Writing with Style: from William Strunk Jr., E.B. White – Part 3

We come to the final installment of Writing with Style: from William Strunk Jr., E.B. White here at iUniverse Writer’s Tips.

4. Picture yourself in the setting

“Show, don’t tell” has always been a writer’s credo. Strunk and White persuade you to use stronger words (e.g, action verbs), which bring us to the next tip:

5. Avoid using “rather,” “very,”, “little,” “pretty”.

“…these are the leeches that infest of the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then.”

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