Strunk Writing Quality

Strunk Writing Quality

Apply William Strunk Jr.'s principles from The Elements of Style to improve any piece of prose. This skill enforces clarity, concision, and vigor through specific, actionable rules.

For reports, research write-ups, guidance, documentation and summaries, use references/report-writing-style.md.

Philosophy

Good writing is clear, concise, and vigorous. Every rule exists to serve the reader. Strunk's core tenets:

1. Clarity above all — The reader must understand exactly what the writer means
2. Every word must tell — Vigorous writing is concise; omit needless words
3. Reader service — Every construction should aid comprehension and engagement
4. Mastery before deviation — Learn the rules thoroughly before breaking them; any violation must be purchased with "compensating merit"
5. Form serves meaning — Punctuation, formatting, and spelling carry semantic weight
6. Consistency with authority — Follow established conventions unless context demands otherwise

The mature writer knows the rules well enough to break them with purpose and payoff.

Core Principles

1. Be Concise

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences.

Avoid: "the fact that" in all its forms. Replace with direct nouns or verbs:

• "the fact that he had not succeeded" → "his failure"
• "the fact that I had arrived" → "my arrival"

Cut redundant words: If a word adds no meaning, remove it.

• "Acts of a hostile character" → "Hostile acts"
• "A member of the student body" → "A student"
• "He possessed great courage" → "He had great courage"

2. Use the Active Voice

The active voice is usually more direct, vigorous, and concise than the passive.

• Active: "I shall always remember my first visit to Boston."
• Passive: "My first visit to Boston will always be remembered by me."

When passive is appropriate:

• When the receiver of the action should be the subject
• When the performer is unknown or unimportant
• When making a particular word the sentence subject serves the paragraph's focus

Avoid double passives:

• Fault: "He has been proved to have been seen entering the building."
• Fix: "It has been proved that he was seen to enter the building."

Avoid weak existentials:

• Fault: "There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground."
• Fix: "Dead leaves covered the ground."

3. Put Statements in Positive Form

Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating language. Tell the reader what is, not just what is not.

When negation works:

• Antithesis: "Not charity, but simple justice."
• Negative words other than not: "The sun never sets upon the British flag."

4. Keep Related Words Together

Word position is the principal means of showing relationship.

• Subject and verb: Do not separate with a phrase that can be transferred to the beginning

  • Weak: "Wordsworth, in the fifth book of The Excursion, gives a minute description of this church."
  • Better: "In the fifth book of The Excursion, Wordsworth gives a minute description of this church."

• Relative pronouns: Should immediately follow their antecedents

  • Weak: "There was a look in his eye that boded mischief."
  • Better: "In his eye was a look that boded mischief."

• Modifiers: Must come next to the word they modify

  • Weak: "He only found two mistakes."
  • Better: "He found only two mistakes."

5. Express Co-ordinate Ideas in Similar Form

Parallel construction requires that expressions of similar content and function be outwardly similar.

• Weak: "Science was taught by the textbook method, while now the laboratory method is employed."
• Strong: "Science was taught by the textbook method; now it is taught by the laboratory method."

Correlative expressions (both...and, not...but, not only...but also) must be followed by the same grammatical construction:

• Weak: "It was both a long ceremony and very tedious."
• Strong: "The ceremony was both long and tedious."

6. Place the Emphatic Words at the End

The most prominent position in a sentence is the end. Place the logical predicate — the new element — there.

• Weak: "Humanity has hardly advanced in fortitude since that time, though it has advanced in many other ways."
• Strong: "Humanity, since that time, has advanced in many other ways, but it has hardly advanced in fortitude."

Any element other than the subject becomes emphatic when placed first:

• "Deceit or treachery he could never forgive."

7. Make the Paragraph the Unit of Composition

One paragraph per topic. The paragraph break signals to readers that "a new step in the development of the subject has been reached."

Ideal paragraph structure:

1. Topic sentence at or near the beginning
2. Supporting sentences that explain, establish, or develop the topic
3. Final sentence that emphasizes the thought or states an important consequence

Exceptions:

• Single sentences should not stand alone as paragraphs (except transitional sentences)
• In dialogue, each speech is a paragraph

Punctuation Rules

Parenthetic Expressions

Enclose interruptions between pairs of commas. You may omit both if the interruption is slight, but never omit one and leave the other.

• Correct: "The best way to see a country, unless you are pressed for time, is to travel on foot."
• Wrong: "Marjorie's husband, Colonel Nelson paid us a visit yesterday."

Non-restrictive vs. Restrictive Clauses

Non-restrictive (adds supplementary info): set off by commas. Can be split into two sentences.

• "The audience, which had at first been indifferent, became more and more interested."

Restrictive (limits the noun): no commas. Cannot be split into two sentences.

• "The candidate who best meets these requirements will obtain the place."

Independent Clauses

Place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause:

• "The early records of the city have disappeared, and the story of its first years can no longer be reconstructed."

Deeper advice: These "loose" sentences often feel like after-thoughts. Recast with subordination:

• "As the early records of the city have disappeared, the story of its first years can no longer be reconstructed."

No Comma Splices

Do not join independent clauses by a comma alone. Use a semicolon or period:

• Wrong: "Stevenson's romances are entertaining, they are full of exciting adventures."
• Correct: "Stevenson's romances are entertaining; they are full of exciting adventures."

Adverbs are not conjunctions: If the second clause is introduced by accordingly, besides, so, then, therefore, or thus, the semicolon is still required.

No Sentence Fragments

Do not use a period where a comma belongs:

• Wrong: "I met them on a Cunard liner several years ago. Coming home from Liverpool to New York."
• Correct: "I met them on a Cunard liner several years ago, coming home from Liverpool to New York."

Dangling Modifiers

A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject:

• Wrong: "Being in a dilapidated condition, I was able to buy the house very cheap."
• Correct: "Being in a dilapidated condition, the house was cheap."

Word Choice Guidelines

Avoid Hackneyed Expressions

Words drained of meaning through overuse signal lazy writing:

• Factor — "A hackneyed word"; replace with direct statements
• Feature — "Usually adds nothing"
• Along these lines — "A writer who aims at freshness or originality had better discard it entirely"
• Worth while — "Overworked as a term of vague approval"

Avoid Vague Generality

Replace vague, roundabout expressions with concrete, specific sentences:

• "His superior training was the great factor in his winning the match." → "He won the match by being better trained."

Use Words in Their Strict Sense

• While — Use only in the strict sense of "during the time that"; avoid as substitute for "and," "but," or "although"
• Literal / Literally — Do not use to support exaggeration
• However — In the sense of "nevertheless," never come first in a sentence
• Claim — Means "lay claim to," not a substitute for "declare"
• State — Not a substitute for "say"; restrict to "express fully or clearly"

Prefer Direct Statement

• "Very good" → "excellent"
• "So warm" → "sweltering"
• Use words strong in themselves rather than weak intensifiers like "very"

Grammar Corrections

• Less vs. fewer: "Less" for quantity, "fewer" for number
• Due to: Correct only as predicate or modifier to a specific noun; not adverbial for "owing to"
• Compare to = point out resemblances between different things; compare with = point out differences between similar things

Mechanical Correctness

Spelling Is a Proxy for Care

A misspelled word signals inattention, and inattention in mechanics suggests inattention in thought.

Common Homophone Traps

Frequent Misspellings to Memorize

• separate (not seperate)
• definite (root is finite)
• occurred (double the r)
• necessary (one c, two s's)
• rhyme / rhythm (rh-, not ry-)
• sacrilegious (not related to religious)
• privilege (no d before g)

Possessives

Always add 's to form the possessive singular, regardless of final consonant:

• Charles's friend, Burns's poems

Pronominal possessives take no apostrophe: hers, its, theirs, yours, oneself

Serial Comma

In a series of three or more terms, place a comma after each term except the last:

• "red, white, and blue"

Writing Quality Framework

Evaluate any piece of writing against these criteria:

Clarity

• Can the reader understand exactly what is meant on first reading?
• Are related words kept together?
• Are modifiers placed next to the words they modify?
• Are restrictive and non-restrictive clauses correctly punctuated?

Concision

• Does every word earn its place?
• Are there needless words, phrases, or sentences?
• Is the active voice used where appropriate?
• Are statements in positive form rather than negative?

Vigor

• Is the active voice predominant?
• Are words chosen for strength rather than padded with intensifiers?
• Is there variety in sentence structure?
• Are emphatic words placed at the end of sentences?

Correctness

• Are punctuation rules (commas, semicolons, apostrophes) applied correctly?
• Is spelling accurate, especially for commonly misspelled words?
• Are words used in their strict, literal sense?
• Is tense consistent within summaries and discussions?

Form

• Is each paragraph focused on a single topic?
• Does each paragraph begin with a clear topic sentence?
• Are co-ordinate ideas expressed in parallel form?
• Are quotations, references, and titles formatted correctly?

The Compensating Merit Principle

The best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, the reader will find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation.

Rule-breaking requires payment. Every rhetorical violation must be purchased with "some compensating merit." The violation is never free. The reader should sense that the departure from convention was deliberate and earned.

The learning sequence:

1. Learn the rules — Use them as guidance to write adequate plain English
2. Master plain English — Achieve competence for everyday communication
3. Study the masters — Look to literature for understanding stylistic secrets
4. Earn the right to deviate — Only break rules when certain of doing as well as the masters

Common Mistakes and Fixes

Usage Workflow

When editing a piece of writing:

1. First pass: Structure — Check paragraph unity, topic sentences, logical flow
2. Second pass: Sentence-level — Convert passive to active, fix dangling modifiers, tighten wordiness
3. Third pass: Word choice — Replace vague/hackneyed words, ensure strict sense, choose strong words over weak intensifiers
4. Fourth pass: Punctuation — Verify commas in pairs, no comma splices, proper semicolon use
5. Final pass: Mechanics — Check spelling, especially homophones and commonly misspelled words

Remember: Omit needless words. Every word should tell.