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Write to the Point: A Master Class on the Fundamentals of Writing for Any Purpose

Write to the Point: A Master Class on the Fundamentals of Writing for Any Purpose

Current price: $14.95
Publication Date: August 7th, 2018
Publisher:
The Experiment
ISBN:
9781615194629
Pages:
272

Description

Good writers follow the rules. Great writers know the rules—and follow their instincts!

Finding the right words, in the right order, matters—whether you’re a student embarking on an essay, a job applicant drafting your cover letter, an employee composing an email . . . even a (hopeful) lover writing a text. Do it wrong and you just might get an F, miss the interview, lose a client, or spoil your chance at a second date.

Do it right, and the world is yours.

In Write to the Point, accomplished author and literary critic Sam Leith kicks the age-old lists of dos and don’ts to the curb. Yes, he covers the nuts and bolts we need to be in complete command of the language: grammar, punctuation, parts of speech, and other subjects half-remembered from grade school. But more importantly, he charts a commonsense course between the “Armies of Correctness” and the “Descriptivist Irregulars.”

For Leith, knowing not just the rules but also how and when to ignore them—developing an ear for what works best in context—is everything. In this master class, Leith teaches us a skill of paramount importance in this smartphone age, when we all carry a keyboard in our pockets: to write clearly and persuasively for any purpose—to write to the point.

About the Author

Sam Leith is literary editor at the Spectator and columnist for the Financial Times, Evening Standard, and Prospect. He has published writing in the Guardian, Times, and Literary Supplement, among others, and is the author of many books, including his most recent, the critically acclaimed book Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama.

Praise for Write to the Point: A Master Class on the Fundamentals of Writing for Any Purpose

Leith breaks down how to write anything for any occasion. Though the mission may seem like an ambitious undertaking, Leith is wildly successful [and writes] with humor and a conversational tone. . . .Thorough, up-to-date, and readable, Leith’s book will morph even the most timid email-senders into confident writers.
— Booklist