Copyright: 1995
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0-226-89915-2

Joseph Williams manages to present this textbook information in a very non-textbook-like manner.  In Style: Towards Clarity and Grace he quickly covers the complex topic of writing with the ease of someone with a mastery of the subject.  Using common sense, plenty of examples and a good sense of humor, Williams conveys his ideas with a delightful variety that makes the book a pleasure to read.

Clarity

Starting with some of the nitty-gritty, nuts and bolts of writing, Williams explains how clarity can come from sentence construction.  He gives two principles of clarity:

  1. Subjects of sentences should name the cast of characters
  2. The verbs that go with those subjects should name the crucial actions of those characters

These simple principles are easy enough to remember and upon first reading might seem trivial.  Simple yes.  Trivial no.  These principles are some of the foundation blocks that Williams uses throughout the book.

Cohesion

Writing clear sentences leads you to the beginning of the path of good writing.  From there you must learn to string together well-formed sentences into a cohesive body of thoughts.  Again, two principles apply for cohesion:

  1. Put at the beginning of sentences the ideas with which the reader is most familiar
  2. Put at the end of the senstences the newest or most surprising or most significant information

Organizing your thoughts in this fashion enables the reader to easily get in the flow of reading without too many pauses to figure out what you are trying to say.  Williams speaks of "thematic signposts" that show up throughout a paragraph.  These thematic signposts are what point a reader from one thought to the next as you progress through a paragraph of cohesive writing.

Stress

Related to the principles of cohesion are the principles of stress.  By stress, Williams is referring to the emphasis that usually is "felt" at the end of a sentence.  By making sure that you keep the stress of a sentence at the end, you give your reader a better rhythm.  By placing your topics in the stress position, you make it plain what is most important in the paragraph.

Coherence

At the paragraph, document or book level, you should make sure that the topic is focused and coherent.  Some principles around this are:

  1. Consistent topic strings
  2. Consistent thematic strings
  3. Introduce a new topic or theme at the end of the introduction
  4. There should usually be a single sentence that summarizes or articulates the point
  5. The point should be located either at the end of the issue declaration or at the end of the discussion

Topics are what you are talking about in the sentences.  Themes on the other hand are groups of conceptually related words that are typically used to describe or talk about your topic.  These should be introduced at the end of the introduction, whether it is the introduction of a paragraph or a paper.  The first part of your introduction should pull the reader in... get them started on the path.  The introduction of the topic and theme put them at the beginning of the path.  This constitutes the "issue".

Once you have introduced the issue, the rest of the paragraph is "discussion" about the issue.  The "point" of the issue is the reason the writer is writing the paragraph.  What is it you are writing for?  That point represents the writers view of the issue and the discussion.

Concision

The most valuable section in the book for me was the chapter on Concision.  Williams presents a number of strategies for reducing wordiness without losing meaning.  He also points out that using too many words can actually reduce the meaning conveyed.  Once again, two principles:

  1. Compress what you mean
  2. Don't state what the reader can easily infer
Conclusion

This book is a must-read for anyone that is interested in improving their written communication skills.  I am not an accomplished writer by any means, however daily I use email and other written forms of communication to present ideas.  Honing my ability to communicate via the written word is something I value strongly and this book was well worth the time spent reading.