The Sense of Style

The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century is a 2014 book by Canadian American linguist, psychologist, professor, and author Steven Pinker. His work is a detailed guide on how to write clear and engaging prose, with a focus on non-fiction. Pinker uses copious examples from a variety of texts to highlight what makes them understandable and appealing. Pinker questions the validity of some traditional writing advice, which he considers baseless and overly prescriptive. Pinker roots his own advice in his knowledge of psycholinguistics, as well as a personal appreciation for the aesthetic dimensions of written texts. Other works by Pinker include How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, and Enlightenment Now.

This guide is based on the 2015 Penguin Books edition.

Summary

In the Prologue, Pinker sets out to offer updated advice on writing and language that is based in current research on linguistics and psychology, and is reflective of how people actually communicate in English. Pinker’s main focus in The Sense of Style is vivid, elegant prose: how to recognize it, understand how it works, and produce it. In Chapter 1, Pinker claims that vivid imagery is a hallmark of good writing, and that writers do this best when they avoid clichés and find fresh ways of describing people and events. He maintains that writers should use formal, complex vocabulary minimally to keep their prose accessible. In his second chapter, Pinker observes that while speaking and listening are natural, reading and writing are unnatural, and must be explicitly taught. Writers should approach their written work as if in conversation with their reader, and establish an egalitarian tone as they clearly explain a concept or event. Pinker argues that it is essential to consider the reader’s perspective on the topic and avoid language that obfuscates rather than illuminates its subject.

In Chapter 3, “The Curse of Knowledge,” the author explains that writers often wrongly assume that their readers have the same knowledge as them. This bias causes writers to underexplain their arguments, or thoughtlessly include undefined jargon, abbreviations, and technical terms that make their writing inaccessible to their readers. Pinker advises writers to overcome the curse of knowledge by soliciting feedback from others and by explaining terms and events thoroughly instead of assuming the reader already knows about them. In his following chapter, “The Web, the Tree, and the String,” Pinker argues that understanding grammar and syntax helps writers create clear, understandable sentences. He explores how writers can transform their webs of ideas into clear sentences, and avoid common grammatical mistakes such as subject-verb mismatches, noun piles, and syntactic ambiguity.

In Chapter 5, the author explains how writers can make their work coherent and understandable to the reader. He advises writers to carefully structure their writing beforehand, to use connectives thoughtfully to connect sentences and paragraphs, and to state explicitly their topic and point at the beginning of their work. In his final chapter, “Telling Right from Wrong,” Pinker explores writing rules about grammar, punctuation, and word choice, lamenting that so many of them originate from language purists’ preferences and not linguistic knowledge. He concludes his work by analyzing a wide variety of traditional writing “rules,” debunking those that are not based in a rational understanding of language, and making new recommendations for writers.