The Sense of Style Book Summary, by Steven Pinker

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1-Page Summary of The Sense of Style

Overview

The Language Instinct provides an in-depth look into the origins and intricacies of language, offering both a crash course in linguistics and linguistic anthropology along the way. By examining our knack for language, the book makes the case that the propensity for language learning is actually hardwired into our brains. Think of your favorite books. What makes them so good? Is it the wording, opening paragraphs or just how everything fits together? Chances are it’s all of these things – or to phrase it differently, it’s how well you use style. So how can you hone this crucial writerly skill?

Despite Oscar Wilde’s quip that nothing worth knowing can be taught, there are concrete steps you can take to make your writing better. These key points, by examining different types of writing from many different fields, will help you develop a keener sense of style whether you’re an aspiring novelist or just someone who wants to write dazzling emails.

In this article, you will discover how the curse of knowledge can make things difficult to understand, why a simple comma can change everything and what malaprops are and how they should be avoided.

You’ll also find out that we often use words incorrectly without knowing it because we don’t fully grasp their meaning. You’ll learn about some of the most common errors people make when writing or speaking English—and how to avoid them!

Big Idea #1: Writers often get inspiration from other writers.

There are many style guides out there, but most writers don’t read them. Instead they pay attention to other works that they’ve enjoyed and learn from those authors.

Good prose is an important part of writing. To see good prose, we can look at Richard Dawkins’ book Unweaving the Rainbow where he states that “We are going to die and that makes us lucky.”

Good writing starts with a strong opening and avoids clichés. When you want to add grandeur, take a tip from Dawkins and spice your work with some poetry.

But when you’re trying to explain something abstract, the use of vivid imagery can help your audience understand it better. One way to do that is by using a metaphor or an analogy. In this case, Dawkins uses a metaphor by calling all the unrealized possibilities “unborn ghosts.”

Dawkins starts off boldly, which makes an immediate impact on the reader. He does this in order to ensure that his ideas are memorable and stick with people after they’ve read it. This is something that most authors try to do because it’s important for them to be remembered by their audience.

However, you can also learn a lot from other types of writing. For example, the obituary column has valuable lessons to teach us about capturing someone’s legacy in just 800 words or less.