The Sense of Style summary

Chapter 1: Writers often get a

The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker What's in it for me? Give your writing the style it deserves. Think of your favorite books. What makes them so good?

Is it the wording, the opening paragraphs, the arc of the story, or just how everything fits together? Chances are it's all of these things, or, to phrase it differently, it's how the author used style. So how can you hone this crucial writerly skill? Despite Oscar Wilde's quip that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught, there are concrete steps you can take to make your writing better.

This summary, by examining different types of writing from many different fields, will help you develop a keener sense of style, whether you're an aspiring novelist, a journalist, a communications director, or just someone who wants to write dazzling emails. In this summary, you'll find out how the curse of knowledge can make texts nearly impossible to understand, why a simple comma can make all the difference, and what malapropisms are, and why you should avoid them. Chapter 1 Writers often get a sense of style from reading good writing. There are innumerable style guides out there, all designed to help writers master the art of grammar and punctuation.

However, most accomplished writers will tell you that they get their skills not from reading style guides, but from paying close attention to other works they've read and enjoyed. Indeed, studying good prose is central to developing solid writing skills. Take, as an example of engaging prose, the opening line of Unweaving the Rainbow by scientist Richard Dawkins, We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Solid prose captures your attention by starting strong and avoiding clichés and banalities.

When you want to add a sense of grandeur, take a tip from Dawkins and spice your prose with a bit of poetry, but say you're trying to communicate an abstract idea. One way to make the conceptual more concrete is to use vivid imagery, which can both make an idea clearer and anchor the reader's imagination. In the same book, Dawkins describes the countless unrealized genetic possibilities as unborn ghosts, a potent and evocative image. Dawkins is bold from paragraph 1, and this makes a strong impression on the reader.

And that, ultimately, is the goal of most literature, regardless of genre. But you don't have to limit your list of good writing to literary classics. Even the obituary column has lessons to offer. New York Times writer Margalit Fox's work in obituary writing demonstrates clearly that you can capture a person's legacy in 800 words or less.

For example, when writing an obituary for Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, Fox wrote of his books, roundly praised, intermittently censored, and occasionally eaten. This playful juxtaposition perfectly sums up the broad impact of his books, both on critics, some of whom denounced his work, and on toddlers, who, being too young to read, see books as just another thing to put in their mouths.

Chapter 2: Look to the classic

Look to the classic style to develop good prose and clarity. There are many writing styles from which to draw inspiration, but when it comes to developing clarity and consistency, both the author and literary scholars are agreed that no style is better than the classic. The primary objective of classic style is to present things to the reader in a way that is clear and simple enough for them to understand, no matter how complex the topic. To achieve this, the writer must say goodbye to the pedantic or unnecessarily analytical tendencies that so often crop up in other styles of writing, especially those in academia or business and legal professions.

Physicist Brian Greene, for example, used classic style in his writings for Newsweek to expertly explain an incredibly complex topic, the theory of the multiverse. He used clear, everyday images and examples to describe the way in which our universe could simply be one of an infinite number of coexisting universes. Specifically, Greene compared the multiverse to a well-stocked shoe store, one which can guarantee that you'll find your size as a means of explaining the perfect conditions of our particular universe to exist within the multiverse. The more shoes there are, the greater the chances of your finding the right pair; the more universes there are, the greater the chances of there being one with the right conditions.

If written well, classic style can make the reader feel like a genius. Bad writing, on the other hand, can make the reader feel like a buffoon. Classic style assumes that writer and reader are equals, and the text aims to guide the reader to an understanding of the concept under discussion. Bad writing, in contrast, does the exact opposite and often leaves the reader feeling lost.

It's often full of unexplained references and intimidating passages that an average reader couldn't readily understand, whereas clumsy writers often qualify and obscure their contentions with words like virtually, seemingly, somewhat, or phrases like "I would argue" or "to some extent," classic style presents its information clearly and confidently.