Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:10, 16 July 2007

Latest revision as of 23:50, 6 July 2025

(74 intermediate revisions by 40 users not shown)

Line 1:

{{Short description|Book on how to write clearly}}

[[Image:Style-_Lessons_in_Clarity_and_Grace_cover.jpg|thumb|200px|''Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace'', [[2007]] edition.]]

{{Italic title}}

'''Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace''' (initially [[Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace]]) is a book by [[Joseph M. Williams]], a professor (emeritus) in the Department of English Language and Literature at the [[University of Chicago]]. The author claims and aspitres to demonstrate that “it is good to write clearly, and anyone can.” (Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (9th Edition) 4). The book has gone through numerous editions (see the list below), and become a widely recommended text for graduate and post-graduate writing classes.

'''''Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace''''' is a book, in many editions, principally by university professor [[Joseph M. Williams]] (1933–2008), with coauthoring and (later) posthumous revisions by university professors Gregory G. Colomb (1951–2011) and Joseph Bizup. The book aims to teach people how to write clearly and gracefully. Williams was a professor of English Language and Literature at the [[University of Chicago]]. He said, "It is good to write clearly, and anyone can."<ref>''Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace'' (9th Edition) p. 4</ref>

In the nearly half a century since the first publication, Williams and his main collaborators and successors, Colomb and Bizup, produced at least 19 editions of 3 titles that are all broadly similar in content and purpose and all share a theme of having 10 to 12 chapters that each cover an aspect of clear and graceful writing. Unlike the content of the books, which is clear, the [[marketing]] of the books is opaque, as one cannot easily tell what the intended differences are among them without buying multiple copies and comparing them. The answer from that exercise turns out to be (1) that all of the books have broadly similar content and purpose and (2) that the new editions periodically aim to further improve and to update the content. The books are:

* ''Style: '''Lessons''' in Clarity and Grace''

** Originally titled ''Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace''

** As of 2024, 13 editions through 2021

** Williams, Colomb, and (later) Bizup

* ''Style: The '''Basics''' of Clarity and Grace''

** As of 2024, 5 editions through 2014

** Williams, Colomb, and (later) Bizup

* ''Style: '''Toward''' Clarity and Grace''

** As of 2024, 1 edition from 1990, reprinted in many print runs

** Williams and Colomb (Colomb coauthored 2 of the 10 chapters in this book)

==About the book series==

The original book, first published in 1981, was based on a course, "The Little Red Schoolhouse," that Williams taught for many years at the [[University of Chicago]]. The book has since gone through numerous editions and has become a popular text for writing classes. The thirteenth edition was published in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/style-lessons-in-clarity-and-grace/P200000002140/9780137536603 |title=Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace|website=Pearson}}</ref>

Some idea of the usefulness of the book series can be gleaned from the fact that [[Geoffrey K. Pullum]], in his 2024 introductory book on English grammar,<ref name=Pullum-2024>{{cite book |year=2024 |last=Pullum |first=Geoffrey K. |authorlink=Geoffrey K. Pullum |title=The Truth About English Grammar |publisher=Polity Press |isbn=978-1509560547}}</ref>{{rp|175}} included it among books that he recommends as worthwhile reading, unlike various other books from the past that he disrecommends.

==Content==

All of the [[table of contents|tables of contents]] are broadly similar albeit superficially different, with the chapter count varying from 10 to 12, sometimes nominally called "lessons" and sometimes not. Below is a typical representative.

*Preface

=== Front Matter ===

* Preface

* In Memoriam

* Introduction

===Part One: Style as Choice===

*Lesson One: UnderstandingCorrectness and Style

*Lesson Two: Correctness

===Part Two: Clarity===

*Lesson ThreeTwo: Actions

*Lesson FourThree: Characters

*Lesson FiveFour: Cohesion and Coherence

*Lesson SixFive: Emphasis

===Part Three: GraceClarity of Form===

*Lesson SevenSix: Concision Framing Documents

*Lesson EightSeven: Shape Framing Section

*Lesson Nine: Elegance

===Part Four: FormGrace===

*Lesson TenEight: MotivatingConcision Coherence

*Lesson ElevenNine: GlobalShape Coherence

*Lesson NineTen: Elegance

===Part Five: Ethics===

*Lesson TwelveEleven: The Ethics of Style Clarity

*Lesson Twelve: Beyond Clarity

=== Back Matter ===

*Appendix I: Punctuation

*Appendix II: Using Sources

*Glossary

*Suggested Answers

Line 36 ⟶ 62:

==Editions in print==

*''Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace''. 9th Edition. New York: Pearson Longman (2007) {{ISBN|0-10: 0321479351321-47935-1}} {{ISBN-13: |978-0321479358}} (paperpaperback)

*''Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace''. 2nd Edition (2006) {{ISBN|0-10:321-33085-4}} 0321330854{{ISBN|978-0321330857}} (paperback)

*''Style: Toward Clarity and Grace'' (19951990) {{ISBN|0-10: 0226899152226-89915-2}} {{ISBN-13: |978-0226899152}} (paperpaperback)

ISBN-13: 978-0321330857 (paper)

*Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (1995) ISBN-10: 0226899152 ISBN-13: 978-0226899152 (paper)

==Earlier editions==

*''Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace''. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman (1981, 1985, 1989), New York: HarperCollins (1989, 1994), New York: Longman (1997, 2000, 2003), Toronto: Longman (2005), New York: Pearson Longman (2005)

*''Style : The Basics of Clarity and Grace''. New York: Longman (2003)

*''Style: Toward Clarity and Grace''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1990) with two chapters coauthored by [[Gregory G. Colomb]]

== Translations ==

* Korean: 스타일 레슨: 명확하고 아름다운 영어 글쓰기: {{ISBN|979-1188392018}} (2018)

* Chinese (Traditional): 英文寫作的魅力: 十大經典準則: 人人都能寫出清晰又優雅的文章: {{ISBN|978-9866031564}} (2014)

== On-lineOnline reviews ==

Russian (2003, 2005)<ref>[http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/1393121/]</ref>

== On-line reviews ==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120206080557/http://econ161.berkeley.edu/econ_articles/reviews/williams.html Review of ''Style: Toward Clarity and Grace'' (archived 2012)] (reviewed in 1999) by J. Bradford DeLong, a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley

*Review of ''Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace''. 6th Edition (1999) by Roy Johnson<ref>[http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/williams.htm]</ref>

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120211091636/http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/bib/nf/w/jsphmwll.htm Review of ''Style: Toward Clarity and Grace'' (archived 2012)] (reviewed in 2003) by Susan Stepney, Professor of Computer Science, University of York, UK

*Review of ''Style: Toward Clarity and Grace'' (1990) by J. Bradford<ref>[http://econ161.berkeley.edu/econ_articles/reviews/williams.html]</ref>

*Review of of ''Style: Toward Clarity and Grace'' (1990) by Susan Stepney<ref>[http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/bib/nf/w/jsphmwll.htm]</ref>

== Notes References==

{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070630175109/http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/7255.ctl ''Style: Toward Clarity and Grace'' (archived 2007)] on [[University of Chicago Press]] website

*[http://Four (Easy) Steps to Better Writing] a handout prepared by Paul Dudenhefer based on S''tyle: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace''

*[https://www.amazon.com/Style-Ten-lessons-clarity-grace/dp/0673153932 ''Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity & Grace'', 1st. ed.], at [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]]

*[https://econ.duke.edu/sites/econ.duke.edu/files/Four%20Steps%20to%20Better%20Writing.pdf Four steps to better writing], a handout based on the book from the EcoTeach Center, [[Duke University]], prepared by Paul Dudenhefer, Writing Tutor

[[Category:19812007 non-fiction books|Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace]]

[[Category:2007 books|Style: Lessons inguides Clarityfor andAmerican GraceEnglish]]

[[Category:Style guides]]