. I do undertand that in clarity Williams believes that the writer must have a suffecient amount of time to compose, some knowledge about the subject, and a writer must also in sense write for his or readers.

I chose to revise this sentence because I thought it was a bit wordy and unclear, I also thought it could have began differently. I did like what the sentence was trying to say but a little rephrasing was all it needed.

2003-10-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

The Style Writing Ass. #4

I chose to read Patricia's blog enrty about Strunk and White's "Element of Style", it was very insightful and needless to say, I was very pleased with my choice. Patricia speaks of the book as a reference and terms it's rules as "guidelines, not commands that require punishment for their infractions". This statement really stood out for me, and I completely agree. There should be guidelines for writing but ultimately everyone should be able to put his or her own touch on their writing, without worrying so much about the guidelines, that the writing isn't his or her own. In Patricia's blog entry she also writes a description of what she thinks professor Strunk would look like and what he must have been like as an educator, which I thought was very funny and right on the dime.

among the things in Patrica's blog that I agreed with was one thing that I did not. She made the statement that, the statement "everyone has his or her own writing style and opinion" is a myth. She went on to say that nothing can truly be original and that as members of society we pick up cues from what has already been judged. It is true that we rework most of the things that we are presented with but reworking something and making it different from it's original form is still creating and using your own style. And as for the thing about people not really having their own opinion, I am somewhat in agreeance with that statement, but I do believe that just because your opinion is shared by others that, that doesn't mean that the opinion you share is not your own.

I really enjoyed reading other people's opinions(or not) on Strunk and White and it was fun to compare the differences and indifferences that everyone had about the book.

2003-10-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Style Blog Writing Ass. #1

Strunk and White's " Element of Style" is a very useful "little book" to me as both a writer and a student. Simply as a student because even if I wasn't studying English and writing as a career it is essential that I as well as other students know the correct manner in which to write. Strunk and White take many of the rules that are learned in grade school and take them a step further in showing you how to make your writing effective and also reader friendly.

I found chapter five (An Approach to Style) of "Elemets of Style" particularly helpful to me because this chapter was mainly a list of reminders that I could actually refer to when writing. A few of my favorite reminders are do not overwrite, do not overstate, and do not explain too much. These are three problems that I frequently encounter when writing papers, I generally overwrite and under explain, but most of the time I don't write enough. In my opinion, asking "most" students to write an eight to ten page paper and then telling them not to overwrite is not nice at all. When composing a paper of that length there are bound to be a few unnecessary words present. Among the many things I found useful about Strunk and White's book there was one thing that I thought was pretty dated and unusable and it too was covered in chapter five. Do not inject opinion, which is also one of the reminders, doesn't seem appropriate to me. If a person doesn't inject his or her opinion then I'm not sure what makes the writing ones own. I'm sure when Strunk and White initially wrote this book there wasn't much public opinion making going on, but in today's society people are encouraged to say what they feel.

Overall "Elements of Style" is definitely a book that could easily be used by many people professional and non-professionals alike as a guide to helping create good writing.

2003-09-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Hello all, my name is Tahlia Arnett Prince. I am from Saginaw Michigan, which has just recently been recognized because of such athletes as Jason Richardson and Charles Rogers. Before then when I told people where I was from they had no idea about what it was I was talking about. I am twenty years of age and I am in my third year of college, and I'm expected to be finished by the fall of next year. I'm not a very talkative person but I love to write. I tried taking a creative writing class here at Eastern once but I didn't like it. I don't think that we were really given the clearance to be creative.
I dream of publishing a book of selected poetry writings that I've been working on for the past five years. ( I can already see myself on Oprah) I'm very silly although only family and a few close friends know. I'm a pretty personable and friendly person but it generally takes me while to open up to people. Lots of people tell me I look mean but I'm really just thinking. I was a fairly average student in high school, I did lot's of volunteer work and mentoring. I had lot's of friends and I won best dressed my senior year.(I don't know how)
I'm really goal oriented, when I want something it's mine but my darn procrastination problem seems to prolong everything.
My career goal is to teach communication skills to a bunch of scatter brained high school students. I firmly believe that someone (if not myself) will some day teach America's youth to broaden their vocabulary beyond "Huh and Sweet".

Until next time,
Tahlia

2003-09-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

9/04/03 First entry.