STYLE is the peculiar manner in which we express our conceptions by
means of language. It is a picture of the ideas which rise in our minds,
and of the order in which they are produced.
The qualities of a good style, may be ranked under two heads.
_perspicuity_ and _ornament_.
PERSPICUITY, which is considered the fundamental quality of a good
style, claims attention, first, to single words and phrases; and,
secondly, to the construction of sentences. When considered with respect
to words and phrases, it requires these three qualities, _purity_,
_propriety,_ and _precision._
_Purity_ of language consists in the use of such words and such
constructions as belong to the language which we speak, in opposition to
words and phrases belonging to other languages, or which are obsolete or
new-coined, or employed without proper authority.
_Propriety_ is the choice of those words which the best usage has
appropriated to the ideas which we intend to express by them. It implies
their correct and judicious application, in opposition to low
expressions, and to words and phrases which would be less significant of
the ideas which we wish to convey. It is the union of purity and
propriety, which renders style graceful and perspicuous.
_Precision_, from _præcidere_, to cut off, signifies retrenching all
superfluities, and pruning the expression in such a manner as to exhibit
neither more nor less than an exact copy of the ideas intended to be
conveyed.