A _good style_ is
one that is effective, and a _bad style_ is one which fails of doing
what the writer wishes to do. There are as many ways of expressing
ideas as there are ways of combining words (that is, an infinite number),
and as many styles as there are writers. None of us wishes precisely to
get the style of any one else; but we want to form a good one of our own.
We will briefly note the elements mentioned by those who analyse style,
and then pass on to concrete examples.
Arrangement of words in a sentence. The first requirement is that the
arrangement of words should be logical, that is grammatical.
The rhetorical requirements are that---
1. One sentence, with one principal subject and one principal
predicate, should try to express one thought and no more.
If we try to mix two thoughts in the same sentence, we shall come to
grief. Likewise, we shall fail if we attempt to mix two subjects in the
same paragraph or composition.
2. The words in the sentence should be arranged that those which are
emphatic will come in the emphatic places. The beginning and the end
of a sentence are emphatic positions, the place before any mark of
punctuation is usually emphatic, and any word not in its usual place
with relation to the word it modifies grammatically is especially
emphatic.
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