Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace 6th Edition

This little-known gem is the very best American book on writing and grammar. I have found it immensely valuable over an 18-year career as newspaper reporter, magazine editor, columnist and technical writer. Williams teaches you to write clearly and directly, to eliminate the bureaucratic bull and to make your sentences sing. When I was a cub reporter, I would do a few of his exercises in my head each morning as I warmed up the car. By the time I had finished the book, I could cut through the deadly jargon of school committee babble and social service double-talk and put my reports in words that people could read without slipping into a coma. The most amazing thing about this book is that it isn't famous in the writing community. If you care about your writing, buy it -- you can't go wrong.

Best little book on writing there is.

I dislike writing disparagingly of a book that has much to commend it. Those looking for a book to help formulate and construct an argument, idea, or story will NOT find it here. This book, by the author's admission, presupposes an existent text that needs rewriting... For authors wanting to make their existent manuscripts more alive and active, Williams' book makes a nice complement.The author observes that his book is meant to help the writer "rewrite" what is already written with the aid of numerous amorphous rules. Such things as writing in the present tense and in active form are pervasively recommended. The use of clauses, including restrictive and non-restrictive clauses, helps the author amend, clarify, and refine. All these admonitions are generally useful. Indeed, many of his suggestions may help writers overcome "writer's block," and get the story underway. Whenever I encounter a mental block, I have found this book useful in penetrating the veil of confusion and obfuscation.But Williams' approach to grammar and syntax is often flippant. While his advice to avoid nominalizations is to be approved, some kinds of writing simply cannot avoid it without diminuition of either the argument or the author or both. Another striking example of Williams' problem is the use of commas in serializations: Strunk and White, together with every dictionary containing a section on the use of commas, recommends the use of a comma after a serial of elements and before the conjunction; Williams thinks this rule unnecessary. The ultimate comma is optional. Like so many of Williams' opinions, rules are merely options, left to the author's discretion in their use. BUNK! Grammatical and syntactical devices, like rewriting, go to the very heart of clarity and elegance. The breach of protocols (with his examples by great writers) does not give license to every future writer to do likewise. Good grammar and syntax are every bit as important to clarity and grace, as are Williams' insistence to write actively and avoid the passive.

I had this book for a technical writing class in college. It helped me immensely, and I thought it should be on the curriculum for every middle school. Later, my law school research and writing professor required this as our text. The skills taught in this book served me well as an attorney for 30 years. My judge friends felt my written work was as good as any they'd seen. At least, I can say it worked for my "audience".

I've seen some of the reviews that disparage this book. I weep because they did not see the humor of this book. Style is hilarious. Before I read this book, before I understood the value of language use, I was terrified of editing, because I cannot keep the rules of grammar in my head. Each time I re-read this book, more of its inherent humor comes forth. So much of Joseph William's humor is admittedly subtle, but it is just that wonderful humor that perhaps only careful writers and readers can understand. I must say that this book has been a good part in helping me edit my own work... no: it has helped me want to edit my own work and explore the rules of language as being Real, Folklore or Optional.Joseph William's book Style taught me that language could actually be fun. I thank him for writing this book.

I have always enjoyed writing and was born with a natural talent for it, but I didn't realize how much better my writing could be until I worked through Joseph Williams' "Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace" in one of my technical writing courses.Williams' book helped me to see the mistakes I was making in my writing, and with careful practice, my writing has improved a great deal. I am currently a professional writer, and my only regret is that I borrowed the book rather than buying it for my course! Now I wish I had my own copy to reference.

I am an experienced freelance writer with dozens of articles and four books under my belt. Yet I was put off by the two opening chapters of this book because they jumped into details so quickly.I really got turned on when I hit Part Two, and continued to learn, learn, learn from every chapter thereafter. I thought the Appendix: Punctuation an extremely valuable section.This book is too complicated for beginning writers. But for those of us wanting to hone our skills, wanting to write with clarity and grace, this book is for us.An "o" is missing from the word "to" on page 265, in the paragraph titled "Interruptions", last word in line 6.

This book contains many examples of horribly convoluted prose, many of them contrived to be more obscure than anyone could imagine. These bad examples are fixed using useful general principles, like replacing names for actions with verbs.The focus is primarily on sentences with some attention to paragraphs. The book "The New Oxford Guide to Writing" by Thamas Kane is more ambitious in covering the organization of larger documents and including a more varied approach to making text interesting.Bottom line: Williams to fix the egregious, Kane to make things sing.