The antithesis of negative and positive is strong:
Not charity, but simple justice.
Not that I loved Caesar less, but Rome the more.
Negative words other than not are usually strong:
The sun never sets upon the British flag.
12. Use definite, specific, concrete language.
Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.
| A period of unfavorable weather set in. | It rained every day for a week. | |
| He showed satisfaction as he took possession of his well-earned reward. | He grinned as he pocketed the coin. | |
| There is a general agreement among those who have enjoyed the experience that surf-riding is productive of great exhilaration. | All who have tried surf-riding agree that it is most exhilarating. |
If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this, that the surest method of arousing and holding the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete. Critics have pointed out how much of the effectiveness of the greatest writers, Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, results from their constant definiteness and concreteness. Browning, to cite a more modern author, affords many striking examples. Take, for instance, the lines from My Last Duchess,
The dropping of the daylight in the west,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least,
and those which end the poem,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me.
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