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Emphatic Word Placement Essay (Michelle Squires)
Michelle's Style Rules Essay
When it comes to style in writing what tends to come to mind is the manner in which something is written, be it the structure, the grammar, or even the choice of wording. However, style, as it pertains to writing, includes much more than just grammar, structure, and diction. In fact, ever since writing has been an academic subject, students have been taught to follow writing rules. As writing has evolved, style rules have been developed to guide writers in the form of manuals, such as the classic writing style book The Elements of Style, written by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Although these ‘rules’ have been put into place as a way to aid writers, the word ‘rule’ implies something that is not to be broken. As is so often the case, however, rules end up getting bent and this is the case for many of the rules in Strunk and White’s book.
In this paper I will showcase a modification I made to one of the rules in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style regarding the placing of emphatic words in a sentence. The modification I chose to make actually came about after reading another classic style book Style Toward Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams. After introducing my modified style rule, I will explain how I came up with this rule and it’s significance.
Emphatic Word Placement Should Either Be at the End or the Beginning of a Sentence.
My interpretation of the ‘emphatic word placement’ rule is as follows.
Placing emphasis at the beginning of a sentence:
a. Faithfulness and honesty he admires.
b. Cheating and Lying I cannot excuse.
The emphasis here is placed on the words at the beginning of the sentences.
Placing emphasis at the end of a sentence:
a. He admires faithfulness and honesty.
b. I cannot excuse cheating and lying.
The emphasis here is placed on the words at the end of the sentences.
*Both of these examples allow readers to emphasize the same words and both are powerful ways in which to influence writing where style is concerned.
How This Rule Came To Be
The Elements of Style is a celebrated style book designed to help people write. William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White pack over twenty style rules in this hundred or so page handheld book, which often come across as if they are, and should be, the only rules one should follow when writing. As stated in the beginning of this paper, rules are regularly bent and this seems to be an issue concerning Strunk and White’s handy little guide to writing.
Rules are made to be broken, as they say, but clearly Strunk and White are not familiar with the phrase. The Elements of Style comes across to readers more as a drill sergeant would to new recruits, demanding to say the least. One gets the distinct impression that if a rule is not precisely followed push-ups will ensue. However, even the tough exterior of the book does not present significant enough evidence to the correctness, so to speak, of these rules.
The forcefulness of The Elements of Style is demonstrated in the rule I chose to modify. Rule 22 states, “Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end” (32). This rule indicates that if emphasis were placed anywhere else it would be incorrect. However, this is clearly not the case. Indeed, Strunk and White realize this as well as they write, “The other prominent position in the sentence is the beginning” (33).
So why are the authors so demanding if they realize there are other options? Your guess is as good as mine, but I would venture that. However, because of its harsh nature, The Elements of Style has been criticized by many, including Joseph M. Williams, author of Style Toward Clarity and Grace.
Williams’ Style Toward Clarity and Grace is a style book that is almost in complete opposition to that of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. In addition to offering much more detail and explanation, Williams’ book comes across to readers as being a helpful guide to be followed instead of the rigid method in which Strunk and White assert their rules. From the very first page of Style Toward Clarity and Grace Williams writes, “But I want to do more than just help you write clearly. I also want you to understand this matter – to understand why some prose seems clear, other prose not, and why two readers might disagree about it…” (1). Williams seems to focus more on his readers understanding of why his “principles” should be taken into consideration, which is much different than the ‘Do what I say’ attitude of Strunk and White.
Williams directly addresses the Strunk and White rule I discuss in this paper and surprisingly, all authors are in agreement on this one. Williams’ principle on word placement states, “Put at the end of your sentence the newest, the most surprising, the most significant information: information that you want to stress – perhaps the information that you will expand on in your next sentence” (48). However, that is not to say that the modification that I made to Strunk and White’s rule is incorrect, according to Williams as he writes, “Each sentence should teach your reader something new. To lead your reader to whatever will seem new to that reader, you have to begin that sentence with something that you can reasonably assume that reader already knows” (49). The examples I use in my modified rule assume that readers are aware that, for instance, qualities such as faithfulness and honesty are valuable and cheating and lying are inexcusable.
As stated more than once in this paper, rules are often bendable, if you will. This applies to my modified rule as well. It is probably better to place emphatic words at the end of a sentence as Strunk and White, as well as Williams suggests. Strunk and White propose, “The word or group of words entitled to this position (in regards to emphatic words) of prominence is usually the logical predicate – that is, the new element in the sentence…” (32). This, along with Williams’ discussion of his principle regarding this style guide is very convincing, but I happen to believe that the position of emphatic words can be either at the start or at the end of a sentence.
However, I take issue with the exclusivity.
My belief in emphatic word placement comes from the exclusive nature of both Strunk and White’s rule and Williams’ principle. It’s the exclusivity that I take issue with. Both style books discussed here may be perceived as dueling, as undeniably they are at times, but under the surface they seem to say “follow me’. It’s almost as if there is no give either way. Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style may be the harsher of the two style books, but Williams’ Style Toward Clarity and Grace can also be perceived as a strict guide book that just is not as strict. The point I most wanted to stress in my own modification of a rule for this assignment and paper is that rules can be bended and it’s perfectly fine to bend and even break them. Both books discussed here can be wonderful writing accessories, but it is not necessary to follow either of them down to the letter. Writing style is supposed to allow writers the freedom to express themselves in the manner they wish. Style books help ensure writers write in an understandable fashion, but should not take away the individual writers style.
Works Cited:
White, E.B. and William Strunk. The Elements of Style. New York: Longman, 2000.
Williams, Joseph. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995
Michelle, I really like your style rules essay. You analyze the books and explain your rule clearly. I made a few minor word changes, but your essay was great!
-Kate Wynalek
When it comes to style in writing what tends to come to mind is the manner in which something is written, be it the structure, the grammar, or even the choice of wording. However, style, as it pertains to writing, includes much more than just grammar, structure, and diction. In fact, ever since writing has been an academic subject, students have been taught to follow writing rules. As writing has evolved, style rules have been developed to guide writers in the form of manuals, such as the classic writing style book The Elements of Style, written by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Although these ‘rules’ have been put into place as a way to aid writers, the word ‘rule’ implies something that is not to be broken. As is so often the case, however, rules end up getting bent and this is the case for many of the rules in Strunk and White’s book.
In this paper I will showcase a modification I made to one of the rules in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style regarding the placing of emphatic words in a sentence. The modification I chose to make actually came about after reading another classic style book Style Toward Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams. After introducing my modified style rule, I will explain how I came up with this rule and it’s significance.
Emphatic Word Placement Should Either Be at the End or the Beginning of a Sentence.
My interpretation of the ‘emphatic word placement’ rule is as follows.
Placing emphasis at the beginning of a sentence:
a. Faithfulness and honesty he admires.
b. Cheating and Lying I cannot excuse.
The emphasis here is placed on the words at the beginning of the sentences.
Placing emphasis at the end of a sentence:
a. He admires faithfulness and honesty.
b. I cannot excuse cheating and lying.
The emphasis here is placed on the words at the end of the sentences.
*Both of these examples allow readers to emphasize the same words and both are powerful ways in which to influence writing where style is concerned.
How This Rule Came To Be
The Elements of Style is a celebrated style book designed to help people write. William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White pack over twenty style rules in this hundred or so page handheld book, which often come across as if they are, and should be, the only rules one should follow when writing. As stated in the beginning of this paper, rules are regularly bent and this seems to be an issue concerning Strunk and White’s handy little guide to writing.
Rules are made to be broken, as they say, but clearly Strunk and White are not familiar with the phrase. The Elements of Style comes across to readers more as a drill sergeant would to new recruits, demanding to say the least. One gets the distinct impression that if a rule is not precisely followed push-ups will ensue. However, even the tough exterior of the book does not present significant enough evidence to the correctness, so to speak, of these rules.
The forcefulness of The Elements of Style is demonstrated in the rule I chose to modify. Rule 22 states, “Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end” (32). This rule indicates that if emphasis were placed anywhere else it would be incorrect. However, this is clearly not the case. Indeed, Strunk and White realize this as well as they write, “The other prominent position in the sentence is the beginning” (33).
So why are the authors so demanding if they realize there are other options? Your guess is as good as mine, but I would venture that. However, because of its harsh nature, The Elements of Style has been criticized by many, including Joseph M. Williams, author of Style Toward Clarity and Grace.
Williams’ Style Toward Clarity and Grace is a style book that is almost in complete opposition to that of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. In addition to offering much more detail and explanation, Williams’ book comes across to readers as being a helpful guide to be followed instead of the rigid method in which Strunk and White assert their rules. From the very first page of Style Toward Clarity and Grace Williams writes, “But I want to do more than just help you write clearly. I also want you to understand this matter – to understand why some prose seems clear, other prose not, and why two readers might disagree about it…” (1). Williams seems to focus more on his readers understanding of why his “principles” should be taken into consideration, which is much different than the ‘Do what I say’ attitude of Strunk and White.
Williams directly addresses the Strunk and White rule I discuss in this paper and surprisingly, all authors are in agreement on this one. Williams’ principle on word placement states, “Put at the end of your sentence the newest, the most surprising, the most significant information: information that you want to stress – perhaps the information that you will expand on in your next sentence” (48). However, that is not to say that the modification that I made to Strunk and White’s rule is incorrect, according to Williams as he writes, “Each sentence should teach your reader something new. To lead your reader to whatever will seem new to that reader, you have to begin that sentence with something that you can reasonably assume that reader already knows” (49). The examples I use in my modified rule assume that readers are aware that, for instance, qualities such as faithfulness and honesty are valuable and cheating and lying are inexcusable.
As stated more than once in this paper, rules are often bendable, if you will. This applies to my modified rule as well. It is probably better to place emphatic words at the end of a sentence as Strunk and White, as well as Williams suggests. Strunk and White propose, “The word or group of words entitled to this position (in regards to emphatic words) of prominence is usually the logical predicate – that is, the new element in the sentence…” (32). This, along with Williams’ discussion of his principle regarding this style guide is very convincing, but I happen to believe that the position of emphatic words can be either at the start or at the end of a sentence.
However, I take issue with the exclusivity.
My belief in emphatic word placement comes from the exclusive nature of both Strunk and White’s rule and Williams’ principle. It’s the exclusivity that I take issue with. Both style books discussed here may be perceived as dueling, as undeniably they are at times, but under the surface they seem to say “follow me’. It’s almost as if there is no give either way. Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style may be the harsher of the two style books, but Williams’ Style Toward Clarity and Grace can also be perceived as a strict guide book that just is not as strict. The point I most wanted to stress in my own modification of a rule for this assignment and paper is that rules can be bended and it’s perfectly fine to bend and even break them. Both books discussed here can be wonderful writing accessories, but it is not necessary to follow either of them down to the letter. Writing style is supposed to allow writers the freedom to express themselves in the manner they wish. Style books help ensure writers write in an understandable fashion, but should not take away the individual writers style.
Works Cited:
White, E.B. and William Strunk. The Elements of Style. New York: Longman, 2000.
Williams, Joseph. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995
Michelle, I really like your style rules essay. You analyze the books and explain your rule clearly. I made a few minor word changes, but your essay was great!
-Kate Wynalek
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