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Writing is an intellectual activity. To achieve good prose styles, writers must work through intellectual issues, not merely acquire mechanical techniques. The heart of classic style is the root scene of classic joint attention. The actual scene of writing is blended with the classic scene so that writing is treated as speech.

Clarity is a prime virtue within classic style or practical style, and it is easy to begin judging other styles by the standards of one of these general styles, especially for writers who actually use one of them on a regular basis.

Classic style is highly attentive to nuance, and as a consequence is highly sensitive to the schematic structure of expression. In the classic view, nuance is neither arbitrary nor decorative; it is meaning. Nuance is recognized through discipline and precision and can be lost sight of through carelessness. Classic style lives on fine distinctions.

There is a symmetry between writer and reader: although the writer knows more about the subject than the reader, the reader would know exactly what the writer knows had he seen what the writer has seen in the past. And the guide’s purpose is to put the reader in a position to achieve that parity.

Classic style and practical style have important areas of overlap; both styles place a high value on clarity and directness. Classic style values clarity because it sees itself as a transparent medium for the presentation of truth. Practical style values clarity because it places a premium on being easy to parse.