Grammar Geek

I'm re-reading William Zinsser's On Writing Well. It's full of good reminders, such as:

"Prune out the small words that qualify how you feel and how you think and what you saw: 'a bit,' 'a little,' 'sort of,' 'kind of,' 'rather,' 'quite,' 'very,' 'too,' 'pretty much,' 'in a sense' and dozens more. They dilute your style and your persuasiveness.

Don't say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be confused. Be tired. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.

Don't say you weren't too happy because the hotel was pretty expensive. Say you weren't happy because the hotel was expensive. Don't tell us you were quite fortunate. How fortunate is that? Don't describe an event as rather spectacular or very awesome. Words like "spectacular" and "awesome" don't submit to measurement. 'Very' is a useful word to achieve emphasis, but far more often it's clutter. There's no need to call someone very methodical. Either he is methodical or he isn't.

The larger point is one of authority. Every little qualifier whittles away some fraction of the reader's trust. Readers want a writer who believes in himself and in what he is saying. Don't diminish that belief. Don't be kind of bold. Be bold" (p. 71-72).

And sometimes Zinsser is just plain amusing. About the exclamation mark, he writes:

"Don't use it unless you must to achieve a certain effect. It has a gushy aura, the breathless excitement of a debutante commenting on an event that was exciting only to her: 'Daddy says I must have had too much champagne!' 'But honestly, I could have danced all night!'" (p. 72).

Last week I attended an EAC copyediting seminar that brought out my inner grammar geek and made me want to read more about writing, editing, and grammar. My favourite writing guide during my undergrad was Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. During my stint as a Teaching Assistant and tutor, I found Diana Hacker's A Canadian Writer's Reference indispensable. Does anyone have further recommendations?