The Elements Of Style Illustrated Pdf

[Vinay Pettyjohn]

Inrecent years, the explosion of digital illustration has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for artists around the world. The rise of drawing programs such as Procreate and Adobe Illustrator have enabled illustrators to bring their wildest dreams to life, combining illustration with other mediums such as photography and video.

Consider pairing this illustration style with textured paper and colors that further play into this look. Browns and sepias can be a wonderful choice here. Stippling also falls into this trend and can be such a fun direction. You can find a wide variety of hatching and stippling brushes on Envato Elements if you want to give this illustration trend a try.

Notice how these illustrations all play into some kind of magical, otherworldly, or celestial theme. There tend to be lots of little extras, and yet this works well with generous negative space, as we see in the print above. Organic elements, like plants, also work well in this space.

Some corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made.They are marked likethis in the text. The original text appears when hovering the cursorover the marked text. A list of amendments isat the end of the text.

This book aims to give in brief space the principal requirementsof plain English style. It aims to lighten thetask of instructor and student by concentrating attention(in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules ofusage and principles of composition most commonly violated.In accordance with this plan it lays down threerules for the use of the comma, instead of a score or more,and one for the use of the semicolon, in the belief thatthese four rules provide for all the internal punctuationthat is required by nineteen sentences out of twenty.Similarly, it gives in Chapter III only those principles ofthe paragraph and the sentence which are of the widestapplication. The book thus covers only a small portion ofthe field of English style. The experience of its writer hasbeen that once past the essentials, students profit most byindividual instruction based on the problems of their ownwork, and that each instructor has his own body of theory,which he may prefer to that offered by any textbook.

The writer's colleagues in the Department of English inCornell University have greatly helped him in the preparationof his manuscript. Mr. George McLane Wood haskindly consented to the inclusion under Rule 10 of somematerial from his Suggestions to Authors.

The following books are recommended for reference orfurther study: in connection with Chapters II and IV,F. Howard Collins, Author and Printer (Henry Frowde);Chicago University Press, Manual of Style; T. L. DeVinne, Correct Composition (The Century Company);Horace Hart, Rules for Compositors and Printers (Oxford University Press); George McLane Wood, Extracts fromthe Style-Book of the Government Printing Office (UnitedStates Geological Survey); in connection with ChaptersIII and V, The King's English (Oxford University Press);Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Art of Writing (Putnam),especially the chapter, Interlude on Jargon; GeorgeMcLane Wood, Suggestions to Authors (United StatesGeological Survey); John Lesslie Hall, English Usage(Scott, Foresman and Co.); James P. Kelley, Workmanshipin Words (Little, Brown and Co.). In these will befound full discussions of many points here briefly treatedand an abundant store of illustrations to supplement thosegiven in this book.

It is an old observation that the best writers sometimesdisregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however,the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensatingmerit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless heis certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to followthe rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, towrite plain English adequate for everyday uses, let himlook, for the secrets of style, to the study of the mastersof literature.

This rule is difficult to apply; it is frequently hard todecide whether a single word, such as however, or a briefphrase, is or is not parenthetic. If the interruption to theflow of the sentence is but slight, the writer may safelyomit the commas. But whether the interruption be slightor considerable, he must never insert one comma and omitthe other. Such punctuation as

Sentences of this type, isolated from their context, mayseem to be in need of rewriting. As they make completesense when the comma is reached, the second clause hasthe appearance of an afterthought. Further, and is theleast specific of connectives. Used between independentclauses, it indicates only that a relation exists betweenthem without defining that relation. In the exampleabove, the relation is that of cause and result. The twosentences might be rewritten:

But a writer may err by making his sentences toouniformly compact and periodic, and an occasional loosesentence prevents the style from becoming too formal andgives the reader a certain relief. Consequently, loosesentences of the type first quoted are common in easy,unstudied writing. But a writer should be careful not toconstruct too many of his sentences after this pattern(see Rule 14).

When the subject is the same for both clauses and isexpressed only once, a comma is required if the connectiveis but. If the connective is and, the comma should beomitted if the relation between the two statements is closeor immediate.

A comparison of the three forms given above will showclearly the advantage of the first. It is, at least in theexamples given, better than the second form, because itsuggests the close relationship between the two statementsin a way that the second does not attempt, and better thanthe third, because briefer and therefore more forcible.Indeed it may be said that this simple method of indicatingrelationship between statements is one of the most usefuldevices of composition. The relationship, as above, iscommonly one of cause or of consequence.

If the subject on which you are writing is of slightextent, or if you intend to treat it very briefly, there maybe no need of subdividing it into topics. Thus a briefdescription, a brief summary of a literary work, a briefaccount of a single incident, a narrative merely outliningan action, the setting forth of a single idea, any one of theseis best written in a single paragraph. After the paragraphhas been written, examine it to see whether subdivisionwill not improve it.

Ordinarily, however, a subject requires subdivision intotopics, each of which should be made the subject of aparagraph. The object of treating each topic in a paragraphby itself is, of course, to aid the reader. The beginningof each paragraph is a signal to him that a new stepin the development of the subject has been reached.

The extent of subdivision will vary with the length ofthe composition. For example, a short notice of a book orpoem might consist of a single paragraph. One slightlylonger might consist of two paragraphs:

As a rule, single sentences should not be written orprinted as paragraphs. An exception may be made ofsentences of transition, indicating the relation between theparts of an exposition or argument. Frequent exceptionsare also necessary in textbooks, guidebooks, and otherworks in which many topics are treated briefly.

In dialogue, each speech, even if only a single word, is aparagraph by itself; that is, a new paragraph begins witheach change of speaker. The application of this rule,when dialogue and narrative are combined, is best learnedfrom examples in well-printed works of fiction.

Again, the object is to aid the reader. The practice hererecommended enables him to discover the purpose of eachparagraph as he begins to read it, and to retain this purposein mind as he ends it. For this reason, the most generallyuseful kind of paragraph, particularly in exposition andargument, is that in which

If the paragraph forms part of a larger composition, itsrelation to what precedes, or its function as a part of thewhole, may need to be expressed. This can sometimes bedone by a mere word or phrase (again; therefore; for thesame reason) in the topic sentence. Sometimes, however,it is expedient to precede the topic sentence by one or moresentences of introduction or transition. If more than onesuch sentence is required, it is generally better to set apartthe transitional sentences as a separate paragraph.

According to the writer's purpose, he may, as indicatedabove, relate the body of the paragraph to the topic sentencein one or more of several different ways. He maymake the meaning of the topic sentence clearer by restatingit in other forms, by defining its terms, by denying thecontrary, by giving illustrations or specific instances; hemay establish it by proofs; or he may develop it by showingits implications and consequences. In a long paragraph,he may carry out several of these processes.

1 Topic sentence. 2 The meaning of the topic sentence made clearer;the new conception of history defined. 3 The definition expanded. 4 Thedefinition explained by contrast. 5 The definition supplemented: anotherelement in the new conception of history. 6 Conclusion: an importantconsequence of the new conception of history.

The brief paragraphs of animated narrative, however,are often without even this semblance of a topic sentence.The break between them serves the purpose of a rhetoricalpause, throwing into prominence some detail of the action.

The habitual use of the active voice makes for forciblewriting. This is true not only in narrative principallyconcerned with action, but in writing of any kind. Manya tame sentence of description or exposition can be madelively and emphatic by substituting a verb in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is, orcould be heard.

All three examples show the weakness inherent in the wordnot. Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfiedwith being told only what is not; he wishes tobe told what is. Hence, as a rule, it is better to expresseven a negative in positive form.

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