ABSTRACT
Beyond the elements of style, choices proliferate. We have the freedom of our language, which includes the freedom to explore the validity of first principles. We may choose, in defiance of prescription, to construct syntactic labyrinths, to string out loose conjunctive lines, to make deliberate shows of jargon and cliche, to mix amazing metaphors. Neverthe less, we must know what we are doing. We must recognize the possibilities and the implications of our choices, so that we do not choose wrongheadedly. Though stylistic options are generally taken by instinct, nimble or stumbling, there are broad possibilities that can be defined and consciously borne in mind; the grounds of instinct, its field of operations, can be objectively drawn. These broad options are listed here under three types, identified as Distributive Options, Presentative Options, and Options o f Address. They outline choices recur rently made when style is no longer a ‘first level’ matter of simple and serviceable documentations, but has shifted to a ‘second level’ of exhortation, persuasion, polemic, cool rationality, lyrical intensity, narrative guile: to some level of personal art that transcends yet still rests upon the common sense of common usage.
