ABSTRACT
The word ‘style’ is usually associated with literary writing. We are conscious that to offer to discuss style will remind many of our readers of school poetry lessons; but to have style in the sense we use in this chapter does not mean to be ‘florid’ or ‘ornate’: it is to adapt the language code to particular ends. Language can be used for a variety of purposes; it can, among other things, announce or warn (notices), instruct (operating instructions), persuade (advertising), and inform (reports and articles). What is efficient in writing can be measured only in relation to the purpose of the writing. If the purpose is to give pleasure, then attractiveness becomes one of the criteria of the efficient manipulation of the code; but if the purpose is to warn or to instruct, then notices like ‘Keep off the grass’ are admirable. They manipulate the resources of the code to achieve their ends. In other words they have good style.
