Posts Tagged ‘English’
The Elements of Style Challenge
I’ve been reading The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B.White (ISBN 0205191584) and have to admit I am guilty of many fallacies described in the book. Although I have read parts of the book in the past, it never stuck with me. This time, I will try to apply it more. Thus, I will do a challenge where I take a section from the book and try to actively apply it in my writing for a week.
This week, I will focus on section 13, Make the paragraph a unit of composition.
Dialects
So, I’m reading Foundation and Empire again and I am at a point where two distinct dialects are presented. To me, they sound wholly different and I’m not sure what exactly makes them so different.
Dialect 1:
“Now, sure I meant no harm. I am a stranger here, and it’s been said I am of addled wits; yet there is something in a face that I can read. Behind this lady’s fairness, there is a heart that’s kind, and that would help me in my trouble for all I speak so boldly.”
Dialect 2:
“There’s no use being annoyed at his silly way of talking. That’s just his dialect; and our speech is probably as strange to him.”
“What is your trouble? You’re not worried about the guard, are you? He won’t bother you.”
Dialect 1:
“Oh, no, not he. He’s but a windlet that blows the dust about my ankles. There is another that I flee, and he is a storm that sweeps the worlds aside and throws them plunging at each other. A week ago, I ran away, have slept in city streets, and hid in city crowds. I’ve looked in many faces for help in need. I find it here.”
My wife doesn’t seem to see much of a difference between the two and I’m wondering what exactly makes them so different to me. Dialect 1 is very sing-song to me, very poetic, while Dialect 2 is prosaic and mundane.
