ABSTRACT
Style in writing is concerned with choice. Every writer has available the enormous resources of a whole language. English presents a particularly large range of choices of individual words, and of combinations of words into small and large 'structures' - idioms, phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, sections, chapters. The choices we make create the 'style', which is a term covering balance, emphasis and tone. There is no such thing as the 'correct' way of expressing any idea, fact or opinion. Each writer selects the arrangement of words that he or she thinks will best express the intended meaning; each writer selects the arrangement that he or she thinks will best give the balance, emphasis and tone necessary to produce the desired response from readers. For example, it is possible to contend that the following sentences convey roughly the same information - the wish of the writer to warn readers not to open Valve X before it has cooled, because of the possibility of a dangerous explosion:
Valve X is not to be opened before cooling to 18°C because of the possibility of flash-back. Do not open Valve X before it has cooled to 18°C; there is a danger of flash-back. Owing to the danger of flash-back, Valve X must not be opened before it has cooled to 18°C. On no account should you open Valve X before it cools to 18°C or you may well cause flash-back.
