Developed from the very popular fourth chapter of the authors'
Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 4th ed.,
Style and Statement
is a concise introduction to the components of effective style as they were first defined by classical rhetoricians and as they apply to writing today. An essential reference for students and all writers, it incorporates numerous lively exercises that emphasize the contemporary applications of classic styles. The book opens with an extended discussion of diction and continues with an analysis of sentence composition and Professor Corbett's famous numerical style studies, which unite the principles of diction and sentence organization. Its catalogue of figures of speech is exceptionally comprehensive and includes definitions of the classic tropes. A practical application of imitation as a means of developing style introduces the final section of the text, which consists of the analysis of selected short readings ranging from an eighteenth-century work by Hugh Blair to John F. Kennedy's inaugural address.