Every household should have a copy.
Interested in argument? Try this.
Interested in philosophy? Try this and this.
Interested in rhetoric? Try this.
Interested in metaphor? Try this.
Interested in law? Try this.
Interested in chess? Try this, and also this, or visit the online version here.
Welcome to the webpage for Classical English Style.
Abraham Lincoln wrote more beautifully and memorably than anyone in public life does now. So did Winston Churchill; so did Edmund Burke; so did many others, none of whom sound quite alike but all of whom achieved an eloquence that seems foreign to our times. What did they know that we don’t? This book is the third in a series about that question. The first, Classical English Rhetoric, showed how rhetorical figures have been used to great effect in English oratory and prose. The second, Classical English Metaphor, did the same for figurative comparisons. This one takes a similar approach to more basic questions of style: the selection of words, the arrangement of sentences, the creation of a cadence. It shows how masters of the language have made those choices, and how the choices have put life into their writing and their speech.
Order the book at amazon.com here.
What people are saying about the book:For writers aspiring to master the craft, Farnsworth shows how it’s done. For lovers of language, he provides waves of sheer pleasure. —Steven Pinker.
"Strunk two," the umpire said. —David Mamet.
Buy these books. Read them. You'll learn. —Bryan A. Garner.
An original and absorbing guide to English style... Get it if you can. —Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal.
An eloquent study of the very mechanisms of eloquence. —Henry Hitchings.
A great and edifying pleasure. —Mark Helprin.
His explanations are a model of concision and clarity.... A storehouse of effective writing, showing the techniques you may freely adapt to make music of your own. —John McIntyre, Baltimore Sun.
Farnsworth�s Classical English Style is a worthy rejoinder to The Elements of Style.... What he offers is a beautiful stylistic disestablishmentarianism. —Ed Simon, The Millions.
Few books on writing style are page-turners, yet Farnsworth succeeds in both entertaining and instructing the diligent reader. —Cory Andrews, The University Bookman .
