Quote
1918·Ithaca, New York, United States
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
The surest way to arouse and hold the reader's attention is by being specific, definite, and concrete. The greatest writers — Homer, Dante, Shakespeare — are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.
Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.
E.B. White·1959The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.
E.B. White·1959Although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest to being one.
William Strunk Jr.·1918Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.