Re:Ask HN: What is your take on being a better writer?
by PaulHoule on Saturday May 27, 2017 @03:41PM
(#14431619)
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style
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Re:Ask HN: What is your take on being a better writer?
by anacleto on Saturday May 27, 2017 @03:50PM
(#14431660)
I've read "On Writing Well". Then I discovered "The Elements of Style". On Writing Well opens your eyes to what bad writing is, "The Elements of Style" explains how to write clearly.
"The Elements of Style" belongs to that 1% of books that are truly able to change the way you think (and write).
I tried to apply what I learned in "The Element of Styles" and "On Writing Well" to my company blog: https://medium.com/plainflow/how-we-write-at-plainflow-7e994...
Re:Ask HN: What is your take on being a better writer?
by mcguire on Saturday May 27, 2017 @06:43PM
(#14432266)
The Elements of Style is contentious. Many of its prescriptions are linguistically sketchy. On the other hand, it points out many things that many people do badly.
E.B. White, the 'editor', was one of the best essayists around, but he didn't particularly obey the rules in his own book.
Re:Ask HN: What is your take on being a better writer?
by ams6110 on Saturday May 27, 2017 @03:51PM
(#14431661)
Best thing to come out of my high school English education. I was introduced to it by my sophomore year English composition teacher.
It does have its critics but I think it's a very useful guide for most writers, and being a small book it is easily referenced and has remained useful to me to this day, much like K&R was when I did "C" programming.
Re:Ask HN: What is your take on being a better writer?
by big_spammer on Saturday May 27, 2017 @06:49PM
(#14432285)
"Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace" is better than "The Elements of Style".
https://www.amazon.com/Style-Lessons-Clarity-Grace-12th/dp/0...