IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH

LESSON 1
A question of style

© THE LONDON SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM

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A QUESTION OF STYLE

For many people faced with the challenge of a blank page the English language
can seem a minefield.

The adolescent trying to express his feelings to his first love; the job applicant
hesitant at form-filling; the businessman filing his first report to the Board; and the
aspiring Booker Prize winner all have something in common - a need to
communicate with the reader, at whatever level.

Communication is - and always has been - the cornerstone of civilisation.

Language is the vehicle for such communication. The spoken word may have
impact: it may convey a multitude of emotions merely by inflection and intonation,
but it is transient, ephemeral. The written word has far more to offer: a richness
and variety of style suited to every purpose and taste, and, once enshrined in
print, it is to some extent immortal.

Our senses today are bombarded by powerful media images which quickly
satisfy the visual appetite but which sometimes threaten to suffocate the written
word. The purpose of this Course is to improve and revive your command of the
written word so that you may aim for clarity of expression, and thereby enhance
your prospects of publication and success. It is also intended for those who feel
that their knowledge of prose and grammar needs strengthening.

Many of you who are hoping to embark on a career as a writer or journalist will
already have a sound knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. All of you will
have a style of your own. But you may have missed out on the formal teaching of
traditional grammar at school, or forgotten its essential precepts. As a result,
there may be areas of style where you are still unclear, some common and
troublesome points that still confuse you.

Some 'ungrammatical' errors - such as the split infinitive - are now so widespread
as to be almost common use and are the subject of much debate. Opinion in
such cases is sharply divided. Too rigid an adherence to grammatical
correctness may stifle the flow of your prose if the effect it produces is clumsy.
Language must of necessity be a living entity: it cannot be trapped or frozen in
time. Yet there must be an observance of the principles of basic sentence-
construction, to make the writing both acceptable and meaningful to the reader.

You must aim to steer a middle course between outdated usage and
unacceptable innovations of vocabulary and style. For example, the use of 'open'
(i.e. non-existent) punctuation or lower-case letters throughout a piece of writing
may be eye-catching and innovative but such trends are confusing to the reader
and will rarely stand the test of time. (We will come to the question of good
punctuation later on in the Ccourse.)

Remember - if you want to write, you must first of all read. For anyone intending
to write for profit or for pleasure there can be no better foundation than extensive
reading. No course of instruction on its own can do very much to widen a
student's vocabulary or increase his command of the language. That will come
only from the critical appraisal of the works of great (and not-so-great) authors.
But discrimination in the choice of words can be taught and also in the
arrangement of the words chosen.

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Sometimes there are two, or even more than two, possible ways of saying
something, and a writer has to make a choice between these possibilities. In
some cases, all the variant forms may be equally acceptable; in other cases, one
form may be generally considered more old-fashioned, more formal or more
colloquial than the others.

But whatever your choice of words, remember that simple, plain language is
always the best. The reader is interested in what you have to say. By the way in
which you say it you may encourage him either to read on or to stop reading.
Long words or convoluted constructions only serve to confuse him, not to inform
or convince him. You should aim to be concise and clear: avoid repetition and
hackneyed phrases, and condense your work by selecting the vital facts and
eliminating everything that is not essential to your meaning.

At the same time, take care that you do not lose a sense of style. Unless you
have a particular purpose in mind, a jerky, staccato effect is to be avoided. Keep
in mind George Orwell's six elementary rules for writing: 1

• Never use a METAPHOR, simile or other figure of speech that you are
used to seeing in print.

• Never use a long word where a SHORT WORD will do.

• If it is possible to cut out a word, always CUT IT OUT.

• Never use the passive where you can use the ACTIVE.

• Never use a FOREIGN PHRASE, a scientific word or a JARGON word if

you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

• Break any of these rules sooner than write anything which sounds or feels
uncomfortable.

Try not to be too chatty in your writing. Cosy 'asides' of the 'And now, dear
reader...' variety used in Victorian novels will only irritate. Do not be too free with
slang, either. Slang, like metaphors, should be used only occasionally if it is to
be effective, and rarely, if ever, in formal writing.

Avoid giving people 'the thumbs up' or 'thumbs down', or 'the green light '. Stay
clear of 'gravy trains' and 'salami tactics', and do not bring your writing down to
'grass-roots level ' or 'the bottom line'. Do not use 'schizophrenic' unless the
context is medical, and refrain from employing over-used adjectives like key,
massive, meaningful, major (unless something nearby is minor). It is equally
important to avoid being too didactic: unless you are writing a textbook, do not
begin sentences with words like Consider, Compare, Imagine, Note or
Remember. They will sound patronising rather than informative.

Now a few words about structure. We can all remember school essay-writing
where we were urged to ensure that our writing had a 'beginning, a middle and
an end'. This means an introduction, exposition and conclusion and it is still
relevant to many forms of writing.
The very opposite, of course, applies in news-writing: the journalist writing a
news report must put his or her most striking and newsworthy information at the

1 Politics and the English Language, 1946.

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top of his report, and work downwards. That, however, is the exception. The
modern media must cater above all to the wishes of a public whose chief demand
is speed of comprehension.

In any form of narrative writing, however, every fact or event should be made to
grow out of some previous action. Its course should seem natural. In fiction, the
end of the narrative may be unexpected, but it should be a satisfying and
inevitable culmination of what has gone before.

In the following lessons we will deal more specifically with examples of grammar
and style, and common errors which occur. Let us now summarise the main
points of this first lesson as follows:

• Read as much as you can. Use a dictionary for new words.

• Choose your words carefully: aim for simplicity and clarity.

• Cut out any words that do not add to your meaning.

• Keep it brief, but do not neglect balance and harmony.

• Ensure a flow of meaning as one fact succeeds another.

• Avoid repetition and clichés.

• Use correct punctuation.

EXERCISES

Although we have not dealt with any specific aspects of grammar in this first
lesson, the following exercises are designed to help your tutor assess your grasp
of the written word and explain any grammatical errors or problems that may
arise.

Exercise 1
Submit a personal statement giving details about you (including, if you have no
objection, your age), your education and your special interests. Also state your
present occupation and give information about any other experiences you think
might be relevant. Answer specifically: What particular reasons do you have for
wanting to improve your knowledge and practice of grammar and style? Do you
intend to write? Will such writing be purely for pleasure, for business reasons or
for profit? (If for profit, state your intended markets)

(Approx 400 words)

Exercise 2
Some of the following sentences may be incorrectly written. If so, please re-write
them correctly, and give reasons for the alterations you have made. (There may
be more than one mistake in each.)

a) I thought his comparison of the managing director with an ignorant

baboon was quite uncalled for.
b) What we need is twenty volunteers.
c) The woman sat on the piano stool with three legs.

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d) If either one of you're babies does not like fresh cow's milk, boil it.
e) He had to be constrained from hitting the man.
f) When I showed her the book, she appeared disinterested.
g) He picked up the paper which he had earlier lain on the desk besides him.
h) I saw a young woman who I assumed to be she whom I had been asked
to collect from the station.
i) An Education spokesman, with one thousand protesters were at County
Hall last night, arriving by coach.
j) There were less than 500 people at the match on Saturday.

Exercise 3
Rewrite the following passage, in your own words, reducing it to about 150 words
but retaining all the relevant facts. Pay special attention to producing a clear and
harmonious piece of writing. Give the piece a title.

"France has been my main source of inspiration. I look at it as a model for the art
of living. My first trip abroad - to France in 1952 - marked me for ever.

"The impact was especially profound because I'd come from England, where
there was extreme austerity and pessimism in the wake of the war. Dullness,
lack of spirit and misery weighed heavily on everything. France was overflowing
with colour, sensuality and beauty. There was a strange, exotic scent that came
to me as soon as I stepped on the pier at Calais, and which I later realized was a
mix of strong tobacco and fresh garlic.

"I was young and impressionable, so I let myself be taken up by the exuberance
of the simplest things. Nothing escaped me - not the dancing colours and
graphic abundance of the markets, nor the beauty of tumbledown rural buildings,
nor the light or texture of the countryside.

"What struck me most was the extraordinary beauty of ordinary things. Fruits
and vegetables were stacked in enormous piles, creating marvellous spectacles
that would attract you visually even before making your mouth water. The
flowers, in huge bouquets, were plunged into simple buckets without any
pompous arrangements. Even the most mundane café seemed sophisticated,
with its white porcelain cups and metal coffee pots, its starched linen and tiled
floors, its marble tables and simple wooden chairs. Each day was full of promise,
starting with a fresh croissant and a bowl of café au lait.

"So many things, including important elements of my work as a designer, have

resulted from a desire to interpret for others what I admire most about France. I
go to restaurants more often, I drink wine regularly and my cupboards are filled
with French country-style dishes. I've also assimilated another French trait - the
facility for making ordinary things a true pleasure."

(from Terence Conran's France)