Elements of style embraced at WP - Editorial Notebook

“These are the times that try men’s souls.”

“Times like these try men’s souls.”

“How trying it is to live in these times.”

“These are trying times for men’s souls.”

“Soulwise, these are trying times.”

What’s all that? Repeated complaints about the global economy and the media’s reporting of it? No, the above sentences are here to make quite another point, one about writing and clarity and style.

The first sentence is the famed quotation by Thomas Paine, made at the start of the American Revolution. The quote has stood the test of time and is trotted out regularly to describe difficult circumstances.

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The sentences that follow, sad replicas though they may be, are illustrations of how the same thing could have been said, but with lesser impact. All were written by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, in the treasured handbook of writers called The Elements of Style.

In it, Strunk and White address common writing errors and offer guidance in fashioning concise and clear prose. Their book, like Paine’s quote, has also stood the test of time. On April 16, its 50th anniversary will be celebrated in New York. Presumably the party will be both concise and stylish.

My copy of The Elements of Style was printed in 1979 based on the original published in 1959. Its pages are yellowed, but not as dog-eared as perhaps they should be, had I been making constant reference to it.

I don’t know if D’Arce McMillan, Barbara Duckworth and Barry Wilson keep their copies of The Elements of Style near their keyboards, but in any case, their writing has recently earned them, and this newspaper, some international recognition.

McMillan won second place in the Columns and Analysis category of the North American Agricultural Journalists association’s annual writing contest.

McMillan, a member of The Western Producer’s editorial board, wrote the winning editorial last May about biofuel and its misrepresentation as the sole source of rising food prices.

Duckworth, our Calgary bureau

news reporter, won honourable mention in the Features category for a July 2008 special report on livestock traceability. Judges deemed it “a thorough examination of the system for tracing livestock in Canada.”

Wilson, our Ottawa correspondent, won honourable mention in the Special Projects category for a multi-story exploration of world hunger, which he obtained on assignment in Europe and Africa last year.

These three writers definitely have the elements of style in the work they present to you each week. I’d better make sure they have a copy of the book as well – as a reward as well as a guide.