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 A brief excerpt from “The Elements of Style” a brilliant andbeloved guide to writing which,even after 90 years is still the final authority on clarity of communication. Here, in this sectionof his small book, E.B. Strunk explains the basics of keeping things brief and to the point.This excerpt only has two paragraphs from the chapter, but he says what needs to be said and not more.
III. E
LEMENTARY
P
RINCIPLES OF
C
OMPOSITION
 
Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic.
 If the subject on which you are writing is of slight extent, or if you intend to treat itvery briefly, there may be no need of subdividing it into topics. Thus a brief description, a brief summary of a literary work, a brief account of a single incident,a narrative merely outlining an action, the setting forth of a single idea, any one of these is best written in a single paragraph. After the paragraph has been written, itshould be examined to see whether subdivision will not improve it
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 And a bit later, Strunk creates the finest model for brevity in the English language…
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain nounnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, forthe same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary linesand a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that thewriter make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail andtreat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
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