I have been reading other classmates’ blogs about Strunk & White and Williams’ style guides and I would like to take notice of what Emily V. said in her blog.
Foremost I was very stricken by Emily’s comment about her own writing in general, “I just don’t necessarily use correct style or grammar all the time. However, I don’t think it takes away from the content of my writing.” Not to nit-pick or anything, but in my honest opinion style is always a matter of opinion. That is to say, as opposed to grammar, I don’t really think there is a “correct” way to exhibit style – its all originality and individuality to me.
Emily commented on Williams’ style guide as being not as helpful as Strunk and White. I found this to be quite the opposite in terms of improving the quality of one’s writing. Eventhough Wiliams’ book was more indepth I think that helped to flesh out Williams’ points on cohesive and clearer writing. Also, when I had certain questions, Williams’ book tended to have more answers because of his elaborate prose and lengthy examples. Strunk and White was too cut & dry for me to come up with definitive solutions. I know this is exactly why Emily thought Strunk and White to be more useful, but I found it more difficult to fit my writing to the rules of Strunk and White as opposed to the suggestions provided by Williams.
it seemed like after reading Emily’s blog that a big concern for her is Grammar. According to Emily the grammar parts of both style guides were the most helpful to her. I am of the opposite perspective but I would attribute that to the possibility of our different writing backgrounds. My father is an English teacher and so he was like a walking-talking grammar guide who really shaped my notions on grammar. That is why I feel like I have somewhat internalized grammar rules so that I usually don’t need to refer to a style guide for grammar assistance. What I think makes a style guide more useful is when it is concerned with word choice and arrangement in order to make writing clearer and more cohesive. Generally I don’t lump style and grammar together, I believe they compliment each other in terms of writing, but I don’t consider them completely synonymous.
Overall Emily’s blog makes a lot of definitive points on both style guides. After reading her blog and assessing my own thoughts on style and grammar I am beginning to wonder; are there any writing style guides which don’t have opinions on grammar? It seems unlikely but not impossible, right?
