Sublime

A colon tells the reader that what follows is closely related to the preceding clause. The colon has more effect than the comma, less power to separate than the semicolon, and more formality than the dash.

A lead is good not because it dances, fires cannons, or whistles like a train but because it is absolute to what follows.

Nothing is deader than to start a sentence with a “Mr. Smith said” construction—it’s where many readers stop reading. If the man said it, let him say it and get the sentence off to a warm, human start.

Clean Old-fashioned Hate

And so on.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the

Do not join independent clauses with a comma.

Just because they’re writing fluently doesn’t mean they’re writing well.