Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace explained

Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (also known as Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace and Style: Toward Clarity and Grace) is a book by Joseph M. Williams (1933–2008). Williams was a professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. The author says "it is good to write clearly, and anyone can".^[1]

About the book

The book was first published in 1981. The book has since gone through numerous editions and has become a popular text for writing classes. This book is based on a course, "The Little Red Schoolhouse," that Williams taught for many years at Chicago.^[2]

Content

Front Matter

• Preface

Part One: Style as Choice

• Lesson One: Understanding Style
• Lesson Two: Correctness

Part Two: Clarity

• Lesson Three: Actions
• Lesson Four: Characters
• Lesson Five: Cohesion and Coherence
• Lesson Six: Emphasis

Part Three: Grace

• Lesson Seven: Concision
• Lesson Eight: Shape
• Lesson Nine: Elegance

Part Four: Form

• Lesson Ten: Motivating Coherence
• Lesson Eleven: Global Coherence

Part Five: Ethics

• Lesson Twelve: The Ethics of Style

Back Matter

• Appendix: Punctuation
• Glossary
• Suggested Answers
• Acknowledgments
• Index

Editions in print

• Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 9th Edition. New York: Pearson Longman (2007) (paper)
• Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. 2nd Edition (2006) (paper)
• Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (1995) (paper)

Earlier editions

• Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman (1981, 1985, 1989), New York: HarperCollins (1989, 1994), New York: Longman (1997, 2000, 2003), Toronto: Longman (2005), New York: Pearson Longman (2005)
• Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. New York: Longman (2003)
• Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1990) with two chapters coauthored by Gregory G. Colomb

Translations

• Korean: 스타일 레슨: 명확하고 아름다운 영어 글쓰기: (2018)
• Chinese: 英文寫作的魅力: 十大經典準則: 人人都能寫出清晰又優雅的文章: (2014)

Online reviews

• Review of Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (1990) by J. Bradford DeLong https://web.archive.org/web/20120206080557/http://econ161.berkeley.edu/econ_articles/reviews/williams.html
• Review of Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (1990) by Susan Stepney https://web.archive.org/web/20120211091636/http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/bib/nf/w/jsphmwll.htm

External links

• Style: Toward Clarity and Grace at UoCP
• Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity & Grace, 1st. ed., at Amazon
• Four steps to better writing, a handout prepared by Paul Dudenhefer based on Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace

Notes and References

1. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (9th Edition) pg 4.
2. Now, also, English 13000/33000.