The rhetorical strategies that we collectively call style
are some of the most powerful communicative tools we possess. Classical
rhetoric breaks these tools into 4 categories, called "graces."
But even if you just want to your boss to fund your latest brilliant
project, understanding these graces, and the relationship between them,
can help improve your chances.
Correctness
Correctness deals with grammar, syntax, and mechanical tools such
as punctuation, abbreviations, spelling, and usage.
Clarity
Clarity refers to how easily readers can understand your ideas. A
document's clarity depends on diction (word choice), coherence
(the logical relationship between ideas), and cohesion (the
logical relationships between individual sentences).
In other words, you need to use words your audience understands,
present a logical argument, and make sure the transitions between
your sentences reflect that logic.
Ornament
Typically, we think of ornaments as things that are attractive, but
not particularly essential or important.
In stylistic terms, though, ornament deals with sentence patterns
like parallelism and repetition that help readers see the relationships
between ideas more clearly. Ornament allows us to use syntax to reinforce
the ideas we're trying to express.
Decorum
Decorum coordinates all these tools. At its heart, decorum
insures that the language and tone (your attitude towards the audience
and subject matter) is appropriate for the rhetorical situation and
occasion. Your language use must not only be accurate; it must have
the proper register (level of formality or casualness) and
provenance (characteristics of a particular professional, sociological,
or geographical group).
In other words, if an email to your professor is correct, clear,
and parallel in structure, but your tone and langauge are more appropriate
to your best friend, your communication still fails.
Goals
After completing this module, you should be able to effectively
edit your prose for:
- Correctness
- Clarity
- Appropriate use of sentence structures (ornament)
- Appropriate tone and language
Connecting the 4 Levels-->
