Elements of Style: 21 Style Reminders

Review writing against Strunk & White's 21 style principles from Chapter V "An Approach to Style."

Instructions

Analyze the provided text against each of the 21 style reminders. Focus on actionable feedback with specific examples from the text. Not all principles apply to every piece—mark N/A when appropriate.

Output Format

Text Under Review: [title or brief description]

Style Review

Key Issues Found

High Priority

• [Issue with specific example and suggested fix]

Medium Priority

• [Issue with specific example and suggested fix]

Principle Reference

1. Place yourself in the background — Write to serve the reader, not to show off. Style emerges from content, not from the writer's ego.

2. Write naturally — Don't consciously imitate others or force an affected style. Write as you would speak to an intelligent friend.

3. Work from suitable design — Plan your piece. Know your scope and structure before writing extensively.

4. Write with nouns and verbs — These give writing strength. Adjectives and adverbs are not your principal weapons.

5. Revise and rewrite — Good writing is rewriting. Don't expect first drafts to be final.

6. Don't overwrite — Avoid ornate, flowery prose. Rich prose is hard to digest.

7. Don't overstate — Avoid superlatives and exaggeration. A single overstatement can undermine your credibility.

8. Avoid qualifiers — Words like "very," "rather," "quite," "pretty," and "little" weaken prose.

9. Don't affect breeziness — Forced casualness and flip remarks suggest the writer values cleverness over substance.

10. Use orthodox spelling — Follow standard conventions unless you have good reason not to.

11. Don't explain too much — Trust the reader. Avoid excessive adverbs after "said" and over-explanatory dialogue tags.

12. Don't construct awkward adverbs — Avoid forcing "-ly" onto words that don't take it naturally.

13. Make sure speakers are clear — In dialogue, readers must always know who is speaking.

14. Avoid fancy words — Prefer the plain word to the fancy one. "Home" not "domicile."

15. Use dialect sparingly — The best dialect writers use minimal deviation from standard language.

16. Be clear — Clarity is the foundation. Muddiness is not depth; obscurity is not profundity.

17. Don't inject opinion — Keep personal opinions out unless they serve the work. They mark the egoist.

18. Use figures of speech sparingly — Metaphors and similes need space. Constant comparison exhausts the reader.

19. Don't sacrifice clarity for shortcuts — Strong, precise words are better than clever abbreviations.

20. Avoid foreign languages — Write in English. Foreign phrases can seem pretentious.

21. Prefer standard to offbeat — Choose established words over trendy or invented ones.

Summary

Overall Assessment: [Strong/Needs Revision/Major Issues]

Top 3 Improvements:

1. [Most impactful change]
2. [Second priority]
3. [Third priority]

Guidelines

• Focus on patterns, not isolated instances
• Some rules can be broken intentionally for effect—note when this seems intentional
• "Needs Work" means a pattern of violations, not a single instance
• Technical or specialized writing may legitimately use jargon
• Creative writing may intentionally break rules for voice

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