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Errors
in Style:
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"style" refers to
the way
ideas are presented in writing -
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"style" in
fashion concerns presentation through
clothing
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or think of
musical genres, presenting through
sound
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so we're
concerned with presentation through
writing
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*FORMAL
ACADEMIC WRITING*
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the precepts of
Formal
Academic Writing
will guide your college essays
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which means
your "written presentations" must adhere to THE
RULES
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the rules of
grammar,
punctuation, mechanics
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the sense of
good taste,
refinement, decorum, etiquette
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don't write as
you talk or text
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proofread
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revise
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ESSENTIALLY:
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UNDER THE ROOF:
STYLE
ADVICE:
(not Rules
of Thumb) |
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(1)
watch your tone
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(2) say
what you mean
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(3)
don't try to sound smart
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(4)
don't write like you talk (or text!)
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(5)
remember, we 're dealing with Formal
Academic Writing
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The source for most
style etiquette is
Strunk and White's The Elements of Style
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Style Analogies
SUFFIXES |
WORDINESS |
PRETENTIOUSNESS |
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pseudosuffixes
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pretentious, ambiguous
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- –ize
-
finalize
- not all
are bad –
- best to
use existing words than to create
with this suffix
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–oriented or -related
- misused
to indicate direction, orientation,
alignment
- –wize
- means
“in the manner of”
- some
are appropriate (clockwise)
- if it
doesn’t exist yet, don’t create it
- –like
- use
more appropriate, exact adjectives
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vulpine, porcine, bovine
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- these
hackneyed expressions are padding to
be avoided
- each &
every
- as being
- as yet
- and yet
- as to
whether
- due to the
fact that
- s/he is a
person who (s/he is + adjective)
- one of the
most…
- in the
final analysis
- in terms of
- along
these/those lines
- overused
to the point of meaninglessness
- nice; a
lot
- very,
really, totally, pretty (pretty
much)
- respective,
respectively
- thank you
in advance
- foreseeable
future (how far?)
- the
truth/fact is
- due to the
fact of/that
- the
fact that
- on
account of
- reason why
- many a
(man, day)
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- trying to
sound impressive
- “groping
toward imagined eloquence”
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pretentiousness
-
pomposity
- clumsy,
ambiguous, confusing
- the
“attention-getting” language of
advertising
- the
exaggerated vocabulary of business
- the
“'inflated'” & “'detached'” words of
the government, law
- "have" +
verb:
- abuse
or misuse the
Perfect Tenses
- because
they sound smarter
- often
causes inconsistent verb tenses
- prettify
words or phrases
- use
“possess”
- when
“has” or “owns” is just as good
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“thesaurus-itis”
- using
bigger words
- for the
sake of using bigger words
- often
the wrong word
- use
Latin
- (or
other foreign words)
- in lieu
of Anglo-Saxon
- get
medieval:
- use
amongst when “among” will suffice
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thereof, thereon, thereby
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