In order to write fine English prose, prose that is fresh, entertaining, and riveting, a writers needs (in the first place) to master four grammatical and syntactical features:
Sentence Openers
Absolute Phrases
Appositives
Sentence Openers
Reversals or Inversions
In the second place, what accounts for exciting writing is the conscious use of Rhetorical elements-so much ignored by many of our contemporary writers:
Alliteration
Antithesis
Oxymoron
Zeugma
Enumeration
Indirect Free Speech
Although contemporary writers focus on the use of short, declarative sentences, metaphors, and similes, what really accounts for agile, breathless writing is the effective use of all of the above mentioned grammatical, syntactical, and rhetorical constructs. If you have the impulse to write prose that is quick, fast-paced, and never dull or boring-this book is for you! There are no royal roads to learning, so learn you must by making the time and putting forth a serious effort to master the above mentioned concepts.
The great teacher of literary composition and rhetoric, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in his essay “On Literary Composition” said:
Prose enjoys complete freedom and licence to vary composition by whatever changes it pleases. The finest style of all is that which contains the greatest amount of relief from monotony and change of structure…(153).
In Toolbox for Writers an aspiring writer will find a thorough discussion of all the aforementioned topics.
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