Write Site
  • Athabasca University
  • Write Site
  • Academic writing resources
  • Style
  • Write Site - Home
  • Staff and contact info
  • Coaching
    • Writing coach submission drop box
    • RealTime writing coaching
  • Assess your writing and language skills
  • English Grammar Handbook
    • Basic grammar
      • Basic grammar: parts of speech
      • Word forms
      • Words often confused and misused
    • Sentences and grammar
      • Recognition of sentence parts
      • Verbs
      • Common sentence faults
    • Punctuation
      • Terminal punctuation
      • Internal punctuation
      • Word punctuation
    • Idioms & Pronunciation
      • Idioms
      • Pronunciation
      • Supplementary resources
    • Credits
  • Academic writing resources
    • Writing process
    • Organization
    • Transitional devices
    • Sentences
    • Grammar
    • Mechanics
    • Style
    • Vocabulary and spelling
  • ESL/EAL resources
    • Resources
    • Concise ESL Support
      • Introduction
      • Articles
      • Conditional and hypothetical constructions
      • Direct and indirect speech
      • Idioms
      • Infinitives and gerunds
      • Irregular verbs
      • Modals and related expressions
      • Passive verb tenses
      • Prepositions
      • Pronouns
      • Pronunciation
      • Supplementary resources
      • Verb tenses
      • Word forms
    • Phrasal verb
  • Drills and exercises
  • Writing genres and samples
    • Genres common to academic writing
    • Argumentative essay
    • Argumentation structure
    • Expository writing
    • Analytical film review process
    • Conducting and writing up interviews
  • Research writing
  • Writing in the disciplines
  • Glossary of grammatical terms
  • Other writing support sites
  • Marking scheme for writing assignments
  • AU courses
  • Documentation and plagiarism
    • Overview
    • Citation Styles
      • Resources
      • Documentation Basics
        • Quiz
        • Answers
      • APA
        • Quiz
        • Answers
      • Chicago
        • Example of Chicago Style format
        • Examples of footnotes and/or endnotes
    • Plagiarism
    • Library basics
  • Critical thinking, reading and writing
  • The paragraph: a video tutorial
    • Introduction
    • What is a paragraph?
      • Part 1
      • Test yourself
    • Develop with unity in mind
      • Part 2
      • Test yourself
    • Ways to develop a paragraph
      • Part 3
      • Test yourself
    • Make it coherent
      • Part 4
      • Test yourself
    • Make it yours
    • Credits

Style

A clear and engaging writing style is the mark of an excellent writer. What is style? At its most basic, it is the way a writer uses and combines words and sentences to achieve a certain effect. Style can include

  • diction (word choice)
  • sentence structure and syntax
  • use of figurative language
  • use of rhythm and sounds and
  • rhetorical patterns (e.g. narration, description, comparison-contrast, etc.)

The resources in this section will help you both understand more about what style is and how to develop your own.

Writing style

  • Elements of Writing Style by David Brundage.
  • Stereotypes and Biased Language by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
  • The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr.

Passive voice

  • English Grammar Handbook, a comprehensive guide to English grammar and manuscript preparation.
  • Passive Verb Tenses, how to change an active verb tense to a passive one.
  • Active and Passive Voice by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
  • Methods of Eliminating Wordiness by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.

Wordiness

  • Methods of Eliminating Wordiness by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.

Diction

  • Idioms, by Athabasca University
  • Diction, by the University of Ottawa

Word use

Connotation and denotation

  • Connotations and Denotations, by the University of Ottawa

A collection of homonyms, and common word use errors, arranged alphabetically

  • Common Errors in English

Vocabulary and spelling

  • Building a better vocabulary, sponsored by Capital Community College Foundation
  • Irregular plurals - General, Athabasca University
  • Oxford English Dictionary
  • Word forms, Athabasca University. (This link requires an active AU Student ID.)

Updated June 10, 2022 by Student & Academic Web Services (sas@athabascau.ca)

https://www.athabascau.ca/write-site/ 8ade0b3f0a2a3a11238f16c4a7106091
  • Common sentence faults
  • Student awards
  • Staff resources