Save the Best for Last - - Nicole Wiseman Style Rule Essay

Link to my rule – Save the Best for Last – Emphasis at the End

I’ve never given much consideration to the style of my writing before. I know that there are rules I must follow to write a good paper – proper grammar that should be followed and maintained. But, outside of these basic grade-school rules I have never given any thought to my writing style. Recently, with the help of a class on writing styles and technologies, I made, perhaps, one of the greatest discoveries of my college career – the style guide. Two books in particular, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and Joseph Williams’ Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, have picked me up out of my black hole of instinct writing and moved me into the enlightened world of style rules. Well put. One rule that both books had in common, which I found highly useful and thus used as the basis on my own rule, was emphasis placement. My rule is by no means a new rule, rather it is a combination of the two rules, Strunk & White’s and Williams, reduced down to a simpler understanding. (Good opening paragraph, consider introducing your rule here by name) I agree, the last sentence was the perfect set up for you to simply state your rule.

My rule is a fairly easy one- Save the Best for Last. To follow this rule all you need to do is take whatever information you find the most important, the topic or main information, and place it toward the end of the sentence.



Prior to Strunk, White, and Williams, I never would have considered where in my writing I was placing my topic information. In fact, I would have probably argued with you that it doesn’t matter where in a sentence the writer places the important information, just as long as it gets in there. Now, of course, I know differently. Where a writer chooses to place the prominent information can make a huge impact of the understanding, coherency, and transitional power of her paper. Good point for readers who may not have read the books to know.

As a writer moves through a paragraph she must carefully transition information and thoughts from one to another. (consider using italics or seperating it from the rest of the text with dashes or a comma). These transitions are a tedious process and it doesn’t take much to create a mistake that will detach a reader from your work. There are a number of ways in which shifting prominent information in the end will help the author maintain a connection with her reader. By placing the most important information in the back, you are by default moving the less important information to the beginning. With the less important information out of the way – it is easier for the writer to, as Williams tells us, “expose what you want to emphasize” (68). Consider this example:

Jimmy was disappointed in the amusement park, for the most part.

The reader understands that Jimmy was disappointed with the amusement park – but by leaving the unnecessary information for the most part at the end it takes away from the prominence of Jimmy’s disappointment. If we reorganize the information, to put the emphatic information at the end we get an entirely different feeling from the sentence. (Good examples, makes it easy to see the application of your rule)

For the most part, Jimmy was disappointed in the amusement park.

Now, as we know, the world doesn’t exist in single sentence statements. So, one can assume that there is more to be said about Jimmy’s disappointments. Let’s imagine the author wanted to write about why Jimmy was disappointed, for example we can say the lines were too long at the amusement park. As long as the prominent information was at the end, the author should be able to, with relative ease, simply add another sentence to the story.

For the most part, Jimmy was disappointed in the amusement park. He found the lines were too long and the rides too short.

Had the sentence not been revised the reader would have stumbled over the unnecessary information hanging on to the end of that sentence and the transition into the next/new idea would have been difficult and unclear.

There are some exceptions to this rule in which both Elements of Style and Style: Toward Clarity and Grace discuss. Strunk and White tell us that in some instances it is okay to place the emphasis at the beginning of a sentence. They say (the s should be removed) that “A subject coming first in a sentence may be emphatic, but hardly by its position alone” (53). Basically what they are saying is that this really only works when the topic information is strong enough in context to maintain its importance at the beginning. You may want to revise this sentence - I stumbled over the first half so the point you are trying to make is not as prominent as it could be. I agree, the last sentence is somewhat confusing and takes a few times to fully understand (rewrite for clarity).

An example of this might be: Home is where the heart is.

The idea of home, or the context of the word home, is strong enough that it loses no meaning or emphasis despite its location at the beginning of this sentence example.

Placing the emphasis of a sentence in the middle, however, is not a good idea. Williams tells us that this is the best way to lose the prominence of the information. By placing it in the middle it is sure to be swallowed up and lost. The best way to avoid this is to follow the advice of Williams and break the sentence into two – either just before or just after the important idea.

I am sure there are a number of occasions in which you as a writer will find that the emphasis is not best served at the end of a sentence. These rules, despite Strunk and White’s forceful manner, are not 100% absolute. There are always exceptions. However, I feel that this rule will help in maintaining a clear and smooth writing style. It is especially helpful whenever you have to write or read about things with (you may want to replace in with the word with) which you are unfamiliar. It helps make it easier to pick out and therefore understand the more important information. Once you can distinguish the important topics of the paper the point and purpose of the document also become clearer.

It is also important to note that the rule Save the Best for Last is not meant to be applied merely at the sentence level. Strunk and White tell us that “the proper place for what is to be made most prominent is the end applies equally to the words of a sentence, to the sentences of a paragraph, and the paragraphs of a composition” So no matter what scale you are writing on, you can never go wrong to save the best for last. (53). Very nice conslusion. (Good conclusion with the last two paragraphs, really worked to tie everything together)

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


Nicole Wiseman – Eng 328 - 27792