Steven Pinker’s <I>The Sense of Style</I> fits into the tradition of style guides that began with Fowler and continues up through Bryan Garner. It will inevitably be compared with Willard Stunk and E. B. White’s <I>Elements of Style</I>, that sputnik-era Seussification of grammar and style. But the real comparison is with Joseph Williams’s excellent, but somewhat dated, book <I>Style: Towards Clarity and Grace</I>, one of the first works to blend linguistics and style. Pinker adopts and updates some of Williams’s insights (with all due acknowledgment of course) and connect them even more closely to current research in psycholinguistics and grammar.
Chapters 1-3 warm the reader up, with Pinker’s characteristic charm and good humor. In Chapter 1, “Good Writing,” Pinker reverse engineers (as he puts it) several examples of clear exposition, showing the value of simply thinking through what works in writing—strong starts, fresh idioms and diction, occasional playfulness, use of rhythm and meter, attention to the reader’s vantage point.
Chapter 2, “A Window on the World,” bring in the work of Francis-Noël Thomas and Mark Turner (in their book <I>Clear and Simple as the Truth</I>) which defines “the classic style.” That is the style which draws its strength from the writer’s helping the reader see the world in a new way. Strong writers show the informed reader with narrative, explanation and examples that meet the readers where they are. That is opposed of course to the academic (and especially post-modern style) and Pinker finds no dearth of examples to illustrate the difference.
In Chapter 3, “The Curse of Knowledge,” Pinker explains the problem of specialists who are unable to see the world as their readers see it and thus over-complicate their prose with jargon, nominalizations, abbreviations, unexplained assumptions, and other insider shortcuts.
Chapter 4 “The Web, The Tree, and the String” is a long chapter (really, it’s pages 76-138) on syntax. Pinker’s basic point here is that syntax is our tool for putting organization to thought and, moreover, that thinking about sentences as structured entities (modelled by tree diagrams) rather than simple flat strings of words can give us a richer outlook on many problems of style. It’s a fine chapter for linguists, but general readers may struggle a bit here. As more than one readers has noted, here Pinker himself seems to fall victim to the curse of knowledge.
Chapter 5 “Arcs of Coherence” is another long chapter (pages 139-186) in which Pinker shows how writers build (or don’t build) coherence in sentences and paragraphs. Coherence involves carefully attending to the reader’s knowledge and to the pattern a writer develops through parallelism, consistency of diction, integration new ideas into ones just introduced, and continual focus on the point of the prose.
Chapter 6, “Telling Right from Wrong,” is not so much a chapter as a separate style guide making up about a third of the book. Here Pinker gleefully takes on many the traditional rules and folk rules of English grammar, separating them into broad categories of grammar; quantity, quality and degree; diction; and punctuation. He explains, refines or corrects the traditional takes on grammar, doing so in a way will warm the heart of anyway who has ever been scolded by an ignoramus and capture the interest of the open-minded. Don’t skip the style guide; it’s got some gems on <I>fewer</I> vs. <I>less</i>, restrictive and non-restrictive, fused participles, and the use of commas.
<I>The Sense of Style</I> has a few flaws (the curse of knowledge, for one) and it might have been shorter in chapters 4 and 5. But overall it is a fine book, well written and well thought out, by someone who not only cares about language but cares about the facts.
The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
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If you write, you should read Pinker's Sense of Style
I'm now on a mission to lift the curse of knowledge in the business technology field.
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- Antonio Parente JrReviewed in Brazil on September 11, 2024
It will take your writing to a whole new level
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - TimReviewed in Japan on April 12, 2020
For aspiring writers and readers interested in writing style.
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - amazon4rkbReviewed in India on April 5, 2022
A fine contemporary style guide
A fine contemporary style guideamazon4rkbA fine contemporary style guide
Reviewed in India on April 5, 2022
There are books which the blurb on the back cover calls 'unputdownable'. Then there are books to be worked at. This is one of those. If you want a relaxed read through the elements of classic writing style, this is not for you.
However Steven Pinker's work is delightful in a different way. It goes beyond the borders of grammar; and the play of words, the turn of phrase and the subtle humour make the plough worth it.
The best parts are where he analyzes the debatable issues and shows you how different senses of a word/phrase make certain exceptions possible ('very unique' is acceptable in certain cases, 𝘦.𝘨.).
Pick it up when you have plenty of days at hand for it's not a work to be finished in one sitting.
But yes, the dividends are rich, once you go through it. You get clarity on a number of doubts (you were afraid to ask).
After I got it for my Kindle ereader, I ordered a hard copy as well as I realized its worth as a reference manual.
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Gianni Da Re LombardiReviewed in Italy on October 10, 2023
Lettura interessante per chi scrive professionalmente
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Miguel de la FerrelleReviewed in Mexico on January 6, 2021
Recomendable
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
