eBook - ePub
How to Write Powerful Prose
An essay by the author of 'Style'
F. L. Lucas
This is a test
Partager le livre
- 32 pages
- English
- ePUB (adapté aux mobiles)
- Disponible sur iOS et Android
eBook - ePub
How to Write Powerful Prose
An essay by the author of 'Style'
F. L. Lucas
DĂ©tails du livre
Aperçu du livre
Table des matiĂšres
Citations
Ă propos de ce livre
Writing correct prose is one thing - writing powerful, persuasive prose quite another.F. L. Lucas, fellow of King's College, Cambridge and veteran of the Enigma team at Bletchley Park, wrote one of the 20th century's bestselling books on this second kind of writing. Lost for forty years, its dazzling and amusing advice is now back in print - and this eBook brings readers his brilliant essay on the same subject. A superbly condensed guide to the art of writing well, this eBook is the perfect introduction to the secrets of unforgettable English.
Foire aux questions
Comment puis-je résilier mon abonnement ?
Il vous suffit de vous rendre dans la section compte dans paramĂštres et de cliquer sur « RĂ©silier lâabonnement ». Câest aussi simple que cela ! Une fois que vous aurez rĂ©siliĂ© votre abonnement, il restera actif pour le reste de la pĂ©riode pour laquelle vous avez payĂ©. DĂ©couvrez-en plus ici.
Puis-je / comment puis-je télécharger des livres ?
Pour le moment, tous nos livres en format ePub adaptĂ©s aux mobiles peuvent ĂȘtre tĂ©lĂ©chargĂ©s via lâapplication. La plupart de nos PDF sont Ă©galement disponibles en tĂ©lĂ©chargement et les autres seront tĂ©lĂ©chargeables trĂšs prochainement. DĂ©couvrez-en plus ici.
Quelle est la différence entre les formules tarifaires ?
Les deux abonnements vous donnent un accĂšs complet Ă la bibliothĂšque et Ă toutes les fonctionnalitĂ©s de Perlego. Les seules diffĂ©rences sont les tarifs ainsi que la pĂ©riode dâabonnement : avec lâabonnement annuel, vous Ă©conomiserez environ 30 % par rapport Ă 12 mois dâabonnement mensuel.
Quâest-ce que Perlego ?
Nous sommes un service dâabonnement Ă des ouvrages universitaires en ligne, oĂč vous pouvez accĂ©der Ă toute une bibliothĂšque pour un prix infĂ©rieur Ă celui dâun seul livre par mois. Avec plus dâun million de livres sur plus de 1 000 sujets, nous avons ce quâil vous faut ! DĂ©couvrez-en plus ici.
Prenez-vous en charge la synthÚse vocale ?
Recherchez le symbole Ăcouter sur votre prochain livre pour voir si vous pouvez lâĂ©couter. Lâoutil Ăcouter lit le texte Ă haute voix pour vous, en surlignant le passage qui est en cours de lecture. Vous pouvez le mettre sur pause, lâaccĂ©lĂ©rer ou le ralentir. DĂ©couvrez-en plus ici.
Est-ce que How to Write Powerful Prose est un PDF/ePUB en ligne ?
Oui, vous pouvez accĂ©der Ă How to Write Powerful Prose par F. L. Lucas en format PDF et/ou ePUB ainsi quâĂ dâautres livres populaires dans Languages & Linguistics et Communication Studies. Nous disposons de plus dâun million dâouvrages Ă dĂ©couvrir dans notre catalogue.
Informations
Sous-sujet
Communication StudiesHow to Write Powerful Prose
WHEN IT WAS suggested to Walt Whitman that one of his works should be bound in vellum, he was outraged â âPshaw!â he snorted, â â hangings, curtains, finger bowls, chinaware, Matthew Arnold!â And he might have been equally irritated by talk of style; for he boasted of âmy barbaric yawpâ â he would not be literary; his readers should touch not a book but a man. Yet Whitman took the pains to rewrite Leaves of Grass four times and his style is unmistakable. Samuel Butler maintained that writers who bothered about their style became unreadable but he bothered about his own. âStyleâ has got a bad name by growing associated with precious and superior persons who, like Oscar Wilde, spend a morning putting in a comma, and the afternoon (so he said) taking it out again. But such abuse of âstyleâ is misuse of English. For the word means merely âa way of expressing oneself, in language, manner, or appearanceâ; or, secondly, âa good way of so expressing oneselfâ â as when one says, âHer behaviour never lacked style.â
Now there is no crime in expressing oneself (though to try to impress oneself on others easily grows revolting or ridiculous). Indeed one cannot help expressing oneself, unless one passes oneâs life in a cupboard. Even the most rigid Communist, or Organization-man, is compelled by nature to have a unique voice, unique fingerprints, unique handwriting. Even the signatures of the letters on your breakfast table may reveal more than their writers guess. There are blustering signatures that swish across the page like cornstalks bowed before a tempest. There are cryptic signatures, like a scrabble of lightning across a cloud, suggesting that behind is a lofty divinity whom all must know, or an aloof divinity whom none is worthy to know (though, as this might be highly inconvenient, a docile typist sometimes interprets the mystery in a bracket underneath). There are impetuous squiggles implying that the author is a sort of strenuous Sputnik streaking round the globe every eighty minutes. There are florid signatures, all curlicues and danglements and flamboyance, like the youthful Disraeli (though these seem rather out of fashion). There are humble, humdrum signatures. And there are also, sometimes, signatures that are courteously clear, yet mindful of a certain simple grace and artistic economy â in short, of style.
Since, then, not one of us can put pen to paper, or even open his mouth, without giving something of himself away to shrewd observers, it seems mere common sense to give the matter a little thought. Yet it does not seem very common. Ladies may take infinite pains about having style in their clothes, but many of us remain curiously indifferent about having it in our words. How many women would dream of polishing not only their nails but also their tongues? They may play freely on that perilous little organ, but they cannot often be bothered to tune it. And how many men think of improving their talk as well as their golf handicap?
No doubt strong silent men, speaking only in gruff monosyllables, may despise âmere words.â No doubt the world does suffer from an endemic plague...