English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
Purpose and Style
Chapter 12 Developing Your Own Writing Style
Part 5 Struttin Your Stuff with Style
A love letter. A business memo. A short story. A poem. An inventory. A letter to the IRS explaining a problem with a tax return.
Although each of these documents seems very different, they are alike in one crucial way: They each have a clear purpose. Keeping your purpose in mind as you write helps you craft a clear and appropriate style.
We appear to write for many reasons, but remarkably, there are only four purposes for writing:
• To explain
• To persuade
• To describe
• To tell a story
The following chart explains purpose in writing.
A document often has more than one purpose, but one purpose usually dominates. For example, a letter of complaint will describe, explain, and persuade. However, its primary purpose is to persuade, as you try to convince your audience to make redress.