I'd like to improve my writing and have been considering getting either The Elements of Style by Strunk and White or Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace by Williams and Colomb. What are their relative strengths and weaknesses? Why might one be better for me than the other?
I'm a graduate student in engineering, but also like writing in general. Thus, I want to improve my writing specifically in technical settings, but also in general. I'm considering these two books because I've heard good things about both and because they're supposed to be short and to the point. Knowing myself, even they might be pushing the boundaries of what I'll actually get through if I find reading them to be tedious.
Answer
I highly recommend Williams and Colomb's Style. Throughout the book they focus heavily on three ideas:
- What do readers expect?
- What choices can writers make?
- How do the writer's choices affect the reader's expectations?
For example, where other books might admonish not to use passive voice, Style describes the effects of passive voice, and through examples demonstrates where you might want those effects, and where you might not.
I've applied two ideas in particular. First, begin a sentence with familiar information, and place new information at the end. Beginning with familiar information connects with readers and orients them to the topic of the sentence. Once oriented, the reader can make better sense of the new information, and relate it to what has come before. Writing sentences this way increases cohesion and narrative flow.
Second, the end of a clause or sentence or paragraph is the "power position." Readers tend to read the words in those positions with a little extra emphasis. So identify the information that you want the reader to emphasize, and shift that information to the end.
Again, I highly recommend Style. For several years I bought each new edition as it came out, partly to see what new ideas Williams and Colomb offered, but mostly as a refresher.
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