335 Matching Annotations
  1. Dec 2018
    1. I like to think that our lifestyle here is neither spartan nor exorbitant, but my standard of living is far improved from Lyon

      I like this sentence. It's concise, clear, intelligent without sounding pretentious.

    2. I existed permanently, but in a liminal state between arrival and departure, where the only variable was the passing of time

      I know it's completely subjective, but this really sounds like you're trying your best to sound pretentious. This isn't the way you speak.

    3. we’d

      Your writing style is fairly formal. Make sure you're being aware and intentional with your use of contracts.

    4. Two years of school near downtown Austin — coincidentally, a fifteen minute walk from my house of the final two undergraduate years.

      Again, your stylistic grammar choices effect the clarity of your sentence. "Two years of school near downtown Austin" is not a complete sentence.

    5. Not in Austin, but near, and often visiting. Twenty miles North. Sometimes, further

      Living twenty miles north of Austin or visiting twenty miles north? This is a confusing set of sentences. Unnecessarily truncated.

  2. Nov 2018
    1. The transition is a keen one, I assure you, from a schoolmaster to a sailor, and requires a strong decoction of Seneca and the Stoics to enable you to grin and bear it. But even this wears off in time.

      This phrase is typical of Melville's sentence construction. Comparison is the mean and reason is the goal.

    1. For the sweet spot you're looking for, I suggest being clear about if you're designing or developing. If you're designing and at the REPL, force yourself to step away with pen and paper after you've gotten some fast feedback.

      designing vs developing!

    1. IMPACTS OF LEARNING STYLES AND COMPUTER SKILLS ON ADULT STUDENTS’ LEARNING ONLINE

      This article explores how learning styles and computer skills impact student online learning. Further consideration is also given to course format and participants who were first time online learners. This is a complex study that investigates possible skills and abilities of first time online students. It would be interesting to conduct the same study, ten years latter to see if the changes in technology has improved the learners' computer skills and therefore the results of the study.

      RATING: 7/10

  3. Oct 2018
    1. A lot of this would be a non issue if we had end user programming. The problem today is that 'configurability' is itself something the programmer needs to implement

      acme example rob pike apparently had an elaborate answer as to why he wouldn't allow to change the colorschme

    2. Configuration knowledge is anti-knowledge -- learning how to conform to the inessential quirks of a system somebody else made up

      good take on configuration

    1. Lisp macros were also useful for the definition of new control structures, as well as new data structures. In ZWEI, we created a new iterative control structure called charmap, which iterates over characters in an interval. Intervals are stored as doubly-linked lists of arrays, and the starting point might be in the middle of one array and the ending point might be in the middle of another array. The code to perform this iteration was not trivial, and someone reading it might easily not understand the function it was performing, even though that function was the conceptually simple one of iterating over characters. So we created a macro called charmap that expands into the double-loop code to iterate over the characters. It is simple and obvious, and is used in many places, greatly reducing the size of the code and making the functionality obvious at a glance.

      use of macros implementing data structures making things more readable!

    2. It became policy to avoid abbreviations in most cases. In ZWEI, we made a list of several words that were used extremely often, and established 'official' abbreviations for them, and always used only those abbreviations. ... Words not on this list were always spelled out in full.

      abbreviations whitelist - good programming practice!

  4. Sep 2018
    1. But a high-quality solution is not the same thing as a meaningful solution

      Now we're talking

    2. space of partitionsΠ(X), we can search oversubsets ofXof sizek

      Perhaps a note on how much smaller the latter is?

    3. Effectively, we are searching for a partition in which the maximum radiusof a cluster is minimized.

      It's been a few pages since jumping into definitions. It may be worthwhile to emphasize somewhere earlier that these particular definitions are not applicable to every clustering problem, but rather it's a set of examples that cover a large set of techniques while showing many of the important considerations.

    4. help guide how we think about clustering a data set

      Now I'm hooked

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  5. Jun 2018
  6. Mar 2018
    1. In the meantime, however, white labor had continued to regard the United States as a place of refuge; as a place for free land; for continuous employment and high wage; for freedom of thought and faith. It was here, however, that employers intervened; not because of any moral obliquity but because’ the Industrial Revolution, based upon the crops raised by slave labor in the Caribbean and in the southern United

      I have chosen this paragraph in particular to discuss the structure of Du Bois' sentences. The appeal is marked by long sentences separated by semicolons and commas. Often these long sentences build on each other to create the effect of a kind of breathlessness, an endless list of the conditions that mark the ways in which Blacks are discriminated in the US and the ways in which this hurts prospects for democracy at home and abroad.

  7. Feb 2018
    1. It goes against the conventional teacher wisdom that says students have to handle abstract ideas, and what the heck does writing physically have to do with that?

      Teachers should not make students handle abstract ideas, if anything, that may be what leads to students losing interest or misunderstanding what is being discussed. How can a student learn with nothing to relate to or translate abstract ideas into physical problems and results?

  8. Jan 2018
    1. whether available technology tools will enhance or detract from the learning experience.

      Each student learns differently, technology tools will definitely enhance or detract student learning experiences, but it is impossible to say which or to utilize technology in a way that only enhances learning. I think that it is about giving students a chance to find a medium that can be used by all of them.

  9. Oct 2017
  10. Jun 2017
  11. www.sblm.com www.sblm.com
    1. Please add font-weight:900 to every text item on the website. Current stroke is too thin.

  12. Apr 2017
    1. Six months later relief came. The government demanded a report from the Municipality on the question of the statue, and this together with other lapses on the part of the Municipality made them want to know why the existing Council should not be dissolved and re-elections ordered. I called on the Chairman and said, ‘You will have to do something grand now. Why not acquire my house as a National Trust?’‘Why should I?’ he asked.‘Because,’ I said, ‘Sir F. is there. You will never be able to cart him to his old place. It’ll be a waste of public money. Why not put him up where he is now? He has stayed in the other place too long. I’m prepared to give you my house for a reasonable price.’‘But our funds don’t permit it,’ he wailed.‘I’m sure you have enough funds of your own. Why should you depend on the municipal funds? It’ll indeed be a grand gesture on your part, unique in India . . .’ I suggested he ought to relieve himself of some of his old blanket gains. ‘After all . . . how much more you will have to spend if you have to fight another election!’ It appealed to him. We arrived at a figure. He was very happy when he saw in the papers a few days later: ‘The Chairman of Malgudi Municipality has been able to buy back as a present for the nation the statue of Sir Frederick Lawley. He proposed to install it in a newly acquired property which is shortly to be converted into a park. The Municipal Council have resolved that Kabir Lane shall be changed to Lawley Road.’

      This is a very funny story, and yet highly political. How so? Might you consider this an allegory?

    2. ttention to speculate whether HOPE or DOPE or ROPE mad

      In what ways are the words "hope", "dope", "rope" both symbolic and humorous?

    3. And one day, it was a bolt from the blue, the crash came. A series of circumstances in the world of trade, commerce, banking and politics was responsible for it. The gramophone company, which had its factory somewhere in North India, automatically collapsed when a bank in Lahore crashed, which was itself the result of a Bombay financier’s death. The financier was driving downhill when his car flew off sideways and came to rest three hundred feet below the road. It was thought that he had committed suicide because the previous night his wife eloped with his cashier.

      The humour comes somewhat with the word "crash" accumulating so many references!

    4. ‘Five-nought-one in second-class! Can it be true?’ he shrieked. He looked at the number again and again. Yes, there it was. He had obtained a second-class. ‘If this is true I shall sit in the B.A. class next month,’ he shouted. His voice rang through the silent building. ‘I will flay alive anyone who calls me a fool hereafter . . .’ he proclaimed. He felt slightly giddy. He leant against the wall. Years of strain and suspense were suddenly relaxed; and he could hardly bear the force of this release. Blood raced along his veins and heaved and knocked under his skull. He steadied himself with an effort. He softly hummed a tune to himself. He felt he was the sole occupant of the world and its overlord. He thumped his chest and addressed the notice-board: ‘Know who I am?’ He stroked an imaginary moustache arrogantly, laughed to himself and asked, ‘Is the horse ready, groom?’ He threw a supercilious side glance at the notice-board and strutted out like a king. He stood on the last step of the porch and looked for his steed. He waited for a minute and commanded, ‘Fool, bring the horse nearer. Do you hear?’ The horse was brought nearer. He made a movement as if mounting and whipped his horse into a fury. His voice rang through the dark riverside, urging the horse on. He swung his arms and ran along the sands. He shouted at the top of his voice: ‘Keep off; the king is coming; whoever comes his way will be trampled . . .’‘I have five hundred and one horses,’ he spoke to the night. The number stuck in his mind and kept coming up again and again. He ran the whole length of the riverbank up and down. Somehow this did not satisfy him. ‘Prime Minister,’ he said, ‘this horse is no good. Bring me the other five hundred and one horses, they are all in second-classes—’ He gave a kick to the horse which he had been riding and drove it off. Very soon the Prime Minister brought him another horse. He mounted it with dignity and said, ‘This is better.’ Now he galloped about on his horse. It was a strange sight. In the dim starlight, alone at that hour, making a tap-tap with his tongue to imitate galloping hoofs. With one hand swinging and tugging the reins, and with the other stroking his moustache defiantly, he urged the horse on and on until it attained the speed of a storm. He felt like a conqueror as the air rushed about him. Soon he crossed the whole stretch of sand. He came to the water’s edge, hesitated for a moment and whispered to his horse, ‘Are you afraid of water? You must swim across, otherwise I will never pay five-nought-one rupees for you.’ He felt the horse make a leap.

      What does this horse fantasy acting-out symbolises?

    5. Soon the lights went out and the show started—a Tamil film with all the known gods in it. He soon lost himself in the politics and struggles of gods and goddesses; he sat rapt in the vision of a heavenly world which some film director had chosen to present. This felicity of forgetfulness lasted but half an hour. Soon the heroine of the story sat on a low branch of a tree in paradise and wouldn’t move out of the place. She sat there singing a song for over half an hour. This portion tired Iswaran, and now there returned all the old pains and gloom. ‘Oh, lady,’ Iswaran appealed, ‘don’t add to my troubles, please move on.’ As if she heard this appeal the lady moved off, and brighter things followed. A battle, a deluge, somebody dropping headlong from cloud-land, and somebody coming up from the bed of an ocean, a rain of fire, a rain of flowers, people dying, people rising from graves and so on. All kinds of thrills occurred on that white screen beyond the pall of tobacco smoke. The continuous babble on and off the screen, music and shouting, the cry of pedlars selling soda, the unrestrained comments of the spectators—all this din and commotion helped Iswaran to forget the Senate House and student life for a few hours.

      How does the world in the film contrasts with the world that Iswaran lives in? What does the film symbolise?

    1. The earth, that’s nature’s mother, is her tomb. What is her burying, grave that is her womb.

      What does the structure of Fr Lawrence's soliloquy reveal about how he thinks? The thinks is terms of contrasting ideas, using balanced lines which indicated by the parallelisms.

      These two lines are a chiasmus.

      Friar Lawrence is a deeply reflective person, turning over and over in his mind philosophical ideas, seeking to resolve contradictions. He is a priest-philosopher.

    2. Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, And vice sometime by action dignified.

      This is a chiasmus, which is a kind of parallel structure, but with the organising structure inverted.

    3. Nor aught so good but, strained from that fair use Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.

      This is an example of parallelism. In its syntactic form, the structure of one sentence mirrors the other.

    4. FRIAR LAWRENCE

      This is a soliloquy — a very personal talk, revealing a character's most innermost personhood. If this person is reliable, then his soliloquy will be the most revealing.

    1. "You're nothing but a woman" means you are defective.

      Something familiar from the Cixous reading. And much like Cixous, Anzaldua has an active, boisterous voice in her writing.

  13. Mar 2017
    1. Does this seem difficult? It's not impossible, and this is what nourishes life

      Just wanted to highlight a good line. Also, a good example of Cixous' style, as I noted in my earlier annotation.

    2. In fact, she physically materializes what she's thinking; she signifies it with her body.

      We've talked a lot about embodied rhetoric for women, and the importance of acknowledging a rhetor's body, actions, and delivery as much as their words. But I'm also interested in this because Cixous' writing style is extremely animated: this almost sounds like a speech.

      Also, this reminds me of Kathryn's comment on Sarah Mallet using her seizures to legitimize her preaching.

  14. Feb 2017
    1. Once upon a time,

      There's a lot to be said of how The Rhetorical Tradition picks and summarizes its texts, but I will say, for this section: they've done some killer opening lines.

      N-to-the-sche's reputation precedes him, the bad boy of philosophy and his legendary moustache, and it gives the cliche a portentous weight.

  15. Jan 2017
    1. Our moods

      Who is included in "We"? The narrator seems to mean "humans." I like the way this shift to second person plural shifts the reader's focus from a judging mode (of Dodo) to a self-reflective mode, because it builds puts the narrator, reader, and character in the same place. But is it also presumptuous and thus risky to depict this phenomenon as universal? The narrator uses this technique a lot, and it makes me wonder who her "ideal reader" is--who is the reader that the text constructs?

  16. Nov 2016
  17. Oct 2016
    1. her hair Spread

      the enjambment here is interesting, forcing the reader to continue the sentence until the following line, continuously refreshing our ideas of what is to come

  18. Aug 2016
  19. Jul 2016
  20. Jun 2016
    1. e well-estab-lished “conventions of impersonality” in scientific writing(Hyland, 1999, p. 355) and resulting in the erasure of styl

      on the flattening effect collaborative authorship has on style

  21. Nov 2015
  22. Oct 2015
  23. Sep 2015
    1. notes thatwois a kind of uninflectedrelative pronoun and remarks that this description runs contrary to the use of this termfor nominal, that is inflectional, elements.

      This sentence is slightly confusing.

    2. n the case that adverbs and prepositions cannot be assigned to a particular class,then adverbs are normally used as a kind of “left over” category in the sense that allnon-inflecting words, which are neither prepositions, conjunctions nor interjections, areclassed as adverbs

      This paragraph is slightly confusing

    3. One should avoid

      The terms ... are not adequate, since...

    4. event variable for the typeevent

      redundant

    1. @private global variables and functions are only accessible to code in the same file.

      This is largely obsolete with CommonJS modules. TypeScript goes further and adds class-private variables.

  24. Jul 2015
    1. Or more carefully put: They do not have any serious problems since the treatment of idioms in their varietyis by no means trivial (Sailer2000)

      This formulation is not so clear in comparison with the German counterpart (their variety >> author's?, theories? idioms?):

      Oder vorsichtig formuliert: kein großes Problem, denn trivial ist die Behandlung von Idiomen in ihrer ganzen Buntheit nicht

      Better??: "in all their many aspects?" instead of "in their variety",

    1. Contents 1 The Separation of the Social and the Linguistic

      do not use special capitalization. Titles should be in normal case, i.e. normally lower case

    1. which was their armor against their world.

      A whole dissertation could be (likely has been) written on this idea of "urban" black style as a kind of "armor against the world."

      It seems incredibly valuable for young people to acknowledge (and be acknowledged for) the cultural power of style.

  25. Jun 2015
    1. Microsoft Windows operator systems

      Title case?

    2. Computer systems managers were bracing for new digital infections when workers log on and upload the latest email virus to bombard the Internet

      Seems a little awkward.

    1. color as overtly added on, artificial, and ornamental, while the body metaphor usu- ally presents it as (seemingly) inherent, natural, and essential-sometimes in contrast to fucus, "dye" or "makeup," that is applied on the surface

      Color as style.

    1. undergone changes

      changed

    2. proponents of the various schools

      one can be a proponent of an idea or of a theory, but not of a school.

  26. May 2015
    1. a feminine speaking style

      The idea of "feminine style" here fascinates me. Femininity stands in for sensory/sensuous speech & for intimacy. Here's a challenge: "what if we stopped using the words 'masculinity' and 'femininity' and only said the specific things they're supposed to be shorthand for" (Imogen Binnie).

  27. Apr 2015
  28. scalar.usc.edu scalar.usc.edu
    1. ational trade system cannot degrade environment endog

      It is not clear what you mean here. Perhaps you could explain more clearly what you are trying to communicate.

    2. A better word choice might be "peaks".

    3. ternation

      As a matter of style, I recommend using the present tense and doing so consistently throughout your writing. One good resource is the classic "Chicago manual of Style".

    4. envi

      In my view, it is better to avoid these kinds of constructions. For one, this assignment is not a thesis. It is more like an essay.

  29. Mar 2015
  30. Apr 2014
    1. While the idea of a generalized conversation layer over the web has captured the imaginations of many for decades, we have tested this assumption ourselves in more focused ways.

      trim for brevity

  31. Nov 2013
    1. The whole of the following sixth book is taken up with the arts for stirring the emotions and causing delight; here nothing is the property of dialectic or of rhetoric. Since rhetoric and di-alectic are general arts, they should therefore be explained in a general fashion, the one in respect to style and delivery, the other in respect to in-vention and arrangement.

      I disagree. The arts of "stirring the emotions" show how to produce this effect in style and delivery. In the end, good rhetoric should "stir the emotions," no matter what the subject or emotion.

    2. In the third chapter rhetoric is separated into five parts: invention, arrangement, style, mem-ory, delivery. I am now not at all surprised that Quintilian is so bereft of dialectic in this division, for he was unable to recognize that here he h is confused dialectic itself with rhetoric, since in-vention, arrangement, and memory belong to di-alectic and only style and delivery to rhetoric. Indeed, Quintilian's reason for dividing rhetoric into these five parts derived from the same single source of error as did the causes of the previous confusion. The orator, says Quintilian, cannot be perfected without virtue, without grammar, with-out mathematics, and without philosophy. There-fore, one must define the nature of the orator from all these subjects. The grammarian, the same man says, cannot be complete without mu-sic, astrology, philosophy, rhetoric, and history. Consequently there are two parts of grammar, methodology and literary interpretation. As a re-sult Quintilian now finally reasons that rhetoric cannot exist unless the subject matter is first of all discovered, next arranged, then embellished ' and finally committed to memory and delivered. Thus these are the five parts of rhetoric.

      Grammar may be necessary to use in rhetoric and virtue may be an important part of a good orator, but rhetoric is not about grammar or virtue. Rhetoric is about style and delivery.

    3. Quintilian decrees that there are five parts to the art of rhetoric - I shall talk about these afterwards - invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.

      Quintilian's five parts of rhetoric.

    1. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose

      Why center alignment for a quote. Usually it is indented on both sides.

  32. Oct 2013
    1. Accordingly a great orator has truly said that "an eloquent man must speak so as to teach, to delight, and to persuade." Then he adds: "To teach is a necessity, to delight is a beauty, to persuade is a triumph."(2) Now of these three, the one first mentioned, the teaching, which is a matter of necessity, depends on what we say; the other two on the way we say it.

      What is said vs. how it is said

    2. These three clauses are best pronounced when the voice is suspended on the first two members of the period, and comes to a pause on the third.
    3. These six clauses form three periods of two members each.
    1. Such is undoubtedly the case unless we suppose, perchance, that a regular structure and smooth combination of words is requisite only in poems and songs, and is superfluous in making a speech; or that composition and modulation are not to be varied in speaking, as in music, according to the nature of the subject.

      Interesting use of vocal music as an exercise or means of training an orator. When I consider any number of vocalists, a commonality among them is the ability to speak well (and pleasantly). I'm having a hard time recalling any vocalist with a flat, monotone voice (among other unpleasant speaking qualities).

    2. In oratory, accordingly, the raising, lowering, or other inflection of the voice tends to move the feelings of the bearers. We try to excite the indignation of the judges in one modulation of phrase and voice (that I may again use the same term), and their pity in another, for we see that minds are affected in different ways even by musical instruments, though no words cannot be uttered by them.

      Ok, this is all fascinating stuff. Even when we speak it tends to be in some sort of music scale, or at the very least we don't speak in dissonant tones.

    1. But the other sort of speakers call that force which ought rather to be called violence.

      lack of eloquence, art

    1. Still, the whole business of rhetoric being concerned with appearances, we must pay attention to the subject of delivery, unworthy though it is, because we cannot do without it.

      a rather stuffed-shirt attitude distinguishing and elevating some areas of study over others. Acting was not considered a high function at the time. But also, style is something largely developed through observance and mimicry, and given to natural charisma - things that do not lend themselves to teaching and pedagogy

    2. A third would be the proper method of delivery; this is a thing that affects the success of a speech greatly; but hitherto the subject has been neglected.

      invoking the ethos - style

    3. The right thing in speaking really is that we should be satisfied not to annoy our hearers, without trying to delight them: we ought in fairness to fight our case with no help beyond the bare facts: nothing, therefore, should matter except the proof of those facts

      I like this. While the truth of things is what should be aimed for, we should still seek to address our audience in a pleasing manner. Not annoy, not overly delight, but find a sweet spot somewhere between.

    4. Besides, delivery is -- very properly -- not regarded as an elevated subject of inquiry. [1404a] Still, the whole business of rhetoric being concerned with appearances, we must pay attention to the subject of delivery, unworthy though it is, because we cannot do without it

      Aristotle is one of the first during his time (in philosophy) to give weight to style, he gives it a low ranking compared to other subjects (ex. logic). But he still recognizes it as necessary.

    5. A third would be the proper method of delivery; this is a thing that affects the success of a speech greatly; but hitherto the subject has been neglected. Indeed, it was long before it found a way into the arts of tragic drama and epic recitation: at first poets acted their tragedies themselves. It is plain that delivery has just as much to do with oratory as with poetry

      Comparing speech with poetry: both concerned with delivery (style)

    6. various rhythms that suit various subjects

      Interesting. What are some examples of this?

    7. For it is not enough to know what we ought to say; we must also say it as we ought; much help is thus afforded towards producing the right impression of a speech.

      Style is concerned not with what but how (presentation). This aids our rapport with our audience

    1. Now strange words simply puzzle us; ordinary words convey only what we know already; it is from metaphor that we can best get hold of something fresh. When the poet calls "old age a withered stalk," he conveys a new idea, a new fact, to us by means of the general notion of bloom, which is common to both things

      Interesting observation. The impact and usefulness of metaphor vs ordinary and unfamiliar words.

    1. but in a speech we need dignity and the power of taking the hearer out of his ordinary self.

      A right balance in rhythm to gain this effect.

    2. The metrical form destroys the hearer's trust by its artificial appearance, and at the same time it diverts his attention

      Interesting. This reminds me of a previous comment I had made on Gorgias' style in Econium of Helen. I made mention that his word choice had aroused suspicion. I wonder also if it was 'metrical', lending to its artificial appearance.

    3. The form of a prose composition should be neither metrical nor destitute of rhythm.
    1. The way all these words are compounded makes them, we feel, fit for verse only. This, then, is one form in which bad taste is shown.

      Do we agree with Aristotle here? Are these only fit for poetry or could they be used in rhetoric also?

    2. The address of Gorgias to the swallow, when she had let her droppings fall on him as she flew overhead, is in the best tragic manner. He said, "Nay, shame, O Philomela." Considering her as a bird, you could not call her act shameful; considering her as a girl, you could; and so it was a good gibe to address her as what she was once and not as what she is.

      The specificity of the chosen metaphor is important. If chosen correctly, it can create a vivid image, but if chosen badly can confuse the audience.

    1. The foundation of good style is correctness of language, which falls under five heads. (1) First, the proper use of connecting words, and the arrangement of them in the natural sequence which some of them require. For instance, the connective "men" (e.g. ego men) requires the correlative "de" (e.g. o de). The answering word must be brought in before the first has been forgotten, and not be widely separated from it; nor, except in the few cases where this is appropriate, is another connective to be introduced before the one required. Consider the sentence, "But as soon as he told me (for Cleon had come begging and praying), took them along and set out." In this sentence many connecting words are inserted in front of the one required to complete the sense; and if there is a long interval before "set out," the result is obscurity. One merit, then, of good style lies in the right use of connecting words. (2) The second lies in calling things by their own special names and not by vague general ones. (3) The third is to avoid ambiguities; unless, indeed, you definitely desire to be ambiguous, as those do who have nothing to say but are pretending to mean something.

      Use of language in good style.

    2. Obscurity is also caused if, when you intend to insert a number of details, you do not first make your meaning clear; for instance, if you say, "I meant, after telling him this, that and the other thing, to set out," rather than something of this kind "I meant to set out after telling him; then this, that, and the other thing occurred."

      This is so different from prose writing that I'm used to. I tend to embed clauses and who knows what it labyrinths of punctuation, but it makes sense that speeches need to be more straightforward. I was listening to a book that was completely confusing me, I could not follow it. I soon realized that this book could probably be easily read, but not easy to follow when listened to because we listen differently than we read.

    3. The foundation of good style is correctness of language, which falls under five heads. (1) First, the proper use of connecting words, and the arrangement of them in the natural sequence which some of them require. For instance, the connective "men" (e.g. ego men) requires the correlative "de" (e.g. o de). The answering word must be brought in before the first has been forgotten, and not be widely separated from it; nor, except in the few cases where this is appropriate, is another connective to be introduced before the one required. Consider the sentence, "But as soon as he told me (for Cleon had come begging and praying), took them along and set out." In this sentence many connecting words are inserted in front of the one required to complete the sense; and if there is a long interval before "set out," the result is obscurity. One merit, then, of good style lies in the right use of connecting words. (2) The second lies in calling things by their own special names and not by vague general ones. (3) The third is to avoid ambiguities; unless, indeed, you definitely desire to be ambiguous, as those do who have nothing to say but are pretending to mean something. Such people are apt to put that sort of thing into verse.

      What is really important is clarity.

    1. Upon the subject of delivery (which presents itself here) no systematic treatise has been composed, though this art has much to do with oratory (as with poetry).

      Style; differentiating prose from poetry

    2. Each kind of rhetoric has its own appropriate style. The style of written prose is not that of spoken oratory, nor are those of political and forensic speaking the same. The written style is the more finished: the spoken better admits of dramatic delivery -- alike the kind of oratory that reflects character and the kind that stirs emotion.

      Different rhetoric styles

    3. The foundation of good style is correctness of language, which is discussed under five heads: (1) right use of connecting words; (2) use of special, and not vague general, terms; (3) avoidance of ambiguity; (4) observance of gender; (5) correct indication of grammatical number.

      foundation of style has 5 points

    4. Four faults of prose style, with illustrative examples: (1) misuse of compound words; (2) employment of strange words; (3) long, unseasonable, or frequent epithets; (4) inappropriate metaphors.
    5. Style, to be good, must be clear; it must also be appropriate, avoiding both meanness and excess of dignity.

      how to be 'style'ish

    6. the right thing in speaking really is that we should fight our case with no help beyong the bare facts; and yet the arts of language cannot help having a small but real importance, whatever it is we have to expound to others.

      Interesting point.

    7. Chapter 13 (1414b) (B) Arrangement. A speech has two essential parts: statement and proof. To these may be added introduction and epilogue. Chapter 14 (1415a, 1415b, 1416a) Introduction. The introduction corresponds to the prologue in poetry and the prelude in flute-music. The most essential function and distinctive property of the introduction is to indicate the aim of the speech. An introduction may (1) excite or ally prejudice; (2) exalt or depreciate. In a political speech an introduction is seldom found, for the subject is usually familiar to the audience.

      Not much has changed.

    8. Chapter 7 (1408b) Appropriateness. An appropriate style will adapt itself to (1) the emotions of the hearers, (2) the character of the speaker, (3) the nature of the subject. Tact and judgement are needed in all varieties of oratory.
    9. Chapter 5 (1407b) The foundation of good style is correctness of language, which is discussed under five heads: (1) right use of connecting words; (2) use of special, and not vague general, terms; (3) avoidance of ambiguity; (4) observance of gender; (5) correct indication of grammatical number. A composition should be easy to read and therefore easy to deliver; it should avoid (1) uncertainties as to puntuation, (2) zeugma, (3) parenthesis.
    10. Appropriateness. An appropriate style will adapt itself to (1) the emotions of the hearers, (2) the character of the speaker, (3) the nature of the subject. Tact and judgement are needed in all varieties of oratory.

      Importance of style - speaking in a way that is relatable to the audience.

    11. the right thing in speaking really is that we should fight our case with no help beyong the bare facts; and yet the arts of language cannot help having a small but real importance, whatever it is we have to expound to others

      Again, defining rhetoric not solely as style, but as the ability to persuade using solid arguments (with style in a place of major, but secondary, importance).

    1. Again, style will be made agreeable by the elements mentioned, namely by a good blending of ordinary and unusual words, by the rhythm, and by-the persuasiveness that springs from appropriateness.
    2. The written style is the more finished: the spoken better admits of dramatic delivery -- like the kind of oratory that reflects character and the kind that reflects emotion.
    1. Your language will be appropriate if it expresses emotion and character, and if it corresponds to its subject. "Correspondence to subject" means that we must neither speak casually about weighty matters, nor solemnly about trivial ones; nor must we add ornamental epithets to commonplace nouns, or the effect will be comic, as in the works of Cleophon, who can use phrases as absurd as "O queenly fig-tree." To express emotion, you will employ the language of anger in speaking of outrage; the language of disgust and discreet reluctance to utter a word when speaking of impiety or foulness; the language of exultation for a tale of glory, and that of humiliation for a tale of and so in all other cases.
    1. The Simile also is a metaphor; the difference is but slight. When the poet says of Achilles that he Leapt on the foe as a lion, this is a simile; when he says of him 'the lion leapt', it is a metaphor -- here, since both are courageous, he has transferred to Achilles the name of 'lion'. Similes are useful in prose as well as in verse; but not often, since they are of the nature of poetry. They are to be employed just as metaphors are employed, since they are really the same thing except for the difference mentioned.

      I think it's interesting that Aristotle is teaching the functional difference between simile and metaphor. Instead of saying similes use "like" or "as," he has to give examples. I'm glad teachers teach it differently today.

  33. Sep 2013
    1. A fifth rule is to express plurality, fewness, and unity by the correct wording

      5

    2. A fourth rule is to observe Protagoras' classification of nouns into male, female, and inanimate;

      4 are these equally applicable today and to English

    3. The third is to avoid ambiguities;

      3 sounds like #2 similar

    4. calling things by their own special names and not by vague general ones

      2

    5. First, the proper use of connecting words, and the arrangement of them in the natural sequence

      1

    1. Style to be good must be clear, as is proved by the fact that speech which fails to convey a plain meaning will fail to do just what speech has to do. It must also be appropriate, avoiding both meanness and undue elevation; poetical language is certainly free from meanness, but it is not appropriate to prose.

      Is this his definition?

    1. Style, to be good, must be clear; it must also be appropriate, avoiding both meanness and excess of dignity

      Balanced. It must understand its purpose and fulfill it tastefully

    2. Style. It is not enough to know what to say; we must also say it in the right way