What is a writing style? First of all, it is the way of expressing yourself in writing. In other words, it is a particular manner in which you decide to assemble your words, phrases and sentences together to create a piece of writing. A good way to understand this somewhat vague and elusive question is to look at your personal style, for comparison. The clothes and accessories that we choose to buy and wear express our personal style. You would choose casual, business or sportswear depending on your preferences, convenience, and the etiquette. The same principle applies to writing styles.
There are many versatile writing styles, and there are divergent components that make up the style, such as the structure of your paper, the word choice, the length of sentences, the use of figurative language, writer’s perspective and point of view among others. It might be difficult to express the quirks of writing style as it is a qualitative category, a rather subjective concept, yet it can be expressed in concrete terms. The quality of your paper is judged by adherence to the writing style criteria. Similar to clothes, there are also different styles in writing. The most commonly used styles are persuasive, expository, descriptive and narrative – each has its unique features.
Among different writing styles, expository writing can be best expressed through the goal it pursues to achieve: explain information about a subject, idea, method or issue while including the details that support the explanation. In general terms, expository writing includes all types of papers (except for persuasive essays). Such essays are typically based on the subject and thus need to be justified with facts and not opinions. The goal of expository essay determines the structure and logical sequence of the discussion. It is formal and straightforward writing, and no slang or casual language can be used – unlike when you talk to your friends. To sum up, this writing is “dressed-up”, in contrast to a T-shirt or jeans that belong to the casual situations.
Although being different from other types of writing styles, persuasive essays share some common feature with other forms of academic writing. Persuasive essay relies on details and facts to support the claim, but the primary goal is to convince the readers to accept the author’s point of view. It can be compared to a lawyer arguing in front of the jury. The language must be clear, concise, and convincing, but it can also be forceful or even dramatic if the writer strives to convince his readers. In this regard, the writer can even exaggerate some details or examples or appeal to the reader in an emotional way – in contrast to the expository essay where it is absolutely out of place.
The descriptive language of poetry and fiction serves its own unique purpose: to entertain the audience. Some writers can enjoy the beauty of expression of the language and the writing process itself. Descriptive writing style definition can be expressed as restoration of details that enables the readers to envision the events or scenery in their minds. The style tends to use adjectives and adverbs as well as imagery and figurative language to provide succulent details in the course of discussion.
The purpose of the narrative essay is to tell a story from your own life. A good essay will tell it in a way that reflects the author’s values. Such essays are commonly assigned at different stages through school. It can be fun to write, you just need to make sure to select the topic carefully and engage your reader while telling the story. The language used is more descriptive as the author strives to help the reader to imagine the scenes, characters and setting so the reader becomes part of the story’s world and connected to the plot. The genre of the narration depends largely on the others who may opt to choose short and choppy sentences to express the exciting moment. Thus, the genre or category of your story telling can influence the writing style you use.
